BTS

MAP OF THE SOUL : 7

BTS are both the world’s biggest and most interesting act in pop music right now: 7 solidifies this position and smartly looks towards the future.

As a full album, 7 shows how determined the band are to make this record as cinematic and immersive an experience as possible.

Although the sound of the album is wide-ranging, it holds continuity through its lyrics and general sentiment.

This is an album full of big ideas, strong conviction and unguarded emotion, produced by a band who have every right to be proud of their journey.

With each album, they continue on the path of self-discovery and maturity, pulling off yet another effortless display of pop prowess without forgetting the fans that have helped them along the way.

The group made a conscious decision to experiment and give more of themselves rather than a rinse and repeat of what's worked before.

The K-Pop boy band’s latest blockbuster is full of stylistic experiments that all flow together.

Their latest album showcases the K-pop group embracing a more mature sound that both reflects on their past while looking to the future with equal measures earned trepidation and practiced brazenness.

The K-pop group’s latest is part memoir, part fan service, and part amateur psych eval. They can still tap into something enchanting, but the glimpses of personality here are fleeting.

While it has quite a few highlights, Map of the Soul: 7 is bogged down in some of the most derivative and thankless songs of BTS's career.

Some music can be completely transcendent, taking the listener out of their immediate surroundings. Map of the Soul: 7 seems to stop time, making the listener feel that they’ve been stuck with it for hours and hours, rather than just the 75-minute running time.