Xparrot reappearing after 2 years to wildly fangirl on an album? it's likelier than you think

[xparrot]

Getting into BTS, fanning on a band, one thing that didn't really occur to me was how it could impact my relationship with music.

My musical tastes have always been really basic. I like what I like and so I've collected a diverse playlist over time (Jpop from anime, miscellaneous songs from fanvids, that time I got obsessed with Blind Guardian) but I mostly tend to go for music that I'd call "accessible," the sort that I can decide within a single listen whether I like it or not.

So a couple of days ago a member of BTS, RM, band leader (and my bias), released his second solo album. "Right Place, Wrong Person" is self-described alternative/experimental hip-hop/pop/??? -- one friend said he's going through his Sgt. Pepper phase -- and I listened to it when it dropped going 😅😅😬😅😂😅

It wasn't a surprise -- we knew he'd been working with an indy Kpop collective, and he'd performed one song from it before, which was already pretty off the beaten path (in retrospect, "Come Back to Me" is by far the most standard pop song on the album!) But RPWP is, in a word, weird -- rough and raw and very definitely Not My Kind of Music. Not something I'd ever seek out or listen to again.

Except because Namjoon's part of BTS, so I have this parasocial attachment that means I want to hear what he has to say -- and because his last solo album I absolutely adore, though it's a completely different beast -- I did listen to it again.

And again.

And several more times, and every time I enjoy it more? Not even in an "appreciating art" way but in a vibing, bopping along, riffs-getting-stuck-in-my-head want-to-hear-it-again way.

I've posted more on social media in the past 48 hours than I have in a year+, I'm feeling that blood-fizzing fandom excitement over an album -- this is not what music's usually like for me!

Of course there's the character-based fanning aspect about what it says about him as a person and artist -- like all of Namjoon's work, it's simultaenously intensely personal and conceptually abstract, so there is much room for interpretation. But the album and the music itself -- it's funky, it's complex, it's wacky (two of the songs are titled "Nuts" and "Groin"! So "RM's Groin" is now ranking on Spotify! and let's not even talk about the use of pi in the album structure), and I wasn't expecting to be able to connect to it like this.

I keep listening to the whole album straight through without skipping. Even "Domodachi" which I kind of hate, it's discordant in a way I find off-putting (except Little Simz' rap, that's banging) but it's part of the whole, it'd be like skipping the flat stretch of a roller coaster.

My favorite is the collab "Around the world in a day" which is some kind of lost '60s prog rock song? Which isn't generally my thing (I told you, I have zero musical taste) and actually it's two completely different songs mashed together, of which the first half is nice and the second half is OMGGGGG (Namjoon's never sounded like that before and his voice is so perfectly suited for that kind of singing, I cannot get over it!?)

There's also the title song "LOST!", and its trippy music video, which is Pixar's Inside Out meets Severance (two of my favorite things, but not ones I'd expect to taste great together?)

Anyway! RPWP, good stuff!

--One warning to anyone who listens, the album's very NSFW for language -- the lyrics are half English, half Korean, and Namjoon's favorite English word is "fuck"...

In conclusion: fanning on music is fun, and I'm happy to have this gateway into it!

So anyway, hey! how are you doing? Anyone still here?

Comments

[umadoshi]

I can't comment on the music, but I am here and happy to see you! ^_^

[xparrot]

Hiiii so nice to see you, so glad you're still around these parts! o/ Now I just have to see if I can stick around myself, my social media record is not great, but! I miss people...

[umadoshi]

Now I just have to see if I can stick around myself, my social media record is not great, but! I miss people...

It would be lovely to see you more often! <3

[anotherslashfan]

Hi!
I'm also intrigued by Namjoon's recent album though I haven't given it a lot of listens, yet.

[xparrot]

Hi~! glad to find some Army around here!
I really wasn't expecting to give it a lot of listens, to be honest, but I'm very glad I have. For something that apparently came from a lot of frustration and turmoil, it's a lot of fun?

[anotherslashfan]

It's always a good thing in my eyes when musicians get to spread their wings and try out new stuff, even though it means one often will find one album more to one's taste than another.

For several reasons, I find Namjoon the easiest to understand ("get") of all the members, and this album is such a natural extension of his self-exploration that it works, for me, although listening to it is very different from, say, Mono or Indigo.

When Namjoon did the collab with Soyoon, I kind of had the feeling he was entering his more experimental phase ;)

[xparrot]

One of the things I find funniest about fanning on BTS, rather than just enjoying their music, is that I genuinely prefer them to do what they want to do, over getting music that I personally like? I enjoy having something I love to listen to, but I most want them to do work they're enthusiastic about and proud of. So, like, I'm glad Taehyung got to do Layover even though it's not my type of music. Which feels like it's doing band fandom all wrong? Or maybe all right...?

And yeah, it was pretty clear Namjoon was going in more indy directions -- even before "Smoke Sprite," he so loved doing "Sexy Nukim"! And I knew I'd admire and appreciate whatever he came up with, but I didn't know if I'd actually enjoy it personally. And on my first listen I didn't think I would, so I'm glad I came back to it! (I'm surprised at how much more I like "Come back to me" in the context of the whole album; I didn't really go for it on its own, but as a coda it's very...comforting?)

[anotherslashfan]

Come back to me is really enhanced by the MV, in my eyes. I was surprised how fast the minutes went by while watching.

[sheron]

It's good to see you around!

I had similar experiences with some J-POP songs which really grew on me. It also reminds me of the feeling of someone you're fanning growing more attractive to you (generic 'you') because you care about them and everything they do becomes more endearing. I think songs in some ways work the same.

[xparrot]

Hiiii so good to see you again! It's been too long! I really should come on here more than...once every 2 years ^^;;;;

I think that is totally true with music, that it's so subjective and tied to one's feelings. I know I wouldn't love BTS's music as much as I did without that familiarity breeding love. At the same time, even with my fanning RM's other work has been really hit or miss for me (some of it's in my favorite music ever, some of it's always skip) so I'm surprised but pleased that this one ended up more hit than miss.

[kat_lair]

THIS. Namjoon is in his IDGAF era and I am legit so happy for him.

Also: HI.

[xparrot]

Hi!! Nice to see you! (meet you? I know you were in Guardian but I think you got in when I was slipping out, and I've seen you Bangtanning on AO3 a bit but prob with my alt...)

Anyway YES Namjoon cutting loose is so satisfying. I'm always impressed with artists who can make real art out of misery, but also the album is just wildly fun? I saw someone on Reddit saying this isn't RM or RapMon, this is Runch Randa all grown up, and I am here for it. (though if I replay the Groin MV too many more times I think my phone is going to spontaneously delete the Youtube app...)

[kat_lair]

Hi! Feel like I added you through... Something? Maybe a friending meme? But yeah been bangtanging 😂😂 tho mostly skzing lately.

this is Runch Randa all grown up 😂😂😂 this is too accurate

[xparrot]

I think it was something in Guardian, but not sure!

Ahahah my sister has put her foot down about not getting into other Kpop groups (nothing against them, it's entirely for wallet preservation!) but I admit to enjoying all the bits of SKZ I've seen XD

[kat_lair]

Haha yeah, the wallet can suffer if you let it. So far I've only spent money on some albums and, well, concert tickets. Going to see SKZ in Hyde Park in July and am EXCITE.

[michelel72]

Hello! Lurking but here.

I had a vaguely similar experience with Caroline Polichuk's "Dang". It didn't make any sense to me, but I rewatched the video for the visuals a couple of times, and I went from uninterested to hooked. Brains are so strange!

[xparrot]

Hi hiii! Lurking has been my default state on social media for a couple years now, but I have missed people, it's so good to "see" you again!

Of all the arts, music is maybe the one I find the most incomprehensible -- I know less about how it works, and honestly I kind of like it that way, because it's such a happy surprise when something that seems just weird at first transforms into something that can bring the joy.

--also having never heard of it, I just watched a performance of "Dang" from The Late Show on YT and OH BOY I can see what you mean (and heh, at least to my uneducated ear it's in a similar experimental vein as RPWP). I can see how you could get pulled in? (...also I gotta point out that the BTS rapline has a song "Ddaeng!" (pronounced "dang!") that is not the same and yet brought it to mind...)

[anotherslashfan]

Psst the Teen Vogue article must have been written by a fan. (https://www.teenvogue.com/story/rm-right-place-wrong-person-album-review)

[xparrot]

Oh yeah, Teen Vogue always does right by Bangtan! They and The Atlantic culture writer who is so Army she wrote a book on it. That's a great review, lots of good insights and links, and they're better at music interpretation than I am, certainly XD