Song Review: BTS' DNA Fails to Hook Me

As much as I like to fake talk smack about them, I was genuinely looking forward to BTS’ new song DNA. I didn’t watch any of the teasers minus the one where Jungkook is whistling, but that was enough to give me some level of hype.

“Wow,” I thought, “finally BTS are going back to doing fun songs. Finally, I’m not going to have to deal with bullshit theories.”

“Finally,” I thought, “BTS can have legitimate fun performing a song without it being bogged down with feelings.”

These are the things I thought, but man was I disappointed.

It’s not like DNA is a bad song, per se. Hell, if a nugu rookie released this track I’d be talking about how great of a foundation they were making, how it sucks that a group with such a solid song was going to be ignored. So it’s not a bad song, it’s just not right for BTS.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think BTS needs to focus on their melodramatic songs, even if it’s what made them famous. In fact, I tend to prefer their lighter hearted tracks to their fake deep songs and especially their hype songs. But definitely a balance needs to be found between the three styles.

When this comeback was announced and I realized that it was going to be a more fun and light comeback, my hopes instantly went up. War of Hormones is by far my favourite BTS title track and I love how it’s fun and age appropriate while still maintaining a lot of the elements that make a BTS track great: strong raps, a strong chorus, and an element of sincerity. When they sing about girls making their hormones go crazy I believe it.

DNA has none of these elements. The raps feel phoned in, the chorus is bland and basically nonexistent, and I don’t believe it at all.

Before I get into my issues with the sincerity of the song, let’s talk about why musically it doesn’t work.

First of all, just generally the production on this track is fucked. Like they’ve layered the vocals all weird and it sounds unnatural. Not to mention all the auto tune on the track. Ike I have no issue with auto tune, hell, I liked EXO’s Lotto, but it just doesn’t work on this track.

Also, there’s a part during Rap Monster’s rap where the sound just stops. I get that it’s supposed to be stylistic, but it sounds wonky and disjointed and just doesn’t work.

Another issue I have with the track is how the rap parts are treated. I’m generally not a big fan of raps of in songs, mostly because those performing it are just singers who aren’t actually good enough to sing fast talking, but having a strong rap section is kind of BTS’ thing. I personally believe that Suga is one of the strongest idol rappers in the game right now, and Rap Monster is also quite good. J-Hope is alright. No matter what style the song is, I’ve grown to expect a strong rap section that works with the theme. I didn’t get that here.

Obviously DNA is supposed to be more like generic pop music more so than the quasi-art pieces we’ve all grown to expect from BTS. The average k-pop song doesn’t really have the room for a great rap section, mostly because many of the “rappers” in k-pop are not actually rappers. Therefore, the songs handed to these idol groups don’t have good rap sections. This is clearly what has happened with DNA. BTS’ rap line, which is far stronger skill wise to their vocal line, is completely shafted in this song.

I fail to understand why the decision to underplay the strongest part of the team was made. What doing this does it makes the song feel like it belongs to a completely different group. The great thing about BTS’ discography is that all the songs have a very distinctive feel to them, marking them all as coming from the same group. A huge reason for that comes from the rap sections, which is part of the reason why DNA feels so disjointed from everything else BTS has released thus far.

Finally, let’s talk about the sincerity of the song. I’m a huge fan of this when it comes to groups, especially groups that focus on self-composition and the like, which is something BTS is known for. There’s something about how the song is sung that makes it feel sincere, and that’s lacking in this song. I don’t believe in what they’re saying.

You don’t have to be singing about something heavy and topical in order to be sincere. When Crayon Pop tells people to party and have fun I believe it because the girls believe it. During DNA, I don’t get the same feeling from BTS. Now, half of that has to do with the fact that the song is over processed in the worst of ways =, but honestly you can tell that the boys don’t enjoy it as much. Listen and look at Suga and tell me I’m wrong. Motherfucking tell me.

I also have trouble believing in this comeback because I know the boys are tired. Like Suga, as previously mentioned, looks more over it than usual. Also watch this and tell me Jungkook doesn’t look like he’s about to fall over asleep.

Seriously every time they zoom in on Jungkook's face I want to give him a glass of warm milk, tuck him into bed, and read him a story until he sleeps. 

Anyways the song is a huge letdown from everything else BTS have put out. It’s not that the song is bad, it’s just not great. And the music video and the dance don’t make up for it. Almost as if BIgHit knows that A.R.M.Y will buy anything BTS related without even asking questions about the quality.

Let BTS rest 2K17.