ARMY Magazine - Monthly Issues ARMY Magazine ISSUE NO.7 - JUNE 2019 | Page 25

In this recently added chapter, Dr.
Stein comments on each of the seven
songs on the new album. Moreover, he
identifies a theme running throughout all
of them when listened in order. This idea
is not new for BTS or ARMY - RM has
often said their albums are meant to be
listened to in order, each song telling a
story within a larger picture. According
to Dr. Stein, Persona is no different.
After viewing many of BTS’s videos
and studying their lyrics, Dr. Stein sees
these seven young men as different
aspects of a single personality. “We’re
talking about a single person with differ-
ent faces,” he says. Some are serious,
while others are a bit more entertaining.
Some are prettier and smile more than
the others. If BTS’s albums paint a pic-
ture told by each of the songs, then the
songs in this album “are an expression
of a singular personality with different
aspects and different personas.”
There are songs of longing and strug-
gle, in which this personality is trying to
come to terms with himself and who he
is. Dr. Stein points out there is “an in-
tense feeling of being a celebrity and the
problems it brings” as this young man
struggles with all he must deal with. This
includes a plethora of images of himself,
demands on him to be this or that, and
even feeling pressure to change. There
are also songs of love, hope, and vision
when the young man might be search-
ing for quiet and truth as he realizes “his
now fame...doesn’t satisfy all his needs.
It satisfies his ambition, but also leaves
him feeling empty at times.”
So while BTS is entertaining us,
they are presenting ARMY with a very
exciting persona. “But when they go
home after the show, how do they
feel?” Dr. Stein wonders. “That is
what is expressed in these songs...a
lot of introspection and self-evalu-
ation and looking behind their mask.”
Dr. Stein feels that BTS is making a
confession to us even while they are
performing on stage, giving us an ex-
hilarating show. “There is something
else in the background that they’re
also singing about,” he says.
25