As expected, BTS have begun to release follow-up videos from their highly-anticipated ARIRANG album. Many listeners found lead single Swim an oddly muted choice for promotion, and I agree that there are songs on ARIRANG with more commercial appeal. However, for their first follow-up video they’ve chosen one of my least favorite tracks from the album.
Music video aside (I don’t usually factor those into my reviews), I need someone to seriously explain the appeal of this song. I really want to know what people like about it, because to my ears 2.0 is one long monotonous drone of repetitive phrasing over a dull, drowsy beat. Co-produced by Mike WiLL Made-It, the track is essentially one or two rhythmic ideas with slight changes across three (unending) minutes. I struggle to find the appeal of mindless hooks like “You know how I do do do do do” and “Pop pop pop pop pop” and “Ya ya ya ya.” Given the amount of time BTS spent on this comeback album, I’m shocked that a song like 2.0 couldn’t muster anything more interesting. And given their early influence from the golden age of hip-hop (when lyricism was king) this feels like a major downgrade.
Perhaps a jolt in energy might have salvaged 2.0‘s repetition, or at the very least made the song come across as somewhat fun. Instead, we have a self-serious screed over a cavernous instrumental that builds to nothing. Take this verse, for example:
“Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop
Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, uh
Baby gettin’ too lit
Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah (Yeah)
Hit ’em up like pop (Ha)
Hit ’em with the truth like rah, uh
Time to pay your debt, uh, fear me or fear me not
Let it be, let it bleed, uh, hit a lick, uh, in a split (Stop, ride)”
I mean… okay? So, the lyricism is awful, the sound is monotonous and the song goes nowhere. What exactly am I supposed to be enjoying here? I’m genuinely curious.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 6 |
| Longevity | 6 |
| Bias | 5 |
| RATING | 5.75 |
Grade: F
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Picking at my pimples was more interesting than this song and I literally closed the video at the 2 minute mark.
6 (6, 6, 6, 6) for me, and I swear to fucking god, if I see ANOTHER song get rated in 6s or below, I will genuinely crash out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also, Nick, I hope you are prepared cause I fear we’re gonna witness a Permission to Dance 2.0 in this comments section
LikeLiked by 5 people
i’m not sure if this post will reach 400 comments lmao
LikeLike
Nevermind, I gave the full song a listen and it fell to a 4.75 (5, 5, 5, 4) for me. Come on BTS, you can do way better than this shitslop
LikeLike
An easy 2 for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow, this is awful. I didn’t make it all the way through. Shit lyrics, boring production and really grating effects in the vocals for some reason
I’ve not listened to the album – surely there’s better choices on there to release as a single..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting review! This is the first time I’ve genuinely had nothing in common with a Bias List review 😕
The track keeps me engaged the entire time through changes of flow in the raps and perccussion (j-hope especially blew me away), the various mixes of vocals in the chorus, and the touches of twangy synth. Before I saw the music video, it was probably an 8.25, but the mv was so fantastic that it probably bumped the song up to and 8.5. Super excited for the rest of the Arirang promotions!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fair enough!
LikeLiked by 3 people
This was maybe my least favorite on the album as well. It’s just not good. I’ve only listened to the album fully through twice, but this one stuck out as one to make sure to skip on only my second playthrough…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll further clarify for comparison that I didn’t even skip No. 29 on my second playthrough…
LikeLike
I never thought BigHit would drop a disappointment bigger than that of Cortis’ debut. This is quite possibly their worst comeback yet.
Flat 5 for me
LikeLiked by 2 people
Is this an April fools joke or not cause why tf is hybe promoting such a bland track as a follow up?
LikeLiked by 5 people
You might be on to something here.
LikeLike
The promotional rollout here has been puzzling to say the least. This is like, maybe the only song from the album that I haven’t seen any fans name as a favorite.
LikeLiked by 3 people
it’s a 60 second interlude stretched out to a song. Not moody and/or stupid enough for me. So pass. But, damn, Jin, you worked hard on hiatus.
LikeLike
Hmm. Well at least they gave their fans a decent music video with choreography scenes (as opposed to Swim.) Their stage presence as a group is still pretty much unmatched in the industry imo, so I’m glad they were able to show that off more here. As for the song itself… 😬 there’s nothing I can say about it that hasn’t already been said. I feel like I wasn’t even able to give it a fair chance, because I can’t see the title “2.0” without the Close Your Eyes b-side of the same title instantly playing in my head, and that’s not really a fair comparison. 😂 So now I’m gonna use this as an opportunity to shamelessly promote my favs and say if y’all haven’t seen the 2.0 stage CYE just did on Show Champion, you should watch it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7RN9jI1Az30&pp=ygUVQ3llIDIuMCBzaG93IGNoYW1waW9u
LikeLike
i’m not an stan/anti or whatever but my god listening to this hurts. did BTS make better music in their earlier days?
LikeLike
well, i can’t say this is my favorite song on the album, but it certainly isnt 5.75 bad
then again, bts are my ults so im guaranteed to have a huge bias for anything they put out, even if its a sound im not that much of a fan of
LikeLiked by 1 person
They picked the worst song on the album for the 2nd MV 😭 I thought they’d do “One More Night”, or at least “Animals” or “Body to Body”, but they’ll probably go with “Into the Sun” next!
LikeLike
well on the bright side NiziU released possibly their best single! Listening to that to cleanse my ears from this nothing burger.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I honestly thought the song was solid I’m just not a fan of the lyrics and some of Jin and Jimin’s vocals. The music video and choreography are excellent but the longevity might not be great because of the lyrics
I’d give it a 7.75 or 8
LikeLiked by 1 person
your ratings are always really high lol. it seems like you’re rating between 5 and 10, where 5 is bad and 10 is perfect and 7.5 is mid, with each 0.25 being significant?
LikeLike
(based on your descriptions of how much you like the track)
personal rating: 3/10 maybe? It’s not awful… I think? It’s just a bit whatever ig?? It’s so incredibly processed in a way that doesn’t seem to have any good reason behind it and it doesn’t really have any stand out parts. not the worst thing ever though
LikeLike
I’m less mad at this than I am at Swim and I think the difference is:
This is a bad BTS song.
Swim is just a nothing song.
At least there’s something of the BTS flavor here.
LikeLike