Song Review: BTS – Normal | The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion

BTS have been drip-feeding music videos from their comeback album Arirang, releasing the most recent ones as Spotify premium exclusives. This limits their audience to paying Spotify listeners (which I am not), but they’ve also uploaded the new mv for Normal on YouTube, thus earning them a write-up here.

I can’t say I’m excited for more content surrounding Arirang. It’s an album I disliked upon release and now choose to ignore. However, these days it’s nice to see any artist milk an album past its initial promo cycle. I’m so hungry for proper album eras again. They’re just not a reality in the streaming age. It used to be so fun to sit down with an album and wonder which songs would eventually be chosen as singles. In this case, I can understand why Normal was picked for promotion. It’s one of the more easily-digestible, pop-minded efforts on the album and features a pretty heavy-handed Ryan Tedder collaboration.

As with many Tedder efforts, Normal builds itself atop a plodding, rock-adjacent beat. This guy has made “plodding anthemic” (is that an oxymoron?) his core sound for decades, and that continues here. The production is a bit rougher around the edges, aiming for an alternative edge. However, it lacks the big moments of catharsis featured in both his and BTS’s best work. Instead, the song plays in a loop, repeating the same melodic refrain over and over with little variation. This is no doubt intentional given the lyrical content, but it becomes a rather dull listen after the first minute or so. And while I’ve enjoyed BTS’s polarizing vocals in the past, I find the effects-heavy execution on Normal too muddled. It gives the song a mushy texture that feels at odds with the song’s confessional tone.

Hooks	8
Production	7
Longevity	7
Bias	7
RATING	7.25

Grade: C

10 thoughts on “Song Review: BTS – Normal”

all i can say is i did enjoy arirang, especially after i reset my expectations for the album given it was nothing like how i thought it would be, most of the songs would be in the low to mid 8s, a few 7s, and some 8.75s

this one is a straight 8 for me

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I’m so pleased my favorite song off Arirang was chosen as the second single! This one immediately stood out to me upon first listen because of the epic chorus melody. It feels like pure anthemic pop that was built for the audience to sing along to. The production is pretty simple and doesn’t do much to enhance the song, but I don’t mind much when the hooks are this fantastic. The second verse with the three rappers is a nice switch up because of their unique vocal tones, and I love how the harmonies in the chorus toward the end of the song give a heightened energy that wasn’t there at the beginning. Having had 4 months to let this one marinate, I can confidently give it a 9.25 (9, 8, 10, 10).

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“However, these days it’s nice to see any artist milk an album past its initial promo cycle. I’m so hungry for proper album eras again. They’re just not a reality in the streaming age. It used to be so fun to sit down with an album and wonder which songs would eventually be chosen as singles.”

Now I’m interested. Could somebody tell which artists and eras of pop used to do this or maybe some artists that still do extra promotions after the album is released like proper album eras today? It could be an k-pop artist or pop. I just want to know what they did and how did they did it.

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shuhui says:

July 19, 2026 at 8:11 am

Most recent that I could think of is Pinkpantheress, Charli XCX, and Zara Larsson with their remix albums. Charli and Pink especially saw renewed success with their remixed counterparts and ultimately prolonged the initial lifespand of their respective albums (ie. Guess Featuring Billie Eilish for BRAT and Stateside with Zara Larsson for Fancy Some More?)

For the more traditional approach, I’d say a Sabrina Carpenter when she released the deluxe version of Short N’ Sweet with that (frankly, quite awful) Dolly Parton remix of Please, Please, Please.

This used to be norm in past eras of music (pre-streaming) since traditional media pretty much has the say on whether or not an artist, track, or single gets through the public conscience through mass media and such.

It’s really quite uncommon to see modern day popstars promote post-release singles, specifically since in the streaming age listeners could really just cherry pick a particular track to go viral so an established artist generally doesn’t have to do much atp, but there is a resurgence of acts actively trying to promote post-release.

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Hi! I’m a long-time reader, but commenting for the first time. I have found many new songs and groups thanks to you.

This has become my favorite from Arirang, so I’m very happy to see it get a MV. I’ve heard the majority of BTS’ discography (they’re the group I’m most familiar with), and this would still be very high up for me. I’d rate it a 9.

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