BTS PROOF – The Album We Didn’t Know We Needed

Everything went black; BTS had left the stage, and fans were applauding their affections, their ARMY bombs glowing in the darkness. The screen turned on, flashing images of BTS over the years, their history in thirty seconds. BTS’ voices pierced through the screaming: “We Are Bulletproof.” ARMY watched as the BTS logo grew into what we now know is the logo for PROOF. Then came the moment seen around the world: 2022.06.10.

After the encore of day four in Las Vegas, BTS announced their latest comeback, an anthology of BTS’ history with ARMY. Released on June 10, PROOF is the core of BTS’ history to date. Consisting of three CDs with 48 total tracks, PROOF has some of BTS’ greatest hits, solo/unit songs, three new songs, and several unreleased/special tracks. In addition, all songs on PROOF have been released in a surround sound, high-resolution format called Dolby Atmos, which provides a much more immersive experience than before.

Okay, enough with the technical stuff. Let’s break down these CDs a bit, shall we?

CD 1 – A Path of their Past

The first CD is what Big Hit Music is calling the “BTS Chronicle.” It consists of 19 songs including their title tracks in chronological order, beginning with No More Dream and ending with their latest, Yet To Come (The Most Beautiful Moment). Perhaps ARMY’s favorite feature of CD 1 is the inclusion of Born Singer, a song that many ARMYs know and have a deep affection for.

While it was unofficially released via only Soundcloud and BANGTANTV, Born Singer is an adapted version of J. Cole's song Born Sinner. While it has a similar format and composition as the original, the lyrics were re-written by RM, SUGA and j-hope. BTS’ recording from 2013 has been remastered and released officially as part of PROOF. It’s such a beautiful song and has been hailed by Randy Suh from Weverse Magazine as, “BTS and ARMY’s first anthem.” Check out their live performance from 2015 if you haven’t already.

CD 2 – Member-Selected Tracks

The second CD included in PROOF is a collection of 15 solo/sub-unit tracks selected by the members of BTS. According to Big Hit Music, “It is imbued with the septet’s own thoughts, emotions and stories.” The songs on this CD were meticulously chosen by BTS, and each member recorded a “Proof of Inspiration” video to share their thoughts with us.

V chose Singularity and 00:00 (Zero O’Clock); Jin wanted ARMY to revisit Moon and Jamais Vu; Jimin selected Filter and Friends; Jungkook added Euphoria and Dimple; RM decided on Intro: Persona and Stay; SUGA picked Trivia 轉: Seesaw and BTS Cypher Pt.3: Killer (Feat. Supreme Boi); and j-hope included Her and Outro: Ego.

In addition to these songs, a new track called 달려라 방탄 (Run BTS) is featured. Already an ARMY favorite, Run BTS was written by RM, SUGA, j-hope, and Jungkook, along with several others. An upbeat hip-hop genre song, Run BTS has sassy lyrics that feel like a diss to the haters.

CD 3 – Dedicated to ARMY

The final CD included in PROOF is a dedication to ARMY consisting of mostly unheard songs. It also includes tracks that members worked on before but had never released on previous albums, like Tony Montana, and demo versions of several hits from BTS’ younger years. This CD also includes three new-to-ARMY songs: Young Love, Quotation Mark, and For Youth.

Young Love, also known as Ambiguous Relationship (It’s Complicated), is sung by RM and Jungkook and is very aptly titled. It’s all about the feelings a young man has when he’s in love, or at least he thinks he is in love, but yeah, it’s complicated. Quotation Mark adds in some rap by j-hope and, not unlike Young Love, is about the feelings a young man has after he meets a girl, but regrets a few things.

For Youth is a love song for ARMY, to put it plainly. It doesn’t even begin with BTS; it begins with ARMY, perhaps as their way of reminding us how important we are to them. Once ARMY’s stanza of Young Forever is finished, BTS begin to sing some of the most beautiful lyrics, including Jungkook singing about ARMY being his best friend, and V telling us he will be with us for the rest of his life. Cue the tears, ARMY!

We hope you’ve had a chance to listen to PROOF in its entirety. It is clear that the entire anthology is special to BTS and that alone makes it special to ARMY. Enjoy it, ARMY, as we continue to be united with our purple thread. Borahae!

Written by: Marcie

Edited by: Sanam

Designed by: Achan

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