When I was younger, my lucky number was 7. At first, it was simply an evidence. I was born on the 7th, so I figured that’s the only number that I could think of that had any meaning associated to it. Because we humans are creatures of meaning, aren’t we? To me, the day I was born must mean something. And so 7 became (or always was?) my lucky number.
But truly, it wasn’t 7 that was important. Now that 7 was my lucky number, luck followed it inevitably, because I created that luck myself. 7 was no longer a number to me, because I had poured in it meaning ; luck. 7 became a part of me as well. I answered happily, when people asked me what my lucky number was, that it was seven, and it felt right. So when, years later, I discovered BTS, and fell in love with their music, it too just felt right.
7 is my lucky number, but it’s also the number of BTS members, and, in 2020, both the number of years they had existed as a group, and the title of their album, Map of the Soul : 7. I remember it clearly. I had became an ARMY in 2019, right after the release of their album Map of the Soul : Persona, and so I had been waiting all this time for their new album. I felt giddy just thinking about it. In 2019, BTS had already become my most listened to artist of all time, even though I had had my Spotify account for years, and that I only discovered them in May. I remember thinking to myself that artist soulmates must exist, when they write music that connects with you so strongly. This is how I felt with them. The melodies they created felt so perfect for me. And so, when Map of the Soul : 7 dropped, I woke up at 4am to listen to it, and when I finished it I put the album back at the beginning, when I had to go get the bus to go to my 8am class I kept listening to it, and then I cried in the bus as the last notes of the before last song ended, a quiet promise, “We are not seven with you” (We are Bulletproof : the Eternal).
This album immediately became so important to me. And 7 became a link between me and BTS. That this number was so important to BTS, and that it had been important to me all my life, made my feeling that 7 was special to me even stronger. 7, to BTS, was much more than a number. At the time that the album came out, 7 had become a symbol of their journey, their path that they had created and walked on to arrive right here. 7 was also a symbol of their devotion to themselves as a group, but also to us, who were listening. 7 as an album was a promise and a stand, both introspective and affirmative. 7 said, we are here, we are BTS, this is our journey, this is us. From Louder than Bombs’ “Louder than bombs I break / The pains I pour down”, and Black Swan’s “If this can no longer make me cry / If this can no longer make my heart flutter / Perhaps, this will be how I die once” to ON’s “There’s no way that I’m not afraid / There’s no way that everything is okay / But, I know / Awkwardly, I flow / With that black wind, I fly” and “Bring the pain on”, BTS present in this album both their fears and their dreams, their hurt and their healing, their sorrow and their joy. And this is how 7 is a promise. 7 tells of their hardships to get where they are now, but 7 also serves as a reminder of how they managed to go through them, which is as 7 members, as BTS. As so, Louder than Bombs’ last chorus manages to define the whole’s album mission :
Louder than bombs I sing / I promise to you and myself / No matter what kind of waves strike / We will endlessly sing towards you / Louder than bombs I sing
7 is the result of a group who cares about their music, about each other, and about those who listen. Even more ; Map of the soul : 7 is an album about, and by BTS. It tells of their story and of themselves, in all its complexities. From the solo songs to the subunit songs, which are all so different yet so… BTS, to the group songs with diverse messages, 7 is exactly as it is presented.
In We are Bulletproof : the Eternal, BTS sings this : “Tell me your every story / Tell me why you don’t stop this / Tell me why you’re still walking with us”. To this question, that they ask the listener, but that they also ask themselves, Map of the Soul : 7 is the answer. Why? Because my hurts will hurt, but my joys will be strong too. Because I’m scared of losing what makes my heart beat in this world, but that while I have it, I will not let go. Because I have you. Because you make me see all the love there is to see in this world. You make me want to live beautifully.
Why are we still walking on this path, with all its twists and turns that make us fall, why do we always get up when it hurts? Map of the Soul : 7 answers quietly and yet decisively. Because this is us, and this is our story.
And I think of 7, my lucky number ever since I was a kid, and I think of my story too, now forever intertwined with BTS’, and I’ve never really believed in fate, but if I did, I believe this is how it would feel like.
Thank you for two years, Map of the Soul : 7.
All lyric translations are from Doolsetbangtan : https://doolsetbangtan.wordpress.com/
