DISCLAIMER:

THIS POST IS NOT MEANT TO TARGET ANY SPECIFIC MEMBER OF BTS, ARMY, OR TO MAKE MYSELF SOUND SUPERIOR AS IF I'M THE MOST TALENTED AND EXPERIENCED MUSICIAN IN THE INDUSTRY (I'm not even IN the industry yet).

THIS BLOG POST IS MERELY MEANT TO SHARE MY TWO CENTS ON THE TOPIC OF THE LINE DISTRIBUTION OF BTS' NEWEST TITLE TRACK, BASED ON MY CURRENT KNOWLEDGE IN MUSIC, AND TO SHOUT OUT TO THE PRODUCTION TEAM FOR MAKING SUCH A SPLENDID SONG.

SHOULD ANYONE INSIST THAT I'M BEING STUPID AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M SAYING, I WILL NOT ATTACK THE SAID PERSON DIRECTLY AS I'M NOT AS ED UP LIKE THAT – INSTEAD, I WILL JUST KEEP ON EXPLAINING UNTIL MY MESSAGE IS PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD. IF YOU STILL DISAGREE WITH ME AT THE END OF THE DAY, THEN OKAY, I'LL ADMIT DEFEAT, AND WE'LL ALL CONTINUE WITH OUR LIVES.

I'm referring to one of the huge arguments I got caught into in the comments section of this video

I sincerely hope this reaches out to the entire community because yall should know by now to think rationally and not make a fool out of yourselves by not being able to read and comprehend something that I have purposely elaborated w o r d b y w o r d

Here I'll just quote what happened in the comments and you'll hopefully understand why I'm frustrated and angry enough to even make a blog post even though I have one whole ing bossa nova solo to transcribe by tomorrow

ORIGINAL COMMENT, aka the comment that started it all:

If we're going to talk about Yoongi's lines, we might as well talk about Jhope's and the whole raplines actually- aaah what do you know? Raplines usually have the least amount of lines in kpop songs so it's totally logical for the rapline to have the least lines and tbh this is a fair distribution for a song like that. BYE.

MY FIRST COMMENT (modified to correct some typos):

I wouldn't call this a 'fair' distribution, I would call it a 'justified' distribution.

It's not fair because not everybody in the song got the same amount of measures/bars in the song, but the distribution is justified because based on the arrangement and the structure of this song, it's not very likely for the rappers to have more lines. Keep in mind that this song technically has only 2 verses without a bridge, and honestly even if there was a bridge, the vocal line will still dominate the song because of this arrangement.

It's not exactly a fair distribution among all 7 members, but I could reason with it because this was compensated by the amount of lines V and Jin got this time, which is rare by itself. I believe BTS knows what they're doing when they select their tracks, and I trust their decision to give the vocalists more chances in this song, because honestly I can't really imagine how the song would be like if the rappers had more lines

DUMB PERSON #1:

you’ll never have a “fair” distribution this song focuses on vocal how would the rap line get the same about of time as the vocal line when this song obviously is very vocal plus the main reason why the vocals got so much time was for the chorus so shut up if the were equal it’s be a really ty song and feel forced

(in which I replied saying that this is why I never said this song had a fair distribution, and then they ing replied saying it wAs)

DUMB PERSON #2:

do you actually expect a group with multiple members will have fair equal parts in their songs? with the same amount of time and measurement that u were saying??

In which, I replied, in a very impatient manner because I was THAT pissed:

i have never once implied that this song was disappointing because not everyone had the same amount of measures

I literally said that the line distribution of this song makes sense because the arrangement of the song has already decided that the vocal line will get more lines and hence I think that the distribution is justified because I do not see a bloody problem with it

Before I get into the analysis, I really just want to ask one question and listen to your opinions:

Read the sentences in red: did I really sound like I was disappointed in the line distribution and insisted that the lyrics distribution should have been 'fairer'? Was it so prone to misunderstanding that two people shot back at me for 'calling out on the lack of fairness in line distribution'? Sometimes I just want to support something that is right but apparently people always misunderstand me and think I'm the wrong one and honestly now I am very confused myself

Now I am going to explain what I meant by e v e r y s i n g l e w o r d in my comment

People who are involved with many many ARMYs on social media will most probably see a few people, or up to a ing mob of people, depending on your luck, complaining about the 'unfair' distribution of lines in this song.

The argument was simple: Suga and J-Hope had only half of a verse each, whereas the vocal line literally carried the entire song throughout.

I've been listening to a lot of BTS since 2015, and even though I haven't completely analysed every single track in this comeback, I can already see (or, perhaps the more accurate word, hear) a lot of interesting stuff in Fake Love that they have never done before this, and these include:

• obviously, Jin and V has SO MUCH MORE LINES NOW
• Unlike previous comebacks where at least either V or Jin will have less lines than at least one rapper, all 4 vocalists have sung more than the rappers
• Jin is singing the highest note in the melody line of this song, aka a C5, instead of Jungkook
• I don't know if this had been done previously because I rarely check out videos on hidden vocals (except this time because I opened a collab), but some of the harmonies and extra effects were not sung by the corresponding singers; i.e. the doubles for V's "Love it's so mad, love it's so mad" was sung by Jungkook and not V himself

but we're not going to talk about the last point, since the main topic of this blog post is the line distribution.

IT'S NOT FAIR. FAIR IS NOT THE RIGHT WORD.

The dictionary definition of fair, according to Google, is 'treating people equally without favouritism or discrimination', or to be put in this context, 'dividing all of the lines equally among the 7 members of BTS'.

And that obviously did not happen, because at I said and as everyone can see/listen for yourselves, the song is dominated by the vocal line.

BUT

I believe the distribution of lines is JUSTIFIED.

Justified, as defined by Google, is 'having, done for, or marked by a good or legitimate reason', or in this situation, as I would paraphrase it, 'makes ing sense and the the producer/lyricist/whoeverwasinchargeofthis' intention of distributing the lines like this is understood'.

Why do I say so?

Firstly, this song literally has 3. ing. Hooks. Or choruses. I honestly don't know which part of the song is called what because the arrangement of the components are just so random. These 'hooks' (I'll just call them hooks for now) are:

1. "Neol wihaeseoramyeon",
2. "I'm so sick of this Fake Love", and
3. "Love you so bad, love you so bad"

And honestly looking at these three sections I can already tell there is NO WAY, EVEN IF SOMEONE TRIES TO REARRANGE THE SONG (unpopular opinion: I think that those people who make these 'amendments' on Youtube have literally nothing better to do, I think it's pretty disrespectful), THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE VOCALISTS' LINES AND RAPS CAN BE ACHIEVED.

What this song lacks, compared to every other song by BTS, is a bridge.

The verses (by the rappers, plus the "I don't know I don't know I don't know why" by, again, the vocalists) are there, the 3 hooks/1 prechorus + 1 chorus + 1 hook/ihaveseriouslynoingideacananyoneelsecorrectme are there, two of the hooks are treated as the intro and outro of the song. Yeah, they're only missing a bridge.

I arrange piano covers, and I also used to arrange scores for our string ensemble back in high school, so I like to analyse song structures, chords, melodies, harmonies, and whatnot. This is partially why I was very interested in Fake Love because the arrangement of the structure of the song is just sO uNcOnVeNtIoNaL. Here's how it looks like:

• Hook 1
• Hook 2
• Verse 1
• Hook 1
• Hook 3
• Hook 2
• Verse 2
• Verse 2 extension*
• Hook 3
• Hook 2
• Hook 1

I've honestly never seen something as confusing as this in the K-pop industry. But if you do know songs with interesting forms, do leave them in the comments, it's literally for educational purposes.

You think Twice's Signal was unconventional? At least that song still kind of followed the typical verse-prechorus-hook-verse-prechorus-hook form. This song, cRaZy.

The reason why I put an asterisk beside verse 2 extension is because you can debate that this is actually the bridge of the song. Actually, now that I think of it, it's pretty likely to be the bridge.

But hey, who sang the bridge? Vocal line.

It's already decided, when you look at the form, that there is no way the rappers are going to get a similar amount of lines as the vocalists. Even if you go back to the typical ABABCB form that eVeRy pOp sOnG nOwAdAyS use, the fact that the bridge is supposed to bring a sense of harmonial contrast to the rest of the song (normally by toning it down, so that you can add gradual effects and make the last chorus/hook explode), it's not very likely that the rapper line will get the ENTIRE BRIDGE. It's probably going to be something like, IDK, Suga gets 2 lines, then Jin/V gets the remaining 2 lines to complete the phrase. Supposedly, IF they do get the entire bridge, I'm vErY sure the composer would try to smoothen the transition by adding either THIS bridge, or hook 1 after the rap, and in the emd vocal line is still going to have more lines.

Let me know if you think otherwise, and share what you have in your head, and we'll discuss our opinions further.

So yes, you can be sad that Suga and J-Hope have very little lines (I mean, who wasn't sad when RM had only 2 lines in BST, or when Jin sang almost NOTHING in Not Today?), but you are in NO POSITION to question the validity of, complain about, or even boycott the song just because Jin had more lines, or V had more lines, or the entire vocal line had twice the amount of lines that the rappers got. You are not BTS, you are not the composer and arranger, if you don't know why they're doing this, then don't risk making yourself look immature. Remember back in WINGS era when RM was interviewed about his lack of lines, and he said it was "a chance for the other members to shine".
 

TL; DR – Fake Love is a good song albeit being very confusing (and frankly, kind of repetitive) due to the structure of the song, and it is the structure of the song that basically created this whole unnecessary debate. Nonetheless, there's is not much room for one to question why the amount of the rappers' lines were significantly outnumbered by the vocalists', because it is the arrangement of the song that caused it to be so. And this is not a reason for someone to dislike a song. Music is meant to be valued and appreciated based on its quality, and not based on who gets more spotlight. Show some respect, be mature, and make the world a better place.

p/s: I am open to all forms of constructive criticism and further debate on the topic of whether the distribution should be deemed 'fair' or 'justified'. Should anyone who have achieved a higher level of music education see any misused terms in this blog post, feel free to correct me – I'm still learning and we all want to improve.