Hey! Hallie here!
I haven’t talked about “My Universe” yet, primarily because I wasn’t sure what exactly to talk about, but I really can’t help myself. The song is amazing and now we have behind the scenes content to talk about as well! All of that is exciting on it’s own, but it doesn’t really capture the excitement a bunch of us are feeling after the concert announcement we got today. The Permission to Dance On Stage concert that was announced, which initially was announced as a virtual concert, will have four live days in LA. Don’t get your hopes up too fast though. For all of us who are interested in this concert, there’s a lot of things to keep in mind. I have many opinions on all of it so let’s get started!
“My Universe”:
Coldplay was so respectful of BTS during the entire process of releasing this song. Before the song released, Chris Martin interviewed BTS for one of their “Permission to Dance” projects. I’ve talked about this interview before, but it was really adorable. It consisted mostly of Chris Martin And BTS trading compliments back and forth. Next we saw that Coldplay decided to make BTS an equal collaborator rather than labeling them as a featured artist. Looking at the artist who released the song will give you “Coldplay X BTS”. It’s a small gesture, but an extremely important one. Then Coldplay flew to South Korea to work with BTS. In the behind the scenes footage we learned that Chris Martin took over most of the directing for the song. The song was a vision he had come up with himself and was very proud of, so it made sense that he took the reigns in deciding who sang what and how each line was delivered. However, the awe and admiration BTS had for Chris Martin was completely matched by the awe and admiration he had for them. Many of the members of BTS talked about watching Coldplay concert footage and listening to Coldplay frequently. For his part, Chris Martin spoke about how impressive he finds BTS’s music and sound. Watching them work together was lovely. Chris Martin was infectiously excited every time a member of BTS went into the booth. And all eight of them seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely when it came time for them to crowd around a microphone together. The song came out beautifully. Jungkook takes the pre-chorus for each verse and it’s impressive each time. Jimin accompanies him on some verses and uses his higher register to add depth to some of the hardest hitting parts of the song. Namjoon sings in this with Chris Martin and their voices are incredible together. Taehyung gets the beginning of a verse to himself and it’s clear his deeper register and calming sound fit the song perfectly. Jin interjects at times to add some really strong vocals to the verses. Hoseok and Yoongi get a verse to show off their rapping skills and they kill it as usual. I especially like how low and relaxing Hoseok’s part of the verse is. Everything about this song is worth praising.
Permission to Dance On Stage Concert:
This concert was announced as a virtual event in line with the other virtual concerts BTS has released during quarantine. But today BTS announced that they’ll have four live concerts in LA. This isn’t a tour. This is only four dates of BTS performing this concert in LA. It’s really exciting news! But keep a few things in mind. First, those who had concert tickets for the Map of the Soul tour that was cancelled get first priority here. Regardless of where they had tickets for. In other words, if you’re half a world away from this concert and can’t reasonably use the code Ticketmaster gave you to get early access to tickets for this, you’re out of luck. This is already frustrating a ton of people. Some are hoping that they’ll still get first priority to BTS’s next tour because it doesn’t make sense for them to travel all the way to LA. However, It seems like this will be the only effort to reach out to those who lost their concert tickets after the recent cancelation. This concert looks very much like it’s trying to appeal to the recently disappointed ARMY specifically, meaning both that they will have by far the best chance of filling seats in that stadium, and they likely won’t be granted something like this again when BTS does an actual tour. Next, in order to get tickets for this you NEED to hope that you’re selected for a presale date. Ticketmaster is already saying that the overwhelming amount of attention they will get for this concert likely means you won’t be getting a ticket if you don’t get selected for either the ARMY membership presale or the general verified fan presale. Those of us who are trying to get tickets for this will essentially be entered into a lottery to see if we can even attempt to buy tickets. And keep in mind, there are A TON of ARMY looking at this show. As I said before, this isn’t a tour. This is an event happening over only four days in only one location. That means there are going to be even more people competing for spots at this thing than anyone could possibly imagine, especially now that ARMY has grown over quarantine.
Should This Concert Even Be Happening?:
This is the question I’ve been seeing ARMY asking themselves on Twitter. Even with vaccination mandates at the stadium, is it safe? According to Hybe, they chose LA because they felt it’s one of the safest places to do a live event at the moment. They’re also taking every precaution they can. So it’s safe-ish. But know that there’s always risk in crowded areas. Next, shouldn’t BTS have done a performance in South Korea before they performed internationally? I was certainly hoping they would. Although we might have some things under better control in California, Americans are still extraordinarily dumb about getting the vaccine. Not only that, but BTS’s priorities for live events should absolutely surround their home country. Not just because they should be allowed to put their own heritage before the entertainment of the rest of the world, but also because traveling is still dangerous right now. For everyone. Having a concert in LA where anyone in the world, with the right amount of money, could get in isn’t safe. We’re going to have tons of people traveling to LA when traveling is still dangerous. This whole scenario could have been prevented if BTS kept their first live event to a concert in Korea where only South Korean residents were permitted. But Hybe decided on LA. All we can really do is hope the precautions they’re taking are enough for everyone.
And that’s it! As you can probably tell, I’m one of the many, many ARMYs who signed up for the presale events and is hoping to get to this BTS concert. While wearing a mask and bringing tons of hand sanitizer, of course. But there’s so much competition going into this concert. Much more than there will be once BTS does a full tour with multiple locations and tons more dates. Not that getting tickets for that will be easy either. I’m still excited though! And if I am let down, I’ll listen to “My Universe” on repeat to cheer myself up and then tune in virtually!
Don’t do anything fun until I get back!
Hallie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 