Jimin – ‘Muse’ review: in the mood for love

‘Muse’, the second solo album from BTS star Jimin, opens with the heavy thump of a heartbeat. As that pulse continues to contract and thud, notes twinkle and sparkle round it as in the event that they’re casting a spell over the singer. It’s an introduction loaded with magic, the aural equal of Jennifer Garner being sprinkled with enchanted mud in 13 Going On 30. It’s not ageing that Jimin’s after right here, although, however romance. “Yeah, I would like an actual good love,” he sings moments in a while ‘Rebirth (intro)’. “I’m looking for that love.”

Arriving practically a year-and-a-half after his record-breaking debut solo album, ‘Muse’ feels prefer it’s flipped the change on ‘Face’. That first file was far moodier, charting the rollercoaster journey of going through as much as your internal self and tackling the nice and unhealthy of that tussle. It was characterised by a push and pull between mild and darkish that’s largely absent right here, however ‘Muse’ nonetheless captures an ambivalent stress, if way more delicate.

You may really feel it in the best way Jimin sings of affection, distinctly completely different between the 2 halves of this album. On the primary, he’s caught up within the giddy first throes of a relationship and pours that into songs that veer from exuberant to tender. ‘Smeraldo Backyard Marching Band’ – loosely impressed by The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Membership Band’ – captures the previous feeling, oozing pleasure and lightheartedness.

Usually, distant cheers punctuate Jimin’s traces, and there are little goofy moments, like when he shares an invite to “speak about us” in a pinched voice, that mirrors the silliness that comes when love has acquired you dizzy. There’s one other lowkey nod to the Fab 4 in his admission of “I wanna maintain your hand”, whereas rapper Loco’s dynamic visitor verse provides to the tune’s boundless, brilliant nature.

That playfulness begins earlier than ‘Smeraldo Backyard Marching Band’ comes into view. It’s preceded by an interlude monitor, ‘Showtime’, that calls again to ‘Face’’s ‘Face-off’ in its oompah brass melody and ends with Jimin taking over the function of an extravagant MC introducing his fictional band.

Brass additionally performs a lowkey however divine function within the closing monitor of ‘Muse’’s first half. Till its closing minute, ‘Gradual Dance’ takes the type of a nice R&B monitor, coursing on a fingerpicked guitar line and seeing Jimin swap verses with US singer Sofia Carson, “cheek to cheek” as they glide by a “final romance” collectively. On the finish of Carson’s breathily delivered contribution, the brass hits and – only for a second – lifts the tune into heavenly territory.

The second half of ‘Muse’ takes a special tact, each in the best way it speaks about love and in how a lot hope it accommodates. Gone are the dreamy, cheerful sounds, changed by one thing sultrier. ‘Be Mine’ takes a direct path, Jimin confidently telling a companion, “I do know what you need / Child, I would like the identical”, earlier than commanding them to “Child come, child come / Present me what, present me what love is”. As he does so, Latin guitars intertwine with a low-slung Afrobeat basis, taking the singer’s hunt into the evening.

‘Who’, in the meantime, travels again to the height of noughties R&B as its creator tries to determine who his coronary heart is eager for. It’s rife with confusion – “Is she one thing that I see day-after-day? / Is she someplace a thousand miles away?” he ponders at one level – and you may really feel the primary moments of despair creeping into the combination. “If day-after-day I take into consideration her […] Then inform me why haven’t I discovered her?” Jimin asks, little question echoing the ideas of a society continually swiping left and proper however nonetheless struggling to search out the one.

All of it ends with a fast detour again to the heartfelt feeling of the primary half with fan tune ‘Nearer Than This’ – a candy, if saccharine, ode to BTS’ followers, ARMY. On the floor, it doesn’t fairly match the narrative throughout the remainder of the file – the pursuit of affection and getting combined up in your mission to search out it. However, amid Jimin’s guarantees to “by no means allow you to go”, maybe there’s a lesson for all of us: there are a lot of varieties of affection we should always nurture, not simply the ardent sort.

‘Muse’, then, is each a practical and romantic seek for one thing extra. It takes fewer dangers than ‘Face’ however kinds a cohesive, polished complete, guided by Jimin and his cohort of producers – from shut collaborators Pdogg, GHSTLOOP and EVAN to large names like Jon Bellion and Ryan Tedder. Given it was created across the similar time as his solo debut, it’s laborious to name it a step on, however as a substitute digs deeper into one other aspect of the place his sound may find yourself.