#im SO happy they asked about SMFS

[vampylily]

pete on so much for stardust. (x)

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Hi, I know you're resting now, I wanted to share my opinion about the album. I noticed that there are five tracks in Face and they are so similar to the 5 stages of acceptance. What do you think about it? Perhaps my question is incoherent, I am writing it through a google translate.

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Ask 2: FACCE IS SAURRR GOOODD!! 😭😭😭 WHEN IS THE REVIEW BPP?

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Ask 3: Which remix is your fav?? I think beans and toast won this won

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Ask 4: Bpp Imma need to go to SK and hold Jm hostage…I need him to make more music…Im going crazy Hes not my bias or my bias wrecker but hes wrecked me…I cant believe that he made my soty my aoty…I just wish the album had more songs…Like crazy is crazy good!!!!

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Ask 5: BPP, hi!

I was hoping JM would show us a bit of his true self in his new album. And did he, huh? That MV and song reeks of homosexuality. I know it's simething ARMYs do not talk about. But... What do you think?

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Ask 6: So did Jimin really end kpop for you BPP? Which song is you’re favourite? ☺️ He’s blown my mind at least. It’s Instant AOTY for me!!!!!! I hope Like Crazy is promoted really harf because I think it has really good potential It’s my favorite in the album ☺️

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Hi Anon(s),

Before we get into it...

...I have a bone to pick with Jimin.

I don’t understand what Jimin thinks he’s doing not putting Letter on Apple Music or Spotify. Like, why does he think that’s a good idea? Does anybody know? This song is so perfect - Jimin's lush vocals harmonizing with Jung Kook's is beautiful - Letter needs to be available on as many platforms as possible. See, these are the kind of choices the tannies make that just causes me to laugh because yeah these hidden songs are 'gifts to fans' but it's also a crime against all that is good and honest in this world to keep it off channels those fans will gladly pay for? The fact Ddaeng is still stuck in Soundcloud purgatory is reason enough to kidnap Bang PD's nephew and sell him to the mafia, far as I'm concerned. The only reasons I haven't done it yet because kidnapping is illegal in my country, the Cosa Nostra require a blood oath, and Jin wouldn't like delays to his game update.

Letter is Promise all grown up, a little wiser and more developed, and I hope in every subsequent album Jimin releases for the rest of his career, that there is a version of Promise, a song that feels like Jimin - comforting, easy, warm, simple, and beautiful. Listening to it I'm so thankful Jimin exists. (Yes Jimin, I'm that fan who is simply happy you're alive - Pixid reference, so for anyone who hasn't watched it yet I've linked it here).

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FACE is a solid 8.1 / 10.

(Are you streaming?)

It's a great thing Jimin has been so forthcoming in talking about the process and his reasons for making the album, the songs on it, as well as how he had key input on the choreography. I strongly suggest everyone watch his live (linked here - I should probably also mention the English subs aren't up yet, just FYI). Jimin has been very clear about what he's communicating in FACE so I won't tarry on it.

My favourite songs in order of least to most:

5) Like Crazy

4) Face Off

3) Letter

2) Alone

1) Set Me Free Pt 2

Something about each song in reverse order with the exception of Letter - for Letter, see mafia case above.

Set Me Free Pt 2

This is the best song on the album.

Alone

There are two reasons why SMF Pt 2 comes out on top over Alone though Alone in many ways is the superior song. (1) The production (including the use of autotune) in SMF Pt 2 is incredible, and (2) because Alone ends on too disturbing a note for me to dwell on, knowing that it has come from Jimin.

Everything about Alone is perfect. The way the song begins with piano, then guitar, and then drums. Jimin’s voice. That man’s voice seriously fucks with my head. It’s the way I feel every time Yoongi twitches his voice when he’s being particularly nasty. Or anytime I hear Joon’s adlibs in a song. Or what happens in my head every time Hoseok slathers his vocal inflections with grit. I don’t know if I’m making sense, but what I mean to say is that Jimin’s voice during the entire song feels like a gift. It draws you in. And then you hear what he’s singing about...

It’s heartbreaking.

I can’t abide the thought that this is something Jimin went through recently, and that I relate in a very personal way. The emotions expressed in Alone feel too raw, too scary, and too real, and while that could point to a worrying state of mind in its author, I think Jimin’s idiosyncratic bluntness and clarity of speech in Alone shows the state of someone who still reflects often, is self-aware and also resilient.

Still, it’s a sad song to hear, an even sadder one to sing, but it is one of the most powerful and beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.

(He's a problem)

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Face Off

I appreciate the vision Jimin had for this song. Starting with the gag of him playing the Flea Waltz in the intro - the song the members have teased Jimin with repeatedly by saying it's the only song Jimin knows how to play on the piano - Jimin used that common (good-natured) taunt and then weaponized it in a song putting those who have crossed him in their place. It's clear by the second verse when Jimin raps that he's pushing himself to express what he means in as many ways as possible. He's challenging himself and sending a message, and that I can respect.

Anon in ask 1 who talked about the album showing the five stages of grief, I agree sort of. If we were to assign a response to each song, I'd say...

Face Off is Anger

Like Crazy - Denial (though bargaining works too)

Alone - Depression

Letter - Acceptance

(PJM2 will be madness)

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Like Crazy

This is my least favourite song on the album because it never really develops, but it's also not supposed to. Jimin has said he wanted to express a dreamlike state in Like Crazy, and he does that impeccably well. The song leans into its 80s groove, heavy padded synths, something reminiscent of if Foster The People and The Weeknd made a song together. The thing about dreamlike states is that they lull your mind, and one easy way to create that effect is repetition and monotony. Think about why someone trying to hypnotize someone else tries to keep their voice steady, calm, and monotone. So, many times listening to Like Crazy I wanted the song to go somewhere, to become fuller or less predictable, but that would kill the trance so it didn't. While it's not my preference, I can appreciate Jimin's commitment to the idea of the song.

It's a great track even then. I sometimes listen to it right after Big Man, Little Dignity by Paramore.

Speaking of Like Crazy, there's been much ado about about Jimin's sexuality, queer-coding, etc in the song and so Anon in ask 5, I see where you're coming from.

Jimin is queer. I don't know what else there is to say about it or why even the mere possibility of Jimin being queer should generate the amount of fuss/discourse it does. It's possible I'm wrong of course, but like you Anon I don't think I saw Jimin even stand straight once during the entire MV. There’s not a single straight thing about this guy.

For the sticklers, perhaps the more diplomatic way of saying it is, 'many of us strongly suspect Jimin is queer.'

(What a stunner)

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Jimin seems very pleased with his first album and this is my favourite thing about the last few weeks. Watching him for the last nine years, it's gratifying to see how he has fully embraced himself, his limitations, his pride, his vices, his virtues... Jimin is a strong tenacious person and in making this album, he turned that intensity inwards, towards learning to love himself. The result is five great tracks, and I'm eager to see what more he will show us in the future.

[thekidsarentalright]

You don’t need to answer this but you have reinvigorated my love for abap. I was 13 when I first got into fob because of srar. Not only wqs abap the first album that fob released that I was around for, it’s the first album that I actively waited for the release for. I woke up every single day and listened to it for a month after it came out, sometimes it would be the only thing that kept me wanting to wake up. My first fob show ended up being the tour for that album. As more fob albums came out and as I discovered more of their backlist in my teens, the compulsion to listen to abap at every chance died off. Eventually, I found myself skipping the songs when they came on because I had listened to them so many times. I wasn’t a part of bandom when mania released but I was when smfs was announced, which was around the time I started following you. You blogging about your love for abap plus the excitement of smfs coming out reminded me just how important abap is to me and my love for fob. I don’t want to lie to you and say that it’s my undisputed fave, but I could say that about any of the albums tbh. What I will say is that abap is the fob album that saved my life and you helped me to remember that 💙🤍🖤

this was such a lovely ask to get oh my goodness 🥺🥺🥺 i am so so glad to hear i played any part in u remembering your love for such an important album to you, abap Also saved my life and that is part of why i so fiercely love it, some days it was really my only reason for waking up so im right there with you, and am happy your love for it/fob has reignited, that’s such a beautiful & special thing 💙🤍🖤