Track Assessment: BTS – Hooligan

The marketing campaign for BTS’s ARIRANG album continues unabated with the discharge of one other music video. This time, Hooligan will get its time within the highlight. This observe was promoted with dance challenges even earlier than the debut of its video, making it really feel like a co-lead observe with Swim. For these trying to recapture the boisterous power of BTS’s previous, this may be the track for you. Nonetheless, I discover it one of many lesser choices from an already underwhelming album.

Proper from the beginning, Hooligan hinges on just a few sonic gimmicks, from jeering laughter to the sound impact of sharpened swords. On this approach, it jogs my memory of a Stray Youngsters track (and no, I’m not making an attempt to start out a fan conflict for the ages!). This brash opening is sort of instantly softened by a strings-heavy observe that blends old-school instrumentation with fashionable influences. Given a greater track, I think about this distinction might be fairly compelling. It jogs my memory of the mid-00s, when hip-hop began to drag closely from retro soul samples.

Sadly, Hooligan isn’t all that improbable of a track. The refrain is sort of obnoxious even earlier than its incessant snickering. I recognize how the circulation of the verses is extra numerous and nuanced than the monotony of 2.0, however an excessive amount of of the observe feels downright torpid. That is at odds with Hooligan‘s taunting power and rapidly turns into uninspired. There are just a few moments of melodic heat that work properly underpinned by these seesawing strings samples, however total Hooligan is a hodgepodge of concepts that by no means totally click on collectively. It’s in all probability greatest performed in ten second snippets on TikTok and different SNS platforms.

Grade: C