Kim Namjoon or RM of BTS is a rapper, producer, and songwriter of the South Korean pop group BTS. He has a few solo works including “RM” , his first solo album and “mono.” his second album that was released in 2018. 

BTS has seven members: Kim Namjoon, or RM; Kim Seokjin, or Jin; Min Yoongi, or Suga; Jung Hoseok, or j-hope; Park Jimin, or Jimin; Kim Taehyung, or V; and Jung Jungkook; or Jungkook.

The group is known the most for their English hit singles “Butter” and “Dynamite.”

Today I will be reviewing “mono.”. The album consists of seven tracks. “tokyo”, “seoul”, “moonchild”, “badbye”, “uhgood”, “everythingoes”, and “forever rain”

•  tokyo

Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0n1tb9KVIA

This song is very calming and it has a really deep meaning to it. I think Namjoon really constructed this song well. It really shows how much thought he puts into his art. It really shows how he feels lonely in this song and that he misses someone or himself. He really reflects on the meaning of what’s happened in his life and what he values the most. I really like the melody and how he puts rain in the back of the soundtrack.

• seoul

Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0n1tb9KVIA

English lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIFZety7bSI

I really like this song because it really shows what he misses about his hometown in Incheon, which is a city near Seoul, South Korea. He talks about love and hate a lot in this album and it really shows that he’s at a crossroads on where he wants to be in life. He wants to be at home, yet he wants to discover the world.

• moonchild

Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ntaxClfrA

English lyrics: https://youtu.be/Bgi-REzApJI

This song is about even if you are different, you still have a place to shine that people may not see. “Moonchild, you shine, when moonrise, it’s your time.” RM reminds us that even if you might break down or fail, you still have a chance. I like that he gives people a beacon of hope in this song. This song has helped me through a lot and it’s still one of my favorite songs to this day.

• badbye

Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfScRiTF2D8

I feel like this song is about a breakup or he got ghosted because the first lyrics are “bad, bad bye, no goodbye.” This song is very deep for it being only about a minute. He is afraid of losing people and it’s really reflected here.

• uhgood

Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVKkULcHUPI

This song is about working on yourself, but even it feels lonely to be by yourself. All you need is you, but sometimes you need someone else. RM does a good job of expressing feeling alone in this song. I like the keyboard in the background. It really gives a feeling of what the song is trying to express. 

• everythingoes

Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5iSZ7ff-i8

I personally cry every time this song comes on. It’s about how one day everything will cease to exist. The song says there is hope to still exist but you have to stay strong for it. I like how RM added NELL in this song. (NELL is a Korean rock group formed in 2001.) 

• forever rain

Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Jnx901WRM

This song is about how RM wants to live in a slower world and he wants to be able to hide his sadness in the rain and have people not notice him. He talks about how he feels alone, but when it rains he feels he has friends. I like how he adds the vocals in at the end. “영원히 rain” (“yeongwonhi rain” or “forever rain”) I feel like this song has a good balance of Korean and English. I don’t feel that there’s random English words scattered throughout the song.

Overall Album:

I really appreciate Namjoon’s honesty with his feelings throughout the album. I think it has a lot of creativity and you can tell he put a lot of thought into this album. This album talks a lot about rain and being lonely. I think RM really aced this album. I love listening to this album when I’m trying to calm down or relax. This album makes me feel a bit nostalgic. I think about all the times when I was a kid playing in the rain and also just some of the sounds he uses in the album take me back to my childhood. 

This is one of the albums that helped me through hard times. I hope Namjoon releases more solo mixtapes.