Mahjabin Rahman
The live audience attending Agust D’s encore concert in Seoul last year received a pleasant surprise when RM, the leader of the worldwide phenomenon BTS, took the stage as a guest act, and performed an unreleased song.
With many questions raised regarding this unexpected offering from the “spoiler king of BTS,” it was later revealed that the song was called “Come back to me,” and it would appear in his upcoming album Right Place, Wrong Person.
The performance, one of RM’s final appearances after his enlistment in the military, was widely considered to be a parting gift for the fans, popularly known as Army, a gesture similar to the release of the single “The Astronaut” by Jin of BTS prior to his enlistment a few months earlier.
The more persistent members of the BTS Army had been following RM’s socials, particularly on his new Instagram account, and speculation proliferated, where he shared seemingly random photographs under an unusual username. When official news broke of his upcoming album release, it became clear that the username was actually a coded reference to the name of the album Right Place, Wrong Person, and that “Come back to me” would be the lead single from that album.
RM is an artist who has a unique way of writing about random things. He writes in a poetic way and plays with his words. The most popular example cited by anyone making this point is the song “Trivia: Love” where he makes a play on the Korean words Saram (사람) which means “person” and Sarang (사랑) which means “love,” writing “I’m just a human, you eroded my concerns and made me into love,” creating the mental images of the square edge of the pictograph for one word being chiselled into the rounded edge of the other.
RM’s music is known for its journal-like qualities – simple, soothing melodies performed in his deep, calming voice. With “Come back to me,” he creates a different mood. This song is an alternative/indie track with jazzy beats that make a unique sound. Better known as a rapper, in recent years, RM has shown his versatility with various styles. He co-produced this track with Oh Hyuk of the band Hyukoh, who is known for his indie music. The song’s lyrics were written by RM, with assistance from singer-songwriter JNKYRD and Balming Tiger’s San Yawn. Kuo of Sunset Rollercoaster – a five-piece Taiwanese band – joined in on the guitar and bass sessions, and not to mention the acoustic guitar tone makes the song more relaxing and the perfect May jam.
In this almost six-minute track, RM takes us on a journey that explores “right” and “wrong” which is also the main theme of his upcoming album. The lyrics of this song reflect a mix of introspection, longing, and acceptance. The words weave together feelings of wanting something or someone, a desire for escape, the complexity of relationships, self-acceptance, and struggle with identity. It balances between the pain of separation and the beauty found in memories and hope. The use of nature imagery and the juxtaposition of pain with divinity suggest a profound, multifaceted emotional experience.
The MV was directed by Lee Sung Jin, who is best known for Emmy Award-winning series Beef which is a huge hit on Netflix, and references the novel The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The MV features numerous well-known actors including Pachinko star Kim Minha, Beef star Joseph Lee, Lee Sukhyeong, Kim A Hyun, Choi Seung-yoon, Lee Sanghee, Kang Gilwoo from The Glory and Gi So You.
At the very first scene of the music video, we see that RM is in a party where he is just lost in his own thoughts and not even aware of his surroundings. He feels out of place and he keeps looking at a door longingly as if the door is his escape. He changes places and sees his family where he feels distant from them. He goes down memory lane and sees how he had treated his partner before, he dives deeper and sees his childhood.
Wherever he goes, whoever he is with, he feels that he doesn’t belong there until he sees someone who is just like him, out of place, that somehow calms him down and he follows that person as he thinks that person is the glimmer of hope for him.
“Come back to me” is a song that makes you think about how you can find yourself in all the chaos that has been going on inside you. This song has made a place in my heart because of how genuine it is.
Despite being physically absent from the industry and serving in the military, the leader of BTS is shaking the world with his work. On May 21 “Come back to me” debuted at Number 3 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 and also entered the Global 200 chart.
RM has always surprised us with his work. He has this thing where he can make art from absolutely random things and that art can be a very special token of love for his fans. With “Come back to me,” that has been proven once again, and I know certainly that with the new album, releasing on May 24, he is going to astonish us all.
