An ARMY’s Love Letter to ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’ // BTS “BLACK SWAN” PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

Dear James Corden and company,

First I would like to say how excited I am for BTS’ comeback for this Map of the Soul:7 album era. I’ve been following tweets, releases, behind-the-scenes information and more in preparation for this comeback. I’ll never be ready for when it actually happens, but me and my ARMY friends are preparing as we speak. 

As for Bangtan’s first live performance of their B-side single “Black Swan” on The Late Late Show with James Corden last night, I thought they did an incredible job. The dark, moody stage, the graphics in the background, the precision and fluidity of the choreography, the boys looked damn good in their outfits! It took me about halfway through the show to realize they were barefoot!! 

 
It also helped that they did perform so I could recognize who sang which lines because in the song itself is a bit hard to hear everyone’s individual voices. I understand that the song is about the band as a whole and their feeling like they are afraid to lose their passion for their love of music. This is expressed even in Min Yoongi’s (Suga) comeback trailer, “Interlude: Shadow”. Yoongi took us on a journey through his mind of aspiring to be rich, famous and successful, but also wanting to go back to the simpler days before the crazy, overwhelming journey of BTS began. Yes, you have the success and accolades like an artist should, and millions of dedicated ARMY fans. But on the other side of it comes the mental, physical and psychological strife of being away from home, friends, always having paparazzi (called sasaengs in Korea — ruthless, intrusive, disgusting fake fans and photographers who want nothing more to create drama and chaos to these boys’ lives.) Both “Shadow” and “Black Swan” have the appeal of upbeat sonics underneath emotional, relatable, painful lyricism.

To come back to the James Corden performance, this was the stage the boys should have gotten at the Grammys last Sunday. Instead of being reduced to backup singers on stage for 5 minutes featuring another American artist, the  Recording Academy should have realized BTS’ cultural, international artistry and given them a solo stage to represent that. However, James Corden was respectful enough to know this already and give them a center stage, front and center, no distractions from the audience (even though we still don’t know the fanchant!).

I could go on and on about this performance, but I think I’ll stop here and give the video another view.

Thank you so much for loving and allowing the boys to trust you with this project.

Another thought….what if they performed “Black Swan” and then transitioned into “Fake Love”. Imagine the power of that live stage!!