Just like last week, we start off this week with another another long awaited comeback. After almost four years, BTOB has made their first comeback as a full group with the single The Song and their third studio album, Be Together. Their last full group comeback was through the release of Only One For Me back in 2018. Since then, the group members have completed their military enlistment. Elsewhere, the active members (as they returned from the military or just prior to their enlistment) released the special album Hour Moment and the single Beautiful Pain, kicked off their own solo careers, formed a subunit (BTOB 4U, consisting of Eunkwang, Minhyuk, Peniel and Changsub, and debuting with Show Your Love), participated in Kingdom: Legendary War and released a special mini-album as quartet under the BTOB name with Outsider. BTOB also lost a member, Illhoon, who left the group in 2020 due to his drug use controversy. Needless to say, we have been well fed in terms of BTOB releated activities despite have no full group comebacks.

BTOB returns with a ballad, the genre that skyrocketed them to success and was the genre of some of their biggest releases since debut. So there is a familiarity and nostalgic feeling from The Song that reminds me of the good old days for the group. Aside from that, The Song is quite a beautiful piece. I liked that The Song didn’t fall into the trap of having a typical instrumental of classical instruments. We have had a few pieces in the past from BTOB, so it was great to get something a bit different this time around. It is still relatively typical and plain, but I appreciate the different yet familiar direction the band elements (drums, electric guitar etc.) of the instrumental steers this song towards. Other than the backing, the main focus point of The Song (and any ballad) would have to be the vocals though. And BTOB sounds amazing in this song. That nostalgia that I mentioned initially comes through via the vocals and rapping, and I liked how the rappers (i.e. Minhyuk and Peniel) incorporated their parts into the song without breaking the song. That is what I love about BTOB’s ballads – they are just experts at blending rap sequences into their ballads, especially when you think they won’t be able to do so this time around. The harmonies in The Song also make it spectacular. I am bit a disappointed with the lack of memorable melody though. I feel that their previous ballad hits that they promoted always had a melody that everyone got into and made the song appealing. While their voices captivating, the melody we got in The Song didn’t really evoke thought out of me, nor did it repeat in my head after the song. Maybe a few more listens could help develop the melody for me, but I just don’t think it is there to begin win. Overall, another great ballad under BTOB’s belt.

The song is all about wanting to be with their fans once again, with the lyrics name dropping a number of their past tracks. With that in mind, the music video brings together the different members who are all alone and in different locations, so that the members can deliver that message to their fans, as we see by the performance on stage at the end of the video. It is the reality of the last few years, as they had to split up for their military enlistment and do solo or unit work rather than a full group comeback. I like how as they come together, they return to Eunkwang’s residence, who for those who don’t know is the leader of the group. I presume the letters that we see throughout the video is a representation of the fans, given that the Melodies (BTOB’s fandom name) fanclub colour is ‘Slow Blue’ and the stamps (and letterbox) were of this colour. It is a touching video, with a beautiful landscape in the background, as well.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9/10