From a vibrant show of Telepathy to an angelic cover of Coldplay: BTS rule the world’s stage on MTV Unplugged

BTS on MTV Unplugged was a night the world will remember as the Grammy-nominated artists bring their music on the stage for legends.

By Ishani Sarkar

Updated on Feb 24, 2021 | 08:29 AM IST | 3.5M

From a vibrant show of Telepathy to an angelic cover of Coldplay: BTS rule the world’s stage on MTV Unplugged

MTV Unplugged is one of the most iconic music programs in the history of the global music industry and joining their incredible roster of performing artists such as Nirvana, Eric Clapton and Mariah Carey are the game-changing musical geniuses of BTS. From advocating for mental health, pioneering the UNICEF campaign to end violence against children and teens all around the world and representing the youth as stalwarts at the United Nations, BTS is much more than a group of (record-breaking, Grammy-nominated) artists who have taken over the world by storm. As the world faced an unprecedented dark time, BTS brought out the rays of hope to hold on to as billions of people found happiness and solace in the group’s music and overall presence. Today, BTS performed unplugged, free from electronic accompaniments, stripped down to their bare and golden vocals. ‘MTV Unplugged Presents: BTS’ marked a historical moment in music as worlds collided, making BTS the first-ever Korean act to perform on MTV Unplugged. The program premiered globally at 7:30AM IST on the 24^th of February, 2021, exclusively on Voot Select and Vh1 India and this performance was truly ethereal, unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

The set is impeccably and quintessentially BTS, complete with the neatest little additions of each member’s personality that coherently make up the group. In a nod to the VMAs, the Moon Man is a perfect Easter egg. Much like the overall theme of ‘BE’, this Unplugged episode makes us feel “at home” with the cozy set-up. As if picking up on ARMY’s signals, BTS starts off with ‘Telepathy’, a lively and upbeat song, full of the brightest energy. It was incredible to see the burst of vibrancy, especially when Suga and RM take over the mic with their iconic rap parts. The members’ vocals ring loud and clear, especially J-Hope’s harmonisation at a lower register, truly bringing out his prowess as a vocalist. The vibe is playful and adorable to say the least and there couldn’t have been a better start to a night that the world will remember.

A short commentary follows where J-Hope and RM take turns to speak of how thankful they are for being part of MTV Unplugged and Jimin further shares what the group has in store for the performances to follow. He also expresses how great it is to be performing together, sharing a stage physically after such a long time, with Suga healthy and recovered. J-Hope urges Suga to speak of how the song ‘Telepathy’ came about and what it means, to which he replied by saying that the song, the Korean name to which means “for a moment”, implies that BTS is only temporarily away from ARMYs, who he later revealed as being the inspiration for the song. The music to the song came from an older demo, after discovering which, Suga immediately penned down the lyrics and made it into a song for the album. Jimin was quick to interject by saying that, it only made the cut because as the project manager, Jimin said that it was great.

V introduces the next song, ‘Blue & Grey’ as being very close to his heart before proceeding to thank the members for singing it. The set changes to a beautifully alluring grass field complete with the prettiest violets, albeit within glass and concrete confines. The sun sets almost magically in the right position to be beaming down on the members as they pour their hearts onto this song. The melody is brought to a conclusion by V, with the light shining directly behind him, giving him an angelic blue halo. In the commentary that followed, V shared how he equated the feeling of burning out as “blue” and the sadness of not being able to see ARMYs as “grey” and kept the music simple so as to be able to amplify the expression of his emotions through the lyrics. Jungkook further shared how he was glad to be able to perform the song because the group doesn’t get many chances to perform B-Side tracks other than at concerts.

In the loveliest surprise performance, BTS cover ‘Fix You’ by COLDPLAY next, giving the song an almost holy, choir-like dimension. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that BTS’ cover of ‘Fix You’ is perhaps the most seraphic ever. Jin, Jimin and Suga truly brought goosebumps on with their beautifully contrasting pitch and the short but saccharine harmonisation between Jin’s falsetto and Suga’s deep low register was nothing short of a blessing to the ears. Jimin later revealed that they chose to cover this song in particular because it brought them much serenity and comfort during a dark time last year and it is absolutely one of their favourites.

In classic BTS fashion, RM declared that they only had two more songs left and proceeded to initiate the final greeting to viewers, starting with Jungkook. The first thing Jungkook said was that he missed ARMYs and couldn’t wait to see them but until then, he promised that BTS would continue to be by their side with good music. Jin took over, expressing his hope that everyone enjoyed the first-ever performances of the B-side tracks from ‘BE’. Before passing it on to Suga, he made sure to wish everyone a happy new year! Suga solemnly shared that even though they couldn’t perform these songs live for ARMY, he still hoped that it was enjoyable. Following the same train of thoughts, J-Hope expressed his eagerness for the day they can perform for ARMY in person and signed off with love. Jimin continued by saying that even though the pandemic has brought on a sense of purposelessness and lack of direction, he hopes to stay strong because BTS and ARMY have each other. V reaffirmed that BTS will continue to bring great music, comfort and healing this year too, finishing off with the signature “we purple you”. RM finally concluded by echoing the members’ feelings and hoping that their performance brought comfort more than anything else.

In the penultimate performance, BTS were accompanied by a live band for ‘Life Goes On’. Jimin’s soprano was perfectly complemented by V’s baritone and Jungkook’s ad-libs were ideal, as always. In the final performance of the night, ‘Dynamite’ was a pure celebration of BTS’ journey all the way from ‘No More Dream’ to being Grammy-nominated artists. RM, V and Jungkook owned this performance with major props to the live band who truly created the perfect ambiance for the song. Throughout the performance, the members displayed absolute perfection when it came to harmonies, resonance and an overall oneness, with each member bringing out and amplifying another’s qualities. This is arguably one of their biggest performances and yet, they made it feel like a message of love from BTS from ARMY and the world. This is BTS.