Stray Kids earlier albums and Sriracha in general talks a lot about mental health :)

the truth untold, blue & grey, zero o'clock and epiphany by BTS.

not a kpop group but a k-band- highly recommend The Rose! Here are some recs :)

• Insomnia
• Childhood
• She’s In The Rain

Day6 'I need somebody' and 'Zombie' (i prefer the english version of Zombie but the Kr is amazing too)

Not a group but Amygdala and The Last by Agust D very frankly address severe depression and struggling with mental health.

I have a Chill BTS playlist that fits the criteria. Some of my favorites included are Blue & Grey, Seoul, Her, Seesaw, 134340, Love Maze, Moving On, Blue Side, Butterfly.

Zero O’clock, Life Goes On, Mikrokosmos, Everything Goes

These are the ones that got me through a really tough time…I find them very soothing & hopeful :)

Ever since it came out, Winter Ahead has been my go to, usually after a stressful work day

Blue and grey, sad yet comforting in it's own way. It's a reminder that it's okay to feel this way.

in this order

https://preview.redd.it/vsmz29ojba0f1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2a010a4e3b90e85630bb259ad0ec98affa06ec1

Seventeen have so many songs that help me when I feel down.

Hug: https://youtu.be/j-3Df1X6F_I?si=-9WJNBXMhgfMPFAU 

Circle: https://youtu.be/gRcsR6y0fgE?si=OoUcPhDrHHjI534M 

Kidult: https://youtu.be/pzqsUix8xBs?si=b_zJX8U8BUDPyFKT 

Shadow: https://youtu.be/JYtcrQMPjE0?si=fYmNi9wxmcQKQyja 

Smile Flower: https://youtu.be/3UFEunsf6pI?si=51TarKsQWTUYpVyA 

 Really hope they could help you feel better too ♥️

Kidult by Seventeen

HOLO by Lee Hi

Lovin’ Me by FIFTY FIFTY

My sea by IU

I feel comforted just listening to these songs but if you read the translated lyrics they are especially uplifiting. Hang in there OP!

BTS - Magic Shop

It's at least partially inspired by this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25733658-into-the-magic-shop

hug by seventeen

❤️‍🩹

Might I suggest THE song to listen to when things get a bit much:

Twice - Feel Special

Written for them when they were going through a rough time (including Mina’s hiatus due to anxiety) and is among their favorites to perform since it’s so personal.

Highly recommend reading about it too, it may help knowing the lyrics/background. Take care and hang in there!

Anpanman

Black swan

Just one day

Like

Spring day

Pied piper

Love maze

Trivia love

Seesaw

Persona

Outro ego

Stigma

Fake love

Dna

Run

Danger

House of cards

Autumn leaves

Dis-ease

Lie

Mic drop

Ddaeng

Ugh

Tear

BST

Yet to come

For youth

I can keep going…. i don’t know what 10 is…..

Im a casual fan who doesnt know that many BTS songs. In no particular order:

1. Idol
2. House of Cards
3. Apanman
4. Airplane Pt.2
5. Run BTS
6. Life Goes On
7. Dope
8. No More Dream
9. Spine Breaker
10. Just One Day

1. rain

2. blood sweat and tears

3. I need you

4. fake love

5. let me know

6. run

7. black swan

8. louder than bombs

9. save me

10. pied piper

11. spring day

Hard to choose but in no particular order:

1. MIC Drop
2. Louder than bombs
3. Black Swan
4. Home
5. House of Cards
6. Butterfly
7. Magic Shop
8. Run BTS
9. Life goes on
10. Your eyes tell

1. ⁠magic shop
2. ⁠let go
3. ⁠mic drop (my first bts song)
4. ⁠light
5. ⁠mikrokosmos
6. ⁠blood sweat and tears
7. ⁠save me
8. ⁠spring day
9. ⁠love is not over
10. 00:00

it was so hard to choose 😭 i wish i could add more, i think ill have to make a separate list for solo songs 🥹

In no particular order:

1. MIC Drop

2. Louder than bombs

3. Black Swan

4. Home

5. House of Cards

6. Butterfly

7. Magic Shop

8. Run BTS

9. Life goes on

10. Your eyes tell

in order of release

1. intro: what am i to you
2. cypher pt 3
3. whalien 52
4. i need u
5. epilogue: young forever
6. spring day
7. a supplementary story: you never walk alone
8. love maze
9. i'm fine
10. answer: love myself

special shoutout to mixtape by rm & hope world by jhope <3 outside of kpop i'm a huge rap fan and these are some of my favourite albums of all time

Spring day

Autumn leaves

House of cards

Run

Dna

Danger

Dis-ease

Seesaw

Trivia love

Ugh

Lie

Outro ego

Persona

Black swan

Anpanman

Stigma

Fake love

Blue & grey

Look here

Like

Rain

Just one day

I haven’t even scratched the surface how do I name just 10 😭😭😭😭

1. Save me

2. I need you

3. Jump

4. Anpanman

5. Boy in Luv

6. Fire

7. DNA

8. Go go

9. Airplane pt 2

10. Mic drop

Also shout-out to Still with you by JK

Ooh just 10?

Lets see :

Take Two

Bullet Proof Pt2

Blood sweat and tears

Bullet proof eternal

Danger

Tomorrow

Run BTS

On

Heart Beat

Pied Piper

Only doing Ot7 songs

I don’t what 10 means

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It’s in response to armys being condescending to other groups for supposedly having shallow music

Got some standards, and some weird ones:

1. Begin — I am painfully ot7, and apparently the thought of baby buns singing what’s in his heart to his hyungs is…irresistibly making me tear up just thinking about it, for the thousandth time.
2. We are bulletproof the eternal 🐋
3. Amygdala
4. Awake
5. Epilogue: Young Forever — for me this is the sound of millions of Army all over the world, singing along with full hearts. 💜

Honorable mentions to First Love, and Life Goes On 🥲

Spring Day and Dear My Friend make me super emotional. I think both version of Life Goes On and 2! 3! would probably round out my list but Spring Day and Dear My Friend are definitely the top two to make me cry. I’ve had a lot of family members pass away in recent years and the emotion of those two songs just brings back the grief.

In this order:

1. Epiphany
2. The Last
3. Amygdala
4. Singularity
5. The Astronaut

Honourable mention to Seesaw because I've cried to it several times... although it's usually just positive vibes.

I don't know why Whalien 52 just KILLS ME every time. And the "whale" that you can hear singing in the back ugh 😭😭

OT7:

• Blue & Grey - helped me when I was at my darkest and reason I’m army

• 00:00 - bad days/arguments with loved ones makes me feel better

• Lights - “Sundays when I can’t answer any calls or texts, i’m not in the mood for anything” 🥺💜

Crystal Snow - feeling of wanting to be closer to someone but can’t

Magic Shop - cosy song makes me feel better on bad days

Solos:

Amygdala - healing song makes me feel safe, seen and heard🥹

Snooze

Wild Flower - chills every time and the seesaw of indescribable emotions the song makes me feel

Uh Good

The Astronaut

I can't talk about other Kpop groups or labels but I can talk about BTS.

Depiction of mental health in any art form — books, music, film and so on — is not the problem, imo. The manner in which these are depicted can be either problematic or not.

A brief, unhelpful and badly charted summary of BTS's artistic journey (ARMYs — please correct me if I go wrong anywhere!):

I think one of the ways to gauge whether the depiction is just a one-off money-making strategy or something more genuine is to see the level of engagement with the topic.

BTS depicted and spoke about mental health issues right from their first song, first album. Their earliest work, (No more Dreams) depicted the pressures of ambition placed on young people. Then in the subsequent years, you had songs like Tomorrow, or Paradise, on similar topics.

Then there is the Bangtan Universe with its whole storyline, in HYYH 1 and 2, YNWA and Wings. This portrayed a host of issues that young people faced in terms of mental health, friendship, relationships, and so on. The MVs for Run, I Need U and so on depicted mental health issues. These are issues which slightly older people face — those who are no longer in school but are facing the complexities of life. Spring Day in YNWA talked about missing someone and recovering from grief and is connected to the Sewol tragedy.

During this time, the rappers also dropped their mixtapes which, again, talked about mental health in an even more personal manner, Agust D's The Last being one such example.

Then the entire Love Yourself series, along with the tie up with the UN through which they raised $2.3 million till November 2019 (the website says that the numbers need to be updated). In this series, we see their focus on even more complex issues of love and connections. And then finally MOTS which is based on the works of Carl Jung and which depicts the mental health issues that are faced by artists and how they can overcome them. There are also singles like Abyss or songs like Blue and Grey in their latest album BE, which speak about burn out or depression.

Why am I taking you through their whole discography? I just want to point out that talking about mental health and depicting positive growth and recovery is not a gimmick in the case of BTS.

Here's why:

1. They've engaged with this topic from their very first title song (No More Dreams) to their last two title songs (Life Goes On and Black Swan). They have come back to the same topics over and over again in songs through the years.

2. They've engaged with this topic through music, through their multi-media alternate universe stuff, through their mixtapes.They've depicted the topic in their MVs and their lyrics.

3. They've talked about mental health from the perspective of school going kids, adults, and big global artists — their discussions grew organically as they themselves grew up. They've talked about it in the larger group scale and in the very personal sense.

4. They've delved into actual literature and psychology and mythology (Dionysus) to talk about mental health.

5. They've connected mental health to social events and issues, such as the Sewol tragedy or the ongoing pandemic, and have partnered with an actual global charity, UNICEF.

What I'm trying to say here is, BTS's engagement with mental health issues is not a "flash in the pan, let's earn a quick buck" type of thing. It's a long standing, holistic engagement, through their entire career, through all the media they've worked with. It's been a constant pre-occupation in their life.

Your post says that someone said the following:

>cheap manipulative tactic

It's not up to that person to invalidate any discussion on mental health and call it cheap. If anyone finds comfort through this, let them? I also think that it's not just a tactic on BTS's part because it's so long standing.

>fans are more invested and hardcore

But those fans have not yet been let down, have they? BTS's commitment to these issues has been unwavering, at least till date. Doesn't that count for anything?

>make it a product for profit and consumerism

God I hate it when people think art should not be business. That, somehow, for art to be noble, it needs to not be profit-making or consumerist. Listen, artists need to make money too. And if they are selling their art for high profit, it does not automatically make their art bad or evil or a "cheap tactic". Does BigHit frequently make moves which are purely money-grabbing? Yes, definitely. But does that make BTS's music or message poor quality or fake? No, I don't think so.

>insecure and emotionally weak fans

Who are they to label fans as such? Who are they to assume that someone finding comfort through a particular type of music is weak or insecure? Fuck them.

Criticizing BTS for being profit making is one thing, but depicting much of the fandom as insecure and weak is just another level of cynicism.

What does anyone stand to gain from this cynicism? They're not going to stop BTS from making music, or stop fans from buying into BTS's franchise. All that this cynicism does is to make a few people who read their comment feel bad for enjoying a particular type of music. How is that a useful contribution to the world?

The members have talked about their own struggles with mental health, and they have repeatedly put that into their music. Taehyung and Jin wrote about their burnout in Blue & Grey and Abyss, Suga has written many songs in his mixtapes about his struggles with depression, RM was the main songwriter for the LY era and has written songs like Reflection about his own self-hatred. The entire MOTS era was about how they're struggling with their own personas/passion for music, and all the solo songs were very personal. There are many more examples of this. I highly doubt any of them are making elaborate schemes to fake sadness, depression, or anxiety for their music. That seems like a very dehumanizing thing to say.

I don't doubt that BH likes to profit off of telling people to love themselves. But that's what companies do: make profit off of what they can make profit off of. That doesn't make BTS's music or lyrics disingenuous. It's not like BH is writing these songs about mental health for the members. The members are writing about their own experiences, and BH is making money off of them. Also, there's nothing wrong with making money off of music. An artist is entitled to promote and sell their work withing losing their authenticity.

How do you tell the difference between an artist who is using the topics for profit and an artist who’s lyrics are genuine?

We all struggle with our mental health, body image, and finding who we are. Kpop idols are people too. Hell, being a Kpop idol is extremely taxing and could easily accentuate any mental health struggles the idol already has.

Until proven otherwise, I choose to believe their lyrics are genuine mainly because idols deeply struggle too.

First off, I don't believe that's the case.

Second, even if that were the case, intention does not equal impact. Even if their intent was just to make money, the impact is that the end product is actually helping millions of people around the world. So even in trying to take them down with their comment, even if it were true the OP still can't really make a case against them doing actual good which is clearly not even a debate.

You should read the lyrics and listen to Yoongi/BTS SUGA's mixtape was repeased for FREE.

On the first Agust D released im 2016, in the song "The Last" he talked about his first Psych consult with his parents. He talked about his social amxiety and the time he locked himself in a bathroom before a concert... leading to the cancellation of the concert.

All things happened to him. I think it's only possible to write about this things because he actually went through it. As a fan of him, I knew what he went through since he was young.

Sure they gained a lot of traction internationally because of the message, but we often forget that what BTS is most known for for their fans is their "sincerity", you can't deliver a message without it.

• 1. 2 cool 4 school - Like
• 2. O!RUL8,2? - Paldogangsan
• 3. Skool luv affair - Tomorrow
• 4. Dark & Wild - Cypher Pt.3: Killer
• 5. Wake Up - The Stars
• 6. HYYH pt.1 - Intro: The Most Beautiful Moment In Life
• 7. HYYH pt.2 - Whalien 52
• 8. HYYH: Young Forever - Butterfly (Prologue Mix)
• 9. Youth - Good Day
• 10. Wings+YNWA - Reflection
• 11. LY: Her - Pied Piper
• 12. Face Yourself - Crystal Snow
• 13. LY: Tear - Paradise
• 14. LY: Answer - Epiphany, Magic Shop
• 15. MOTS: Persona - Jamais vu
• 16. MOTS: 7 - Interlude: Shadow
• 17. MOTS: 7 (The Journey) - Lights
• 18. BE - Blue & Grey
• 19. Proof - Run BTS

I hope I'm not getting any of this wrong, since I'm sometimes very confused about which songs are title tracks and which ones are bsides.

I'm also excluding most of their Japanese discography since I haven't really delved into it, apart from Face Yourself.

• 2 cool 4 skool - Like
• O!RUL8,2? - Attack On Bangtan
• Skool luv affair - Tomorrow
• Dark & Wild - Let me know
• HYYH pt. 1 - Boyz With Fun
• HYYH pt. 2 - House of Cards
• HYYH: Young Forever - Butterfly (prologue mix)
• Wings+YNWA - Lie
• LY: Her - Pied Piper
• Face Yourself - Don't Leave Me
• LY: Tear - Singularity
• LY: Answer - I'm Fine, Answer: Love Myself
• MOTS: Persona - Dionysus
• MOTS: 7 - Ugh, Outro: Ego
• BE - Fly To My Room
• Proof - Born Singer

This is a diabolical question, but I‘m gonna try and choose…

• ⁠2 cool 4 skool - WAB pt.2

• ⁠O!RUL8,2? - Paldogangsan

• ⁠Skool luv affair - Tomorrow

• ⁠Dark & Wild - Cypher pt.3 (duh)

• ⁠HYYH pt. 1 - Moving On

• ⁠HYYH pt. 2 - Baepsae

• ⁠HYYH: Young Forever - Butterfly (prologue mix)

• ⁠Wings+YNWA - Lie and Lost

• ⁠LY: Her - Pied Piper

• ⁠LY: Tear - Airplane pt.2 and Tear

• ⁠LY: Answer - I'm Fine and Euphoria

• ⁠MOTS: Persona - Mikrokosmos

• ⁠MOTS: 7 - Louder Than Bombs and Moon

• ⁠BE - Telepathy

• ⁠Proof - Run BTS and Born Singer

2 kool 4 skool — Like ORUL82! — Coffee Skool Luv Affair — Tomorrow Dark & Wild — Rain Wake Up — The Stars HYYH pt.1 — Hold me Tight HYYH pt.2 — Silver Spoon HYYH: Young Forever — Epilogue: Young Forever, House of Cards Youth — Wishing on a star (idk if this is a title or not) WINGS/YNWA — Lie, Begin LY: Her — Pied Piper FACE YOURSELF — Crystal Snow (again, idk if this is a title) LY: Tear — Magic Shop LY: Answer — Euphoria, The Truth Untold MOTS: Persona — Mikrokosmos MOTS: 7 — Black Swan, Louder Than Bombs BE — Blue & Grey Proof — For Youth

hmm, it's hard to answer as there are so many songs by BTS that I love and adore, plus it also kinda depends on my mood, but i'll try my best and choose the ones I listen to the most~

1. 2 cool 4 skool - No More Dream
2. O!RUL8,2? - We On
3. Skool luv affair - Just One Day, Boy in Luv (I can't choose😭)
4. Dark & Wild - Danger
5. Wake Up - Line!
6. HYYH pt. 1 - Dope
7. HYYH pt. 2 - Run
8. HYYH: Young Forever - Save me, Epilogue: Young Forever (these two always make me cry🤧)
9. Youth - Good Day
10. Wings+YNWA - Stigma, Reflection
11. LY: Her - MIC Drop
12. Face Yourself - Let Go (most beautiful song ever about farewell❤️)
13. LY: Tear - Singularity (Taehyung's voice here, oh my!), Anpanman
14. LY: Answer - Magic Shop, Airplane pt.2
15. MOTS: Persona - Mikrokosmos
16. MOTS: 7 - Ego, Black Swan, Friends (I can't choose again😭)
17. MOTS: 7 (The journey) - Lights
18. BE - Life Goes On
19. Proof - Run BTS

and as a plus, my favourite song by each of the members from their solo career:

RM - Groin, Seoul (the king of songwriting)
Jin - Astronaut
Suga - So Far Away
j-hope - Sweet Dreams (i love r&b and j-hope vocals here!)
Jimin - Like Crazy
V - Love Me Again (this man is an aesthetic himself)
Jungkook - Standing Next to You