BTS return with the surprisingly underwhelming “SWIM”

Gonna break my rule about posting immediately after individual comebacks because this is one where if I don’t then all people are gonna do is talk about it anyway. Why? Well due to it being BTS‘s return and reunion after their military service, of course.

With the amount of hype surrounding their return, and all of the pagaentry (and controversy) surrounding their massive Netflix stage at Gwanghwamun Square, in a lot of ways it was always gonna be a tall task for Arirang and the single “SWIM” to live up to expectations. And so I purposefully lowered mine, just hoping for the rare major track in 2026 that I can actually enjoy listening to.

Unfortunately, that isn’t my initial impression. The beat in the verses is simple but does allow me to get into a bit of a foot-tapping mood, but there’s this synth that enters later that overpowers everything else going on, including the vocals of a member as if it was the feature. Bizarre choice. Overall though, there’s a sense of simmering and anticipation to the track that begs for an explosion of emotion that never really comes. The chorus feels puzzling flat and monotonous compared to the moment they’re trying to create, just basically repeating until it ends under three minutes.

I dunno, man. It feels like an album intro or something more than the epic comeback single for an epic return, and it’s hard not to be at least underwhelmed. Can’t wait for the rational discourse, I guess.