Referring back to the "flying high" reference in "BWL," here RM raps, "A little taller than I was before / With a voice a little more solid / All of this to go back to you/ Now I'll spread wide a map called you / My rehab."
Suga's verse, meanwhile, introduces small nods to past songs including "Sea" and "Save Me" — "The reason I survived in hell / It's for you, it was not for me/ If you know, don't hesitate and please save my life/ I'm thirsty wandering this desert without you / So hurry and grab me quickly / I know the sea without you is the same as a desert."
Track 4: "Jamais Vu""Jamais Vu" is the first sub-unit song on the album. It features Jungkook, Jin, and J-Hope and introduces the first conflict and feelings of self-doubt in the narrative. " I blame myself since I was imperfect / All I wanted was to do well," reads the English translation of what J-Hope sings.
The first nuggets that feed off MOTS:7 references come from J-Hope. "I try to escape as always / But still, you grab me / Even as my shadow grows," he says in translation, which is a pretty 1:1 recollection of RM's own interpretation of "Black Swan." The song wraps up with a small nod to "Run" in the last bridge.
Track 5: "Dionysus""Dionysus" introduced another thematic shift. Here, the members' focus goes to criticism. In the highly-energetic song, the members present a series of dichotomies and start to grapple the conflicting feeling of juggling a stage persona with their own identities. "Born as a K-pop idol / Reborn as an artist," Suga sings, which immediately makes "Idol" spring back to mind.
Equating alcohol and art ("Art is alcohol too, if you can drink it, you'll get drunk"), they let on how one can indeed be inebriated with BTS. "The new record is the fight against oneself / Toast to this / But I'm still thirsty."
Track 6: "Interlude: Shadow"Suga's solo, which was introduced back in January, also samples another of Bangtan's intros: "Intro: O!RUL8,2?" from the group's first EP, O!RUL8,2?, released in 2013. Much like the case with "Persona," the music video for "Shadow" also includes direct references to the track through graphic art.
However, the album version of "Shadow" ever so subtly differs from the one released on YouTube. Not only is it longer, but it also has a slightly different intro, and it introduces one big easter egg.
When the song dropped, many fans were quick to spot the quasi direct opposition between the introspective theme of "Shadow," where Yoongi dwells on the double-edged nature of fame, and the one that's presented in 2 COOL 4 SKOOL's "No More Dream," where he longs for it. But, not-so-sneakily, Yoongi actually quotes the 2013 track directly in the studio version of "Shadow." Here, Suga once again raps about "big house, big cars, big rings," but now instead of wanting them, he has them. (Same vibes as when he changed the lyrics live at last year's Gayo performance.)
The verse "No one told me how lonely it is up here" is also a stark opposition to the "Now it's so high up here" verse in "Boy With Luv." The whole song again relates to the dream concept, which has been a constant in the album since it first appeared scribbled down on RM's blackboard for the "Persona" music video.
Perhaps the most poignant line from the whole track is the "I wanna be me" near the end, which comes after grappling with those dynamic feelings. This correlates to the second Jungian archetype Bangtan explores, introducing yet another tonal shift.
Track 7: "Black Swan"As an OT7 track, "Black Swan" continues the exploration introduced in "Shadow," ruminating once again on passion, dreams, and drive. With the track, the members reportedly sought to "dive deep into their inner selves as artists and face the shadows they had once hidden," per an official press release.