BTS on Eternals Soundtrack

As my emotional support K-pop band Bangtan Sonyeondan has just pulled off their Permission to Dance online concert this weekend, there is as yet more news from them. No, not the thing about their changing record companies. I’m talking about the important announcement that BTS is on the Eternals soundtrack.

BTS on the Eternals Soundtrack with an…Interesting Choice

Plenty of BTS songs would and could work in movies. Take their recent collaboration with Coldplay, for instance, which I mentioned last month. I described the video as “wildly over-the-top.” That’s because it features, among other things, holographic BTS dancing with alien babes.

So you’d think that Eternals would feature something like that–something universal, or something sweeping, like the film’s own orchestral theme.

🎶 Listen to a clip from the #Eternals soundtrack, “Eternals Theme”! Produced & composed by @Djawadi_Ramin! Full song out now: https://t.co/zHIjxRLtiV 🎶 pic.twitter.com/vuA4fp8A4E

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) October 22, 2021

And that’s not a wild assumption. While the mainstream might be most familiar with BTS through their dancey English language hits, their catalog comprises so much more. This is not the American (or British) boy band tradition you probably know best. This is, instead, a group that will perform for a cool 40 minutes at an awards show. They’re hard workers, and always ambitious with their music, not shying away from darker themes or big ideas, like concept albums. So again, you’d expect something along those lines.

But this is not that. Instead, they chose “Friends,” a certifiably oddball choice. It’s not that it’s a bad song–on the contrary, I find it very charming. However, that’s partly due to the fact that rather than be a paean to besties everywhere, it is a very specific song about the friendship between BTS members Jimin and V. Like, it has specific references to moments in their friendship. There are multiple mentions of Jimin’s pinky finger, for cryin’ out loud.

So What’s Going On Here, Then?

I don’t even know what to tell you, pal. As there has been little info released on the soundtrack, including no real confirmation stateside, it’s all just speculation. Reportedly, the soundtrack also includes artists like Lizzo, Pink Floyd, Carl Perkins, Skeeter Davis, and Merle Haggard. If we’re talking about a song like Skeeter Davis’s ikonisch “The End of the World,” then it would be easy. You could see how that would fit into Eternals. Or any Marvel movie, for that matter.

image via Big Hit/Hybe

But a song like “Friends“? That’s a little more challenging to place. Maybe one of the Eternals–or heckula, one of the Deviants–is a huge K-pop fan? That’s what I’m going with, at least until we all find out for ourselves. So anyway, who’s their bias? (I would tell you mine, but…that’s a little personal, don’t you think?)

What do you think about the Eternals soundtrack? Tell us on our social media, in the comments, or in a fan edit on Twitter that I’ll watch secretly.

Also, get well soon, V.

featured image via Big Hit/Hybe

Salomé Gonstad is a freelance writer who grew up in the swampy wilds of south Alabama. When she's not yelling about pop culture on the internet, she's working on a supernatural thriller about her hometown. Also, we're pretty sure she's a werewolf. Email her at [email protected]