Rolling Stone ranks SUGA’s ‘D-DAY’ among the 100 best albums of 2023 (at number #69).
“D-DAY, the third release BTS’ Suga has put out as Agust D, is a tight 10-track collection that lyrically and musically probes the concept of freedom — what it means, whether it’s a blessing or a curse. Take the double-entendre title of the thundering “Haegeum,” which wraps around a drone from the two-stringed traditional Korean instrument of the same name. “Haegeum” also can be translated as “liberation,” and Agust D unpacks that idea in knotty, spat-out rhymes that take aim at conformity, the trappings of “success,” and information overload. Meanwhile, “Life Goes On” hints at a brighter future, or at least one where life’s big questions loom a little less ominously.”
Previously in 2022, Rolling Stone ranked J-hope’s Jack In The Box at #9.
L’Eclaireur FNAC France lists Agust D’s D-Day as one of the best K-pop albums of 2023.
Agust D- D Day
Jeanne’s favorite
Seven years after his first project Agust D and three years after D-2 , the rapper Agust D (better known under the stage name Suga within the group BTS) came in 2023 to put the end to his trilogy with D-Day . If Agust D was an album about the past, returning in particular to the difficulties of its performer with anxiety and depression at the start of his career, D-2 was that of the present, that of international success and pressure that this implies. D-Day is certainly that of the future, a brighter and freer future. The rapper sets the tone from the first song of the album by singing “future’s gonna be okay, look at the mirror and I see no pain ” pain ).
Without necessarily being a joyful album, retaining the harshness to which Agust D has accustomed us throughout his solo career, D-Day is an album which sings of hope and healing, the perfect conclusion to a seven-year cycle where Agust D will not have hesitated to share with those who listen to him the ups and downs of his career. Between societal criticism in Haegeum , personal traumas in Amygdala or advice to young artists in Snooze , Agust D shows the range of subjects on which he is capable of writing and rapping, proving once again that he is a complete artist, having produced in less than a decade a work of great richness.
This album confirms its performer’s ability to rap on any instrument, as well as his talent as a lyricist, ready to demonstrate an authenticity and vulnerability rare for an artist of this caliber. It was followed by a sold-out tour in Asia and the United States, retracing the career of Agust D, as if to properly celebrate the end of a cycle. Just before a year and a half of military service, the rapper offers us with D-Day a work that we will certainly not stop listening to and dissecting during his absence!