More like OFF am I r-*microphone suddenly cuts out*

[Video]
[3.67]

Alex Clifton: “On” is a retrospective track with references to the last seven years of BTS’s career. The layers go deep: “On” is a reversal of their early single “N.O“, Jungkook has a reference to “my blood and tears” in the bridge, and the video ends with “No More Dream” (their debut single) becoming “Dream.” Thematically, it’s a sequel to “Not Today” with a message of fighting for hope. Lots of things are done well here — the drumline beat, in particular, is spectacular — but at the same time I don’t think this is a great showcase for BTS as a band. I would have loved a track that would give each member more of a chance to shine before all joining together. Instead, the production gives us garbled versions of each member; the Auto-Tune, in particular, does a lot to mask the members’ voices, which frustrates me to no end. Moreover, I’m irritated by the number of songwriters on the track. BTS’s strength, for years, was that they wrote their own material. Producers like Pdogg, Supreme Boi and Slow Rabbit regularly jumped in on BTS’s early albums, but since the group has achieved international (read: western) success, the production credits have become cluttered with many other hands. BTS never needed others to come write for them, and I’m not sure what they actually get out of this transaction. To me, it seems that writing for BTS has become cultural capital for western artists to show that they’re hip, diverse, willing and able to work with the biggest act in the world. It propels them to further success and, to my mind, drags out a lot of what made BTS special in the first place. The song itself has a lot of good moments, but especially given the context that this is meant to be a celebration of the band’s history and all they’ve been through, the execution really let me down.
[5]

Kylo Nocom: Self-referentiality is not a virtue in itself. After seven years you’d think they’d find a good mixer — God forbid it’s actually an artistic choice — and I just keep wishing they’d hand these drums to a better anthem.
[2]

Edward Okulicz: The awe-inspiring Internet presence of BTS fans have no doubt written paeans to this song’s rich tapestry, full of Easter eggs and references. But that’s all it is, it’s like eating a dinner made entirely of Easter eggs. There’s too much going on, oppressive military-trap beats, backing vocals and competing vocal lines where you can’t quite hear them but they still get in the way, and the mixing of the distorted vocals is unsympathetic to the catchy bits which, well, there’s not enough of those this time.
[4]

Thomas Inskeep: Trap-pop and BTS are… not a good match.
[4]

Michael Hong: Ironically, the best tracks on Map of the Soul: 7 seem to be some of the sub-unit and solo tracks, with many of the full-group tracks faltering. On “On,” the overproduction overshadows BTS as vocalists and rappers. It’s made out to be more interesting as a drum-line routine and those filters on the group’s voices (especially, across the rap-line) sound unnatural and out-of-place compared to the earthiness of the backing track. While the chorus may not be one of the group’s best, it at least has some, if only a small dose, of buoyancy and heft, whereas the verses only meander, even underneath the layers of obnoxious vocal production. “On” falls short of its potential, flattened out by its own poor execution and every call to “bring the pain” just leaves me wishing BTS brought a little bit more of a punch to the track.
[2]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The military marching band cadences, the hammond organ blasts, and the “Livin’ On A Prayer” vocoder hook fit a group with this ambition and aesthetic drive. Unfortunately, little else does — each individual hook is catchy enough (I especially like the chorus proper, which has a nice back and forth) but nothing coheres at all. It’s all pomp and no connective tissue, a shock and awe campaign of pop that never really hits.
[5]