BTS member Jimin recently had his first music release as a solo artist on March 14 with “Set Me Free,” the lead single from his upcoming album Face. While the track swept the charts, becoming the fastest song to hit 100 #1s on iTunes and earning the biggest first-day Spotify debut by a K-Pop soloist, not all were on board with it.
There were some negative reactions to the song, especially about the production choice of using heavy autotune in some parts. While musical taste is subjective, it is true that some of the negative reactions were based on inaccurate information altogether. One such comment claimed that the instrumental track of “Set Me Free” stood out as low-quality because of its fake brass and choir sounds. The comment assumed that those sounds were software-generated, which, for them, took away from the intended grandeur of the song.
The reason why this singular comment has been circulating on social media more than any other criticism is because of a musician called Nick Lee, who worked on additional production of “Set Me Free.” Nick posted a congratulatory post n Instagram on March 18, celebrating the release of the song. Among the different pictures and videos he included in his post was a screenshot of that particular comment. Nick decided to hit back with facts in the caption, mentioning that he was actually the one who played the real horns in the track!
set me free pt. 2 by Jimin of @bts.bighitofficial OUT NOW!! I did additional production & (real) horns on it
thank u so much Jimin and @pdogg428 for making an amazing song and letting me be a part
—Nick Lee’s caption on Instagram
Nick Lee is a producer, songwriter, and trombonist based in Seoul, who has worked on popular productions such as Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby,” SEVENTEEN’s “Ash,” and Epik High’s “On My Way Feat. Jackson Wang.”
Fans are appreciative of the fact that Nick stood up for the song and Jimin. Also, they didn’t fail to notice that Pdogg, the main producer of “Set Me Free” and a long-time colleague of BTS, liked the post on Instagram, subtly showing his support as well!
At the end of the day, ARMYs are satisfied to learn that the BTS members are surrounded by supportive people who truly love and respect them as artists.
