“Dream Glow”

In 2017, Charli XCX joked that she was the newest member of BTS. It seemed feasible enough. She knows her way around a candy-coated melody, and she understands how to hit a musical bliss point. And she’s no stranger to the world of K-pop; earlier this year, she wrote a song for the twee idol group Twice, and boy-band cast-off turned Roc Nation rapper Jay Park closed Pop 2’s “Unlock It.” As if making good on a promise, Charli appears alongside BTS officially for “Dream Glow,” the first song from the BTS World soundtrack for a mobile game of the same name. There are few things more K-pop than using music as advertising for an app, but the song’s light bop is nearly pessimist-proof.

“Dream Glow” repurposes a 2016 Charli XCX demo produced by StarGate, flipping an irradiant come-on into a twinkling reverie. Though billed to BTS, the song only features three of the group’s four singers—Jimin, Jin, and Jungkook—and none of its rappers. They don’t miss a beat, with Charli filling the vacant spaces to maintain their carefully arranged synchronicity. She beams through with re-recorded vocals and new lyrics, and the boys swirl around her. Their performances are like decorative icing carefully applied around the edges of a cake, layer within layer of lithe coos. They sing vaguely but assuredly, in English and Korean, about the yet-to-be-realized potential of dreams. It’s starry-eyed but not fanciful. “Dream Glow” forgoes the bubblegum pop neverland of their Halsey collab, “Boy With Luv,” for pristine EDM-lite delight. With Charli XCX as an honorary member, an undermanned BTS squad turn a forgotten leftover into a sweet lullaby for their ARMY idealists.