Lost! (RM song)

"Lost!" (stylized as 'LOST!') is a song by South Korean rapper RM of BTS from his second studio album Right Place, Wrong Person. It was released as the album's second single on May 24, 2024, through Big Hit Music. A music video directed by Aube Perrie was released simultaneously with the single's release.^[1] The critically acclaimed music video went on to win multiple industry and commercial awards including UK Music Video Awards ^[2]

RM was left unfulfilled after Indigo despite its critical acclaim and commercial success. Instead, he spent more than a year feeling adrift and even postponed his mandatory military enlistment to delve deeper into music, feelings and sentiment, which later became the album Right Place, Wrong Person. For RM, the months, prior to making of the album, were dynamic in terms of highs and lows and there was a sense of near mania, which lead to the single "Lost!".^[3]

The song was an encapsulation of his feelings of being lost and represented the album's core theme. Over a dynamic year and three months filled with daily challenges, RM felt the need to distance himself from the group temporarily to understand his identity outside of BTS. This personal journey of feeling lost and finding his way back resonated deeply with him, making Lost! the perfect song to embody the album’s introspective and vulnerable narrative, thereby becoming the album's title track.^[4]

"Lost!" is a Hip-Hop & Rap track, the chorus contains funky beats and a rapid synth totalling at 5 minutes and 24 seconds for the MV but 3 minutes and 53 seconds on streaming apps.^[5]

The lyrics have a poetic feel to it. In the intro, RM consistently asks, "How'd you get lost?" which sets the tone of the song. As the track progresses, RM finds himself in different situations with different people, but the feeling of being lost and lonely remains.^[6] The song overlaps glee with sorrow, with a last-minute grab at a “silver cloud,” and a call out to “dump it on the ground / pick it up, throw it in the trunk.” ^[7]

It is a sonically upbeat song, yet a closer listen to the lyrics reveals the melancholic undercurrent which RM has hinted at from the start.^[7] The song makes one question whether he wants a keepsake of his gleeful wanderings or whether he is locking it up in acknowledgement of the temptation to let loose again.^[8]