axtogymnastics

[axtogymnastics]

✨💛 This is the Amazing Person Award! Once you are given this award you are supposed to paste it in the ask of eight different people, who, in your opinion, deserve it. If you break the chain nothing will happen, but it is sweet to know someone thinks you're amazing inside and out 💛✨

🙏

[axtogymnastics]

170918 BTS ‘LOVE YOURSELF: Her’ Press Conference - Compilation

- Rap Monster: “LOVE YOURSELF: Her is a series following after ‘Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa’ and ‘WINGS’. This album takes the role of ‘seung’ in ‘gi seung jeon gyeol’ and features 11 songs.” (TV Report) (seung: explanation, gi seung jeon gyeol: introduction - explanation - twist - conclusion)

- Rap Monster: “I think this album will become one of our turning points.” (TV Report)

- Jin: “Please love our song ‘DNA’ that contains our DNA.” (Mydaily)

- Suga: “I was greatly surprised when I heard the news about the number of pre-orders. It was 700,000 for the last album and we were very grateful to our fans and everyone who listened to our album then too. This time we thought we shall grow a little greedier and it would possibly reach 800,000 orders, we were greatly surprised seeing the news. I’m grateful that this many people love us. I think the pre-orders represent the trust and love for our music, I’m really grateful.” (Herald Pop)

- Rap Monster: “‘DNA’ contains our message of reconciliation and unite that we want to throw at the society.” (Mydaily)

- [About the meaning of ‘harmony’] Rap Monster: “I think love is an ability. If you can’t love yourself, you can’t love others. I often hear people saying that love is an illusional and vague thing these days. I thought about the method of loving. The time we spend looking into ourselves is getting lesser ad lesser because of smart phones and news media. I consider loving oneself to be the answer to many things. We don’t have the confidence to love ourselves completely, but we want to try and think about that answer. Starting from loving ourselves. That’s how it started. Although we haven’t been able to find that answer yet, we hope we can as we go along with the ‘gi seung jeon gyeol’ series.” (Mydaily, Joynews24)

- [About the whistle sound] Rap Monster: “I and Jungkook did the whistling together but I don’t know which one they used.” (News Inside)

- [About new goals] Suga: “Whenever we receive this question, we always said that our goal is to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Hot 100 chart actually requires having many albums sold, having songs streamed a lot and another important thing is radio play. This is not easy at all. We are holding expectation whether it will come true this time, but luckily US radio stations are giving us a lot of attention and select our songs often, so we’re carefully placing hope this time. Our album is being sold in the US this time and so many people are showing expectation and attention for us so we want to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart this time.” (Newsen)

- Jimin: “I really want us to top the digital music chart when the digital album is released. I hope many people will love all of our songs this time as well as give BTS who always attempt new things a lot of love.” (Newsen)

- ‘DNA’ is a song of an uncommonly seen music structure in K-pop, featuring the foreign trendy EDM pop genre and bold use of beat drop. The song contains the message ‘we are entwined by fate from the beginning, we are one from the DNA’. (Newsen)

- Suga: “BTS members and the company staff often hold meetings together. The album concepts are from our thoughts and the producers’ thoughts merged together. When we first debuted, we each were busy making our own music, but now we combine BTS’ thoughts and the company’s ones and come up with the concepts.” (Maeil Kyungje)

- Rap Monster: “I often have meetings and hang out with the company staff. I talk with the producers, including Bang Shihyuk PD. The company keeps an eye on what we think.” (Maeil Kyungje)

- Rap Monster: “I always want to give good influence socially. Whenever I see people who like us, I feel a sense of responsibility. It can be become their inspiration or be left as good impression to them, but I think even mere appreciation like enjoying listening to our music or feeling our dance to be cool can also give good influence. I’m feeling the responsibility to keep offering good influence.” (Newsen)

- Suga: “Music is an extraordinary act that can moves someone. I hope the world will eventually become a world where many people are happy.” (Maeil Kyungje)

- [About ‘GO Rather Than Worrying’] Suga: “These days the young generation uses words like ‘YOLO’ and ‘spendthrift’, and I can’t understand why they use those words that much. We interpreted it from the perspective of BTS (in the song), I hope you would think about why the young generation uses ‘YOLO’ and ‘spendthrift’ while listening.” (Mydaily)

- [About ‘DNA’ music video] Suga: “We emphasized on the fancy impression to portray the feeling of falling in love. I was amazed every time I see the music video filming set, because it was so beautiful. I feel good since the result will come out great.” (Sports Joseon)

- Jin: “‘Best Of Me’ is a great song to listen to with lyrical melodies. This song was mixed by a partner who works together with The Chainsmokers. I hope many people would listen to it.” (Sports Joseon)

- Rap Monster: “There’s a famous performance in which president Obama dropped his mic to wrap up the new year speech. It was one of the performances that hold the meaning ‘My speech was good, right?’. ‘MIC Drop’ is a track connected with it. It features a lot of our swag and ambitions and was inspired by president Obama’s speech.” (Seoul Kyungje)

- [About collaboration with Seo Taiji] V: “He gave us support and told us that it’s our era now. I can truly feel that it’s an honor to be able to perform together with such a legendary senior singer.” (Mydaily)

- Jin: “Seo Taiji-sunbaenim told me that I can call him ‘father’. I was grateful that he used the word ‘Seo Taiji and Sons’.” (Mydaily)

- Suga: “I call him ‘hyungnim’. He’s way younger than my father.” (Mydaily)

- [About why the start of the series is ‘seung’ (explanation) and not ‘gi’ (introduction)] Suga: “When we consider the process of falling in love as ‘gi seung jeon gyeol’, I think the stage where we are the most immersed in love would be ‘seung’, so the album started as ‘seung’. There will come a moment when you understand why ‘seung’ comes out now if you follow our album sequence in the future.” (Mydaily)

- Rap Monster: “I think a lot about where our goal should be. When we first debuted, I couldn’t even think of working together with The Chainsmokers. Performing at the Gymnastics Stadium was our goal before debut, but now all kinds of unimaginable proposals are coming from inside and outside of our company. I’m curious about how far we can go. Our abstract goal is to climb up to the top and leave a milestone in the history like how PSY-sunbaenim did.” (Mydaily, Joynews24)

- Suga: “We followed the path of the senior singers and now we too need to build that path and advance further. I hope we can build better paths with better sides of us.” (Joynews24)

- BTS: “Although figures are important, we want to show good music and good performance.” (Joynews24)

[axtogymnastics]

Boy Meets Art

http://seoulbeats.com/2016/10/boy-meets-art-btss-blood-sweat-tears-as-kunstlerroman/

I love this interpretation, it really relates to BTS as artists in real life. An excerpt from the article:

The title, “Blood Sweat & Tears”, is a more artistic take on the idea of the sacrifices BTS has had to make for their career, which they have highlighted in earlier tracks like “Dope”. The lyrics are couched in the rhetoric of complete submission to the temptations of a passionate, dangerous love affair:

Kiss me on the lips lips A secret between just the two of us I’m deeply addicted to the prison that is you I can’t serve anyone else that isn’t you

This can be read as a metaphor for the boys trading in their “blood, sweat and tears” and their “body, mind, soul” for their art.

[axtogymnastics]

Hip-Hop as a Bridge: BTS’ Come Back Home

     For the 25th anniversary of his legendary group’s founding, Seo Taiji selected BTS to cover his hit song, “Come Back Home.” The song, released in 1995, has been covered and remade numerous times. Newer fans to Kpop might be familiar with the version by Seo Taiji and Boys alumnus Yang Hyunsuk (a.k.a YG)’s girl group, 2NE1, but BTS’s version stands apart from the others for being darker and edgier. Their music is unusual for a Kpop group in that they borrow heavily from popular Western hip-hop styles. While most popular groups exclusively make poppy songs in the style of Ariana Grande, Fifth Harmony, and One Direction, with sprinklings of EDM, “Come Back Home” is trap-influenced and aggressive. Rather than futuristic sets or idyllic filters, the video is dark, urban, real, and features cultural taboos. The MV pushes many of the boundaries set by both the Korean music scene and Korean society.

     “Come Back Home” is about finding refuge from the pressures of society through hip-hop. Images of regular people struggling with different forms of pressure are contrasted with images of freedom and expression. The main character of the video represents BTS, who tries to bridge these two worlds. He starts off rather lost, trapped, and desperate to escape, but in the end finds relief through music. The video ends on a hopeful note, with the main character standing on a big ol’ rooftop with a little music player in the middle of it all. An old-school cassette tape appears in his hand as he gazes at a huge lunar eclipse, a symbol of wonder and perhaps greater perspective. This scene shows how music can be an escape from ordinary life.

     The first part of the video details the pressure everyday Koreans face: a stressed-out high schooler who just can’t do it anymore, a frustrated office worker juggling responsibilities, a young hipster woman with sexy clothes and heavy makeup, perhaps struggling with self-image, or gender expectations and conformity from those around her. Even the setting of the video is oppressive: the landscape is shown through dark, ominous filters, the large forest and tunnel are turned upside-down, showing disorientation and confusion. The chained-link fence, the cramped white box, and narrow alley (2:47) also feel confined and stifling.

     One character’s struggle stands out; the high school student. He’s wearing a suit, tie, and school badge, so we know he is at least not a delinquent, and likely a good student under intense pressure to do well. Korean culture is quite demanding when it comes to education, and the consequences are exposed in this video1. We see a lot of pills on top of his textbook, perhaps antidepressants, sleep aids, or study drugs and also a pack of cigarettes (that pointedly reads “smoking kills”). Many teenagers around the world struggle with drugs and addiction whether they are prescribed by a doctor, peer pressure, or sheer need, but addiction is often stigmatized and hard to talk about. In a country where idols have been made to shave their heads or serve prison sentences for using drugs that are perfectly legal in the US, it is remarkable that BTS includes any drug use at all, adding a somber reality to their music.

     In the middle section of the video, the main characters attempt to escape the oppression. The boy in a hoodie runs along the fence, the student abandons school and leaves home, the sexy goth woman crawls on the floor, everyone’s screaming, and so forth. The counterculture surfaces in this part of the video: a tattoo artist (2:05), a popping dancer (2:22)2, skateboarders (2:37, while not strictly hip-hop, they are a big part of urban culture), a guitarist (2:39) and finally, graffiti art (3:19 shows BTS and Seo Taiji’s names combined into BTSTJ).  Fire seems to consume everything without discrimination: guitars, pills, cigarettes, paperwork, graffiti, everything. Representing destruction but also passion and unrestraint, fire is freedom, art is freedom, and hip-hop is freedom. 

     BTS uses the main character as a middleman to bridge the regular people with the counter-cultural artists. Hip-hop can be unapproachable, rough around the edges, and hard to understand for regular people like students, office workers, and those who haven’t grown up with it, but BTS makes that world relatable. By putting the stories of everyday people over a hip-hop beat, they act as a bridge between two completely separate cultures: the world of hip hop and rebellious underdogs, and society’s conformist expectations. Thus when the main character is actually on a bridge at 2:57, we see that he is just like BTS. Though he is bleeding and hurting, he finds the light at the end of the tunnel. The main character in the last 80 seconds of the video symbolizes BTS themselves; being young, they feel the sufferings, confusion, and pain of youth, and they create music that provides relief and a way of making sense of those feelings.

     This video was unsurprisingly yet somewhat ironically censored and criticized. Due to fan complaints, Seo Taiji had to apologize for not including BTS in the actual video. The actors who were chosen instead were apparently too edgy. Their tattoos, which are illegal in Korea and heavily frowned upon, had to be flagged as “explicit” and edited out of the video. I will admit I bypassed Youtube’s age restrictions to watch the explicit version… only to find no profanity (“Never Mind,” rated 15+), no blood (“I Need U,” rated 19+), and no drinking or smoking (“Run,” rated 15+, and “Blood Sweat and Tears,” rated 12+). There were no differences whatsoever aside from some lettering and a flower on someone’s arm. In an industry dominated by ballad rock and bubblegum pop about first love and partying, this dark MV comes as quite a shock. But it is this sort of rebellion that allows BTS to create new trends, create progress, and really take a stand in society.

     In this way, BTS is also a bridge between pop music and hip-hop. In one particularly notorious video, underground rapper B-Free slammed BTS for being too mainstream to be called hip-hop.  Rap Monster and Suga (former underground rappers)3 replied that they wanted to bridge the two spheres of music, and that is precisely what they do. They have songs about partying and love, music videos with rainbow hair and flowers, but also releases like “Come Back Home.” Despite being pop artists, they still maintain their hip-hop roots. 

     BTS is also a bridge between cultures. I think many BTS fans, like me, were not initially fans of hip-hop, having been brought up to see hip-hop as a profane art form that was only for gangsters and the black “hood.” I certainly never expected someone to make a rap song about the pressure to do well in school and get a good job (as in the song “N.O”). But now, not only do I not mind hip-hop, it’s a genre I respect and admire. BTS also single-handedly got me into dance and writing, now huge parts of my life. I’ve met so many people through BTS, some from the other side of the planet, and the group has just generally had a massive impact on my life. The question I ask myself is, would they have done that if they were an ordinary Kpop group? If they had given up on their bold messages and hip-hop style? And what would BTS have been if it weren’t for Seo Taiji and Boys, the original hip-hop idols? BTS has done so much with this release, remaking the original “Come Back Home” for 2017, bridging two generations of Korean hip-hop, but also proving that hip-hop is a home for everyone. 

1. This is a major issue in South Korea and something BTS has been tackling since their very first album: 2 Cool 4 Skool.

2. Fun fact: J-Hope of BTS also does popping, though his style is more boogaloo and less tutting, as in this video. tm����s�$

3. BTS’s members are proof of hip-hop’s diversity. Suga grew up poor in Daegu while Rap Monster was a top student in the suburbs of Seoul. Jin was an aspiring actor, J-Hope was an underground dancer. V was raised on a farm, and Jimin and Jungkook were normal high school kids when they auditioned.

Thanks for reading, as always.

[axtogymnastics]

It’s Hard to be Young: BTS’ I Need U

     In this opening to the Most Beautiful Moment in Life series (HYYH), each of the seven boys tells a specific story, and the combined music video tells the story of the pain and hardships of youth. The song by itself is about the dying relationship between two lovers. In the context of the music video, it is about the dying relationship between a young person and their, well, basically their youth, happiness, and even life. The common theme is that even though the boys have their own individual problems, they were able to forget them when together, having a good time.

Jungkook- Estrangement

His character is a wandering, lost teen. He accidentally starts a fight with two hoodlums (fun fact: played by the managers) but he doesn’t have the willpower to fight back, or maybe avoid conflict. Likewise when he walks into the street as a car approaches. What Jungkook represents, especially as the youngest member, is a lack of hope and motivation that plagues many young people today.

V-Independence

V kills his father. In the context of an extremely filial Korean culture, this symbolizes his rejection of the adult figure, which somewhat ironically forces him to grow up. Like the younger boy, he becomes very distant from guiding figures: father, home, and friends. His separation is especially noticeable in the Prologue and Stigma videos, when he attempts suicide and when the cage descends on him.

Jimin- Depression

Not knowing how to deal with his problems, he turns to suicide; he attempts unsuccessfully to drown himself. Something holds him back, keeping him alive. This is most likely the presence of his friends. When the seven boys are shown together, they are happy and can temporarily forget their inner struggles.

Rap Monster- Duty and Repressed Self

He works at a gas station where he is disrespected by the customer, and is the only member who is seen rapping/singing in the music video: “It goes round and round…I go down and down…I’m talking to myself again.” His job is boring, he does not want to do it, but there is nothing else he can do. The brief interjection of his art is like an expression of what his inner feelings are.

J-Hope: Depression and Sickness

He, like Jimin, is clearly suicidal as he is seen attempting to overdose on his medication. Being with his friends provides respite from his demons; he burns the pills in the bonfire.

Suga- Self-Hatred

This is unsurprising, considering he tries to burn himself alive and his lyrics are basically “I hate this; I hate life; I hate you.” As with most of the boys, we don’t know what the cause of his struggles is, just that they are there and very big.

Jin- Growing Up

Jin’s scenes are much lighter than the other members’—literally, he is in a white room—but not without pain. The six flower petals shown represent beauty and youth. However, they also stand for the six friends who, in turn, represent the bad and ugly of youth. The oldest and most mature, Jin’s character is very conflicted about leaving youth. Perhaps he does not want to become a boring, soulless adult, yet he must abandon the recklessness and hardship of youth that can be so treasured, like good friends.

And that’s it.

BTS doesn’t tell us how the story of the seven troubled youths ends, or what it all means. This is partly because their own stories aren’t over yet. They also don’t try to explain they whys, hows, wheres, whats, of the music video. It’s entirely up to the viewer. What I’ve written is how the video spoke its message to me, and it is my great pleasure to pass this on to you, just as BTS passed their stories to me and (namjoon voice) ARMYs all over the world.

[axtogymnastics]

Did You Know?

that in BTS ‘봄날 (spring day)’ MV, the train station that showed taehyung waiting in the beginning is actually a real train station, iryeong station in yangju city, gyeonggi-do, albeit an abandoned one, since they only transport cargo now.

and that the music video is one helluva train ride to a place where there stood a tall tree, the place where they got together and come in terms with grief and hardships in life because the cold winter does end at some point, and spring comes. but let’s talk about that later :) lets, lets talk about the very first lines namjoon uttered so carefully, such vulnerable words

i miss you saying it like this makes me miss you even more even looking at your photos, i miss you ain’t time so heartless i..hated us the us who now can’t even look at each other’s face even once

보고 싶어/bogoshippeo means ‘i miss you’, an informal, casual tone that you can use freely to significant others, friends, families, it literally means ‘i want to see you’ but essentially, it means, ‘i miss you’, here, though, namjoon used 보고 싶다/bogoshipda, which is also an informal word, but a non-conjugated form of 보고 싶어/bogoshippeo, it holds a slightly different meaning than just ‘i miss you’ because it’s not a verb. 보고 싶다/bogoshipda for lack of better words, is an expression of longing, and carries a deeper emotion than just i miss you, kinda like a monologue (?) cos he’s not saying it to someone in particular, the expression feels a bit colder, which is ironic cos then he went on about how cold time is for making him missing someone.

this place is all winter, even in august winter comes it’s like my heart/mind races with time the lonely ‘snowpiercer’ who travelled to the south (i want to) while holding your hands, go all the way to the other side of the earth i wish i could end this winter, i wonder, friend, how much does the longing should fall like snow for spring day to come?

설국열차 is the korean title for the movie ‘snowpiercer’, also the name of the train in the movie that holds the last remnants of humanity after an attempt at climate engineering in order to stop global warming has unintentionally created a new ice age. essentially, ppl in the train thought no life can exist outside of the train, not knowing there is (a polar bear), which showed up at the end of the movie. i thought it was brilliant how namjoon referenced this movie, it’s like he’s saying no matter how hard circumstances can be, no matter how hard you think you have it, there is always hope, there is always a way out, there’s always spring after a cold cold winter, even when it seems impossible, you can have your cake and eat it

(or not ;p) 

the lyrics in this song isn’t that hard to comprehend tbh it’s quite straightforward but the way they express it is both poetry and cynicism at its best, and despite the repetitive chorus the song is atcually quick and full, leaving nothing short of amazement. 

like the tiny dust that floats/flies in the air if i’m the snow that flies in the air  i would’ve reached you a little faster 

my heart swells a little here, because they are reiterating what namjoon says about wanting to hold hands so we can end this winter together, that they want to, if only they’re with us, doesn’t it soothe your heart a little? knowing there are people out there who knows how cold life can be, and wants to get to us quickly so we could the end it together 

and when some of the members lament

the snowflakes are falling little by little bit more, they fall i miss you (i miss you) how much longer do i have to wait and how many more nights do i have to stay up, to see you? will i ever get to meet you?

the others be consoling like, well,

after we pass by the end of cold winter until spring day comes once again until the flowers blossom at that place (even when it’s cold/even when you have to waited long), for a little while, please stay please stay

but then yoongi’s part came and i sobbed a little because it’s so??

i wonder if you have changed, or if i have changed. perhaps, i’ve changed. i hate the time that’s flowing at this very moment  i guess we have changed, huh i guess everyone does that, huh yeah, okay, i hated you but even when you left, there was never a day that i’ve forgotten about you and even though i actually miss you, i’m gonna erase you now cos that’ll hurt way less than blaming you

and it doesn’t help when both seokjin and jimin go on to say

i try to blow away the cold you who is like smoke, like white smoke even when i say i’m going to erase you the truth is i still can’t let you go

 /crieS/ which is why the ending gets me because

you know it all you’re my best friend the morning will come again no matter what kind of darkness or (bad) seasons  they can’t last forever

(and) it looks like cherry blossoms are blooming (now) and this winter too, is coming to an end i miss you  if i wait just a little bit longer if i stay up just a few more nights i will come to see you i will come to take you (away)

after we pass by the end of cold winter until spring day comes once again until the flowers blossom at that place (even when it’s cold/even when you have to waited long), for a little while, please stay please stay

i want to mention here that omelas referenced in the mv as we are all prob aware of by now, tells a story of how a child was kept hidden in a secluded place in the omelas city, with horrible conditions, in exchange of happiness of the entire city. and that the same tragedy also shares with children in the movie snowpiercer itself, where they were enslaved and used as replacement parts to keep the train functioning. to put it simply, children depicted in both stories were convinced to give their life for the continuation of a way of life that was totally oppressive to their own circumstances, which is extremely radical in a way that has deep resonance for our real world, like how can you stand being together in a society that is built from abuse and discrimination, entrenched inequality, and do nothing?

and it is precisely because of this, bangtan continues to voice out their opinions as they did in previous albums, and call out the perpetrators as well as the bystanders for everyhting that has gone wrong, that could go wrong, and that is going wrong in the society, especially in the events relating to their home country south korea

let me bring you back to the music video where jimin picked up the white shoes from the winter sea

the white shoes that middle-school/high school students wear in south korea

and how he carries the shoes all through out the mv

before he brought them to a tree after they all got off the train 

and hang them

these scenes imo is very much referenced to the sewol ferry tragedy that took place in april, 2014, the incident that had resulted in more than 300 deaths, including 250 second-year high school students and their teachers from danwon high school who were on a field trip that day, and is recognized as one of the most devastating maritime disaster in decades, and it’s not just because of a sinking ferry itself but because of willfull negligence and corruption.

fyi when the ferry was sinking, the captain of the ship and a number of cabin crew made announcement for the passengers to stay where they were when they themselves chose to abandon the ship while hundreds of people were still trapped inside. and being good citizens they all remained at their cabin, where they waited for further orders, which never came 

the members of crew who stayed to help passengers were among those who died. 

and the disaster doesn’t end there. it was found out later that the ship itself was illegally modified and was carrying almost double its legal limit with inexperienced crew and a questionable relationship between the ship operators and state regulators. the investigation was also conducted behind closed doors where the families are not permitted to observe the recovery operation, these allegations as well as  the way the government lacked transparency adds more to the lengthy laundry list of grievances souht koreans have against park geun hye’s administration. there were questions raised as to where she was when it happened that morning and why wasn’t the issue addressed publicly even 7 hours afterwards.

the yellow ribbons symbolize hope and solidarity with the families victims and i think it’s genius how they incorporate this knowing very well that they can be blacklisted from the government which is ridiculous at every level. the government was highly blamed for many lives lost that day, what with the lack of safety standards in the country, the families were also mostly left out of the investigation, there’s just so many dissatisfaction ppl have over park geunhye’s administration, and that itself is an understatement. and with bangtan and bighit donating 100 million won (approximately $85,000) to the sewol ferry disaster 416 family council, they are probably blacklisted already :/ 

the pile of clothing could also be a metaphor to ppl who left this world as exhibited by french artist christian boltanski’s work entitled ‘personnes’ as part of monumenta in 2010. i quote, “These grouped clothes may represent mass graves, or corpses arrayed for identification in the school gym, but they also constitute a kind of cemetery. For the experience is just the same: that there is nobody here and yet the place is crowded. Personnes, the piece is called: people, but at the same time no one.”

which is why even though tying shoes high on a tree branch or power lines have variation in meanings for different country and culture, there is one famous belief taht i think is what is meant here; that tying shoes high on a tree branch signifies someone has died and that the shoes belong to the dead person. that the reason they are hanging, is so when the dead person’s spirit returns, it will walk that high above the ground, that much closer to heaven 

and it would’ve been fineeeee to just reference spring day like this as a remembrance to the passing of the passengers and the beautiful children because the song DOES talk about grief and hardships in life, and that no matter what kind of darkness or (bad) seasons they can’t last forever 

but then bangtan had these lines that are repeatedly voiced melancholically all throughout the chorus until the very end of the song and i just–

after we pass by the end of cold winter until spring day comes once again until the flowers blossom at that place (even when it’s cold/even when you have to waited long), for a little while, please stay please stay

it’s as if bangtan is throwing shade at the captain and his crew for being dishonorable, asking the children to stay where they were ‘until the rescue boats arrive’ when they themselves were up and about ready to get out of the ship, 

it’s just. 

when the boys say these last lines it’s as if, it’s as if the boys are saying to the children that they know it’s hard to wait, but just stay there. it’s okay to stay there, i’ll come to you instead, yeah? just you wait there till i come to you so we can end this suffering together

[axtogymnastics]

Staying Woke: B.A.P’s Wake Me Up

     B.A.P’s latest music video is one of the most powerful that I’ve seen from Kpop. It’s dark and completely relevant to today’s society. Their latest comeback deals with mental illness, which is a very tough topic to address, especially in South Korea, and this is the first time I’ve seen it portrayed so openly in mainstream Kpop. B.A.P themselves have struggled a lot over the past few years: overworked and underpaid, they filed a lawsuit in late 2014 and were on hiatus for 21 months. Leader Yongguk took a break to treat his own anxiety and panic disorder. I get the feeling that “Wake Me Up” is a way for them to open up about their own mental hardships, but also impart a strong call for change.

     The MV portrays a range of characters struggling with addiction, depression, and loneliness. The diversity in this MV is impressive for a Kpop group, both in the race of the actors and the range of issues tackled. We see a woman dressed up and doing her makeup, then smearing lipstick across her face. Not liking the appearance of her reflection, she breaks the mirror at 1:56. This stands for beauty standards and the pressure women face to adhere to them. The woman smiles from beneath the makeup, but it is not genuine, and she is upset by her inability to be herself anymore. 

     We also see woman with an eating disorder, who tries to cut her food into smaller and smaller portions. The food becomes disgusting bugs, and she is revolted by it and cannot bring herself to eat. Another girl reaches for her pills and overdosing, representing prescription drug addiction. The characters are all isolated, like the man in the bathroom who attempts to drown himself, or the other who cannot reach anyone by phone. The latter is shown in a trance as sparks fly around him, and when he opens his eyes, dead bodies surround him. This could represent mental illnesses like schizophrenia, where the afflicted has difficulty distinguishing reality from their imagination, or even plain ignorance, an unawareness of the evils around oneself. 

     However, the character that stands out the most to me is the protestor. Holding up a sign that reads “Emotion Revolution” with the “evol” flipped to read “love,” he represents the artist trying to make his voice heard. Yongguk’s verse begins with “viva la revolución” (fun fact: he’s got it tattooed across his chest) or “vive la revolution,” depending on how you hear it, phrases used during the Cuban and French Revolutions to protest the evils of government. Like BAP, he’s trying to draw awareness to a societal problem in order to awaken those around him. I think the issues represented by the unrelated characters are general and not limited to any single country or society. The multiracial cast represents the global community and issues ranging from the scandal over South Korean president Park Geun-Hye and her impeachment, to police brutality against blacks in the US, the conservatism of Asian cultures, or the stigma against mental illness all over the world. Rather than call out specific situations, B.A.P calls out a general lack of empathy, humanity, and love. 

     Even though nobody seems to see or hear the protester, things start to change when BAP come to the rescue. At first, frustrated with the lack of attention, the protester beats up the car in front of him. Nearby, the woman at the start of the MV with the unhealthy makeup obsession, notices B.A.P on the television behind the window of a corner store. Soon a crowd gathers to watch B.A.P’s PSA on the televisions, and then the five characters with various disorders are seen smiling and holding a single rose, symbolizing love, hope, and renewal. All it took was one woman with the slightest inclination, the small bit of empathy required to stop (and smell the roses) to listen to B.A.P’s song, before the entire crowd realizes that the protester was right all along, and that they need to take action. This is where B.A.P delivers their message, urging viewers to join together and take action, for there is strength in numbers and in community. The characters all come together to celebrate and light fires in the streets, sparking hope and rebellion. The first step towards change is a common acknowledgment of the issues, which we see at 3:26. 

     One of the hidden symbols is the references to November 5th, circled on the calendar above. Yongguk’s broadcast airs at 11:05. November 5th is Guy Fawke’s Day, a British holiday when effigies are burned, bonfires lit, and the Protestant rebellion against the Catholic Church is commemorated. In the scene above, the writing on the wall is Yongguk’s reminder of his mission—to awaken the people and make them aware. After he does this, they have a Fawkes-esque rave/riot in the street, a celebration of rebellion. International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day is also in November, although that may not have been an intentional connection.

     For a rather depressing subject like this one, B.A.P could have easily done a song like Agust D's "The Last" or Yongguk's own "AM 4:44;” –ominous, deep rumbly rap, and a sparse beat. However, the song and lyrics express a sort of urgency with the repetition of "wake me up," and the constant, high-pitched guitar riff in the background. The lyrics, unlike those of the other two songs, contain no direct references to depression, suicide, self-harm, or anything else that would make the song un-promotable on South Korea’s notoriously censored music programs. B.A.P has already let go of their youth, their sleep and Yongguk’s mental health for the sake of their music. And now, they have sacrificed some freedom of speech for the sake of making this topic more mainstream. Despite the censorship, B.A.P. is able to use their music video to highlight the problems of society and bring our awareness to the need for action.

Thank you for reading!

[axtogymnastics]

List of Music Video Analyses

B.A.P

-One Shot

-1004(Angel)

-Wake Me Up

BTS

-Blood, Sweat and Tears part 1, and part 2

-Spring Day

-I Need U

-Come Back Home

IU

-Twenty-Three

[axtogymnastics]

True Friends Never Walk Alone: BTS’ Spring Day

     The Bangtan Boys are back! BTS’ goal since debut has been to relate the struggles of youth: the 2Kool4Skool album title tracks chronicle the lack of motivation among Korean youth and the pressure they face from society to study hard, get a job, and succeed in life; Skool Luv Affair and Dark and Wild deal with teenage love, anger, and angst; and songs like “Am I Wrong” and “Silver Spoon” from The Most Beautiful Moment in Life (or HYYH as abbreviated from the Korean title) and Wings albums criticize the passiveness and hypocrisy of their society. These last two albums also explore themes of temptation, pain, and beauty in youth. Their latest music video, “Spring Day,” is all about friendship and keeping each other strong, and stands out to me as their most relatable release.

     The title of the album, Wings: You Never Walk Alone, sums up the MV’s message: even when you feel alone, you aren’t. It contains references to the HYYH era and the other Wings releases, as well as to works from other artists, most notably The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin, in the scene at 1:23 with the motel party. In the short story, Omelas is a seaside town where the inhabitants’ perpetual happiness depends on the isolation and mistreatment of a young child. Most accept the child’s suffering as a necessary evil, only a rare few leave Omelas, and always alone, but “they seem to know where they are going.” The child stands for the suffering of youth that Korean society shuts its eyes to, and BTS are the ones with the motivation and foresight to walk away from Omelas. However, unlike the people in the story who walk away alone, they go together with the youth to support them in their journey towards a better place. 

Top-down, left-right: Suga, Jungkook, Rap Monster, Jimin, Jin, J-Hope and V.

     Youth is a pretty sad time, it seems, for the members. Birthday cakes, friends, and red solo cups occupy the scene at 1:23, but the viewer senses that all is not well in scenes like the one above. In the aftermath of the party, they sit unsmiling and bored in front of the cake, a reminder that they are growing up. They seem jaded and perhaps a little apprehensive as the candle burns down, suggesting  suffering, disillusionment, and loneliness underneath all the fun. The beginning of the video also shows the three youngest boys alone. Jimin sits alone by the beach, appearing pale and lifeless. V lays down against the train tracks, seemingly suicidal as he listens for the oncoming train. On this train is Jungkook, the main character of the MV and a manifestation of loneliness.

     Back in the “I Need U” and “Run” MVs, BTS always had fun together on the beach and on trains. Over the past year, trains in BTS’ work have become a symbol of youth itself, representing its speed and excitement. However, as BTS’ characters grow up, the trains also come to mean the changes that inevitably occur during youth. We see this during Rap Monster’s solo; the train doors are used to trainsition to the next scenes.  Jungkook travels by himself, but the viewer doesn’t know where he is going. Likewise, V continues walking down the tracks, hoping for some form of relief at the other end. Both of them seem to be moving away from the other members. This could represent a multitude of things: depression, growing up, or a friendship that’s fallen apart—all universal struggles that youth face. 

     In addition to loneliness and isolation, Jin portrays the sadness of growing up away from your younger friends. As the oldest member of BTS, he is often shown in their music videos as distanced from the members in some form (not playing with them, disappearing off pictures, sitting at the head of the table etc). In a scene reminiscent of M.C. Escher’s Ascending and Descending and other stairwell studies, Jin stands at the bottom while the others continue walking up, continuing the leaving-Jin-out motif. Jin captures it first with his little finger-camera-rectangle, which V does as well in order to preserve their precious moments together. However, the staircase wraps around itself, suggesting continuity rather than the sudden change V and Jin fear. Even the circular movement of the washing machines could reflect this cycle of life. 

Ever the not-fun-anymore grownup, Jin does BTS’ laundry for them. He might have put Suga through the cycle, too.

     At the climax of the MV, loneliness and depression are relieved by true friendship. A lost and confused Jungkook runs through the train cars, revisiting old memories. We might speculate that he is a manifestation of train-Jungkook’s lonely subconscious. He follows Rap Monster’s path until the rest of BTS joins him. Jungkook’s subconscious crosses paths with train-Jungkook, and his happiness is rekindled, literally, as in he strikes a match and his friends reappear. Finally, the camera zooms out and real-time Jungkook realizes that he is not alone on the train; his friends have been there the whole time. The trip the boys take at the end proves the strength and continuity of their friendship through all its ups and downs.

     Lastly, I want to clarify the connection between this MV and the Sewol Ferry incident. On April 16th, 2014, over 250 high school students on a field trip died following the captain’s grossly irresponsible actions--overloading the ferry, making too sharp a turn, and ordering all passengers to stay put as he abandoned ship. The news media initially said all students had been rescued, an even greater mishap. Later, protesters were also censored by the government. The beached shoes Jimin finds represent the lives lost in the Sewol ferry incident and he hangs them up on the tree as a memorial. Likewise, the mountain of clothing in the sea represents the dead, much like French artist Christian Boltanski’s No Man’s Land. Flower petals that appear at 5:22 symbolize birth and hope after the hardship of winter, but they also serve to commemorate the victims. Additionally, BTS’ album cover features the slogan “you will never walk alone” and the yellow ribbon used to support the victims.

BTS and their company, BigHit Entertainment, recently donated about 100 million KRW (about $85,000) to the families of the Sewol victims, and I think it is fair to conclude the album was dedicated to them, and part of its message is a show of solidarity with the youth who died so unfairly.

    Jungkook’s character in the MV stands for all of us—the young, the young at heart, and the dead—who have felt incredibly alone at times, and don’t always know where they are going in life. BTS offers a comforting message of support:

The morning will come again

Because no darkness, no season

Can last forever

During the coldest of winters, we must anticipate the return of spring, and BTS, through their music, reminds us that even when you feel completely alone, there is someone or something out there who will help you get through the hard times.

Thanks for reading!

[axtogymnastics]

On Being a Woman: IU’s Twenty-Three Analysis

     Promotions for IU’s album “Chatshire” have received much criticism for oversexualizing child characters: her concept was perceived as blatantly Lolita-esque, the song “Zeze” as pedophilic, and she was suddenly revealed to be dating a man eleven years her senior. Having debuted at age fifteen, IU had long been regarded by South Koreans as “the nation’s little sister,” but this image no longer reflects her as a grown woman. Many female pop stars in South Korea are pressured into looking and acting very young; it is the norm for most female artists. IU appears to be frustrated with this stereotype, but also resigned to it. Her music video Twenty-Three explores the conflict between her desire to grow up and her attachment to childhood.

     IU’s dilemma is apparent early on in the MV. Alone in a dark room, she face-plants the birthday cake. This is ordinarily characteristic of birthday parties and fun, but IU’s suddenly preoccupied expression and solitude suggest dread, and , her falling into the cake shows apathy. Suddenly she is twenty-three years old, an age at which there is generally a lot of pressure to grow up: get a job, settle down, start dressing “properly,” etc.… In IU’s videos, she generally looks and acts childish and overly cute for her age, by American standards. However, the Kpop industry glamorizes youth and innocence, so her image is more that of a young girl, not the most suitable for a 23 year-old.

     When the scene cuts away from the cake, we see IU in her bedroom, which she seems to have outgrown. Her appearance is womanly: she wears a crop top, a pencil skirt, high heels, and makeup. However, the décor is much younger with its flowers and toy animals. IU’s lipstick is replaced with crayons, and a mannequin’s hand comes out of her hairdryer, a creepy detail we’re not sure what business it has in her room. She appears bored and annoyed with these childish objects. The question mark on the door represents the confusion within her as she steps out into the world: she wants others to see her as an adult, but she is still within the confines of childhood.

     IU’s two main outfits in the MV reflect the simultaneous personas of woman and child. Her figure on the right of the scene above is in a short, high-necked, and white dress, her hair is down and she listens absentmindedly to music. On the left, her hair is tied back, her clothes more revealing, and her shadow has a fox tail. Foxes, of course, represent slyness as well as sexiness; in the scenes where she wears the purple outfit, IU teases and controls the backup dancers around her. IU appears to identify more with the woman on the left, as she sings in the first verse: “Trust me moderately if I pretend to be a grown up…If I pretend to be immature/Please be fooled roughly.” At 1:07, IU wearing the white dress acts naive; “Oh right, I want to be in love,” while adult-IU would rather make money. The adult IU repudiates younger versions of herself: an inner demon chases away frilly-dress-IU, an apple is thrown at teddy-bear IU, and she kicks aside the image of herself in a naked swelling sweater (presumably a comedic representation of a pubescent girl). IU in the public eye is young and innocent, but the twenty-three year-old IU wishes to be an independent, mature woman.

     IU is portrayed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland, following the white rabbit down a hole into a world of fantasy and madness. Quotes from the book are also painted on road signs in the above screenshot. Alice is the epitome of innocence, but IU spits out the food and tears off the tablecloth. She sucks on a bottle of milk like a baby while holding a Barbie doll, which represents an idealized woman. She looks both innocent and mischievous as she dumps the milk on the doll, rejecting both overly innocent and overly sexualized objects. She then appears fed up and unsure of what to do. IU’s situation is reflected by the crazy, frightening, and fascinating Wonderland.

     Later, she tries to enhance her breasts by stuffing apples into her shirt, but the mannequin give her the finger. The mannequin, whose arm had previously interfered with her hair-drying, is perhaps a reminder that her appearance is controlled by other people; the industry does not want her to look busty, since she is supposed to be cute. She retaliates by shooting at an apple on the dummy’s head. Apples carry connotations of Eve and her choice to leave the innocent world of Eden to enter the real world. , By aiming for the apple, and hitting it, IU indicates that she wants to do the same.

     The lyrics to the song, like the video, flip between different personas. As part of this identity crisis, IU worries about judgement from others.

There’s nothing I’m afraid of

Even if I act rudely 

People are always kind to me   

The woman saying hello to me 

Is she still smiling after going round the corner? 

I’m always anxious

IU first says that everyone is kind to her, but she worries that it may not be genuine and that people criticize her behind her back. She says that there’s two sides to her: the happy, cute idol IU, as well as a sensitive IU with feelings who questions the genuineness of others. At first, IU says at 1:26, she never lied. The implication is that she now does, in order to maintain her sweet image and cover her less-than-appealing self. However, people who only see the façade cannot know her, in part because she doesn’t even know herself. While IU worries about judgement from others, she seems to have a “you don’t know me” attitude. After seven years of being in the spotlight, however, IU says she is used to “being seen through the sunglasses.”

     The MV ends with a crossroads, showing the different ways IU can go as an artist, entertainer, and person. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice asks the Cheshire Cat for directions and is presented with options rather than answers. The Cheshire Cat in the MV, previously hidden in shadows, emerges and the white rabbit dives into a hole at the base of the signpost. IU then emerges from the cake and we realize that it is the rabbit hole, that the entire video was a sort of chaotic wonderland contained within the cake.

     IU’s “Chatshire” album is a step away from her usual in many ways. She co-wrote and co-composed many of the songs, and we see a much more creative and mature side to her. The title track’s MV, “Twenty-Three,” explores themes of independence and femininity, and also refers to the rather disturbing and intrusive process through which female artists are cultivated for the public eye, either forced into concepts too young, too sexual, or both. Although she has never supported this phenomenon in interviews or in her music, she seems to accept that she must act cute to maintain her success. Twenty-Three is certainly different from her other works, but still very much IU.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

[axtogymnastics]

In Which RM&JK Warn Against Drugs: BTS’ Blood, Sweat and Tears Analysis Part 2

     Previously, we saw the two different sides of temptation as portrayed by V and Jin. The other members’ scenes expand on these concepts: Rap Monster and Jungkook are like V in that they are tempted by fun and physical pleasure, while Suga, J-Hope, and Jimin are more like Jin, tempted by art and intrigued by spiritual transcendence.

     In the above screenshot from 3:03, one side of the room is messy and childish; Jungkook’s clothes, books, and chair are strewn haphazardly about. On the other side, Rap Monster’s books are stacked, and oriental carpets and a classical painting give off a more mature vibe. (This left-right symbolism also appeared in the WINGS short films). Both members loaf casually: rather than clean his bed Jungkook prefers to eat candy on it, while Rap Monster lies intoxicated by the absinthe and whatever he’s smoking at 3:48. Although Rap Monster’s idea of relaxation and indulgence is more consequential than Jungkook’s, both show an unhealthy laxity.

      The idea of dangerous temptation is reinforced in their solo scenes; Jungkook’s lollipop and swing are contrasted with Rap Monster’s absinthe and mysterious smoke. Yet the two are connected when maknae eats the green wax from the candle Rap Monster used to prepare his absinthe. The wax Icarus relied on for flight melted, leading to his death, just as intoxication by either sugar or drugs is only temporary. Jungkook sits back up eventually at 5:44, but the world may never know whether Rap Monster stops doing drugs. PSA: as tempting as drugs, alcohol, laziness, candy, or flying are, the risk of corruption is ever-present. 

     Suga is tempted very differently, by music. More so than the other members, his role in the MV is the most representative of his real-life self. In his solo song in the WINGS album, “First Love,” he describes how he was drawn to music from a very young age, and its great influence on him as he grew up. In the MV, Suga plays an organ as its pipes form an eye-like shape above him, representing the catharsis or even enlightenment that music can bring. This image is echoed by Jin’s self-discovery when he kisses the statue a few seconds later.

     The particular piece Suga plays, Passacaglia in D Minor by Buxtehude, is also the signature piece of Pistorius, the fatherly organist in Demian,  This character briefly acts almost as a therapist, talking philosophy with Sinclair and helping him discover his own view of the world. Suga’s version of flight is not only to express himself through music, but also to influence others, and become somebody like Pistorius. We don’t see whether Suga ends up falling or flying, perhaps indicating that he, and BTS, are not done growing as artists.

     J-Hope strives to achieve flight through independence from the traditional Christian values he was raised under, represented by the Pièta by Michaelangelo, a Christian statue depicting the Virgin Mary holding the body of Jesus. In Demian, although Sinclair values Pistorius’ advice, he eventually rejects him, essentially because Pistorius liked to study religion and rambled about its history too much (he was a pastor). Sinclair describes this betrayal as “the arrow I had shot at him, striking him to the heart.” J-Hope is similarly dissatisfied with the peaceful yet dull world, as shown when he splashes the fountain’s stagnant black water about at 3:30, and the fact that Jesus’ torso on the Pièta is replaced with a nondescript angular block, no longer resembling the figure who stands for Christianity. When J-Hope shoots his arrow towards V, who is portrayed as a chaotic character, it symbolizes his desire to meet with the colorful world beyond the black and white garden. As with Sinclair’s rejection of Pistorius, J-Hope leaves his mentor figure behind to pursue greater knowledge.

     J-Hope’s scenes are chaotic in contrast to Suga, Rap Monster, and Jungkook’s. J-Hope splashes the black fountain water everywhere, showing frustration, while V’s multi-colored blood splatters onto his veil and the Virgin’s face cracks, showing the pain that these guiding figures experience upon separation. Eventually, however, the black water becomes colorful, showing beauty as a result of this pain. While flying away from home is painful, it is necessary and usually beneficial for growth, so in this sense J-Hope is sided with Jin and the idea of beneficial temptation and chaos.

     Lastly, Jimin and Suga’s scene in the blue room also represents beauty as a result of chaos. In the empty room above Rap Monster and Jungkook’s, Jimin’s eyes are twice covered by Suga, at 0:54 and at 3:50. As Suga is a guiding figure, this can be interpreted as an attempt to preserve a child’s innocence. At 3:16,  Jimin and Suga kneel calmly, almost meditating as they contemplate an apple--symbol of sin and temptation--and a blindfold. Jimin is tempted by the apple, while Suga wants to protect him from such an evil temptation. Jimin is blindfolded by Suga and stumbles about in the room, not yet having had the eye-opening epiphanies that the older Jin and Suga have had.  

     During the bridge leading to the chorus, Jimin and Jungkook reach blindly for the chaos they seek, represented by the flash of colors at 3:57. While the maknaes stumble about blindly, Jin’s eyes are slowly uncovered as we approach the fateful statue kiss scene. Jimin removes his blindfold, revealing a green paint streak coming out of his eye. This paint was also seen as the statue’s and V’s blood, a manifestation of artistry and beauty. The temptations Jimin faces are not corrupting, but provide enlightenment, self-expression, and maturity.

     “Blood, Sweat and Tears” continues the theme of the title of the intro track of the WINGS album, “Boy Meets Evil.” In “Blood, Sweat and Tears,” not all temptation is wholly bad; “evil” temptations can be beneficial, although BTS does suggest that too much temptation may be dangerous. The duality of temptation is represented by contrasts: black and white, left and right, good and evil, innocence and corruption, naivety and enlightenment. Overall, the MV is about the complicated process of growing up, a bildungsvideo, if you will. As BTS said in the Most Beautiful Moment In Life (HYYH) music videos, the struggles of youth are what make it beautiful.

As always, I hope you enjoyed this post. 

Let’s fly with our beautiful wings in 2017. ~Rap Monster, MAMA 2016 Artist of the Year Acceptance Speech 

[axtogymnastics]

In Which V Is Icarused (Maleficented?): BTS’ Blood, Sweat and Tears Analysis Part 1

        BTS has recently shown great growth and maturity as artists. Maknae Jungkook is only 19, the group is only three years old, yet their most recent album “Wings” has reached #26 album on Billboard, all-killed Korean music charts and more. It has also won BTS their first Artist of the Year Award!!! Not to get all gross and punny or anything but they really put their blood, sweat and tears into their music and deserve all that and more. And so, it is with great honor and pride that I dissect this MV.

From left to right: V — The Fallen Icarus

Suga — The Artist

Jin — the Flying Icarus

Jungkook — Tempted Youth #1

Rap Monster — The Adult

Jimin — Tempted Youth #2

J-Hope — The Independent Youth

The MV is full of artistic and literary references, such as the quote from Demian by Hermann Hesse at 4:03, as well as paintings, sculptures and even philosophy on the central theme of temptation. In particular, the MV can be viewed as retelling of the Greek myth of Icarus. Icarus’ father gave him a pair of wings, solely for the purpose of escaping their island prison, and warned him not to fly too close to the sun at the risk of melting the wax that bound the wings together. Icarus was so tempted by the idea of flight that he soared upwards anyway, where the wax melted and he promptly drowned in the sea. In “Blood, Sweat and Tears,” flight represents the search for transcendence through art, sensual pleasure, knowledge, and independence. Although Icarus falls, BTS says that giving in to temptation can produce growth and beauty as well.

              Flight and temptation are represented by two paintings of Icarus in the MV. In the first painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Peter Bruegel, Icarus’ death is rather anticlimactic; the most we see of him in the painting are his feet sticking out of the water beside a boat. In the video, he isn’t seen at all. The message seems to be that flying isn’t that exciting and provides only brief respite. V doesn’t seem to care, looking quite happy as he jumps off the balcony in front of the painting. The second painting, Lament for Icarus by Herbert Draper, appears behind Jungkook, who floats once in the air and once on a swing, his body mirroring Icarus’. Icarus is featured in the painting’s foreground and the nymphs almost appear to be worshipping his dead body. His death is dramatic and produces great beauty.

               The main character of the MV, Jin, represents the latter approach to temptation as he searches for spiritual flight. He can be compared to the protagonist of Demian , Emil Sinclair, a similarly conflicted youth who wanted to remain in the bright world of proper Catholicism, but is tempted by the dark world of “beautiful and scary, wild and cruel things” such as alcoholism, pain, bickering women, and death.

           Like Sinclair, the theme of light versus dark surrounds Jin. In the opening scene of the MV, Jin stands in a museum, captivated by The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Peter Bruegel, a painting depicting a battle between angels and demons. To his right, a white door leads to the world of childhood and innocence, while the black door leads to the adult world; this black-white motif was also seen in BTS’ WINGS short films. Jin wears white, symbolizing purity and innocence, but the chaotic painting between the doors suggests Jin’s desire to know more. In Demian , Max Demian suggests to Sinclair to accept both worlds. When Sinclair has a mysterious dream about a hatching bird, Demian tells him, “The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God’s name is Abraxas.” The deity Abraxas is a combination of good and evil, God and the Devil. For Jin, his temptation is a spiritual connection to both worlds. He is the young hatchling who must first destroy his egg before finding Abraxas.

               In the quote at 4:03, Sinclair is already irreversibly acquainted with the dark world, just as Jin has already lost his innocence, represented by the release of the helium balloon. The Abraxas figure he ends up finding is the kneeling statue with black wings in the art museum. The statue appears to be of an angel yet its wings, to quote the song’s lyrics, “are those of a demon.” At 5:37, the statue’s blood, sweat, and tears are shown to be multi-colored paint; its very essence is chaotic yet creative. Jin no longer wishes to distance himself from evil, and the statue is so beautiful and alluring that he can’t help but kiss it, connecting himself to this Abraxas-like figure. Much like the kiss Demian gives Sinclair at the end Hesse’s novel, this scene represents Jin’s departure from his prior youthful, unaware state.

Jin then walks to a mirror, above which appears Friedrich Nietzsche’s quote: “You must have chaos within yourself to give birth to a dancing star.” The white lilies– a symbol of purity–appear purple in the reflection, the white background appears black, and Jin’s reflection cracks. This represents an internal change; Jin is no longer the innocent youth. This loss is also foreshadowed earlier, at 2:33, where Jin appears to be Jesus sharing a last meal with his apostles. Sitting in a garden, they eat apples, the fruit of sin and temptation. Jin’s innocence may “die,” but he becomes something greater in the process. The artistic references convey that “falling,” or giving in to temptation, is a necessary part of the maturation process.

               Although Jin’s Icarus tale deals with transcendence and growth, another version of the story is told in parallel. V portrays a more devilish Icarus, a naïve and ambitious youth whose ignorant pride and desire led to his literal downfall.  Chaotic and mischievous, he smiles as he jumps off the balcony in his PJs, like a child playing superhero, and he playfully covers Jin’s eyes before revealing the statue. Oh, and he has rainbow blood. Just as Icarus wanted to fly to the sun, V just wants to have fun and leave the boring, everyday world behind. V meets with the consequence of his childish attempt to fly–two scars in place of his wings. In his WINGS short film and the HYYH series, V is somewhat forced to grow up, but in this MV he arguably remains young. The loss of his wings is a painful punishment, but V’s smirk shows that he is down but not out. It is a proud, “I’m-still-beautiful-even-without-my-wings” smile, but with a notably devilish undertone. 

               V and Jin’s scenes stand for the two main ideas: flight as a mechanism for enlightenment and growth, and flight as dangerous temptation resulting in one’s downfall. In the next post, we will explore how flight and temptation are portrayed by the other members.

In the words of the Great and Wise Kim Namjoon a.k.a Rap Monster from BTS:

Part Two Here: https://axtogymnastics.tumblr.com/post/156738173383/in-which-rmjk-warn-against-drugs-bts-blood

Extra Tidbit: Does it seem like the statue is taking off or landing? I believe it is both, for its posture resembles that of a superhero. Even so, if it were landing it would be taking off soon after, so I see no contradiction with the overall theme of flight vs fall.

Major props to the user below, the video helped so much in writing this post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzS5g9UldGY&t=6m6s

[axtogymnastics]

Interesting, I might have found a new girl group to stan.

The debut strategy for LOOΠΔ is quite risky, given how much their company is putting into these solo/duet songs and videos before debuting them as a group, but it worked on me because they got me hooked since ViViD and are my most anticipated debut this year.

This song by HaSeul is gorgeous, as is the MV. I love the drama of the icy strings, precision of HaSeul’s vocals, and the suspense and sadness in the MV. Maybe it’s a combo of my bad Korean skills and wanting this song to fit what I want from it, but when HaSeul sings 소년은 소녀의 소년 / 소녀는 소년의 소원 (This girl is a boy’s girl / This girl is a boy’s wish) at the end, she changes the entire meaning of the song. 

Up until then the song was about letting someone in after being closed off for so long, about how letting that person in changes you, how you become more like them. It’s about a boy taming a girl, the girl belonging to the boy. At first she seems happy to let him in, to be his. But in the end, she seems sad to have lost herself. 

So the last line, when HaSeul whispers 소원, I felt like she was saying this girl is not real. Like whatever fantasy you might have of a girl letting you in and rescuing her from whatever darkness you imagine in her past is not real. The sad girl waiting for the boy to open up her heart is not real.

[axtogymnastics]

About Me and This Blog

The egg is the world. Who must be born must first destroy a world.

~Hermann Hesse

This is Julia. Julia loves most things Kpop. When bias group BTS releases the Wings Short Films, Julia goes insane researching the hidden meanings and literary references. Deciding that she enjoys picking apart Kpop videos, she creates this blog with the help of the wonderful CF.

Like the egg, I hope this blog will be a place of chaos and growth. And when its time comes, I hope a new and improved writer will have been born.

[axtogymnastics]

Getting Over a Crush With B.A.P: B.A.P’s 1004 Music Video Analysis

               In early 2014, B.A.P released a charismatic and visually complex music video, 1004(Angel), so named because the number 1004 and Angel are both pronounced “cheonsa.” 1004 is the title (main, though not titular) track of B.A.P’s first album, “First Sensibility.” Like the album name implies, the song and music video are very emotional. B.A.P portrays the inner journey of a man grieving the loss of his childhood love, played by Sonamoo’s Nahyun, who is like an angel to him. After struggling to cope with this loss, he eventually finds peace and moves on from her, ending the video on a hopeful note. Each of the six members appears separately in scenes that are tied to a set of symbols: Daehyun is connected to a house; Himchan to a projector and the same house; Youngjae to mirrors; Jongup to a camera and a stone wall; Zelo to a merry-go-round, and Yongguk to a graveyard and a church.

Daehyun, the House, and the Sand Timer

               The video is essentially contained in a large house in which Daehyun, portraying a man grieving the loss of his love, explores old artifacts that remind him of his relationship with her. The house is large, warmly lit, and old-fashioned, suggesting lots of good memories contained in it. The living room contains a projector, a model church, a mirror, and other symbols associated with scenes in which isolation, denial, desperation and anger are portrayed. Daehyun’s girlfriend, or angel, is seen observing the house, establishing her greater presence, while a sand timer flows nearby. Time continues in the big picture, but Daehyun is still stuck in the past, unable to move on from her.

Some not-so-subtle advertisement for the Melon app (similar to Spotify) is included as well. 

Yongguk and the Church

               The video opens with Yongguk, stranded in a landscape reminiscent of the elephant graveyard from The Lion King. In contrast to the warm and cozy house, Yongguk’s scenes are cold, lonely, and sad. He runs through the frozen tundra towards a set of large, half-buried bones, his expression pained and lost. He murmurs “I need you,” and at 2:16 appears to dig frantically to unearth something buried in his past. When he finds the model church, which appears in Daehyun’s house as well, he collapses to the ground, clutching it to his chest as if he has found something to relieve his pain. He lies down besides the bones, clearly a symbol of death, after a long struggle digging up a bunch of holes in frozen dirt. He seems resigned to the angel’s death, and is able to find peace through the church that connects him to her memory and religion that gives him purpose.

Youngjae and Mirrors

Youngjae’s scenes illustrate delusion and confusion, as he chases Nahyun through a hall of mirrors (some of which appear to windows...). Youngjae represents denial, lost in reflections of himself while searching for a girl who isn’t actually there. At 2:34, he looks into a mirror showing Nahyun’s reflection, and at 3:20 the song switches to “Save Me.” Both times, Youngjae pictures Nahyun with him, inside him, before she disappears with the lights, leaving Youngjae staring at himself in the dark. Like the images of her in his mind, her reflections in the mirrors tantalize him and makes him feel that she is just within reach, but when he looks closely, they are only reflections of him.

When Youngjae finally breaks the mirror with his hand, it signals that he is ready to stop living with illusions and finally confront reality. Nonetheless, he does so with much pain and anguish because reality (and breaking glass with your bare fist) hurts.

Zelo and the Merry-Go-Round

               In contrast to the sad and dark previous scenes, Zelo’s scenes depict idyllic young love between the man and the angel, a concept is particularly well-suited for the maknae of the group. The two of them are seen on a merry-go-round, representing youth and innocence, along with other objects of childhood such as the teddy bear, the white dress and even his fluffy hairstyle. When Zelo tries to restart the merry-go-round, it explodes, showing that things cannot be the way they were before. Like Youngjae, he longs to meet the angel again and futilely searches for her on the merry-go-round. Also like Youngjae, he never meets her because she isn’t there. Back in the living room, Daehyun breaks the toy merry-go-round before Zelo and Nahyun kiss, cutting himself off from the past instead of living in it.

 Jongup, the Wall, and the Camera

               From the warm and innocent scene of the merry-go-round in the lover’s past, we transition to another scene depicting the grief and isolation of the present. A camera in Daehyun’s relic room leads into Jongup in front of a stone wall, which is a physical representation of his heavy grief. However, the wall is not solid; the deep cracks in it are in the pattern of a pair of wings, which represent his freedom and happiness weighed down by sorrow.

Cameras capture memories with a bright flash, and when Jongup starts to pound on the wall, ultimately breaking it, white light streams through. He reaches through the hole, believing the angel to be on the other side, when in fact there is nothing. The angel is ultimately gone, but the wall representing his despair breaks. As feathers rain down on Jongup and light reemerges, hope and freedom return to him. 

Himchan and the Projector

Himchan’s struggle takes place in the living room, where the vintage filter and color scheme indicate that he is in the past, and not the present like Daehyun.(Actually, Daehyun isn’t _fully _in the present but anyway) Himchan turns on a projector, which shows him scenes of happy times with his childhood love. However, it soon becomes too painful to watch their happiness; this is seen at 2:24 when he cries and bites his lip anxiously.  He pulls out a gun to shoot his old smiley self, but reconsiders and points at his reflection instead, a suicidal grief-stricken man. Even as he gets ready to pull the trigger, he trembles and seems to have a difficult time, perhaps because he is attached to his grief and doesn’t want to let go of it, just as he is attached to the past and to the angel. Himchan lowers the gun, giving the viewer a momentary sense of relief. 

The Song Switch and Moving On

The music video actually contains two songs, “1004” and another track from First Sensibility, “Save Me,” which is played for the first 20 seconds, and also from 3:18 to 4:02. The switch between the songs at the climax of the video highlights the transition from grief to hope as B.A.P moves on from Nahyun, although Youngjae, Daehyun and Himchan appear to have some difficulty doing so. Yongguk, Jongup, and Zelo, on the other hand, are at peace, if not happy.

Yongguk lies resigned and at peace in the elephant graveyard.

Zelo looks a bit sad, but ready to move on. 

Jongup shows acceptance. (And a cool jacket.)

Youngjae ends his delusion by breaking the mirror, but it clearly hurts him to do so. Daehyun finally turns over the sand timer at 3:40, signaling that he is ready to move on from the past. This is hard for him, as seen in his expression at 3:58 as he watches the timer flow, and at 4:10 when he kneels on the floor, crying out the words “I’m really dying.” The angel is also seen crying, which shows that she is still emotionally with B.A.P, even if she is gone.

               Himchan, too, only shoots his reflection with much difficulty.

In the video’s final scene, Himchan stands poised to shoot his reflection in the mirror. He pulls the trigger, there is a flash of red (I’ve enhanced it in the gif) before everything goes black. However, neither the mirror nor the real Himchan are physically hurt. The way I see it, this represents the death of the man’s grief. Red is the color of love and blood, which can represent either life or death, or both as in this case. Part of the man dies with the angel, but he is no longer crippled with grief, and can start a new life.

The contrasting imagery of this video show grief to be a big complicated jumble of emotions. The heavy wall and light feathers show the weight of grief and the fragility of hope; the warm house and cold graveyard contrast the warmth of memories with the coldness of the painful present, the innocence of childhood and disillusion of growing up. While distinct, the scenes are connected to each other in that images from one reappear in another. The cracks in the wall are reminiscent of the cold dirt in the graveyard, mirrors and reflections are in both the glass maze (Youngjae) and projector/gun scenes (Himchan). Himchan and Daehyun are in the same location, and of course, the scenes are all contained within the house. B.A.P shows that while grief may be somber and overwhelming, we can move on and find hope in new beginnings.

 Additional Thoughts

               Aside from the main symbolism, there is much more to this music video than would fit in this analysis. One thing that I haven’t really touched on in this analysis is the dancing. Undoubtedly, my favorite part of 1004 (and most kpop songs) is its choreography. Jongup and Zelo’s dance break at the beginning is absolutely sick, (although the aggressive hip-thrusting is a bit distracting) and the choreography as a whole exudes charisma. Granted, it doesn’t contribute much to the story of the music video, but it expresses the lyrics and gives the impression of a performance, rather than just a music video.

Peace out.

[axtogymnastics]

The Most Confusing MV: B.A.P’s One Shot Analysis

Before watching B.A.P.’s One Shot music video I had been exposed to a very limited range of music, and the only Korean pop videos that I’d watched did not interest me. One Shot, with its massive plot twist and elaborate costumes and sets, changed all of that. I saw the video for the first time the day before B.A.P. sued their company, causing one of the biggest kpop scandals of the year that further launched me into the genre. One Shot was singularly responsible for throwing me into the wonderful realm of kpop, so it is only fitting that it be the subject of my inaugural blog post. With that out of the way, let us proceed into the analysis!

The members of B.A.P, from left to right:

Jongup -- piped 

Youngjae -- kidnapped 

Himchan -- mechanic 

Yongguk -- leader 

Daehyun -- gun guy 

Zelo -- tall dancer.

This music video is by far B.A.P’s most-viewed (though that might change with the recent release of Skydive) and a fandom favorite. The video portrays a gang in Manila that only has “one shot” to rescue the kidnapped Youngjae. For four-and-a-half minutes the viewer is bombarded (pun intended) by cuts of B.A.P being gangsta, lip-syncing dramatically in jail cells and on cars, and dancing in aircraft hangars and in front of tanks.

               To recap the plot, the gang buys some guns, cars, and steals $10,000,000 and meet their rivals at 4:30 to get Youngjae back. Then two possible scenarios are presented: In the first, the rival gang (whom we’ll call Sunglasses because why not) shoots Youngjae before he can reunite with his members, which causes all hell to break loose. In the second, Youngjae is revealed to be an undercover cop and triple agent who betrays B.A.P and has both gangs arrested.

               The story cuts of the video focus heavily on Yongguk, who is portrayed as a badass, charismatic gang leader who nonetheless possesses admirable qualities. In the beginning of the video he and the rest of B.A.P bear hard expressions, leather ensembles, messy hair, and generally give the appearance of tough bad guys. However, Yongguk’s caring nature is revealed when his friend Jongup gets smacked in the head with a pipe, after which he is obviously worried and stunned. An emotional side of the man is seen at 3:03 when Yongguk reflects on watching his friend get beaten up on screen and the good times on the boat before kissing his cross, falling back on his faith. At 3:53 this emotional side of him shows again when he looks worried about Youngjae, unsure of what might happen to him and to the rest of B.A.P when they meet the Sunglasses. Since he’s in front of the members, though, he must be tough. These clips show his dedication, loyalty, and emotional connection to not just Youngjae, but all the members.

The scene right before the two endings is the most suspenseful in the music video, because anything can happen. One literal shot later, Youngjae’s dead and soon, so are all the others. Alternatively, one figurative shot later, the police are storming the station and arresting everybody. This is the moment where an individual’s actions and choices determine the future. There is only one shot.

               The video’s two endings lead to different interpretations of the story. In the first ending, Sunglasses doesn’t keep their end of the deal and kills Youngjae; but this evil is almost expected of them— they are the opposing gang, after all. The viewer sympathizes with B.A.P and feels their hurt and anger when their friend dies.  In the second, Yongguk, as well as Mr. Sunglasses himself, are betrayed by Youngjae, who is supposed to be on B.A.P’s side. Suddenly, a protagonist becomes an antagonist and bad guys become victims. The viewer might feel confused and betrayed, exactly as Yongguk does. He can’t trust his enemies, but he can’t trust his friend either. In the end, it comes down to him: what choices does he make? What actions does he take?

                Right and wrong are not clearly defined in the video. Yongguk is gangster, but also a devoted leader, friend and comrade. B.A.P steals, kills, and trades illegally, but they do it to help their friend and fellow gang member Youngjae. Youngjae might be an evil character spying on Yongguk and betraying his gang, but one could argue that he did it in the name of the law and justice. The entire video depicts a big, shady, grey area between good and bad, all the while showcasing B.A.P’s determination.

Only one shot only one shot

Bite down hard and go against them, one shot

Only one shot only one shot

Throw yourself at the world, one shot

Only one shot only one shot

Bite down hard and go against them, one shot

Only one shot only one shot

You only have one chance u know?

               The lyrics and choreography express urgency and are a call to action. The lyrics are about moving forward, instead of idling lazily, and the push-up/army crawl dance move embodies the challenge and struggle that they urge for. B.A.P does whatever it takes to get Youngjae back, and they have no qualms about killing the Sunglasses when their friend dies. Whether their behavior is right or wrong, they clearly take action on things they care about.

The parts of you

That are hidden by fog

Burn yourself with passion that’s hotter than the sun

               In the above scene, B.A.P and backup dancers fall down around Youngjae. This choreography point can be interpreted in a few different ways. Firstly, in accordance with the lyrics and its placement right before the big shootout, it can be seen as dead/angel Youngjae telling his friends not to hold back and to avenge him. In the context of the second ending, it could be that Youngjae is controlling the other members, using some sort of voodoo magic to make them fall i.e. get arrested.  

Lastly, the notoriously confusing rewind clip basically summarizes the entire music video: over-the-top props, fancy camera effects, and lots of fake guns and blood. It serves to blur the line between the two endings and the themes of the video: between reality and imagination, between Youngjae’s innocence and guilt, between life and death, and between right and wrong. The Matoki (i.e. crystal-bunny-with-a-motorcycle-mask-thing), by the way, is completely real and seven meters tall but serves no apparent artistic purpose. Perhaps it represents Yongguk; cute yet tough.

“One Shot” says that nothing comes easy and you must fight to become successful. Right and wrong are subjective, humans are mortal, and the world is complicated, confusing, and harsh. You have one life, one chance and one shot to make it count. Where will you go? What will you do? How will you do it?

Until next time!