#Interlude: SHOWTIME

[seoul-bros]

Muse - an exploration of love

It now seems clear that Face and Muse were recorded in parallel, overlapping and intertwining. It's a situation which creates a thread of connection between the two albums.

It's largely the same production team as FACE with Jimin again participating in writing most of the tracks on the album. He has also turned his hand to producing on Rebirth and Interlude: Showtime.

Track 1: Rebirth

The first track seems connected to and leading on naturally from Set Me Free Part 2. Thinking back to the end of the MV where Jimin's clothes change from black to white, from leather to softer materials and his gaze is at last peaceful and penetrating, it all seeks to communicate release, reemergence and renewal.

Rebirth therefore is the moment beyond, when Jimin determines to embrace life and love again. It could be a declaration of intent to start telling the story of Muse.

Track 2: Interlude: Showtime

Which would make Showtime, the first step to embracing that new found freedom. It's an Interlude sure, but I keep getting a very theatrical image in my head, very bold, very Cabaret (if you're in London, I recommend you see the show).

Track 3: Smeraldo Garden Marching Band (feat. Loco)

We will get to hear Smeraldo Garden Marching Band in less than a week (aggggghhhhhhhh i'm not ready ......but at the same time so so ready). The track description says it "draws inspiration from a marching band, blending hip-hop elements with the big band sound characterized by a large-scale orchestra, creating an upbeat, lively rhythm and dynamic atmosphere." This gives me a stepping up, stepping out kind of feel.

Given the focus on The Beatles and St Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band during Face era and the involvement of Nick Lee in Set Me Free Part 2, I'm expecting more big brass and a full sound which Jimin seems to be drawn to - brass and choirs all the way baby.

I'd also expect to see some choreography here something like On but that might be asking too much.

South Korean rapper Loco is the featured artist. Looking through his back catalogue one of his most successful songs featured RM's long time collaborator Colde. It'll be interesting to see how their voices and styles combine here.

Track 4: Slow Dance (feat. Sofia Carson)

With Slow Dance, the seduction really begins. Arcades are Matt Thomson and Max Lynedoch Graham, a British electronic music production duo who we saw in the studio with Jimin in 2022 along with Gabriel Brandes and Alex Karlsson. Now we know what they were doing there.

Also involved in this one is Like Crazy co-writer BLVSH. Oh yes this bodes very well for this track.

So we're thinking EDM, maybe with a Latin feel. Sofia Carson has a unique voice which I think will pair well with Jimin and she has also been known to sing in Spanish and we know after SoWooZoo that Jimin is not adverse to that.

Track 5: Be Mine

Be Mine is still a bit of a mystery to me, given its placement on the album it would suggest that Jimin has found the objective of his affections and wants to solidify the attraction into something more. Will it be a ballad? The production is giving no clues and I haven't seen any credits yet. However, some eagle eyes on TwiX spotted a Be Mine reference from ID: Chaos.

Track 6: Who

This is the main track and the production team includes Jon Beillon who worked on last year's summer smash Seven so we can expect some focus on elements for commercial success.

There are more echos of ID:Chaos with he colour scheme for Who matching that from the Freedom shoot. It would be nice to think that Who reflects that particular sentiment i.e. this is who I am and knowing this has set me free to live and love as I choose.

Track 7: Closer Than This

We round out with Closer Than This which given its position on the album and the way it was previously released solidifies the message, this is me until we meet again. Our love is strong enough to weather the storm of this enforced separation. It is a message for the fans but also for the BTS members.

Post Date: 21/06/2024

[lokisasylum]

Fun details in some of the songs

#1. In 'Interlude: SHOWTIME' when the second part of the drumline/band begins if you pay very close attention you can hear Jimin humming along to the beat and near the end before the "Ladies and gentlemen.." you can also hear Jimin laughing.

#02. In "Be Mine", during the pre-chorus when Jimin is singing "Lovers come and go, in and out of my heart--" the music changes to a mixture between traditional Korean music and Latin.

#03. In the "Who" MV, there is a total of 3-4 TV monitors depicting what seems to be an npc character in-front of a heart that keeps changing as the song progresses and Jimin's feelings become more chaotic while expressing the longing and despair of wanting to find "the ONE".

♥ On the first monitor the character is just walking normally while the heart changes into different shapes and pulsates slowly.

♥ On the second monitor (the one in the burning grocery cart) when the second chorus begins and the choreo gets faster, the character is running, while the heart pulsates and changes FASTER.

♥ On the 3rd monitor (this one is trickier to notice because its located next to a pile of debris that's also catching fire next to the theater before Jimin dances with the female dancer, first it FALLS from the sky on to a burning car and then it appears NEXT to it) on this one there's NO character/avatar walking or running, there's only a heart pulsating and glitching erratically.

♥ And then there's the final monitor which is the larger one that crashes down, there's no avatar or heart, only a pair of eyes and the words "Keep going>>>" and "WHO". (the smaller monitor also disappears from next to the burning car)

#04. On the same mv, there's an interesting contrast between Like Crazy and Who in the way Jimin does "the mirror" dance with the girls. In 'Like Crazy' they faced and mirrored EACH OTHER to express both partners feeling, struggling, suffering the same heartache and loneliness (like how in the actual 'Like Crazy' movie shows the main couple suffering over a long distance relationship). While in 'Who' Jimin and the female dancers don't face each other while "mirroring" their movements (even with the one female dancer who seems to "hug" him).

And I'm gonna quote RG Reacts here:

"Jimin dancing with all these different partners is like trying to find someone in a place that maybe you're not gonna find it. Like in the Like Crazy music video; going to a bar to find that someone, and then as he goes out into the streets and dances with each of the individual women, but he doesn't find that special someone. And despite the dancing and the acting being so beautiful, it actually shows there's no spark, there's no connection. So I'm still looking and searching for that someone." (which is the part where Jimin and the dancers walk away from each other).

I also liked how he pointed out that the "Closer" sign that we saw from the trailer get wrecked in the destruction that occurs as a result from the tornado and how symbolic it was. How sometimes that which we are looking for isn't a close as we think and therefore the tornado, storm or hurricane represents conflicting feelings and frustration at not finding what we're looking for.

But at the end of the video when Jimin walks off down the street again like nothing happened the sign is GONE

Which also connects to how "Be mine" is right before "Who", where we have the line that we mentioned at the beginning of "Lovers come and go in and out of my heart, the more I fall into it, the deeper it gets--"

[bangmydesktop]

here are some screen grabs from MUSE's highlight medley. use them for what you want. I literally just edited them two seconds ago to mask how nervous I am for this album (don't worry this happens to me any time one of the members/bangtan drops music).

MUSE drops in T-10 minutes! am I prepared? nope! 😀

[curio-queries]

Musings on MUSE

Long post below the cut. Overall, I do like the album but this release has definitely been a journey for me, that's for sure.

First, let's check in on the rest of my theories:

Open Locker Meaning: Nope, I don't think there was any meaning to this. It was fun to theorize though!

Sound Effects Interlude: Nope! I'm still kinda bummed about this. I talk more about it in the Showtime section below.

Rooms Going from Dark to Light: Yes, I still think this was intentionally done for the purpose of helping us realize that MUSE was such a departure from FACE

SGMB as an Actual Band: Yes, confirmed. I talk more about this in my Final Thoughts below.

The Emoji Poll from the Insta Chat: Honestly, I now think the company did intend each of these to reference the different songs...which is disappointing to me as a marketing tactic for the reasons I stated in the theory. Oh well.

So, some right, some wrong. It was definitely fun to participate in the theorizing this time. And as Jimin said, he wanted us to come up with all sorts of ideas for the meanings.

Ok, now let's go through some thoughts on each of the tracks:

Rebirth (Intro)

I remember being actually surprised by how much I was liking Rebirth on the first listen...and then it ended. I had to remind myself that it was intro and likely would be not as complete as a full song but even now...I just really can't get over it. This would have been an absolutely lovely song if fully developed. I'm not saying the way it ends is bad, but a big problem I have with it is that it's an intro that doesn't deliver.

The next track is Showtime...an interlude. But an interlude from what? All we've had is an intro. A beautiful intro, don't get me wrong but both of these tracks are used to set up what comes next. And Rebirth just doesn't have anything next. It's just such a shame there wasn't a song in between. I've put other songs (usually Slow Dance) in between these when I listen and it absolutely makes everything better.

Interlude : Showtime

The first time I heard this on the album, I had some choice words for our beloved trickster. Little did we know that we'd already heard a good chunk of this as the intro on SGMB's video (see it IS an intro...anyway, I'll stop bringing it up). Once I got over that, I still couldn't help being a little disappointed that we weren't in fact getting an Interlude like Dive on FACE. Dive was such a great storytelling point and I loved that Jimin recorded many of the sounds himself.

Initially, I didn't think I'd be listening to it much except when doing full album runthroughs but do y'all hear Jimin's absolutely lovely humming in this track?! Oh it absolutely hits my brain in just the right places. This may be one of my absolutely favorite things we got from the MUSE project...definitely top 3 at least.

Smeraldo Garden Marching Band

I don't have much to say that wasn't in my SGMB post. The little tidbits we've gotten of Jimin interacting with Loco were beyond adorable.

Slow Dance

I am so conflicted about Slow Dance. I absolutely love the overall tone of the song, the pacing, Jimin's performance. I think it's a great song with one exception...I really don't care for the featuring artist. I don't know anything about her beyond this track but hearing her on this is easily my least favorite thing from the whole MUSE project. I knew to be wary going into it as women's voices generally don't appeal to me but I wasn't expecting to dislike it this much. It's that much worse on a song that I think would have been my favourite without her. Oh well. She's very talented, absolutely performs her parts well. It's just not to my personal taste.

The live performance video has some of the absolutely worst camera work and cuts as well. I realize they were trying to show off the skyline as the backdrop and intentionally used the band as cut points so they could edit better takes together but it just doesn't come off well. And they have such awkward chemistry live, which I fully blame on the weird obsession people seem to have with seeing members interact with women. Jimin is very specifically measuring his interactions with her to prevent as much drama as possible.

Be Mine

Be Mine is actually pretty forgettable to me. It's not bad but not great. I was expecting to do another english lyric comparison post like I did for Like Crazy but I just can't yet find the motivation to. Maybe that will change in the future but for now, probably not.

Who

There is so much to talk about with Who. I was originally going to make a separate post for it but I'll just include everything here:

The Song: It's a fine pop song. I do actually enjoy listening to it but that's all. There's no depth to dive deeper. Again, it's fine. I don't think pop songs are inherently less because they lack depth. This song accomplished exactly what it needed to. As far as actually listening, I do prefer it over Like Crazy but LC has other things going for it.

The Music Video: I hate it. It's so very amateur and I expect more from this production. The bad CGI. The overt vhs effect with no actual storytelling purpose. If you took all of those out, it'd be a fine performance video. But no, it's the 'official music video', they have to try to make it bigger than that...emphasis on try... Also, I adore our members but I'm so over these mumbling-lip-syncs. I don't know how else to describe it but it's just bad. If you're doing the music video 'sing along', do it right. If not, don't do it at all. This non-commitment just comes across as incomplete.

The Perfomances/Choreo: I think this choreo is absolutely perfect. It accomplishes everything this song needs. They were able to take advantage of the fact that it's not getting performed in front of an audience and the staging is so perfect for camera. The camera director of the dance practice absolutely killed it. The lighting of the Jimmy Fallon performance was stunning as well. I was reminded of how much I loved the lighting in many of the Golden performances. My favorite part of the Who choreo is the little jumping-leg-cross move.

The Remixes: I think I'm in the minority here but I hate all of them. Yes, there is a legitimate industry tactic to releasing these and I don't begrudge them for running a business but I'm so over remixes that are just a reinstrumentization of the original song. I do think these are well produced and some do highlight different aspects of the song that make for great moments...but it honestly comes across to me as not being able to make up their mind about who the target audience is. If they're looking to get rock-lovers, release an actual rock song...not a pop song that's put on a rock costume. I was hopeful for the acoustic remix at least but there is something off about it. I haven't been able to figure out what bothers me about it but it absolutely doesn't speak to the acoustic-loving part of my brain.

Closer Than This

I spent a LOT of time evaluating CTT as potential context for FACE in this post but we've now learned this was written AFTER the FACE promotions so I'm very happy to see I wasn't completely off the mark with saying that it didn't fit into FACE at all.

I still absolutely love this song. Some of that may be the pure nostalgia of when it was released. It was christmas time, we'd just sent the last of the members for their military service, and this song was exactly the kind of comfort I needed at that time of the year.

Final Thoughts

So, like I mentioned in my Theories and SGMB reaction posts, I do see MUSE as Jimin intentionally showing us what he's capable of. Jimin is the ultimate performer. He absolutely loves being an idol. This career allows him to dive into whatever he needs to embody the music and performance. I stand by what I said previously about MUSE being more of a work project than a personal one like FACE was. MUSE was about breadth while FACE focused on depth. Both good but different. (I have a side post I may eventually release about my thoughts on this as a music fan brought up in the west that's now enjoying kpop but that'll have to be another day).

MUSE was a lovely project and a great tool for Jimin to expand his music catalogue whilst knowing that he wouldn't be able to properly promote whatever was released during this time.

One final point: the pronoun debate is beyond asinine. If people find more meaning in certain pronouns than others, let them be. Arguing over original lyrics vs hiding behind public expectations is childish. This is music that was created with a professional purpose, not someone's diary of their deepest thoughts that we stole from a bedside table. Pronouncing the creator's intention like this reminds me of those bad english teachers that were fishing for specific answers on authorial intent and masquerading the lesson as reading comprehension. Those are a scavenger hunt with one hidden 'answer' and not real life.

[saltnpepperbunny]

My animatic is finally done! Check it out on youtube! :D

[ghostish-romanvachon]

(We're finally free. Welcome home. It's just you and me now, standing alone. The world is ours-)

no, it isn't.

(Get in the car.)

this isn't finished.

(What?)

...

(I told you to end it. It was all for the best.)

so i have you to blame for this pain in my chest?

(No.)

...

(Show's about to start. Don't be late.)

[aricastmblr]

bts weverse BTS💜ARMY

“Todo lo que esperaba escuchar era una melodía destacada… no mi propio novio personal en el oído… 🎤💕

Entonces, quiero decir, ¿cuánto falta para que tengamos MUSE en nuestras manos? 💽

Odio tener que esperar… Lo siento, pero, ¿podrías despertarme cuando sea el día 19? 🤦‍♀️💤”

[cq-gifs]

Interlude : Showtime | Jimin

Source video: link

I made this blog to organize and properly cite sources of gifs I make for my main blog. You're very welcome to take these gifs and use them however you'd like; I'd just love a link to join in.

My posts that have used this gif:

Link

[xcziel]

it is JIMONDAY in this house, and i have to say MUSE as a whole is still a phenomenal listen!

i have decided that basically the cassette-tape design nods on Muse give me permission to count FACE as Side A and MUSE as Side B of a single two-part album, because (as many have pointed out, including me) *dammit* if they don't work PERFECTLY that way

Live performance of WHO tonight on Jimmy Fallon, and then we get remixes too!!!

[bulletproofknight]

obsessed with jimin's sweet humming in Interlude : Showtime...

[seoul-bros]

Fan Girl Mantra

Don't lose focus, keep on streaming!

There has been a drop today, so whatever you think of the charts, keep on streaming. Jimin is looking for longevity in the industry and this is what we can do to help him achieve it. As we saw yesterday in the minimoni album exchange, he is working on the tools he has in his power and we need to fully avail of the ones in our hands. No distractions, no excuses!

Cr. to OP

Check out @chikooritajjk streaming guides and playlist recommendations if you feel like switching it up a bit.

Post Date: 21/07/2024

[lokisasylum]

Lets give some love to the B-sides

[wwooyology]

Stargirl Interlude | L.HS

「pairing」 : bf!heeseung x fem!reader 「word count」 : 1.3k

「synopsis」 : it was showtime, but heeseung just had to sneak his pretty girlfriend, you, into the back so he could fuck you. you were his good luck charm, after all.

「genre」 : smut, fluff, rockstar!heeseung

「warnings」 : MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!!!, cussing, unprotected sex, quickie, kissing, biting/marking, creampie, petnames (doll, baby, pretty girl...), praising, slight fingering, teasing, hair pulling, slight dacryphilia, public sex, lmk if I missed anything!

“Fuck Hee, what if someone comes in?” You gasped as his lips latched onto the supple skin of your neck, teeth grazing over your jugular. His knee shoved your legs apart, pressing it right against your thinly covered core, seeing as you were wearing that cute black dress that he told you to before leaving.

“No one is coming back here; they’re all too worried about making sure everything is set up.” He groaned against your skin before pulling away to seal your lips in a heated kiss, pressing his knee right against your core to hear your pretty moans.

“Hee–”

“Shhhh, doll, don’t worry so much.” He whispered softly, hands reaching for the hem of your dress, hiking it up over your hips. “You just try to keep your pretty sounds down,”

A soft gasp fell from your lips as his fingers brushed over your covered slit, feeling your slick soak through the thin fabric. Heeseung chuckled as he latched his lips to your neck once more, biting down on the junction of your shoulder, relishing in the way your body trembled. 

He moved your panties to the side, running his fingers through your folds, feeling how wet you were. Your eyes fell closed, and your bottom lip got caught between your teeth as his fingers prodded at your slit, teasing you.

“Seungie, please.” You whined, gripping his shirt with a vice-like grip, the need coursing through your body making your brain all fuzzy; the only thought in your mind was having him buried balls deep in your soaping cunt. 

“Fucking hell, baby, you’re dripping in my hand.” His voice was low and husky as he licked his way up to your ear, taking the lobe between his teeth, making you shiver, “too bad we don’t have a lot of time, or I’d be on my knees devouring you whole.”

You whined at his words, feeling yourself growing wetter by the second, which, of course, didn’t go unnoticed by your boyfriend. With a chuckle, he shoved his middle and ring fingers into your wet heat resulting in a choked moan falling from your lips, eyes screwed shut, and fingers dug into his shoulders.

The lewd, wet sounds that were coming from where Heeseung’s fingers scissored you open were deafening. Making your ears ring as he continued to litter your pretty neck with marks, showing that you were taken.

“As much as I want you to come on my fingers, I need you on my dick.” Heeseung breathed out, pulling his fingers from your clenching wall, making you whine. He was quick to swallow all of your whines as he kissed you messily, hands making quick work of his jeans. Pushing them down just far enough for his cock to slip out, hitting his abdomen, tip red and decorated prettily with beads of precum.

He pressed your body tightly against the wall, taking your right leg with his hand before using the other to line his cock with your entrance after shoving your panties to the ground. You buried your face in the crook of his neck, teeth latching onto his skin as he pushed into you slowly.

“Shit…” He groaned as your warm walls wrapped around him snuggly, a tighter fit than normal due to the lack of preparation.

Heeseung gave you barely a moment to adjust before he pulled back out and pushed in, leaving you gasping against his skin, fingers digging into his biceps. You tried to keep your noise on the down low, but the position, the two of you were in allowed him to hit all of the right spots to make you see stars. Choked gasps and moans fell from your lips the faster his pace got, growing in pitch by the second.

“You’re so noisy, doll. Do you really want someone to catch us?” He mocked you, a smug smirk tugging on his lips as he watched you shake your head against him, biting your lip to try and muffle your noises once more. The dark-haired male trailed his hand from your hip up to your head, threading his fingers through your hair and tugging back harshly. A high-pitched whine tore from your lungs, and tears stung at the corner of your eyes as you looked up at him. His hips never faltered as he took in your already fuck-out expression, loving the tears that had started falling from your eyes, which caused some of your makeup to smudge under your eyes. You looked so pretty like this, and god, did he wish he could just say fuck the show so he could take you home and fuck you into oblivion. But alas, the band wouldn’t survive the night without his vocals.

“Hee!” You squeaked as his tip kissed your cervix, eyes screwing shut as you felt the coil in your stomach start to tighten.

Heeseung tugged on your hair once more, tilting your head up so he could kiss you once more. The kiss quickly turned wet and messy as you couldn’t focus on kissing him properly due to the instrumental amount of pleasure that racked your brain.

“Close already, doll?” He teased despite the fact that he wasn’t too far from him either, but hearing the weak mewls that left your kiss-swollen lips was too good to pass up. 

Untangling his fingers from your hair, he let your head fall back into the crook of his neck while he found your hip once more, pounding into you relentlessly. The tiny storage closet is filled with lewd, squelching noises as well as quiet, soft moans and groans from the two of you.

“Hee–” You were cut off when the coil in your stomach finally snapped, and you were coming around Heeseung’s dick, causing him to groan at the feeling of your walls fluttering. Choked gasps caught in your throat as he fucked you through your high, legs threatening to give out as they shook under your weight. Heeseung was the only thing keeping you up right, his hold far too strong to let you go anywhere.

“Such a good girl for me– fuck… letting me fuck you before my show,” He groaned, hips faltering as his high approached, “always my little good luck charm, isn’t that right doll?” Your eyes nearly rolled to the back of your head as he continued to fuck into you, throwing your body into a state of overstimulation.

“Sungie…” You whined out, more tears falling from your eyes as you let your head lay back against the wall. Heeseung cooed at you, kissing away your tears and whispering praises as he spilled his seed deep in your womb.

He continued to pepper your face with soft kisses, bringing you back down from your high. Tilting your head up, you capture his lips in a gentle kiss, relishing in the warmth it brings along with it until he pulls away with a small pout.

“They’re probably looking for me,” He grumbled, pulling his soft dick out of you, watching as both your and his cum trickled out and down your thigh. You whimpered in his hold as he scooped the cum on his fingers before pushing it back into your sensitive cunt.

“Hee–”

“Shhh, pretty girl, we gotta keep your stuff full until we get back home.” He pressed a kiss on the corner of your parted lips before letting your leg fall and reaching down to grab your discarded panties, hiking them up and over your hips. You let out a breathy sigh when he fixed your dress, then encased your body in his arms and peppered your exposed neck and shoulder with wet kisses.

“Heeseung, man, where are you?” Your body tensed up at the sound of Jake’s voice, one of Heeseung’s bandmates.

Heeseung chuckled softly before pulling away from you, cupping your cheek in his hand. “I’ll see you after the show, my pretty girl.” Then, with one last lingering kiss, he slipped out of the room, leaving you there to collect your bearings before walking out to watch your boyfriend perform.

@wwooyology | Do not steal, plagiarise, translate, or repost any of my work

𝖉𝖎𝖘𝖈𝖑𝖆𝖎𝖒𝖊𝖗 : ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ɴᴏ ᴡᴀʏ ᴀ ᴛʀᴜᴇ ʀᴇᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴʏ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀꜱ. ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ᴘᴜʀᴇʟʏ ꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴛᴀᴋᴇɴ ꜱᴇʀɪᴏᴜꜱʟʏ.

[lachlmomama]

Pls. use all the songs in MUSE as fillers to WHO and the WHO REMIXES playlists. Then put other Jimin songs from FACE and 1 or 2 non Jimin artists to shake it up a bit. Gaja!!! We can do this!!! 💐🌻🩷🩵💚

spreading this everywhere I can to jimin lovers who have a big reach ❤️

please add Be Mine to your playlists as it has left global charts- only Who and SGMB are left. Our goal is to have at least 3 tracks from the album chart on global for at least a month !!!

and play the album in full in between switching playlists !!! it's only 20 minutes !!!! TY for sharing 🥹❤️

not my favorite booty shaking song. not on my watch!!!

[kanmom51]

WHO JM

This is going to be a bit of a ramble of thoughts on my part. It took me around 24 hrs. to take it all in.

Before I start talking about everything, I do want to thank my good friends, you know who you are, with which we had these discussions and back and forth trying to figure it out. Said it once and will say it again: Love you guys!!!

And on that note, let's get to it.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything we got with Who, not to mention the whole Muse concept, the configuration of the album, the order of the songs.

Unlike Face this is less of a autobiographical album. This is more about a concept. We have the connecting thread from Face to Muse through Rebirth (Oh, I'm gonna talk about that song for sure). Then we go into Interlude: Showtime, leading into SGMB and then Slow dance, Be mine, Who and Closer than this in that order. Interlude showtime being the switch from personal (ME) to showtime/performance (US) perhaps. A show themed around love. And an interesting thing happens when you look at the placement of the songs. First of all, Who, the only song JM isn't credited for writing, is last. Then, and this to me is the interesting part of it, the songs go from SGMB having that love, being sure of it, wanting even to help others find it as the first song you hear all the way back to searching for that unattainable love (Who). Starting the story from the end, when love is found, rather than from the beginning when love is being searched for. Starting from the happy ending. And if you do want to link it to his own story (not sure it is, but for funsies) then it's basically going back chronologically. SGMB is the now JM, the happy one who found love, while Who is the JM who didn't even know what he was looking for, or more so Who he was looking for. And if we are already going in that direction than basically going full circle with Face in the sense of Face being in chronological order of things and Muse mirroring it in the sense of going present to past rather than past to present (yes, I definitley did not major in arts and it shows, lol).

Let's talk about Who now.

First thing first, once again, and thank you for that amazing post, I'm going to link to @andy-wm's post right here. Because basically it says most of what I wanted to convey, and as usual, written so so well.

You would think this is all about a guy looking for a girl, right?

NOT.

More so a guy looking for love, thinking that it's in a girl's image. "HER". @andy-wm explained it beautifully. I am going to emphasise a couple of points and/or add to them.

No. It's not just you. Although I do admit, it took me several reads and re-reads to have that eureka moment. When you take in the full picture. It's there.

JM is looking for someone. In his head he thinks it's meant to be a girl. That's what society has told him. That's what is expected of him. That's what makes sense to him. Again, in his head.

And yet, his heart, it's still searching.

And he continues to search but he isn't finding 'her'.

First the use of "think" again. The mind thinking versus the heart finding.

And pay attention to the lyrics: "If every day I think about her..."

Not "Every day I think about her..."

The way I see it, this is again about challenging society's expectations of him. If he's doing it right, if he's thinking about finding 'her' every day of his life, then why hasn't he found her? And the emphasis is on the question why, repeated multiple times.

He's asking why not how. And why do I think that means something?

Think about it for a second.

If he's looking for her every day, thinking about her all the time, wouldn't the question be "how is it that I haven't I found her?" But by asking "why haven't I found her", it feels more so like "am I doing something wrong here? Why isn't this working?" Perhaps because the Who he's looking for, the Who his heart is looking for, is not a "her"?

And this kind of disconnect between what his mind thinks he is looking for - "her", and what his heart is looking for "who", continues throughout the song.

Another thing I noticed, and I don't know if it means anything, is the repeat of the number five in the song.

That second one hit me the first time I heard the song. Why? Why count to five? So random. And yes, I know it could mean absolutely nothing, and yet, it is curious why we get these two fives.

So I went looking what the number five could mean, cause we know numbers do mean something to them.

On my search I found this:

And this is about this piece of art:

The name of that piece of that famous piece of art: "Sun, Moon and Five Peaks".

And this:

The sun and moon are incarnations of yin and yang and symbols of brightness. The five peaks represent the center of the Earth and correspond to the sky and the seat of the king, who is the Son of Heaven. The number five is significant, as it is the midpoint of the decimal system.

Another coincidence?

Then there is what the number 5 symbolises spiritually (not specific to Korean culture):

Was this on purpose? This is one of those things I really don't know. And yet...

But again, we have to remember that this is the only song on JM's album that he isn't credited for being part of the lyrics writing.

And yet, we know that he did sit with John Belian telling him what the story was he wanted him to tell.

We don't know just how much of it is JM and what he wanted to convey, at least with the lyrics. We don't know just how much say JM had in the direction the MV went in, but it does feel like at least some of these things we are seeing are not pure coincidence and are intentional, for example the next thing I want to talk about.

Let's talk about the falling billboard screen for a sec.

The timing of it falling, the WHO without the question mark, the why...

JM is singing, dancing, the storm is brewing, wind blowing, he sings about "her" and then asks: "who is my heart waiting for?"

The dancers split up, and he starts walking towards us and this falls from the sky:

"Who is my heart waiting for?"

It has a blue frame that breaks apart (perhaps symbolising how this love is framed differently or that the barrier that was there between them now broke - yes, pure drivel on my part, but let me have this, I'm really enjoying it, lol).

This is who, is what the screen is screaming out!!!

"keep going" it tells him, as he's walking in it's direction.

But the screen, it's facing us. We can see it, but he can't see it yet.

He is walking in it's direction but still oblivious to what it's showing him.

Another thing I noticed there is that the screen falls from the sky but doesn't collapse or break or topple over. It stands there, strong and stable. Just as strong and stable that love is. The Real love he talks about in Rebirth. And then we cut to the next scene. We don't see what happens when JM comes closer in. Does he see it? Does he see Who?

Thank you @theendiswherewestarted  for sending me the next couple of links I want to address.

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This one I noticed myself - the colours of that fire stood out to me, seeing as they were different from other fires on screen.

The Yellow purple that we also got in the poster question mark.

The way the signs are basically around him (the fire, the screen), but he passed them by unnoticed, perhaps because of how he perceives his love is meant to look like. It's a she, not a he, and even if it is on fire or on a neon sign, something he should be noticing, he just doesn't.

The second is this:

I have seen some that noticed this and I admit, it took me a very long time to see the face (some saw a face in smoke in the teaser as well), but I have to admit, it does look like a face. Could it be JK? Idk. Is this intentional? Well, it doesn't look like the actual smoke, it does look like a projection or add-on, so... I guess this one I'm going to leave as a question mark. A possibility.

But this one, I'm feeling the need to go back to this one because this is just WOW...

I am aware there are those that claim it to be another member. All I will say that they are wrong.

Also want to thank @lastride1981 for your ask.

And then the MV ends with this:

You know, if we didn't get the message just yet (which I can assure you many didn't), then let's end it with rainbows. Yes, that is who your heart is waiting for!!!

Nothing JM does is not thought about, is not intentional.

And that rainbow at the end is again one more of those things!!

As I said, not everything is intentional. But a. saying not everything is intentional inherently means some of it is. and b. this is JM we are talking of. The master of layering his art.

This is art. Intended for us to ponder about. It's up for interpretation. Even a song with rather simple lyrics like Who, especially with a MV attached to it and JM being the artist behind the two.

So this here is how I see it. My interpretations. Sharing them with you.

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지민 (Jimin) 'MUSE' Highlight Medley BTS BANGTANTV

13 jul 2024 #Jimin_MUSE#지민#Jimin 지민 (Jimin) 2nd Solo Album 'MUSE' 📅 July 19, 1PM (KST) | 0AM (ET) 🛒 https://jimin.lnk.to/MUSE

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지민 (Jimin) 'MUSE' Highlight Medley (https://youtu.be/iLtCSBGdMqU) #지민 #Jimin #Jimin_MUSE

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지민 (Jimin) 'MUSE' Highlight Medley

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지민 (Jimin) 'MUSE' Highlight Medley

Jimin "MUSE" — Tracklist

1- REBIRTH (INTRO) 2- INTERLUDE : SHOWTIME 3- SMERALDO GARDEN MARCHING BAND (FEAT. LOCO (Pre-release Single) 4- SLOW DANCE (FEAT. SOFIA CARSON) 5- BE MINE 6- WHO (Main Track) 7- CLOSER THAN THIS

Descripción de las pistas de 'MUSE':

1- REBIRTH (INTRO) - Género de fusión basado en R&B y gospel 2- INTERLUDE : SHOWTIME - canción instrumental que se conecta con la pista 3 4- SLOW DANCE (FEAT. SOFIA CARSON) - canción de R&B de ritmo medio 5- BE MINE - Canción de género afro-beat 6- WHO (Main Track) - sexy y atrevida, pero profundamente romántica.