#letter for army

[andy-wm]

What we know now, after they have started MS

This is a short post, because life is a lot right now and i have very little emotional energy. But this felt important, so here I am.

Tonight I revisited an older post and realised I'd never completed the thought process i began there...

When Jimin released his solo album, FACE, I wrote this analysis post.

Part of that analysis talked about my impression of JK's backing vocals on Letter.

We had seen Jimin's Production Diary, and based on the clip of JK in the recording studio I thought he didn't know he would be asked to sing backing vocals.

Here's a screen grab of that post:

After watching the docuseries, BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star, we know that was correct...

It was a surprise to him when Jimin asked him.

In fact both aspects of that prediction were right, he didn't know about the song at all.

I have two questions:

Why would Jimin have kept the song a secret from JK?

And

Why wouldn't Jimin himself ask Jungkook to sing it? Why get PDogg to ask him? Jimin was RIGHT THERE.

Actually, make that three questions.

Why did Jimin scurry away as soon as JK asked to listen to the song?

Jimin earnestly said, "I made a fan song", while holding Jungkook's face in his hands.

That's such an intimate gesture, by the way. If my Best Friend held my face that way while they told me they'd done something, I'd take it to mean that the something was significant for/about me.

Jungkook asked to listen to the song, and Jimin... vanished. He retreated to the sofa to sit out of Jungkook's line of sight.

He's suddenly shy? Shy of Jungkook's reaction?? Wierd, but ok...

Unless the song is REALLY significant to JK....

In short, yes, it is REALLY significant. We already kinda guessed that right? But now, in light of their situation, it's more significant...

So, Jungkook recorded his part of the song.

Lets think about the lyrics...

Bear in mind this was written and recorded long before they had confirmation that their application for companion enlistment was successful...

These lyrics are even more significant in that context.

Plus

This is the part of the song that's in banmal. The switch from polite to familiar signals a change in the relationship, (I wrote about that in a previous post) and since Jimin always talks to ARMY politely, we can asume this part of the the song (at least) is directed at... someone else 👀

"We dont know what the future holds, don't worry I'll stay by your side."

Now consider that Jimin has written these words for not only himself to sing. He's asking Jungkook to sing them with him.

He's asking Jungkook to sing this love song with him.

With no hesitation, Jungkook says yes. He does the recording there and then.

And when JK is finished recording...

He tells Jimin that the song is really nice. Immediately, Jimin is a limpet. He's all over Junkgook like he's made of Velcro. A stark contrast to his earier behaviour when his vulnerability made him scurry away.

Jimin jokes that Junkgook should record a message for ARMY and Pdogg calls him out on that lie. Of course JK refuses. "It's your song." he tells Jimin.

Jimin is pushing his luck here, first asking JK to record a message, and then asking him to claim ownership (or share responsibility) for the song.

Jk has no trouble saying no to that.

It seems like more than a meaningless joke to me. One of those suggestions alone might be, but both? It left me wondering if Jimin suddenly felt scared that he was revealing too much with the song?

I'm kinda impressed that JK, for all his love and support, wasn't prepared to rescue Jimin from his choices. He simply, but gently, said no. It tells me a lot about their relationship.

It also tells me a lot about both JK's honestly and his belief in Jimin.

eta, I was tired and once my thought bubble popped i just hit 'post' and fell asleep. But it's exactly a year since Jimin released FACE and i think it's a pretty cool coincidence that i came back to this randomly on this day.

Happy FACE day, ARMYs. 💛💜

[caitlinsinterlude]

jeff buckley in an interview about bob dylan writing for nina simone. bob dylan’s wrote sad-eyed lady about sara.

[juusbox]

he got tadpoled because he failed an intimidation check against orin, but he doesn't remember that

[bts-trans]

231210 Weverse Translation

RM's Post ❇️

안녕하세요 사랑하는 여러분, 기어이 그 날이 오고야 말았네요 드릴 말들이 참 많이 맴맴 돌았던 듯한데 막상 닥치니 입이 잘 안 떨어지네요. 지난 십 년간 방탄소년단으로 살 수 있어서 너무 행복했어요. 줄곧 입버릇처럼 말해왔지만 끝은 또 시작이니까! 지나고 나면 다른 좋은 무언가가 우리를 기다리고 있을 거라 믿어 의심치 않아요. 먼저 이 시간을 견뎌야 했을 석진이 형과 호석이가 뒤따라가는 저희보다 훨씬 더 힘들었을 거에요. 늦게나마 너무 씩씩하게 잘 해내고 있는 그들을 보며 더없는 용기를 얻고 있답니다. 길다면 길고, 짧다면 짧을 18개월 동안 이 시기가 우리 모두에게 어떤 낯설고 새로운 영감과 배움의 시기가 될 거라 믿어요. 두렵고 무섭기도 하지만 그 막연한 시간 동안 무언가를 기대하고 고대할 것이 있다는 사실만큼 위로가 되는 일이 또 있을까요? 제 일도 일이겠지만 그건 아마 여러분의 사랑이겠죠. 누군가에게 줄곧 기억될 수 있고 기다려지는 존재라는 것, 때로 외롭고 쓸쓸하기도 하겠지만 그 사랑으로 제 안은 이미 충만한 것 같아요 저 역시 당신께 그런 존재일 수 있길 바라요. 무수한 귓가에 머물다 가는 말들보다 우리의 시간과 사랑과 진심이 앞으로의 우리를 말해주잖아요. 늘, 곁에 없어도 곁에 있는 사람이고 싶었어요 각자의 삶을 각자의 장소에서 열심히 살아내다가 돌아오면 활짝 웃으며 더 격의없는, 마음과 마음으로 충만할 우리이길 소망하면서. 잠시동안 안녕 안녕이에요 ! 돌아올 땐 또 안녕 하며 인사 드릴게요 언제 어디서든 우리가 우리이도록 ! 미래에서 만나요 많이 사랑하고 있답니다. 조금이나마 닿길 소원하며 - 남준 https://weverse.io/bts/artist/4-142657541

My beloved ARMY, hello. So it's finally here, that day has actually come. I feel like there were a lot of things I wanted to say to you swirling around in my head, but now that it's actually time, I can't seem to get any words out.

I am so happy to have lived as BTS for the past ten years. I have said this so many times it's almost become a habit, but endings are beginnings after all! So I believe, without a doubt, that something good will be waiting for us at the end of this.

Seokjinie hyung and Hoseok had to go through this first and they probably had a much harder time than us, who are just following in their steps. Watching them face things head-on and do so well, I gain immense courage myself, even if I am a bit late to do so.

18 months feels like both a long and short period of time. I believe that it will be one where we all experience a new and unfamiliar kind of inspiration and learning. I am scared and afraid but, during such uncertain times, what could be more comforting than knowing that there is something to wait for, to look forward to? My own work may be a part of that, but it's probably your love more than anything.

Being someone who is constantly remembered, and constantly waited for, can sometimes feel a little lonely and empty, but I think that your love fills me up. I, of course, hope that I can be the same for you.

More than the countless words that stay in your ears for a bit then go away, our time, our love, and our sincerity speak for our future, don't they? I have always wanted to be someone who is beside you even when I am not.

We will each stay where we are, working hard and living our own lives. And then when we come back, we will smile broadly, and we will be full of our hearts for one another, shared fully and freely. That is what I am hoping for. This is just a momentary goodbye! When I come back, I will greet you with these same words*.

No matter when or where, here's to us being us!

See you in the future. I love you very much. I hope my love reaches you, even just a little bit.

- Namjoon

(T/N: *He uses the word '안녕' in this line as well as the previous, as in Korean it can mean both 'hello' and 'goodbye'.)

Trans cr; Aditi, Faith & Eisha @ bts-trans © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS

[fromtheseventhhell]

It's crazy that people still uphold show!Sansa as a well-written character and pretend that liking her is the pinnacle of feminism when it would be infinitely more impactful to acknowledge her terrible and misogynistic writing. This is the same character who, while written by two men, was thankful for the abuse she suffered because it allowed her to grow. The same character who we had to be told was smart because the writers were too lazy to develop or show her intelligence. The same character who had to rely heavily on the men surrounding her and ended up accomplishing nothing on her own merit ( and no, thinking that she deserved to be Queen doesn't mean that she earned it). She is not well-written, she is not complex, and she is not a feminist character. Which is fine! If you enjoy her then good on you, but please stop pretending that she's something she isn't just because you feel the need to justify liking her character

[sweetjikook]

Full translation of Jimin´s letter:

to ARMY

ARMYs have you been doing well healthily?

tomorrow is the day i will complete my training <have my graduation ceremony>.

about a little over a month has passed

sometimes it feels long but because jungkook is beside me, i feel like it goes by fast too.

it hasn't been a long time but i already miss you all seriously so much. i've been saying hello while using the public phone to call the members

jungkookie is also working hard with his military life.

he's doing extremely well with his military life that everyone else is like "as expected, jungkookie hyung."

while being beside him, i feel like i can depend on him lots <saying he feels supported> and he has been giving me strength.

i will be going to <my assigned> military base but i will adjust well and try to be well. our ARMYs, be careful to not catch a cold and don't be sick and eat your meals well and only think of good thoughts hehe.

anyways once i go to the base, i will write a letter too. i love you

- JIMIN

Cr. @haruharu_w_bts on X

[kanmom51]

Jimin's Production Diary - The Truth Untold (?)

What was my take from this?

That this is an actual letter to army.

Do you guys see what I'm seeing?

Dear ARMY.

Not Dear. ARMY.

Wow, ok. That's interesting.

So, to whoever was saying that's just how JM writes when he's addressing a letter, clearly to army, well boo hoo.

This here, this letter JM was reading out, this was his letter to us.

While Letter, well, that wasn't about us. No sir.

And because of this, it's damn time to bring all these back:

So, whoever thought The Truth Untold would reveal some great big truth we weren't aware of, big disappointment, lol.

But at the end of the day, I do think that JM once again solidified just how much Letter or Dear. ARMY is not about us.

[earlgodwin]

"I have spent all my life resisting the desire to end it."

— Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena (1920 to 1923)

[jmdbjk]

Y'all...

This live ... when I don't think they could get any more mind-blowing... as usual, I will wait for when they tack on the English subs permanently before I write up a full post on it.

But I was following translators AND reading the instant subs... it was amazing and so touching when he got so emotional over Army Love Letter... the purple hearts streaming by made me cry harder while watching him cry...

Then I took a chance while he was staring at the comments and fired off a "did you see Jimin's guitar?" and this happened a few seconds later:

Yes, that was me asking that IN ENGLISH and he spotted it among the other comments flying by at warp speed... my life is complete now. Bye.

I don't know how I'm gonna get through that live again when I rewatch it after the subs are put back on it...

[savethegrishaverse]

@sentaylor_author's 1000 origami crows have made their way to Netflix's office! Our voices are getting harder and harder to ignore! It's a great day to be Third Army strong!

[seoul-bros]

Letter on Vinyl

The way the song just swells into existence from the silence gives me shivers every time.

Listening to FACE on Spotify, it slipped my mind, the importance of the placement of this track on the album. So glad the vinyl will always remind me.

Post Date: 14/01/2024

[andy-wm]

Aesthetic Emotions and the Catharsis of Tragedy

How I feel after watching Jimin's Production Diary - The Truth Untold.

Why do we feel so drawn to emotional outpouring of others?

Why does the suffering and pain of artists make 'meaningful' art'?

I'm going to tell you why I think Face is a Greek Tragedy and why, even though the album is a complete and perfect story, we still needed Letter.

You know how sometimes you just need a good cry? And afterwards you feel better, like a weight has lifted... that's catharsis.

Based on the philosophy of the ancient greek philosopers Aristotle and Plato, the catharsis offered by tragedy in art is good for your soul.

The tragedy I'm talking about is not like a natural disaster. Its not like an unfathomably sad real life situation such as war, or the failure of the referendum for The Voice to pass in Australia.

I'm talking about Tragedy as a literary and artistic genre.

Simply put, Tragedy as a genre is identified by pathos and passion. And the work must have a narrative structure - a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Pathos being the ability to identify with and pity a person going through hard times.

Passion referring to strong emotion (of any sort).

But how do we find the equivalent of that literary theory in work that's not a typical story? In a song, or in art?

In my opinion, we can see something similar in music if we combine literary theory and art theory. After all, what is a song but a story delivered with emotion through music, and experienced as art is?

There's a school of art theory called Aesthetic Emotionalism.

In a nutshell, this means that the VALUE of the artwork comes from the way it communicates or expresses emotion. Mood, colour, tone, language all contribute to the feelings we get when we experience that work, whether it's looking at a picture or listening to music. They help us pick up on the emotions the artist is conveying.

So what happens when you experience those emotions through art? What is catharsis?

The experience of tragic events in art, whether it's a heart-rending drama, or a beautiful sad song, or a dark and menacing painting, can give you access to emotions like fear, pity, and regret. Feeling those emotions through art lets you purge the heaviness of them from your mind and body, giving you a sense of relief. That's catharsis.

It seems counter-intuitive but ultimately the experience is uplifting. It's like having the benefits of a therapy session, but without having to face YOUR OWN demons.

Becuase of the narrative structure, and the resolution of conflict, there's always relief at the end of the story.

You feel cleansed of those strong emotions, reengergised and ready to go on. But you also feel a sense of calm understanding. The pathos part of the tragedy gives you insight into the suffering of the character in the story.

Think about the narrative structure of the album Face.

The album has a carefully planned narrative, and a sense of rising and falling energy with these songs that's strongly reminiscent of the structure of a Hero's Journey.

And think about the individual songs in terms of Aesthetic Emotionalism too ...how they convey emotions through tone, pace, language, colour etc.

I'm going to go ahead and say that the strength of the Aesthetic Emotionalism in these songs (and in BTS's music in general) is a major reason they have such impact even when you dont understand the lyrics.

Now let's combine them... look at the emotions conveyed in these songs and how the literary theory of a tragedy might apply to the album :

The first song is the slow and devastating Face Off, with its hypnotic rhythm and strange, discomforting sound effects. It reallly does transport us into a dreamlike/nightmare landscape. But the last few words of the song foreshadow that it's gonna be alright.

Then we have the surreal, melancholy Dive, drawing us further into this dystopian world. It also uses sound effects to make us feel like we are being pulled through time. Dive is reminiscent of a soundtrack from a video, but it's been separated from it's film reel, leaving the listener to guess and imagine the scenes unfolding. It feels like jimin has come untethered from his reality.

Like Crazy comes like rising action in a novel, and we get character development, a bit of plot information, and conflict. But the song itself is a viby dance track with a party atmosphere (if you don't look too closely) so we get a reprieve from the darkness of Face Off and Dive. Its hypnotic beat is enough to keep us locked in the surreal dreamlike world that's been built around us by the previous songs, and the lyrics echo that.

Alone takes us back down into the darkness of Jimin's state of mind, both lyrically and with its low tones and slow pace. We get the metronome, the marking of slow time.

Set Me Free has a totally different energy. Jimin's tone of of voice is much brighter, but hard and determined. Set Me Free isnt a request, it's a demand. The music is forceful. It's like a battle march. The story has reached its climax.

Returning to Like Crazy (English version) after Set Me Free, is like returning to a gentle refrain. Its so much softer and more plaintive than the demanding Set Me Free, echoing the earlier melody and words, but it hits sightly different in English. We are into the denouement of this story, the resolution has come.

But it's not the end.

It is not the end, because after a few minutes of silence, time to breathe, we get Letter.

Why is letter here?

Jimin could have released Letter on Weverse or Soundcloud or directly onto Spotify. But he chose to include it at the end of the album.

I feel this is so important, because the specific set of circumstances of this album means this Tragedy we've just experienced isn't entirely consistent with the literary genre.

FACE ticks all the boxes for a Tragedy in the literary sense, it has pathos and passion and narrative structure. If you were a casual listener and you got to the end of the album you would have a sense of catharsis, as intended. But there's a complication.

ARMY aren't casual listeners.

This is personal.

We know Park Jimin, the real person.

We know this isn't fiction. This shit is real. It was real for him when he wrote it and it's real for us now.

Achieving catharsis isn't that easy when it's personal. Not when the hurt is real.

That's why he gave us letter.

That's why he gave it ONLY TO US.

Letter is a soft sweet gift, a sentimental dedication full of reminiscences that only ARMY will understand. The melody is gentle, like a lullaby, and Jungkook's backup vocals are enough to make you weep, if you aren't weeping already.

(**I have a theory that jk either didn't know about letter or didn't know Jimin was going to ask him to sing. See this post for why)

Letter does exactly what it's meant to - it fills us with warmth. It makes us overflow with love. It's a soothing balm to heal our hearts.

And its everything we need in order to let go of those heavy feelings of fear and pity, of worry and sadness for Jimin that the album brought to the fore.

Jimin knew we would need more. That's why he he sent us letter, right at the very end.

"I'm sorry. Thank you," It says.

"Don't cry. It's gonna be alright."

[choupistickfaitdesbetises]

One year ago…

The letter that Oliver wrote to Armie...

[thesilicontribesman]

Hadrian, son of Trajan

Gilded bronze letters from the gate of the emperor Hadrian at Antalya, south-west Turkey. Roman, 130 CE.

The gate, designed to look like a triumphal arch and still standing in the modern city, was built to mark the visit of the much-travelled emperor Hadrian (ruled 117-138 CE). The letters spell 'Traiano' in Greek, the language of the eastern Roman empire. This was part of Hadrian's name, marking him out as the adopted son and heir of the preceding emperor Trajan.

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

[bts-trans]

[ENG] 230607 Jimin '편지/Letter (Dear. ARMY)' Live Clip #2023BTSFESTA

@bangtansubs

Link to the video

[rubywingsracing]

Happy Birthday to the light of my life, the reason I wake up in the morning, my muse, my sun and moon, the galaxy I orbit in, the feet I worship at, my twin soul, my forever other half, the down under to my up top…. Oscar Jack Piastri