is it just me or god’s menu (and the album as a whole) feels like it could be an answer to the “i am:” series and the back door at the end of the mv could be a response to the “miroh/yellow wood/levanter” series?
the album feels like a reflection of god’s menu’s lyrics, it doesn’t have a consistent emotionally-tied lyrical theme like their previous albums and the songs don’t have any apparent tie between them sound-wise either. if there’s something that ties them together, it’s that they’re all super unique - they could almost all be sorted into different genres. i mean lyrically we go from “god’s menu” and “easy” where it’s borderline bragging to “another day” and “phobia” where it’s about being just like everyone else and even having major insecurities. this might be reading too much into it, but “i am who” could even be tied to the feeling of songs like “god’s menu” and “easy,” (and maybe even TOP), with a reflection of the public persona they had to show especially way back when IAW came out, while “i am not” could be tied to “another day” and “phobia” (also SLUMP), the parts of themselves that they had to deny as idols. we could even tie “i am you” to love songs like “airplane” and songs that mention going forward with another person like “pacemaker,” even “mixtape: on track.”
it’s like saying “i am all of these things, all of these feelings and identities at once, and that doesn’t invalidate me, it’s what makes me who i am and i am proud of that.”
“look at all the things that we made and all the things that we are and it still sounds like us, it’s still us”
my only evidence for this is 2 out of the 3 album titles buuuut: to me the miroh/yellow wood/levanter series asked “where” rather than “who,” and they didn’t end up liking any of the paths that were offered to them, so they found an alternative exit here - the back door. if we’re thinking themes and lyrical-ties, this can be a reflection of where they want their music to go - they didn’t ever want to be boxed into a mainstream sound, so they started making their own music and that gave them a way out. it’s almost like the back door could be the merging of mainstream and their own style, like the merging of the two moons...
the red of the sign also reminds me of the red slips and flowers from district 9. if that’s actually a connection that red could symbolize escape. in the highligh reel they show the red objects from d9 right after chan says “we decided to get out of here and find our true selves.” now that i think about it, miroh means maze-- what do you do in a maze? you try to escape. miroh is probably their most red mv.
throughout the whole music video we see them at a bunch of different career sites, which to me further indicates a tie to the “i am” series, because what shouts “i am” more than a career path? “what do you want to be when you grow up?” is such a restricting question that we hear so early in our lives, and it often implies that we can only ultimately have one answer, even though that’s not true. this is something they’ve been exploring since the very beginning, you see it especially in the “I am NOT” trailer (they didn’t include the specific part i’m talking about in the highlight reel for a very specific reason but aaaanyway)
i mean. can we talk about how they go from “go live” where they all rap to “phobia” where they all sing??? that feels really intentional to me. we know they can do both but this feels like they’re declaring it. i even think the “ne son-nim” is a commentary on this contrast. maybe i’m misreading this, but there’s something a little bit sarcastic about changbin’s version to me? i don’t know, maybe not sarcastic, but still... a very different in tone than hyunjin’s in a big way. just another example of that contrast and completely owning it!
anyway. what if the two versions of themselves represent two different perspectives? one being “i am not” and one being “i am who?” and since they’re version of themselves, they’re both “i am you”
