yoongi’s solo track on wings, first love, remains my favourite bts song till today. in fact it might be one of my favourite songs ever. i said once on another blog of mine that yoongi is one of the most vulnerable and rawest musicians, and his music is so emotionally charged and fueled it feels like an outpouring of the soul. bts has become quite commercialised - especially their recent albums and title tracks, but i think if they have yoongi they’ll always be fine, their music will always have soul.
first love is written in such a way that really conveys emotion to you in the best way possible. it reminds me of an emotional piano piece (perhaps by debussy, even yiruma actually) played by a great pianist to a hall full of pert and alert ears. it holds your breath and quickens your heart beat, it lulls you and pushes and pulls you along to the music. i don’t doubt that this is yoongi’s magnum opus, both in the way he was able to express something so personal and in the way the music was written (the chords and progression and instrumentation are beautiful and delicate, and the way this juxtaposed against his rapping was exquisite).
first love resonated with me on a level so deep that i’ll never forget listening to the song for the first time under the covers when i was 15, curled up and in awe of the emotion that it seemed to elicit out of me before i even understood the lyrics. it’s instrumentation that is moving on another level, one that touches the soul beyond edm and poppy synths. when i read the lyrics, i think i almost cried because i felt that. it’s yoongi’s ode to music, to his first love, and i really do think it speaks volumes about how much he loves music. not even just as a hobby, a job, a talent, but he truly truly loves music and how beautiful it can be.
and first love does the greatest job of that - of delicately presenting how yoongi views music, of showcasing just how beautiful he thinks music is. and as a musician, as someone who really really does love music, this is why no other song will be able to trump first love for me. it’s ridiculously underrated, but i understand that such raw expressions of self and emotion don’t appeal to everyone, especially not to those who don’t understand the depth of a relationship one can have with music.
first love is a masterpiece, and i hope yoongi knows that he has made music that truly has touched and moved hearts.