[Article] BTS' Spring Day (1): Youth, 'Consolation' that is possible when 'together’
“If we’re together we can smile.”
The message of BTS’ WINGS: You Never Walk Alone is one that coveys the meaning of consolation/comfort to not only the youth, but also to themselves.
BTS’ new album, WINGS: You Never Walk Alone, was unveiled on the 13th. Four new songs were added to the second album they released last year in October, WINGS. If WINGS focused on the development/growth of the youth, then WINGS: You Never Walk Alone spread the message of hope and consolation to the youth.
The true meaning of “consolation” is possible only when it is preceded by empathy. When people can share each other’s pain and hardships and understand each other, that is when comfort can touch their hearts. Therefore, BTS’ consolation is sincere.
On top of stage, beneath the glamorous lights are these dazzling idols. Although these glamorous idols look far removed from reality, they too experience the worries and pains of the youth. BTS revealed these emotions through WINGS: You Never Walk Alone.
The speaker of the title track, “Spring Day,” waits to reconnect with a friend he has grown apart from. Autobiographical lyrics from Rap Monster and Suga can also be heard in the song. “Us, who find it hard to even meet each other now,” “It’s us that’s changed, I guess. Everyone’s like that, I guess.” Emotions that everyone has probably felt, like the feelings of doubt and loneliness, are evoked through the lyrics.
At the same time, the lyrics “Flower blossoms must be blooming. This winter is also ending” signify winter’s end and the start of the “Spring Day,” just as it symbolizes that there is hope that the broken relationship (between the speaker and the friend) can be cured. The BTS’ members’ warm timbre and the song’s melody is as impactful as the lyrics.
If “Spring Day” serves as the emotional link between BTS and the youth, “Not Today” parades the story of BTS. The track has an intense moombahton/dance music genre to it, and captures people’s ears with its energetic sound. The lyrics, said to be inspired by the script in the movie, Lord of the Rings (“But it is not this day. This day we fight”), and by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, includes the prejudice BTS, a group five years into their debut, had and will continue to face, and their will to overcome that.
BTS is called “small ageny-dols,” meaning idols that come from small agencies. It is an idol’s reality that if they’re not from SM-YG-JYP, the so-called “big agencies,” there is no guaranteed position of certainty or easiness.
So, when BTS had debuted through Big Hit Entertainment as their first boy group, they were not recognized on a big scale at that time. Even when they continued to gain more recognition, they also continued to receive looks of suspicion. In response to this, they sang, “We couldn’t do it, (that being) failure. Because we all believed in each other,” “Believe in being ‘together,’ Believe in ‘Bangtan.’” Album sales, charts, international chart figures prove BTS’ growth and as ”small agency-dols” this is unprecedented, and they are one of a kind. The pride shown in the accomplishments that BTS had achieved themselves can be seen in “Not Today.” They expressed the meaning of not succumbing to prejudice and holding a strong will in the chorus lyrics, as seen by the lines, “I won’t die, don’t ask” and “I won’t give in, I won’t cry.”
The last track, “A Supplementary Story: You Never Walk Alone,” highlights the meaning of being “together,” as seen by the title. The path that can soothe the youth’s pain and loneliness is company. “Try to feel me, you’re not alone either,” “Even if this path is long and rough, will you still accompany me?” These lyrics communicate the message well. The 2015 release, “HYYH On Stage: Prologue,” also included the lyrics, “Because if we’re together we can smile,“ which from one can assume that BTS’ contents connect in a large form of storytelling. There is certainly anticipation over how this story will connect in their next album.
BTS’ form of comfort broke though to the fans. After the release of “Spring Day,” the song charted #1 on eight Korean music sites (Melon, Genie, Mnet, Naver Music, Olleh Music, Bugs, Soribada, Monkey3, etc.). “Not Today” and “A Supplementary Story: You Never Walk Alone” also charted #2 and #3 on most of these sites, demonstrating the strength of BTS.
BTS’ stage for their new tracks will first be seen at their Wings Tour Seoul Concerts on the 18th and 19th at Guro-gu, Seoul, at the Gocheok Sky Dome.
© tenasia
trans cr: yen @ bangtan tumblr
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