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Jul. 18th, 2022 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
letterstonowhereOne of the things BTS is most widely appreciated for, at least within fandom spaces, is their lyrics. All of the members participate in one way or another on each of their records, and they are just incredibly talented lyricists, all of them. I think that something I realized as I became more introspective regarding my own romantic/sexual identity is just how much their music means to me in that regard. Personally, I focus a lot on the auditory aspects of music when I'm listening to it. As a classical musician, I tend to zero in on riffs and instrument lines and fall in love with them, and BTS has a LOT of instances where I'm just awestruck by the sound of their songs. But also, as someone who loves to read and write, I love their lyrics just as much. I think I first started truly appreciating song lyrics in a different light when I started listening to BTS. Let's be real, there are so many songs about romantic love, and heartbreak, and dating, and sex, and—you get the picture. And this isn't a bad thing, I listen to all kinds of songs about those types of topics. But I will say that it's mostly because, well, there just isn't much music about anything else. Because of that, I never really personally resonated with many songs lyrically. I couldn't relate or see myself in what the artist sang. But, as most things in my life did, that all changed when I was introduced to BTS. I don't know Korean, so I rely on the hard work of numerous translators, people who take so much time out of their day to make BTS' words more accessible to people all over the world. And so when I began looking through the lyrics and themes of their music, well, it left me awestruck. For what felt like the first time, I was listening to these insanely talented musicians and actually relating to what they had to say. BTS have songs about so many emotions and human experiences. Their first era is centered around a storyline of teenage love, and they also have a number of other songs about romance, but their spectrum is just so much more broad.
Paradise—a fan favorite—tells the listener that it's okay not to have a clear plan for the future, and it's okay to take life one step at a time. Black Swan depicts the members' struggle with creative burnout and the fear of losing interest in your passions. Dionysus uses the extended metaphor of being "drunk on art/creating". Fly To My Room talks about the collective experience of being stuck in your bedroom during the first Covid lockdown, and taking the time to feel like a tourist in that space you know so intimately. 134340/Pluto is a song about heartbreak, but it uses an insanely genius metaphor of the planet Pluto and its demotion to dwarf status. Bapesae/Silver Spoon discusses the injustices of financial inequality in Korea. No More Dream, their debut song, asks the listener to question why adults try to control their children's future instead of letting them pursue their own dreams. This is a solo track, but SUGA's First Love is actually about how he first fell in love with the piano as a child. And that's just a couple that I thought of off the top of my head. And of course, as a disclaimer, I am fully aware that some songs are just pure fun lyrics, and that's all there is to it. Every single good song doesn't need to have incredibly deep lyrics. But I think BTS' lyrics deserve this kind of recognition and uplifting, especially considering how many outsiders tend to immediately stereotype their entire discography just based off of one song.
Going back to something I mentioned earlier, I currently identify as aroace (I say currently because I personally think sexuality can be fluid, maybe not for everyone, but at least for me. Maybe I'll realize something new about myself later in life. Maybe I won't.). And knowing that probably already explains a lot about why I never related to most of the song lyrics on the radio. I think my identity really impacts how I look at and appreciate BTS. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen an artist who writes about such diverse themes. They have songs all about romantic love, and they have songs that have absolutely nothing to do with love. They reference films, novels, Korean geography, current events. Each and every song is an experience in of itself and a joy to listen to. Thank you, BTS <3
Paradise—a fan favorite—tells the listener that it's okay not to have a clear plan for the future, and it's okay to take life one step at a time. Black Swan depicts the members' struggle with creative burnout and the fear of losing interest in your passions. Dionysus uses the extended metaphor of being "drunk on art/creating". Fly To My Room talks about the collective experience of being stuck in your bedroom during the first Covid lockdown, and taking the time to feel like a tourist in that space you know so intimately. 134340/Pluto is a song about heartbreak, but it uses an insanely genius metaphor of the planet Pluto and its demotion to dwarf status. Bapesae/Silver Spoon discusses the injustices of financial inequality in Korea. No More Dream, their debut song, asks the listener to question why adults try to control their children's future instead of letting them pursue their own dreams. This is a solo track, but SUGA's First Love is actually about how he first fell in love with the piano as a child. And that's just a couple that I thought of off the top of my head. And of course, as a disclaimer, I am fully aware that some songs are just pure fun lyrics, and that's all there is to it. Every single good song doesn't need to have incredibly deep lyrics. But I think BTS' lyrics deserve this kind of recognition and uplifting, especially considering how many outsiders tend to immediately stereotype their entire discography just based off of one song.
Going back to something I mentioned earlier, I currently identify as aroace (I say currently because I personally think sexuality can be fluid, maybe not for everyone, but at least for me. Maybe I'll realize something new about myself later in life. Maybe I won't.). And knowing that probably already explains a lot about why I never related to most of the song lyrics on the radio. I think my identity really impacts how I look at and appreciate BTS. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen an artist who writes about such diverse themes. They have songs all about romantic love, and they have songs that have absolutely nothing to do with love. They reference films, novels, Korean geography, current events. Each and every song is an experience in of itself and a joy to listen to. Thank you, BTS <3