By Maria Eduarda Ribeiro Cavalcanti
Last part of a series of post- you can check part 1 here.
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"Map of the Soul: 7 © HYBE Ent. |
"Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my faults. Tomorrow I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’s me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. I have come to love myself for who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become. "
The text above is taken from RM's speech in the UNICEF and it is the perfect beginning to start our analysis of the last BTS era. "Map Of The Soul" is a concept made by Carl Jung, it is quite literally a map to understand the human psyche. BTS uses this concept to make art and express itself.
One of the hardest questions to be answered maybe is "Who are you?", we are so used to being so much and yet nothing all the time, that defining ourselves in a sentence becomes so complicated, this becomes one of the main themes of the era. We could, maybe, divide the album into three parts: Persona, Shadow, and Ego. Concepts made by Carl Jung, each one of them represents a fragment of ourselves: persona is our exterior, shadow our interior, and ego our central self. To make this analysis easier, I will also be breaking this post into three sections, each one with the songs that match the most with the section.
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"Intro:Persona* © HYBE Ent. |
To BTS, persona are them as artists. To us, fans or just mere spectators may be hard to understand the difference between the artist RM and the person Kim Namjoon. We may be aware that they are two different persons that only coexist in one body, but still, it is so hard to completely separate where one ends and the other begins, it is a blurry line. Even to them.
We all have a parasocial relationship with celebrities, even without knowing them, we know their entire lives, and sometimes(especially when you are a lonely teenager) we feel a connection to these celebrities and a certain intimacy. But, who are they?
In "Filter", solo by Jimin, he speaks about choosing between the vast spectrum of colors that he can offer. Dancing in between the thin line of changing because he wants to and to please others. Conflicting thoughts that often contemplate each other, when you are an artist, you have to please your fans. Jimin gain weight when they asked, lost when they thought it was necessary, worked out when they wanted, constantly painting his hair the way others think is better. It comes to a point where he asks himself if the reflection in the mirror is himself, the person he wanted to see, the person he wanted to be. Or if he is just made from the wishes of others.
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"Map of the Soul: Persona" © HYBE Ent. |
Similar reflection made by the group in "Dionysus", music that takes its name from the Greek god of wine and parties, Dionysus. In the music, the different persons of artists are taking into account: the hedonism, the promiscuity, the process of creation, and the pain that sometimes cross the way and becomes just one, all of these themes are discussed in the song.
"Boy With Luv" is the title track of the first album, and it's BTS's most interesting analysis of their personas. The title is a throwback to their 2014 song "Boy In Luv", and it's a more mature take on their teenage angst. Where "Boy In Luv" gets wrong, "Bow With Luv" gets right. "Boy In Luv" is aggressive, "Boy With Luv" is calm, "Boy In Luv" bleeds" and "Boy with Luv" heals. In all senses, the two kinds of music are the opposite of one another: the style of the 2014 one it's very hip-hop bases and the MV it's full of gray-ish tones while the 2019 version it's light bubblegum filled pop song with pastel tones and casual boyfriend material clothes. The "Boy In Luv" era was known for perceiving love in a misogynist way and instead of letting the wrong in the past, BTS fixes it.
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"Map of the Soul: Persona" © HYBE Ent. |
Lastly, the intro: Persona.
I usually begin my posts talking about the Intro because I consider it to be the most important part of the album, it introduces us to the whole musical experience in front of us, and teaches us about the theme of the era. But Persona, intro sung by RM, it's just so important that it deserves to close this section.
RM has as a gift, being able to take small experiences in his life and transforming them into something bigger. He speaks about his childhood dream of becoming a superhero and how now he does in fact feel like one, he is conscious that he carries in his back the pains and worries of thousands of young people, and sometimes he feels as this burden is too heavy to carry, and maybe he is not capable of doing, but every time he realizes he is wrong and he can do it. But, in a way, there is a cost.
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"Map of the Soul: Persona" © HYBE Ent. |
Who is RM? Where does RM finish and Kim Namjoon start? Questions made by me in the beginning and now with the Intro: Persona, we become a little closer to the answer. Persona it's our mask, our exterior self. Whether we like it or not, RM is Namjoon's persona. The RM that you, the fan, loves. The RM that we know.
RM causes a certain discomfort in Namjoon because he feels "fake" when wearing his RM mask until he understands that, all of the fragments of his personality, all of his personas and shadows, are him. His mistakes and his conquests, they all are you. RM and Kim Namjoon are him.
RM understands that all of the versions that exist of himself are in fact him. He feels at ease.
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"Interlude: Shadow" © HYBE Ent. |
BTS's biggest attraction is how they can connect themselves with their listeners, the relatable lyrics that talk about the problems with our generation such as mental illness, self-esteem, and others, soon became an important piece for those who found the songs when they most needed.
And BTS is very aware of how powerful they became with that, how effective their words are, making them having second thoughts about their careers as artists. All of this becomes really confusing, making them question whether they actually wanted that in the first place or not.
Everybody wants to be big, but nobody talks about how lonely it actually is to be on top. The eternal paranoia of always being about to fall into failure any time, of having hit your peak on the last CD, the free hate on the internet, the love over-shared by fans, all of this confuses a person's head. They began in such a simple way, boys sharing their feelings into songs, and now they are men who became entire generation voices. It's normal that the shadow in them says " stop with that, what are you doing?"
These feelings may cause a certain apathy. Their job that before filling them with pride, becomes now work. "Black Swan" lyrics are inspired by Marta Graham's quote " a dancer dies twice- the first is when he stops dancing, and the first death it's the more painful". The music reflects the feelings of BTS members thinking about the day they will no longer enjoy being singers.
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"Map of the Soul: Persona" © HYBE Ent. |
" My Time" is Jungkook's solo and talks about his experiences as a singer that started earlier on when he was only 16, and although he won so much, he still feels like he lost a lot. These complicated feelings of wanting everything and not being able to get anything poison Jungkook's mind, he feels thorn apart by which part of himself he should respect.
"UGH" it's another song about the shadows that exist in ourselves. J-Hope, Suga, and RM discuss anger, saying that there are good anger and bad. When channel in the right way, anger can change people, when shared in a bad way, anger becomes a bad feeling, hurting others.
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"Map of the Soul: Persona" © HYBE Ent. |
"Home" it's a song about the duality of feeling, the happiness of having a home, a group of people that make you feel at home and well with yourself. But having to deal with this empty that insists on following you. How to deal with it?
The answer to me it's on the "Interlude: Shadow", music sung only by Suga. Since the early days of BTS, Suga always was the best at treating with ferocity intense feelings, because he is a quiet person that feels a lot, he had this natural artistry to speak with his rap, and it's only fair that they most destructive part of the psyche was the responsibility of the person whom would have the easier time talking about it.
Suga talks about how he always flew too close to the Sun and now he burned himself. He always had too big dreams, with much ambition, always wishing for more, but the more he has, the more empty and sad he feels. His lowest points are also his highest.
In this part of the song the peak it's hit. The instrumental becomes slower, and it changes completely. Suga's voice becomes distorted and the pace becomes rushed and savage. In the second part of the song, it's not Suga who's singing, neither is Min Yoongi, it's Suga's very own shadow. He says that he will always be a part of Suga, it doesn't matter how many attempts he will do to eliminate these feelings, he will always exist. Every time Suga is happy, he will eventually feel sad, in order to one exist the other must live too. They are one body, and if Suga doesn't understand that and doesn't take care of them, they both are going to clash and the accident will be horrible.
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"Map of the Soul: Persona" © HYBE Ent. |
"00:00", "Mikrokosomos", and "Jamais Vu" are the songs that hug the sentimental side of BTS. It's necessary to understand that sadness and emptiness will always be part of our lives, only when we accept this side of us that we insist to hide, we can understand who we are. These feelings will always be stitched into our skin and in our best moments, they will be there, waiting to get out. And for us, the only thing we can do it's hugging them, if not, we will be burned out by these feelings.
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"Outro: Ego" © HYBE Ent. |
The title track of the album "Map Of The Soul:7" focuses on the ego, "ON", it's about catharsis. After understanding the persona and the shadow, the only thing left it's to face the external world. But the world it's a brutal place," You gotta go crazy if you don't wanna go insane, I throw myself into this world with 2 sides". The world asks too much of us, sometimes we just feel incapable of going on. In "ON" BTS opens their heart to talk about the different ways they found to resist the world, how they heal so they can keep fighting. To RM, it's necessary above everything else, to understand the pain. To J-Hope, the pain is part of him. But the important thing is to keep fighting, and BTS will be there, it doesn't matter how hard it is, they will fight with you, they will bleed with you. There is no pain that you can't handle because you are a fighter.
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"Map of the Soul: Persona" © HYBE Ent. |
"Outro: Ego" it's the final music of the album. J-Hope is in charge of talking about his ego, and despite our conception of ego as something bad, psychologically speaking ego it's just another name to talk about our conscious self. If RM observes the exterior and Suga the Interior, J-Hope tackles the "Ego", the center where both selves collide. Who is J-Hope, the artist, and Jung Hoseok, the person? J-Hope knows that they are the same person.
During 8 years of the group, BTS built a connection to their audience. It doesn't matter how famous they are, they are still people, with feelings as hurtful as ours. They try their best to remind us of that in their albums, sharing their experiences with people who currently struggle with that. To Bts, that's the point of music. Transforming personal experiences into something universal, sharing a piece of their soul with the rest of the world. And that's why BTS stands out among so many artists in the industry. The honesty and simplicity of their lives make BTS not only celebrities but humans. They don't brag about their money, their expensive flats, they always remember about the small things that make life, of who they were and who they are.
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"Map of the Soul: Persona" © HYBE Ent. |
From their hardest to their easiest experiences, from happiness to sadness, BTS always shares their vision of the world. With the end of the last full BTS era, it's up to us to imagine what BTS may come up next, and undoubtedly, we will all anxiously wait for it.
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♡ © bts_bighit |
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