Spring Day Review

Note:- This is not the kind of stuff I usually post on my blog but I woke up to this song today and I was feeling a lot of mixed emotions. I skipped a lot of tiny details in order to keep this short but I hope you like it anyway.

I came across this beautiful song by BTS seven months ago while binge-watching their other music videos. Spring Day by BTS, one of the tracks from their repackaged album “You never walk alone”, was released on February 12, 2017. The first time I watched the music video, I was blown away by the colors, the symbolism and the melancholic Korean words that I otherwise didn’t understand. Spring Day or “Bomnal” as it’s called in Korean (meaning spring season) is alternative hip hop with elements of British rock.

Music isn’t my niche but poetry is and this song is nothing short of lyrically brilliant. Music truly does transcend language; however, I still did take the time to read the lyrics in English, learn some Korean and listen to it again to feel the power of the song in its original magnificence.  Even as I explore the possible meaning behind the lyrics, poetry in the end is whatever it means to the reader. 

That said, Suga and RM, two of the rappers in the band contributed in both the composition and production of the song as well as the lyrics. In one of his vlives, RM talked about the conception of the chorus, which he came up with while he was out one day strolling in the park and listening to the beat track for the song. He saw the leaves falling to the ground, gathering into a pile and came up with the lyrics “the leaves are falling farther away little by litte”. The word “leaves” was replaced with “snowflakes” to match the season. He also mentioned missing his friends, which brings us to what the song is about. It is about friendship. However, as I mentioned before, it can mean whatever you want it to mean.

I want to see you (I miss you)

Saying this makes me miss you even more

Even when I look at your picture

I miss you

Time is so cruel

I hate us      

Even seeing each other’s face now is a struggle

I think it’s obvious here that someone is being missed. Time has separated two people and this has filled the person with nostalgia, melancholy and frustration. He hates “us”. He hates what has become of them.

It’s completely winter here

Even in August, winter has come

My heart is running on the time

Alone on the Snowpiercer

I want to get to the other side of the earth

Holding your hand

I want to put an end to this winter

How much longing has to fall like snow

Until the spring days come again?

Friend…

He physically experiences summer while his insides are freezing in the winter, that is, the depression that has consumed his heart. Everything feels cold and empty, like in the winter season. A reference to the 2013 film “Snowpiercer” is made which is based on the French graphic novel and science fiction Le Transperceneige, and is a social satire addressing class system and capitalism.

I found this information elsewhere (look at sources) and thought was interesting. The story is set in the year 2031 and the entire world has frozen over except for the people aboard the Snowpiercer. All the survivors live on a constantly moving train and this continues for 17 years. Eventually, they come up with their own economy and class system. The lower class citizens reside at the back of the train and a revolution is underway as they are determined to get to the front of the train. From what I understand, this shows how alone the person feels in the world (the Snowpiercer). He feels the meaninglessness of the world and its ways and everything seems to have frozen for him. Only the warmth of friendship and loved ones can thaw it. He wants to move to the other side of the world where there is summer. Since it’s actually August where he is, this means that he wants to go to his friend with whom he will feel true warmth. He wonders how long he must feel this way for winter to be over and spring to arrive again.

Like the tiny specks of dust

That float in the air

If I were the snow

Perhaps I could reach you

Just a little faster

Snowflakes fall down

And get farther away little by little

I want to see you, I want to see you

How long do I have to wait

How many nights must I stay awake

To see you, to meet you?

Passing by the edge of the cold winter

Until the spring days come again

Until the flowers blossom

Stay there just a little bit longer

Stay.

The words are incredibly more beautiful sounding in Korean, which is why it frustrates me when western media repeatedly asks the band to release music in English. I fell in love with their music for various reasons and most of it being in Korean is one of them. It was when I listened to this part that I was smitten with Kim Taehyung’s otherworldly, deep and soothing voice (known by the stage name V). It brings out the emotions in the words in a way no one else can. Anyways, in this verse, you can tell that the longing gets deeper and uncontainable.

Is it you who changed?

Or is it me?

I hate the time that passes in this moment

I guess we both changed

I guess that’s just how everything is

Right, I hate you

Even though you left me behind

A day hasn’t passed that I didn’t think of you

Honestly, I miss you

But now I’ll erase you

Because that will hurt less than resenting you

In pain, I try to exhale you

Like smoke, like white smoke

I say that I’ll erase you

But the truth is that I can’t let go yet

This is the part that Suga raps and the frustration is clear in his words. In the music video, he’s sitting on a pile of clothes while rapping, which could imply that he misses someone that has passed away (scroll down for the story behind the music video).

You know it all

You’re my best friend

The morning will come again

Because no darkness, no season

Can last forever

Cherry blossoms are in bloom

I suppose the winter is ending

I want to see you, I want to see you

If I wait a little longer

If I stay up a few more nights

I’ll go to see you

I’ll come to get you

Passing by the edge of the cold winter

Until the spring day comes again

Until the flowers bloom again

Stay there a little longer

Stay.

There is a change in tone. The person is now hopeful that he can endure the winter because when the springtime returns, it will be worth it. This is very reassuring as most of the lyrics addresses something very despairing and depressing, an eternal winter in someone’s life. Thus, the song ends on a more optimistic note.

The meaning of the song in itself is incomplete without exploring the story in the music video, since both go hand in hand and all of their music videos usually follow a storyline that continues over the entire album. I’m not very smart when it comes to theories but I did come across a scrumptious lot of them. I’ll briefly go over my favourite theories, adding some of my own speculations to it. You might want to check out the video first.

Omelas: The music video is based on a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin called “The ones who walk away from Omelas”. Omelas is a utopian city of unbelievable happiness whose prosperity comes at the cost of an unfortunate child who must be kept in a perpetual state of degradation and misery to secure the happiness of the rest of the city. In the video, one can see Jungkook standing alone in front of a deserted merry-go-round, which could represent the summer solstice festival in Omelas that is celebrated with a race featuring children on horseback. However, it’s winter in that scene.

Once the people of Omelas are old enough to know the ugly truth, they face a moral dilemma. Some decide that it’s alright for one to suffer in order for thousands to be happy; however, there are others who are disgusted by the truth and leave the city. Toward the end of the story, it is stated that the people who walk away from Omelas go to a place that no one knows of but they seem to know where they are going.

In the video, we see various happy (the birthday party where they throw the cake) as well as sad scenes which could point to the contrast between the utopian society and the world of justice, meaning that all of the seven members end up walking away from Omelas together (hence the album name “You never walk alone”) even if it means they won’t experience the same kind of prosperity where they are headed. There’s a motel in the video with the sign “Omelas” lit up which is where I assume the partying took place. Later we see that the sign is no longer lit and the motel seems to be abandonned. 

The Snowpiercer: We can also see Jungkook running frantically and seeing his own self on a fast moving train (the Snowpiercer). Initially we see him alone on the train but later we see all of the members, which could mean that they all join him. I previously mentioned that the Snowpiercer was a place of misery and struggle, not the happy world of Omelas. I’ll leave the rest of the interpretation to you.

Uiryeong Massacre: Another scene that I find very interesting is the one in which Suga is sitting on a pile of clothes. Again, it’s only him at first but later he’s joined by all of them.

I’ve read some really interesting theories about this scene and my favourite one is the art form by an artist named Christian Boltanski who, as a part of his showcase “No Man’s Land”, created a 40 foot tall mountain of clothes for an art installation. He stated that the mound of clothes represented people. The clothes are nameless, faceless proofs of people’s existence and their death and the piece is called “people, but at the same time no one.” What this could mean in the context of the story of Omelas is unknown to me but the common theory behind this scene is the Uiryeong massacre of 1982 where a drunk, South Korean marine went on a shooting spree and killed 56 people and wounded 35 others before committing suicide. There’s a scene with one of the members, Taehyung (stage name V), where he is standing next to a post with the sign saying “Uiryeong”.

Last but not the least, there’s the scene where Jimin hangs a pair of shoes from a barren tree. This could represent the price paid by that unfortunate child for the happiness of Omelas. 

In the context of my life: This song is very special to me because the "friend" in the song is none other than my own past (or maybe even future) self, one that is much healthier and happier than me right now, whom I want to reunite with. I won't get into this right now but I just want to encourage you to listen to this song and find your own story in it. 

Sources: Genius.com, Wikipedia, the internet basically and my own mind.

Thanks for reading :) Have a nice day.