QuickCombo: SO 4 MORE | GO GO | SGMB

QuickCombo: SO 4 MORE | GO GO | SGMB

Listening links and my thoughts on this QC below the cut:

This was definitely an interesting set to create. Smeraldo Garden Marching Band has such a jovial/upbeat vibe but ya'll know me, I like to craft a little bit of a story with these combos while maintaining the pace of the songs. This combo demonstrates the lifecycle of a stereotypical idol singer. With So 4 More, they start their journey focusing on how much work they're putting in and where it's getting them. (Also don't confuse this track for the slower So 4 More BTS put together for their anniversary - I'm specifically referencing the version of So 4 More on Dark & Wild. Some performances call this song 2nd Grade).

We then move into Go Go with the critical look at how frivolous the lifestyle can be; focusing on fun times only and squandering time.

Smeraldo Garden Marching Band is the catalyst to point us right at the beginning of the cycle as the idol realizes why they are in the industry in the first place: the genuine love of the craft, the process, the people that support them. Just because it's lighthearted doesn't make it any less real.

Run BTS: 070 | BTS in Toronto part 2

Original Air Date: 7 MAY 2019 Episode Length: 33:52 Total Parts: 3 YouTube English Subtitles: No Title Song: Idol

Synopsis: Picking up from the last episode, the guys are still in Toronto competing in sudden minigames to avoid punishment. This part covers clothes shopping, arriving at their lodging for the night, and dinner

Production: I dont have anything more to say than I did in the previous episode. The edit is superb, they kept in the right bits to keep good pacing with the room game even though we can absolutely tell that some of them took absolutely ages to decide.

Endearment: I love this episode! I think it's honestly my all-time favorite. between the clothes shopping and the room-choosing, this is peak endearment. It's one of the key moments of me deciding to learn more about the members behind the music.

Winner/Loser: see final part

Best Cheater: I know it technically wasnt a game but I'm giving this to Jimin for sneaking in that hat during the shopping trip. As he said, if only RM wasn't so honest..

Member Moments:

RM: What is with RM being so absolutely adorable during the staring contests?

JN: Jin cuddling RJ during the whole room game absolutely melts my heart.

YG: Yoongi's perfect timing of making noise when JK was deciding

JH: Hobi was killing the reactions at the wordplay games.

JM: Jimin curling up in the crib! You KNOW he specifically avoided that room so the he wouldnt get forced in there if there were too many ppl.

V: V as the perfect fall guy for thinking he's only rooming with Jimin

JK: JK loved the room game so much. his timing hiding under the bed was perfect as well

Bonus Content: This is exactly what all of the bonus clips should be. Really, they probably could have had this be a 4 parter with all of the great material.

CQ Rank: 5

(CQ Eval Date: 5 JUN 2024)

Check out this post for my Masterlist of all episodes and descriptions of how I'm evaluating these.

Previous Episode: 069

Next Episode: 071

I'd never heard this audio before. Very interesting given SGMB...

jimin’s audio videos

💜BTS is/in Art💜 Another Jimin edit in celebration! ART USED: Ophelia among the Flowers, Odilon Redon (1905) ******* Odilon Redon (1840-1916) was a French Symbolist artist. Early in his career, Redon worked almost exclusively in charcoal and lithography - works known as his noirs. READ MORE: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/redon-odilon/ SEE MORE: https://www.wikiart.org/en/odilon-redon *******

Muse Lyrics

By Bangtan Subs

SMERALDO GARDEN MARCHING BAND

My thoughts prior to the release of MUSE. I've avoided pretty much all reactions and analysis posts until I finished this so I have no clue if anyone else has come up with better words to describe some of these concepts but here's my take on it. I wanted to get this out prior to MUSE so that I can see how my view evolves with further context but here's where I am now.

Initial Reaction:

I'd actually had a few issues that night so I wasn't in the best headspace to take in a new song but I did listen to it on Spotify first and then watched the mv twice, once without subs and once with. (And yes, I know it's technically not called an mv...deal with it lol)

Anyways, I definitely wasn't immediately sold on it - which is expected from me, it's EXCEEDINGLY rare that I like any song on first listen but SGMB only took a couple of runthroughs before I was on board. One thing that helped me reframe it in my mind and with my previous expectations is to remember the first part of Jimin's self-proclaimed attributes: Cutie, sexy, lovely. SGMB leans very solidly into the cutie aspect, a little near the lovely side but far deeper into Cutie than anything we've seen in his solo releases. (RememberCute was an answer in the seossword puzzle). That got me thinking about where the rest of his songs would be in comparison and here's the placement I've landed on. Some of these have changed over the past few days but I'm curious where y'all disagree with my placements.

Good old Serendipity, a perfect balance of the three in my opinion. All of FACE is firmly in the Sexy section with Like Crazy leaning more evenly into Lovely. Lie is also right there with LC but more closely on the border. My beloved Promise and Letter holding down the Lovely section with CTT straying closer to Cutie. If you forgot about the cutie circle though, SGMB would have seems like it was complete out of the expected range. I am curious if we'll ever get something that's a mix of cutie and sexy, I can't comprehend what that would be like but I wouldn't put it past our JM to find a way!

Theories?

So, how do I think I did with all of my theories? Let's go through them one by one:

Open Locker Meaning: nothing to prove/disprove this yet. There were an awful lot of references to Serendipity in the mv though, so maybe that's the tie-in? I don't know, this one was a streeeeeetch in any case.

Sound Effects Interlude: we know we're getting an interlude but we'll have to wait for MUSE and any behind info to learn if it's sound effects that Jimin recorded himself like Dive.

Rooms Going from Dark to Light: Yes! I mean we knew it was going to be a lighter album than FACE but I think the word BRIGHT is all over SGMB. And I think this technique in both of those videos was trying to highlight that for us.

SGMB as an Actual Band: Yes! Definitely right here too! I'm going to talk about this more below because I think this is actually a very important part of this song.

The Emoji Poll from the Insta Chat: Yes! I think some people are still trying to make the argument that each option is supposed to represent different songs on muse. And while the others may lean more into any of these specifically, SGMB definitely has elements of all of them as well

An Actual Band?

So, like I mentioned in the theory above, I had the thought that SGMB could be portrayed as a fictional band itself, very similar to what MCR did with the Black Parade. And since Jimin decided to use this as the song's title; as well as make it the pre-release track, I think this is an important topic to delve into.

First, this allows Jimin a perspective shift to share with us his career outside the lens of BTS. Not because he NEEDS or WANTS to separate himself from them but he has had his own journey as an artist that may differ from his experiences from the perspective of a BTS member. Obviously BTS is completely woven through this journey and he gives us an acknowledgement of that with the line about 12 June and the handsign.

(Sidenote, whenever I see any of them do that now, I instantly think of that moment in Jimin's pixid ep where he said they don't anymore...I think we may have been misled...) 😝

Second, the frame of SGMB from a band's perspective also puts the song firmly in the categorization of 'work' rather than 'personal'. With FACE being such a deeply personal projectregarding his very deep human experiences, i love that he'svery upfront with us about MUSE being a work project. I've said this before, and it's one of my absolute favorite things about Jimin's music: he crafts it so that we can easily adapt it to our own interpretations. There's a lot of loving and beautiful imagery in the lines of this song that can have special meaning in all levels of relationships; platonic or not. But his delivery if this message to us, is professional. This is reinforced by the suits Jimin has worn in all of the material released so far. He's following a work dress code. (If you happen to see this post within a week of release, we have a poll regarding Jimin's suits on @bts-polls )

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LAST CALL: Which best aligns with your view on BTS's impact on PRIDE?

ME + US = MUSE

I just want to touch on this briefly here as I expect there'll be more once the album releases but there are some hints already. Like I discussed in my FACE post, Jimin has again come up with some key words to weave through the project. In FACE, it was several sentences but MUSE seems to be focusing on the following:

ME: Jimin himself

US: Jimin's view on his audience

MUSE: His awareness of us and how that effects his creations and manner of artistry.

SGMB and CTT are both bursting with these references and viewpoints. But I honestly don't think of SGMB as a traditional 'fan song'. I have another post where I talk about the different kinds of fan songs. Like I said above, SGMB details Jimin's experience as an artist and how his audience plays into that process. Not like CTT that's literally a diary of our journey with him. Maybe an extremely nuanced take but SGMB just doesn't feel like it belongs in the same 'fan song' categorization that CTT does.

The End for Now

Does anyone know anything about that little hand-wave Jimin does during the bow at the end? He repeats it. Is just an additional flourish that he's added in himself? I've never seen anyone do that during bows after a performance so I'm wondering if it's a cultural/industry thing.

What do y'all think? I'd love to hear your thoughts! If any of you have made posts about SGMB, I'll try to read them now but rumblr is not very forgiving if you miss something in the timeline. I'm very happy for you to share links to your posts in the comments!