Now That This Poll Is Closed, Here's A Better Visualization Of The Results. Thanks Again @myobsessionsspace

Now that this poll is closed, here's a better visualization of the results. Thanks again @myobsessionsspace for the idea that spawned this one. I always love our conversations that delve into some deeper concepts! The idea around accepting a label is so interesting to me.

So overall, 64% of voters are comfortable being labeling themselves as ARMY. And the comfort response was the highest in all classifications of activity.

LAST CALL: Would you have attended one of the Map of the Soul Concerts?

Just a few days left on this matchup and it's the closest by far. Every voter can make or break the current leader!

DESERT ISLAND DISC: Round 1

We're about to be stranded on a desert island with just one of BTS's cds. Check out this post for the bracket and updates!

LAST CALL: Do you play along with the staring contests?

Run BTS: 041 | BTS Golden Bell part 2

Original Air Date: 20 FEB 2018 Episode Length: 33:38 Total Parts: 2 YouTube English Subtitles: Yes Title Song: Blood Sweat & Tears

Synopsis: Conclusion of the previous Golden Bell episode with more games

Production: These games were perfect for this type of show. The only criticism I have is they haven't quite figured out how best to film content like the drawing game where we need to see all of the members as well as the content being drawn. But it's such a small issue. There's a reason why this episode is iconic.

Endearment: The guys absolutely hit it out of the park with this episode. They all displayed excellent entertainer skills whilst highlighting their personalities.

Winner: RM

Loser: YG

Best Cheater: I'm giving this to Hobi for using an action during the telephone game.

Member Moments:

RM: RM absolutely owning the flag game!

JN: More for the list of Jin as a skilled entertainer. killed it with the drawing clues and absolutely astonishing with the telephone game.

YG: I love how affronted Yoongi is that everyone only praises Jin for the americano clue and not also him for getting it right.

JH: Hobi seems so personally offended that Jimin is bad at the telephone game.

JM: One of the absolute best variety show moments ever. Lah Ji Bo La La!!

V: I dont know! literally had me laughing out loud. With JKs response, what do you want me to do??

JK: JKs immediate moonwalk!

Bonus Content:  Did you know V was eating onions during the other teams attempt at the telephone game??? haha, what a nut.

CQ Rank: 5

(CQ Eval Date: 06 JAN 2024)

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

Previous Episode: 040

Next Episode: 042

The Truth Untold

Ballads by BTS

You know when a song is timeless and you can keep going back to it, without it ever growing old? The Truth Untold is such a song.

I’ve talked about how much I like this song in my Jimin vocals part 1 post which you can find on my masterlist.

The song is part of BTS 3rd Album, Love Yourself: Tear. The song is produced by Steve Aoki and written by a number of artists including a Mr Kim Namjoon.

Before we delve into the lyrics and vocals, let’s talk a bit about the tale of the Beauty and The Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Legend of the Smeraldo Flower. What is the common theme? Falling in love but being unsure, unable, hesitant to declare it due to, what the protagonist believes is, their inherent ugliness that would scare their love away.

The Lyrics

The song is from the perspective of the protagonist in Smeraldo.

Legend has it that the man was isolated because he was an illegitimate child and so ugly could mean physical ugliness or the ugliness of being an illegitimate child (remember the tale is ancient and back then, illegitimate children were called slurs and fathers’ of girls from ‘good families’ didn’t marry their daughters off to such men). There is a line in the song which speaks to this:

너에게 다가설 수 없으니까
I can’t come closer to you

내겐 불러줄 이름이 없어
I don’t have a name to be called by

A name, is the most basic form of identification of self. A name is also symbolic of the status, class, family that the person comes from. Knowing that the man was an illegitimate child, the line makes sense - he doesn’t have a name that he can be recognised by. Essentially, he believes that since he is illegitimate (ugly), he does not have anything (a future) to give her.

I’d also like to make reference to Flower, a poem by Kim Chunsu (a poem Namjoon has referenced before, but I don’t know whether he was influenced by it when writing this song):

Before I called their name,
they were nothing
more than a gesture

When I called their name,
they came to me
and became a flower.

This amplifies the significance of the name. When the writer says:

내겐 불러줄 이름이 없어
I don’t have a name to be called by

One can assume that they consider themselves as ‘nothing worthy’:

Before I called their name,
they were nothing.

The man, having nothing much else to do in his big dark castle grows these beautiful flowers (thought: if this man was indeed so ugly, how did he grow such beautiful flowers - shows us that beautiful things come from what some consider ugly spaces) which this young lady steals to make a living.

외로움이 가득히 피어있는 이 garden
This garden where loneliness is in full bloom

가시투성이
Covered with prickly thorns,

이 모래성에 난 날 매었어
I chained myself to this sandcastle

As he observes her/follows her, he becomes enamoured and wanted to help her by teaching her all methods of growing the flowers. However, he could not find within himself the courage to come before her finding himself ‘ugly’.

외로움의 정원에 핀 너를 닮은 꽃
A flower that looks like you bloomed in the garden of loneliness

주고 싶었지
I wanted to give it to you

바보 같은 가면을 벗고서
after taking off this silly mask

But I know

영원히 그럴 수는 없는 걸
that I can’t never ever do so

숨어야만 하는 걸
that I have to hide myself

추한 나니까
because I’m ugly

He instead vows to help her by continuing to grow these beautiful flowers so she can sell them until he has the brain wave to grow the rarest, never seen before flower which would fetch the highest price when she sells it.

할 수 있는 건
All I can do is,

정원에
in the garden,

이 세상에
in this world,

예쁜 너를 닮은 꽃을 피운 다음
after I make bloom a flower that looks like the beautiful you,

니가 아는 나로 숨쉬는 것
to live as “I” that you know

Such is his love, so sincere are his feelings towards her, that he drops his angsty self and dedicates time to cultivate the best flower.

Alas, he later finds out that she passed on and he wonders how it would have been had he been able to just find that bit of courage.

어쩌면 그때
Perhaps, back then,

조금만
by just a little,

이만큼만
by just a bit,

용길 내서 너의 앞에 섰더라면
if I had taken courage and stood in front of you,

지금 모든 건 달라졌을까
would everything have been different now

I also have an unconventional thought/interpretation of this song. Because the song is from the LY series, I am inclined to assume that the writer is also singing to himself, saying that he is unworthy of (is afraid to) love (himself) because of his ugly side, that he is better off, hiding, within himself because he is so ugly. But loving oneself requires so much courage. Telling ourselves the truth, that our flaws (our ugly) is only part of what we are and not that sum total of what makes us. Loving our self requires us to exercise so much acceptance and forgiveness. It is when we have truly, courageously accepted ourselves wholly that we can truly love others. See below side note.

The whole song is about the courage of telling the truth lest it’s too late. Whether to oneself or to a loved one.

The Vocals

I’ve said this before I think…but this has to be my favourite vocal line performance. Everyone on this track brought their best. But my favourite are Jin and Jimin. Particularly Jimin because of how he emotes during 0.51 (when he comes on) and 1.51 (where he says he is the monster. Oh Jimin. Jimin. The emotion!) parts of the song.

The Production/Music

Steve Aoki is at the helm here. And for those who know of my love of Mic Drop know I have *loved* the version featuring him. TTU has a melody that is haunting (think dark isolated castle) and very theatrical (use of piano, use of the echo effect throughout the song, observe the steady rise towards crescendo at 2.58) but what I love most about it is that the music does not overpower the vocals rather it complements it (credit goes to the sound engineer, PDogg I think). According to me, one of the best produced and engineered songs in their discography.

Point to note: BTS is very intentional. So if you look at how the live performances were, note the costumes, lighting, opulent stage - all speaks to theatre/musicals and guess what was a musical? Yes. The Beauty and The Beast!

Reactions to The Truth Untold

The following are my top favourite reaction videos. These are reactors who have some form of musical knowledge or are artists themselves so I quite liked their opinions. As a Jimin bias I am particularly leaning in favour of the second link.

Link 1

Link 2

Side note:

When I was researching for this post, it resulted in a deep dive into the Love Yourself albums and the BTS Universe. I had previously seen clips/tweets of Jin being the central character and the one responsible for going back in time to save the members. Well, as I was analysing the lyrics, now bearing in mind Jin’s role…I came to the conclusion that Jin, the person, is chosen because he is 진, which translates to ‘the Truth’. As such, Jin is the one who embodies the truth or is burdened with the truth.

TTU, thus, is a tale of the boys and their ugly sides (whether due to their own actions or circumstances they’ve been put in resulting in the belief that they are ugly) which if they were to learn to accept, forgive themselves for and love, it would ultimately save them. This, is just my interpretation.

Whoever created the BU deserves kisses and flowers.

One thing I absolutely adore about BTS is how they all…fit.

They just work so well off each other. It takes an insane amount of practice but also a deep respect and understanding to reach there and I don’t think any other group can emulate that. They can try. But there won’t be another BTS.

Run BTS! Episode 51 - the Amusement Park one...

this episode man!😂 I just can't with how funny and endearing all of the guys are. I rewatched this fave of mine, yesterday @ work during lunch break, because I just nedeed a little lift me up, and they delivered.

this episode also has 2 instances of bangtan millionaires getting all excited at the prospect of winning a big prize...

(taehyung's expression kills me everytime) and then oooohhhhing and aaaaahhhhhing at the end over a ramen cooker. I love how evident their joy was, even though yoongi looked a little dissapointed.

my bias line looking cute throughout the episode 😍. (btw I so wanna steal jimin's shirt)

the premise of the episode was pretty simple and fun. they were divided into 3 teams - jungkook + taehyung, namjoon + hobi + yoongi, jin + jimin, and they were made to go on 3 different rides while performing some tasks.

the first ride has to have one of the most legendary moments from run bts! I die laughing everytime.

who knew that watching sope crying and screaming while taekook next to them are laughing hysterically is made of just pure joy! I would have never thought until this episode that yoongi who can be so fearless sometimes, also hides within a cute scaredy cat.the editors are again going for the win in this episode, and hobi+grayscale filter+ windows shut down sound = GOLD! always!!

also poor jimin screaming for his life and holding taehyungs hand in a vice grip is both endearing and funny as hell. love how jungkook is just there for the thrills.

the next ride was a little more relaxed and I think this was intentional, to induce more of a safe feeling for the guys. (and can I just say that I will never stop laughing at hobi's crow scream...💀)

the dissapointment on both jungkook's and taehyung's faces when they realised that they failed the bubblegum challenge is just 👌🏻.

the third ride is again full of gems.

I gotta say I was a little impressed by taekook's ability to keep reading and reciting while riding a rollercoaster, bc I would have screamed my heart out. also for the life of me I can't understand the game that they were playing here, I would have also pulled a jin attitude - 'fck this...we're screwd' 🤣. also yoongi's face while riding the rollercoaster is too precious...omg 🥺.

surprisingly the team with the 2 scaredy cats won!

hope you had as much fun as I did going down this memory lane. 🫰🏻💜

I admit, I don't recall a lot of details of my first exposure to kpop. Combining a memory issue with the whirlwind that is learning about the Korean culture as well as current tactics in the music industry and it doesn't leave me with very clear memories of my journey.

There was simply a time before and a time after. I'd happily expected just be listening to emopunkrock and Broadway music for the rest of my life.

But suddenly there was this music that just kept speaking to me.

And there were layers of meaning to delve through the music videos.

And funny variety content to watch.

And engaging behind-the-scenes.

...I'm sure you get my point.

But one thing just wasn't sitting all that great with me. The only person I knew in real life that also enjoys kpop never failed to mention the members attractiveness as the main reason for being into them.

Which, I understand to some extent....I do understand how attractive they are. But I can honestly say, I never would have given kpop as second glance if the music and compelling content didn't draw me in first. I'm not saying that's the superior way to be a fan but it does just feel off thinking that's the only reason some may have to invest their precious time on earth into these fandoms.

This is still one of the main disconnects I feel as an aspec from the allos in kpop spaces. Anyway, I'd love to hear more about y'alls experiences whether you're aspec or not. I've got a few more drafts rattling around but wanted to get this little bit out today.

KPOP JOURNEY AS AN ASPEC

Hello my aspec-kpop friends! I want you all to know I'm thinking about you today and hope you know how wonderful our viewpoints are!

I've been wanting to delve further into how the aspec and kpop journey was for me and invite any of you to share anything you're comfortable with as well.

I promised I'd try to not post my personal opinions from this account since I view this blog more as a gathering point for all of us, so if you're interested, check out the reblogs.

In any case, please know how glad I am that each of you are here experiencing this crazy journey as well!