Analysis Of BTS Love Yourself Tear 'Singularity' Comeback Trailer And Lyrics.

Analysis of BTS Love Yourself 轉 Tear 'Singularity' Comeback Trailer and Lyrics.

Intro: Singularity

BigHit introduces Love Yourself: Tear 轉 with a trailer called Singularity. Kim Taehyung presents the theme of the next comeback which will express the dark, mysterious, toxic, agonizing, contemplative, and even destructive side of finding yourself, loving yourself, and loving someone else. 

The slow R&B song displays a sensual and sultry vibe that tastefully accentuates Taehyung’s soulful and baritone voice. The lyrics of the song and the music video conveys his feelings of losing himself to appease another, most likely but not exclusively, a lover. The other can also be interpreted as the people and the world around him. For simplicity, I will be referring to the other as a lover, but the following explanations can still be applied if the other is the people or the world around him!

Coat Rack

The scene starts off with Taehyung and the coat rack, symbolizing his lover (or the people and the world around him).

Immediately, there is a depiction of an unhealthy push-and-pull relationship. He takes her hand but sharply snaps out of it.

However, she captivates him back.

But then again, he tries to leave.

“A sound of something breaking I awake from sleep A sound full of unfamiliarity Try to cover my ears but can’t go to sleep The pain in my throat gets worse Try to cover it I don’t have a voice Today I hear that sound again”

Taehyung realizes there is a problem between them symbolized by the sound that won’t let him sleep. He copes with it by ignoring it and avoiding to speak out, even though it continues to bother him.

White Masks

Several white masks come out from Taehyung that symbolizes parts of himself or his fake selves.

He plays with them and tries to select which one would please his lover. 

The flower he holds represents his love and he tries to match it with a fake self that would gain her love.

He finally chooses one and covers himself with it.

Memory Room and Frozen Lake

There’s many scenes of Taehyung inside a room covered in newspaper and flowers. 

He’s seen cherishing and absorbing its ambience.

The room represents the memories and events of their relationship. (If it was the world, then it represents the news and events of the world). In the room, there is a small pool of water, which represents the lake in the lyrics. 

“I suddenly run to the lake There’s my face in it”

On the surface of the water, he sees his face, his reflection. He sees his true self in midst of their deceitful relationship.

“A thick ice has formed Please don’t say anything Reach my hand out to cover the mouth”

When the lake water freezes, he is unable to see his reflection anymore. He loses his identity slowly in exchange for love, and she reinforces to suppress it.

“A crack again on this frozen lake I dumped myself into the lake Over the winter lake I was thrown“

He describes how he threw himself in the lake, trapping himself inside as it freezes. However, the crack in the ice symbolizes his realization of acting untruthfully.

“But in the end, spring will come someday The ice will melt and flow away” 

An inevitable day will come when his true self cannot be concealed anymore and the ice will again turn into water. 

He may or may not want his true self back, but regardless, he will see his own reflection again. 

One day, he must choose between his lover (flowers/room) or himself (water/reflection). He realizes that the love that he tries to gain or has gained is fake and does not and will not last. His lover does not love him, she loves his fake self. 

Smeraldo Flower

The Smeraldo flower makes its comeback!

From the past comebacks, we know that the Smeraldo flower means the ‘truth that cannot be told,’ which in this context, is his true self.

He holds it as he chooses a fake self for his lover, signifying his lie.

But it will eventually burn in the end. He will not be able to continue with the facade and must either choose himself or his fake love and fake lover.

“Have I lost myself Or have I gained you”

“Tell me if my voice isn’t real If I shouldn’t have thrown myself away Tell me if even this pain isn’t real What I was supposed to do back then”

These ending lyrics are the most depressing and ominous out of the whole song. He realizes his problem and regrets throwing himself away for her but at the same time, he continues to look for her and becomes reliant on her opinions as she now makes him who he is. He now only finds himself in her and his self-concept will only be molded by her, as evidenced by him asking her what to feel, what to think, and what to do. The push-and-pull relationship becomes a toxic cycle that traps him without easy escape as he gradually loses himself more and more. 

Outro: Thoughts

I honestly did not expect BigHit to turn this dark and this deep for this comeback but I am glad they are going darker and deeper than the oceans. BTS has been addressing social issues relevant to youth since debut, especially youth in their teens and 20′s. The Love Yourself series focuses on the psychological struggle with identity and finding love, appropriately fit for people in their teens and 20′s as the BTS members are within this age group.

There are dangerous aspects of love, and losing one’s self is only one of them. There are existing partners out there that are captivating but manipulative in a way that they know how and when to turn on their charms to seduce another. There are also others who are insecure in themselves that they base their self-worth on their relationships and may sabotage their relationship themselves. 

There are also people who mold themselves into someone else because they do not love themselves, and therefore think that others don’t as well. It becomes a coping mechanism to put on a mask to hide the shame of who they really are. Yet, in doing so, they confuse their true self and their fake self eventually that it becomes mentally, emotionally, and socially damaging.

In order for love to be true, loving yourself and having confidence in who you are is essential before you can fully give yourself to another person or love other people around you. You must find yourself first before you can find yourself in another. 

Love, whether romantic or not, is a double-edged sword. It is addicting like a drug and uses the same chemicals and mechanisms in the brain as drugs do. That’s why it makes us do crazy irrational things and why it’s hard to give it up. We try to find so many ways to seek true love that sometimes we sacrifice ourselves or parts of ourselves in order to gain it. Love for one’s self is essential and lack thereof may develop in an evil concept of the world that may cause awful decisions and bitter behavior. Love is not just a beautiful thing that can bring the most happiness, but it can also be destructive and bring the most pain. 

MY THEORIES ARE SO RIGHT THAT I FEEL LIKE I DIRECTED FAKE LOVE

WHOA! Fake Love was better than I imagined! The grunginess and the aggressive and powerful choreography with the angsty chorus is now what makes me feel alive! 

AAAND MY THEORIES ARE RIGHT! JUNGKOOK WENT THROUGH EACH PERSONA! I WAS SHAKING WHEN I WAS SEEING THE PLOT UNFOLD BECAUSE IT FELT LIKE I NARRATED IT! I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT.

I will elaborate more after I get some sleep. You can scan over some of my theories to see what I predicted, particularly the theory about the Magic Shop/Fake Love Teaser 1 and my Holistic Theory. 

Staying up all night for the queen to take over the world was worth it!

FAKE LOVE EXTENDED VER. EXPLANATION

Since this is Fake Love Extended Ver., my theory will be an extended version as well. Please head over to my Fake Love Theory here. 

As I said before, all the boys are manifestations of one person at each stage of life, exposed to a particular kind of evil, and must overcome them. Jungkook did not have a fear to trade in because we know from WINGS and Demian that he is the persona of a boy naive to the evils of the world. Therefore, he receives a key instead that would start his journey to maturity by going through each persona, which are the other members, exposing himself to evil.

After Jungkook finally overcomes the maze, he ends up in Jin’s room after the explosion. He sees the hooded figure, which we now know is himself. 

What is interesting is that in the teaser 1 of Fake Love, they were exchanging their fears for positivity symbolized by the items from WINGS and Highlight Reels. Now in the extended version, they showed us that the members have two selves. One is their true self, the one who trades in the item, and one is the fake self, who is behind the mask or the shopkeeper. So they were basically doing a transaction between themselves, signifying the internal bargain with themselves.

As I said before, Jungkook finds the “answer” when he found the room reminiscent of the beach, symbolized by the sand and the water, that the members wanted to meet each other again eventually according to the HYYH notes. This scene symbolizes Jungkook reaching maturity after exposure to evil. 

The reason why the scene of Jungkook joining the other members keeps on getting paralleled is because BigHit wants emphasize the fact that the members are all manifestations of each other and Jungkook is the beginning of a boy’s life. Jin represents the PRESENT persona of a boys life and all the other members represent personas in the middle. This is also why in other music videos, it’s always Jungkook and Jin who are isolated as the protagonists. (Side note: that’s also why if you review the Fake Love choreography, Jungkook keeps mirroring the other members such as J-hope, RM, V, and Jin.)

The scene in the WINGS VCR:

The scene in the DNA VCR:

Finally, the scene in Fake Love Extended Version:

After Jungkook enters the “secret passage” is when he matures and this is also symbolic of when he creates or finds his own fake self in the room. We all create fake selves in some shape or form in order to mature and find ourselves (That is why adolescents explore many identities and have identity confusion at that age of maturity). Jungkook then goes in and joins the other fake selves of the other members that they created in an attempt to gain love in Highlight Reels according to BigHit. And this is why they get crushed at the end. They voluntarily ended their fake selves in order to find real love.

Updates and Other Blog.

Hi guys! I am so very sorry I ghosted recently. I’ve been really busy with life in general and the HYYH theories have been in my draft for a while. I’ve also been busy with writing fics. (That is why my pseudoname is Theory Tales-- I make theories and fics. This is my attempt on practicing my analytical writing as well as creative writing).

If you’re interested in reading fics, I just created another blog to share them. Please follow theorytalestelltales! The fics I write are more for older audiences since I am a grad student. I also write with a mindset that would make the fic a potential book since I am inspired by academic literature. The covers and art on there are also digitally painted by me. You can see where my time has gone to lol.

And don’t worry, I will still post a blog right away whenever BigHit drops something for the upcoming comeback! I genuinely hope ya’ll are doing well!

-TT 🌹

HYYH NOTES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER: LY HER 承 & TEAR 轉

HERE are all the notes from LY: Her and LY: Tear! I color-coordinated them and put a summary of each one. They’re also arranged by member, by dates, and by album. I suggest getting familiar with the notes first. The story is really coming together! (*Note: if viewing from my blog page, you have to right click on the link and open it in another window or another tab).

INTRO: SERENDIPITY THEORY

Intro: Serendipity is an expression of Jimin’s love for Her but the means of forming and describing that love is paradoxical. If one examines the entirety of the lyrics, they contrast each other at different points. Serendipity is used to describe Jimin’s and Her’s love that implies their love occurred by random chance. Whereas some of the lyrics express the opposite, that Jimin’s and Her’s love was destined and was meant to be since the beginning of time. Integrating these notions together, their love can be construed as a beautiful paradox; a destined serendipity or a serendipitous destiny. In other words, Jimin and Her were destined to have a happy “accidental” meeting, or it may mean the other way around, that their happy accidental meeting became their “destiny”.

  The lyrics mention things that have a serendipitous background such as Penicillin and Calico cat. Both of which came into existence by rare occurrences and pure random chance. It also talks about destiny itself and its personification of it supports their love as serendipitous rather than destined. Simultaneously, the lyrics contrast itself again with lines such as, “None of this is a coincidence,” and “Our happiness has been planned,” signifying that their love was destined instead of serendipitous.

“You are my Penicillin, You saved me,” Jimin sings. Penicillin was discovered by Fleming in the 1920’s without the intention of developing a life-saving drug. He randomly discovered that his culture of blue mold, which is the direct translation from Korean to English, was surprisingly killing harmful bacteria that progress into fatal diseases. He then harnessed this phenomenon, engineered it into a viable treatment, and distributed it to the rest of the world, saving millions of lives. His discovery was serendipitous for many. Jimin uses this story as an analogy and as a metaphor to express his gratefulness to Her, singing that Her is the Penicillin, and that Her “saved him,” in some shape or form.

Calico cats are tricolor creatures that are used as an expression of serendipity in the song. These cats have three colors of hair: white, brown, and black. A cat that has three colors of hair, especially male ones, are rare, due to how genes and their traits play out when the sperm and the egg meet. It is rare enough for a certain sperm to penetrate an egg out of millions of other sperms, but it is more so for a sperm and an egg carrying the specific genes for a Calico cat, to meet. Jimin sings, “I’m your Calico cat, Here to meet you.” The metaphorical lyrics voice that he beat all odds and came into being for the purpose of meeting Her and loving Her.

“I’m scared, just as much as my heart flutters, Because destiny keeps getting jealous of us,” the lyrics flow out. The personification of destiny supports the notion of serendipitous love. If destiny was a person, everything in his life would happen only if it was planned. There would be no element of surprise in destiny’s life, which may in turn make it jealous of Jimin’s and Her’s love. Their love is also expressed as so pure and so strong that it moves the universe and causes destiny itself to become jealous. The lyrics personifies the universe as well, saying that it has the capability to move anything and everything to make way for them; making it seem like it was meant to be in the first place. It may be another motive why destiny becomes jealous since the universe defies its own laws for them, and destiny itself is part of that law.

In the music video, it also expresses the concept the paradox through a metaphor using the sun and the moon. Jimin represents all things yellow, which includes the cactus, the small ball, the large ball, the blanket, the balloon, and the sun. Her, on the other hand, represents the moon. When someone falls in love, their partner becomes their world and this concept is expressed in the music video through the panning of the camera into Jimin’s blood, entering his world, and the panning out of his eyes, exiting his world. Through the first perspective use of the camera, the audience becomes Her. We become Jimin’s Her, his love, his moon. The fleeting eclipse represents their rare meeting and could be thought of as the universe aligning perfectly for them to meet or the universe adjusting for them after they meet. 

Jimin then explores Her’s world, the night. His world is bright and beautiful but he delves into her world which is dark and somber but shows the stars and galaxies. He thinks Her is different but is just as beautiful. He has never seen anything like Her before since the sun never sees the dark. This is when he falls in love with Her, and is metaphorically acted out by Jimin literally falling in front of the moon, immersing himself in her world. 

By the end of the music video, his house is shown shaking, symbolizing the universe moving for their love as Jimin smiles fearlessly, accepting the universe’s help. As the eclipse end, the sun shines again and Jimin goes back to his world, sitting as though reminiscing about the other world and how it make him feel. At the last shot, Jimin breathes out with a piercing gaze at the camera, “Let me love, let me love you,” singing to Her, to his love, to the moon, to us.

Stretching the metaphor of the sun and the moon, what gives it a mile more beautiful about it is that because the stars never stop moving in the sky, the sun and the moon could be seen as chasing each other. The sun will always chase the moon and the moon will always chase the sun. Even though they are different and far apart, they will go through great lengths and spend infinite amounts of time to meet each other again; until the stars align once more and the universe itself allows another chance. This cycle of a never-ending chase symbolizes Jimin’s and Her’s love as eternal and forever.