More often, the first viewing or listen of any of BTS’ content doesn’t achieve much for me. I enter the space with the anticipation of being blown away, so I am either too wired to follow, or just disappointed. Agust D’s 사람 [People] and RM’s Trivia 承: Love however surprised me and escaped the pressure of this anticipation to stick on as an ever growing philosophy of life. I can now enjoy them much more for their aural experience, while carrying the overall impression of the lyrics.
Yoongi (or Agust D as he calls himself) titles the piece 사람 [saram], which translates to ‘a person’ or ‘person’. The plural form in Korean is 사람들 [saramdeul], which would directly translate as ‘people’. And yet, Yoongi is neither referring to one person nor many people. Using it in its singular form points to the idea of being a ‘person’, or person-hood, and in turn the idea of humanity. Throughout the song, Yoongi keeps ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘us’ alive, as a way to talk about and to humanity. I am one person, I am also people, and I am talking to you and us.
The metaphor of the breeze emerges yet again (BTS use it often) in this song: does it brush past or does it soak in? Like people. So what if I simply brushed past in this life, without name or merit, without significance? Alternatively, so what if I did soak up a name and some fame, and left a mark? I’ve been born, I’ve got this life, and I’ll die, and all of it will lose meaning. Whatever anybody thinks, 그냥 나도 사람 [I’m just a person too].
As soon as this reality hits you squarely in the face, the meaninglessness of comparing and measuring your life, Yoongi says “사람들은 변하지 나도 변했듯이” [People change — like I have]. He reminds us that change is a constant, just like life and death. You’re dissatisfied today, and fulfilled tomorrow. You’re losing today, and winning tomorrow. You’re here today and there tomorrow. So what about it? He gently reminds us that preoccupying ourselves with our inconveniences, tears and suffering makes us lose sight of the rest of life — it always has potential to turn around. Winter today, spring tomorrow. So why so serious?
Finally he talks of living itself. Once we can stop taking life so seriously, we can flow like water, meander through forests, discover new paths and destinations. Sometimes we will encounter thorns and roadblocks, sometimes the ground will fall through. Here Yoongi moves from being human to being Yoongi. His life is nothing like mine, and there is desire and envy on both sides. We continue to lament about our existence, looking for greener pastures and perfection elsewhere, despairing over its impermanence. It is never enough, we always want more, 후회의 동물이 분명한데 [it is obvious we are animals of regret].
Both 사람 [People] and Namjoon’s Trivia 承: Love were released at different times, with Yoongi’s two years later. It is hard to imagine that the two are not linked to each other, considering Yoongi had been writing some of those songs for a couple of years at least (Vlive commentary on D-2). Interestingly that was the beginning of their meteoric rise to fame with Love Yourself Speak Yourself.
Namjoon (or RM) speaks to simplicity and intuition in establishing the link between 살 [sar; live], 사람 [saaraam; person] and 사랑 [saaraang; love], with a little heart (doolsetbangtan explains it beautifully). If People is a philosophy towards existence, Namjoon offers us a method to bring the philosophy to life. The refrain “I live so I love” is effortlessly inverted through the song. Vitality is equivalent to the capacity to and for love; if I have the capacity to love, I am alive. Not just existing, but actually being able to live with meaning, substance and potential.
Trivia 承: Love is a whimsical composition that draws the audience into the feel of what a loving existence can look like. The song opens on a playful quirky tone, making the question of life and love a leisurely musing over a cup of tea on a bright summer day. He moves through the song circling around this feeling, wondering how to approach his experience: 내 마음 같은 게 하나 없어 [but none feels like how I feel]. And yet one is sure when one loves, and feels love. This surety is as sure as breath itself, as the moon rises after the sun, and fingernails grow, and “trees undress themselves layer by layer when the winter comes” (doolsetbangtan again!). Love comes in to straighten us out by softening our contours. To allow love makes us loving and lovable, to love makes us allow love.
As with all things worth talking about, the song moves into a hint of melancholy, perhaps even fear: what if love goes away? What if you go away? Will you remember me, or will I simply brush past in your life? If love is so much exultation, then like life, one can’t help worry about its end. Would that change me? Would I lose me, if I lose you?
And Namjoon recovers from this temporary blue reverie. All one can do is hope and wish that that is not true. Whether or not I receive love, I will continue to love. What I find interesting here is that love is both an entity received and given, and also a motivation that emerges in physical acts. It is both a thing and a movement, both a feeling and a performance. It is and it is done, and one is inextricably linked to the other while being different. Capacity to love makes capacity for love or loving possible. Without the verb, the noun is impossible. You cannot love without being loved, you cannot be loved without loving.
In this recovery, I can insert Yoongi’s words. So what if you leave? So what if I lose your love? Does it mean that I lose love altogether?
I also think about the target of Namjoon’s address of love — who is it for? An instant image conjured is Namjoon serenading a large crowd of ARMYs, declaring his love for them (us!) for the nth time. After the Love Yourself era, they moved into the Map of the Soul era, and Namjoon composed Intro: Persona, a conversation with himself. Can it be that Trivia 承: Love was the beginning of that conversation with his shadow, and with his persona? If he couldn’t love himself, could he allow himself to even meet his shadow?
Both Yoongi’s and Namjoon’s compositions speak to me together, like a cyclical pulsing of the heart. One speaks to the other, while also speaking to the listener. I would be quite offended if I shared my troubles and received “so what about it?” — a response one would associate with Min Yoongi. Ironically, the refrain “뭐 어때” with that particular melody touchingly translates for me as “it’s okay, it happens”. He is inviting me to ask myself: what do I want to do about it? Do I want to stay in my misery, blaming circumstance, other people, or myself for my predicament, or do I want to take it in my stride, learn from it and do something? While Yoongi doesn’t explicitly say ‘love is the answer’, the song carries kindness and tenderness. I see both Namjoon and Yoongi reminding me that I must not be blinded by my struggles, that whatever is here won’t stay for long, and that there’s still time to do more, and live and love more. In effect, both are reminding us that at the start and end of loving (사랑) and being human (사람) is to live (살), and we would be remiss to forget that.
Lyric translations taken from https://doolsetbangtan.wordpress.com/
Note: I use Namjoon and Yoongi, their birth names, rather than their stage names, RM and Agust D, to establish my association to the kinds of humans they may be.
