It’s good to see some quick takes from Nami again. Be sure to give these a look.
It seems cliche to choose BTS’s new title song as the song for this week but I did it because of the Korean title – 작은 것들을 위한 시, literally meaning in English, “A Poem for Small Things.”
It’s about a lover who is entirely absorbed in their beloved and wanting to know everything about them. It’s not deep in the sense of being the most beautifully made iteration of this idea, but it’s a pleasant, joyous, euphoric one. And despite what some might say, it completes a logical progression plot-wise from “Boy in Luv” and even through “DNA” and “Fake Love.”
“Boy in Luv” is the angsty adolescent love focused on self; “DNA” revels in the romance and speaks as if it’s fated, de-emphasizing choice; “Fake Love” reveals that destiny and feelings might not be the best way to determine love; and “Boy with Luv” is…
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Medieval Otaku 
Ah yes, I’ve been listening to BTS ever since a few years ago (though I’ve learned of them a few more years before that time and found them somewhat interesting but not yet enough for dedicated listening). And I think I’ve only realized that sort of sense from their latest title track just now, hahaha! I did spot that Icarus reference when I first went through it, and it did sound wise and insightful to me, but its depth didn’t hit me that quick, probably because of me being lost in the hype or something again, hahaha…But anyway, that insight she made got me thinking about my relationship with my girlfriend, which is feeling more and more like a blessing to the two of us each day! Thank God Almighty very much, indeed! ^w^
Also, I noticed that mention of NCT 127, which I seem to be paying most attention to when it comes to NCT sub-units (which, now that I think about it, probably shouldn’t be surprising because of how they’re practically functioning as the face of the whole NCT setup as a K-Pop group with how they lean more towards the current conventions of K-Pop than the more experimental NCT U, the teenage NCT Dream, and the Chinese WayV). I hope she has fun over there at the concert, then!
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I don’t know anything about K-pop, but people have interesting things to say about it. Maybe, I should give it a shot. Happy to hear that things are going well with your girlfriend!
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Well, BTS is certainly a good start there, then. They have quite a reputation for being profound with their artistry, see. And hey, thanks very much again, dear friend!
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You’re welcome!
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Sorry to be late on this but: Thank you for finding that insightful and a positive reflection!! I do appreciate BTS’ general message (though their forays into Hesse and Jungian territory bother me), and I’ve enjoyed them ever since I discovered them in 2015. There are times they can be wise and insightful, and other times when they’re completely silly (one of my favorite songs of theirs has lyrics “smooth like a salad”, what does that even mean??). Sometimes I worry how much everyone tries to emphasize their depth – I want the U.S. to respect other cultures’ musicians more than they do now, but sometimes ARMY especially go overboard…
The NCT 127 concert was stupendously fun as I detail in an over-long post about it! They’re really excellent performers and seem very cohesive as a group – SM Entertainment does tend to put out the most polished groups, I feel. I like all the NCT subunits generally except WayV – I don’t dislike them, I just have no active interest in mandopop so I have to hear a song that really catches me. Which is why my friend who loves them gets me to listen to them! Their recent comeback was quite good. ^^ And while Dream are teens I still like a lot of their songs as well, though that’s because I do enjoy a good cute, upbeat pop song.
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You’re very welcome! BTS is definitely a standout today, indeed, though at the same time, I worry about what sort of love they’re really giving and taking. I even have discussions with my girlfriend about it, and she’s a more dedicated ARMY than I am. Fortunately, I think she understands where I’m coming from. There’s the suspicions against alleged clout chasers, for one, and then there’s the madness of fandom culture in the secular humanist world. Stuff like that makes me think that it would be better to have just a handful of tough loving friends to trust than a legion of mentally unstable fans to use as an artist or a notable figure in general. Not that we should refrain from inspiring others, but at the same time, we all have our own lives, and we sure as heck ain’t God Almighty. There’s a lot of things I wanna say about artistry in relation to pop and fandom culture and all that, but perhaps that should be a bunch of discussions for another time and place~
I’m also glad that NCT has some creative control since their debut, especially on the part of the rappers (mostly Taeyong and Mark), as the art of rapping isn’t just mere performance. Also, so far, I’m pretty impressed with WayV’s first original title track “Take Off,” alright! And when it comes to Dream, “GO” is pretty much my fave track from them, which says stuff about my taste as well, hahaha~
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If fans are truly honest, they’ll acknowledge that, however appealingly and relatably presented, BTS’ message is just a variation on the “love yourself, believe in yourself, etc.” message which is dangerous left out of a proper Christian context. Young minds are being exposed to Hesse and Jung now without direction and that honestly scares me. And I fully agree, a handful of true friends is worth more than any number of fellow fans. The main problem is people giving more weight to this than it deserves. K-pop stars are called idols, and companies encourage obsessive fan behavior, but that doesn’t mean we should *actually* treat them that way. That’s why we all (myself included) have to check ourselves and make sure we’re worshiping God and not people.
Artistry-wise – there’s actually a lot of k-pop stars more talented than BTS (including in NCT). Lyrics-wise, RM is amazing – you can tell he’s intelligent – and from what I’ve heard from more knowledgable minds, all 3 rappers are good. But as far as vocals there are infinitely better singers, and for song-writing and production, there’s more of stars who do that now: DAY6’s YoungK, Pentagon’s Hui, Seventeen’s Woozi I know off the top of my head. And I say all of this enjoying BTS very much.
With that said, I’ve also personally come not to care about creative control as much, at least regarding groups writing their own music and lyrics, as long as they’re ok with that and as long as they and their fans don’t pretend they’re doing more than they are. Many Western artists don’t write their own either but people just assume they do – and some of them who DO write their own…it’s not that great because that’s not where their talent lies. I *do* EXCEEDINGLY appreciate the k-pop industry ceding more of that control, though, since even those who *do* have songwriting/lyrical talent have often been kept from that previously.
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Just because it’s of high artistic and literary value doesn’t mean it’s of high moral and spiritual value as well, alright. I mean, that’s in the context of this world where religion is being cut out of the criticism equation if it’s in the majority or subjected to use as a clout booster if it’s in the minority. It’s also pretty sad that we peeps more easily fail to recognize how writers like Flannery O’Connor and Gregorio Brillantes can manage to solidly show Catholicism without having their works overtly hammer that aspect into the reader. And I think that’s also a matter of initiative on the part of us faithful and not just the part of those outside our circle of believers. Exercising our faith isn’t supposed to be limited to Sunday Masses and all that bare minimum, after all.
Oh man, I think I see what you mean about more talented artists, alright. For one, Woozi being able to write and produce so well for such a big group is quite astounding. I also can’t deny that Hui definitely did great work on Wanna One’s “Energetic.” And then there’s a lot more to mention, too, and we can go all day and more with them! On the other hand, I’ve been reading professional reviews from the West on BTS albums, and while they’re not really too bad, it’s also not as awesome as the hype likes to present, though I definitely appreciate them, because I wouldn’t be able to see some very legitimate concerns (e.g. a fear of Ed Sheeran, whose persona – no pun intended – can be seen as very manufactured if one looks closely at his lyrical content and his actual lifestyle).
People have different sets of talents, alright. That, and songwriting and production crews and more aren’t there just to make things harder for the artists they back up. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be industry essentials in the first place. Thinking about this is also like thinking about how humans are social creatures as much as we can think on our own, yeah?
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By the way, thank you so much for linking! I’ve been so focused on churning out regular content for my own blog I’ve been forgetting to look at others. But I’m looking at your recent anime lists and adding them to my Crunchyroll queue!
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No problem! It can be hard to keep up. I’m glad that some of these anime interest you. Last season was quite good.
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