If there is one lesson to be learned in life, it is that nearly everything is transient. As BTS’s music reflects upon the universal struggles that everyone in the world experiences on some level, it seems logical that change and hope would be motifs that are prevalent throughout their discography.
BTS’s music often centers around struggle and subsequent growth or hope. This continual focus on experiencing the bad things as they come, but also acknowledging that change is inevitable is something that has endeared so many listeners to their work. Symbolically, this change is often represented by the changing of the seasons or the transition from dark night into bright day.
One of BTS’s most famous songs aptly titled Spring Day is centered around the motif of spring. The symbolism of the changing of the seasons, in this case from a harsh, cold, and barren winter to a blooming and warm spring is representative of a change in emotions, conveying to the listener that better days will come, you just have to keep persisting.
With lyrics like “The morning will come again. No darkness, no season is eternal”, “Past the edge of cold winter, until the spring day comes again, until the flowers bloom, please stay” (Source) and “It seems like the cherry blossoms are blooming / This winter is also coming to its end” (Source), it is made clear to the listener that if they just keep hanging on, change will come inevitably.
The motif of spring appears in other songs like Answer: Love Myself, where SUGA raps “Our lives are long, trust yourself when in a maze / When winter passes, spring always comes” (Source). This symbolism of spring helps to illustrate how valuable patience and persistence are in a world that moves quickly from one thing to the next. In a cruel world that often dismisses emotion in favor of status, wealth, success, and money, BTS extending a hand to their listeners and telling them that things will eventually change, ideally for the better, they are providing a much-needed balm onto many hurting hearts.
In the song Mikrokosmos, BTS sing “Starlight that shines brighter in the darkest night / The deeper the night, the brighter the starlight” (Source). On their most recent tour, Mikrokosmos ended the three-hour set, ending past 10 pm at the local time. By this point, it was pitch dark out. BTS asked their ARMY to turn their phone flashlights on, making a sea of pinpricks of light in an otherwise dark space. A visual illustration of their lyrics, the sea of lights coming from each person in attendance illuminated the stadium. With dark night being representative of strife and suffering and the small pinpricks of light symbolizing hope, these lyrics make it clear that hope can be found in even the most dire of situations. And even if that hope is simply the hope for change, it is still worthwhile.
BTS’s messages are not grandiose or rooted in platitudes. They are reassurances, applicable to people’s diverse life experiences and situations. BTS do not tell their listeners that everything is fine or to ignore suffering, but validate it and offer words of encouragement and support instead. They offer both catharsis and comfort, acknowledging that the world is a flawed and cruel place, while also saying that change is possible. Growth is possible. Hope is possible.
Most recently with the COVID-19 pandemic, BTS boiled down the motif of change they have frequently conveyed in their earlier music into one ubiquitous statement: “Life goes on.” Despite the toll the pandemic has taken, time has still continued to flow. The seasons continue to change.
BTS make the point that even if the seasons continue to change literally, metaphorically we can still hold out hope for the warm spring days in the winters of life, as demonstrated in the title track Life Goes On with the lyrics “One day, the world stopped, without any forewarning. Spring, not knowing how to wait or how to read the room, showed up anyway” (Source). In the subsequent lyrics, the motif of change is shown through dark moving into light: “Although everything is paused, don’t hide in the dark because the light will shine again” (Source). Despite the challenges, losses, and fears of the past year, BTS create music to reassure those feeling dejected, aimless, and hopeless that change will come. We just have to keep going.
This motif also appears in the members’ personal music. In everythinggoes, BTS member and leader RM raps “Like how the morning comes after night, like how summer comes after spring, just like how flowers die and berries grow ripe, everything has to experience pain” (Source). Suffering is inherent to the human condition, but how we cope with it and what we do about it makes all the difference. We cannot change the painful parts of life, but if we can learn to continue on regardless and understand that life has its seasons, we can make the most out of our experience.
Min Yoongi, known as the BTS member SUGA and also as the solo rapper Agust D, often references hardship and hope in his music. In the song So Far Away, he raps “Dream, may your trials end in full bloom / Dream, though your beginnings may be humble, may the end be prosperous” (Source). This illustrates how even though going through hard times is frustrating and painful, there is still hope to be found on the other side.
Beyond these motifs being incorporated lyrically, it often appears in the BTS’s members personal statements or letters. One of the most beautiful things about BTS is that they live by the creed they create. Most recently, RM said in his end of 2020 letter “Do remember, they can’t cancel the spring” (Source). Although only a few words, the implicated message reminds us that spring will come. We cannot cancel a season, we can only wait for it to come and then for it to end. It serves as a reminder that everything is transient.
In a 2016 personal memo, SUGA wrote “Happiness doesn’t come without knowing anything, it always comes after the time of enduring pain” (Source). Although we may not enjoy our hardships, it is only with the experience opposite of an emotion that we can recognize the emotion as it is.
BTS believe in the messages that they convey through their music because they have experienced them personally and want to create music that reflects the struggles of the society that we live in. They curate their music to provide comfort and solace because they understand these universal struggles of anxiety, hardship, and sadness. SUGA was quoted by TIME saying “We started to tell the stories that people wanted to hear and were ready to hear, stories that other people could not or would not tell… That was our goal, to create this empathy that people can relate to.” (Source)
Even within personal sentiments, the metaphor of light and dark reappears. BTS intend their music to be a potential source of that light we seek out when everything is dark and there is no hope to be found. When interviewed by GRAZIA magazine, SUGA said “People fall into despair because they can’t see the future. They’d be able to move forward if they see any light… but if they don’t have any light, they fail and can’t progress. I want my music to become that light for those in the dark. I want them to heal from it and find the courage to step forward again” (Source). BTS’s youngest member Jungkook wrote a letter saying “I’d be satisfied if you could find the smallest bit of happiness even in moments when you’re having a hard time, when you’re exhausted, and when the darkness comes over you. I wish you could find a light, happiness in those moments. I’ve succeeded if our music can become that happiness for you”(Source).
At their core, BTS make empathetic music that not only comforts and consoles their listeners, but inspires them to persevere with hope in their hearts. Like SUGA said to his hundreds of thousands of listeners on live-broadcast, “No matter how you have lived your day… there are definitely better days to come” (Source).
