친구 (Friends)

Produced by Pdogg, Jimin

Seoul sparkled particularly brightly
A different world I was seeing the first time
You, who I met when soaked with sweat,
were a somewhat strange kid
You, who I met when soaked with sweat,
were a somewhat strange kid

Me from the moon, you from a star
Our conversations felt like homework
One day, bffs, another, enemies
I just wanna understand

Hello my alien
We’re each other’s mystery
Is that why it’s even more special

🤞 Someday, when the cheers die down, stay hey
Please stay by my side
Forever, always in this place stay hey
Just like your small pinky

☀️ Longer,
than the seven summers and cold winters
Longer,
than the countless promises and memories

I remember us in our school uniforms
Our memories, each and every one of them, a movie
The dumpling incident a comedy movie, yeah yeah

The chatter that filled our bus rides home
Now we go out on drives together
We’re unchanging, the ‘us’ of back then
“Hey Jimin, today”
[wanna grab a drink?]

The dreamcatcher in my room
7 years of history
Is that why it’s even more special

🤞

☀️

Just like your pinky,
we’re still the same
I know all about you
We must trust each other
Don’t forget
Rather than the obvious words of thanks,
you and me,
let’s make sure that tomorrow, we don’t fight

💛 Someday, when the cheers die down, stay hey
You are my soulmate
Forever, always in this place stay hey
You are my soulmate

☀️

💛

☀️

---

We thankfully didn’t have to wait too long to learn about the dumpling incident. V replied to a question about it on Weverse, the day of album release:

OP: Taehyung-ssi, Jimin-ssi Please tell us about the dumpling incident!!
V: It was between the opposing parties ‘Do the choreo and then eat it’ and ‘We’ll eat it as we do it’

Inner Child

Us back then,
we had a really hard time,
as we looked up at
those sky’s stars so very far away

You back then,
you don’t believe in the galaxy
But I’ve seen it,
that silver galaxy

It would’ve hurt,
it would’ve been so hard,
for I raced after
a light with no end

🚪 I can taste the biting air of that summer’s day,
the sounds of the grey pavements which felt so cold
I drink in a breath and knock on your door
We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change

Us now,
I’d like it if we laughed a lot
It’ll be okay, for the me of today
is doing okay

You yesterday,
I see it all now
I want to embrace
the many thorns within the budding rose

The kid with the smile
The child that only smiled so innocently
When I see this you,
I can’t help but laugh

🚪

Tonight,
if my hand touches yours,
could you hold that hand?
For I’ll become you

You just need to
see my galaxies,
You just need to be hit by those stars
I’ll give my world to you

For the lights that illuminated your eyes
are me now
You’re my boy, my boy
My boy, my boy, my boy

We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change
We gon’ change

---

The tense of the second stanza’s first two lines ‘You back then, / you don’t believe in the galaxy’ feels a little strange. ‘You back then, / you didn’t believe in the galaxy’ would sit more comfortably. However, it better reflects the present tense used there in the Korean, in contrast the simple past of the first stanza. It certainly makes the dialogue between young Taehyung and current Taehyung feel more immediate, just as the repeated stanza does later, where we see the latter knock on the former’s door.

We know RM and V both worked on the lyrics for this song, amongst others. There are particular words that whisper RM’s name, such as ‘잿빛’, translated here as ‘grey’; a rarer word that appeared in RM’s ‘seoul’ from mono. However, the most obvious word is surely of the ‘galaxy’.

The galaxy is certainly a theme used often by BTS, especially by RM. In the third last stanza, you see it paired with the line ‘You just need to be hit by those stars’. This is reminiscent of lines from ‘Answer: Love Myself’: ‘Is it that I fell in order to be hit by those countless stars / In the thousands of glittering arrows, the only target is me’. The action both holds the same root in Korean – 맞다 (to be hit / struck / shot), and so the link between the two songs is particularly strong.

In the last question for a Q&A I did, I drew out the symbolism of these two objects. The galaxy, above and within us, is a landscape of our lives – and the stars are the necessary additions that give it colour. Some of those additions, however, are painful. These, too, must be faced if we are to love ourselves. And once we have, it will become part of the constellation that we look fondly upon.

Bringing together these ideas gives the song another layer of warmth, and displays the reason why V can say his current self is doing okay — he has experienced much, and is okay.

The thought that the two members would’ve traded many thoughts about this topic in the process of becoming satisfied with the lyrics is a lovely one.

00:00 (Zero O’Clock)

You know those kinds of days?
Days when you’re sad for no reason
When the body’s heavy, and
it looks as if everyone other than you
is busy and working hard to get ahead
I can’t bring it in me to move,
though it feels as though it’s already late, yeah?
I’m vexed by the entire world

Yeah, rattling speed bumps are all over
My heart’s getting wounded and my words only decrease
Why, oh why – when I’ve run hard?
Oh, why me

🛏️  I come home,
lie in bed, and
have a think whether
it was my fault
An unsettling night
I have a look at the clock
Almost 12 o’clock

🕒 Will something change?
I doubt it
But at least this day will
end
When the second hand and
the minute hand overlap,
the world for a very brief moment holds its breath
Zero O’Clock

❄️ And you gonna be happy
And you gonna be happy
Just like the settled snow,
let’s breathe, as if it’s the beginning
And you gonna be happy
And you gonna be happy
Turn this all around
A time where everything is new
Zero O’Clock

Little by little, the beat slips
An easy expression can’t be formed
I keep forgetting familiar lyrics
There’s not one thing like my heart 

‘Yeah, they’re all things of the past’
Even if I say it to myself, it’s really not easy
Is it my fault?
Is it my wrong?
Without an answer
With only my echo

🛏️

🕒

❄️

I’ve clasped my hands
to pray
That tomorrow, I’d
smile a little more
For me
That it’d be a little better
For me

When this song
ends,
a new song will
begin
That I’d be a little happier, yeah

And you gonna be happy
And you gonna be happy
For a very brief moment, I hold my breath and
today, too, I give myself a pat
And you gonna be happy
And you gonna be happy
Turn this all around
A time where everything is new
Zero O’Clock 

---

The two stanzas after the repeats could potentially be from the perspective of a new voice. 

This would change the lyrics to the following: 

You’ve clasped your hands
to pray
That tomorrow, I’d smile a little more
For me
That it’d be a little better
For me

When this song
ends,
a new song will
begin
That you’d be a little happier, yeah

A slight change in the Korean grammar made me think this could be the case, as well as the fact that these two stanzas are the only ones where a version of the first person pronoun is not explicitly given at some point. 

I then thought there’d be a poetic quality to it if so, since before the repeats, the speaker asks questions and only their echo responds. How comforting to know that in your most tired moments, someone is in fact there for you. 

Of course, if it is simply all read in the first person, there’s a beautiful strength in that stark reality too. Some days, we go home, and are able to comfort ourselves just enough to be able to get up again the next day.  

The English refrains ‘for me’ and ‘and you gonna be happy’ don’t suggest one over the other.

Really, you’re free to choose.

I do think it’s more likely the song is all in the one voice, but it’s always interesting to consider other options. 

ON

 

I can’t understand what people are sayin’
Which of them I need to match my beat to
When I lift one foot, the shadow grows one step larger
Having woken from sleep and opened my eyes, I wonder where ‘here’ is
Perhaps Seoul, or New York or Paris
Having gotten up, my body sways

Look at my feet, look down
This shadow that resembles me
Is the thing swaying in fact this guy
Or is it the end of my toes
There’s no way it’s not scary
There’s no way everything’s okay
But I know
Awkwardly, I flow
Together with that black wind, I fly

🌐 Hey na na na
If you don’t want to be driven insane, you’ve got to be insane
Hey na na na
I throw all of myself into this two-sided world
Hey na na na
Can’t hold me down cuz you know I’m a fighter
This beautiful prison that I entered with my own two feet
Find me and I’m gonna live with ya

☁️ (Eh-oh)
Bring it on, bring the pain oh yeah 
(Eh-oh)
Come on up, bring the pain oh yeah
Rain be pourin’
Sky keep fallin’
Everyday oh na na na
(Eh-oh)
Bring it on, bring the pain oh yeah

Bring the pain
It’ll all become my very blood and flesh
Bring the pain
No fear, for I know the way
In the small things, breathe
That is my oxygen and light in the darkness
The strength of the things that I do because I’m me
Even if I fall, I rise again, scream

Even if I fall, I rise again, scream
For we’ve always done so
Even if my knees reach the floor,
as long as I’m not buried,
it’ll just be another thing of the past
Win no matter what
Win no matter what
Win no matter what
Whatever you say, whatever anyone says
I don’t give a uhh
I don’t give a uhh
I don’t give a uhh

🌐

☁️

Where there’s pain of mine,
let me breathe
My everythin’
My blood and tears
Got no fears
I’m singin’ ohhhhh
Oh I’m takin’ over
You should know yeah
Can’t hold me down cuz you know I’m a fighter
Into the dark abyss, readily do I sink
Find me and I’m gonna bleed with ya

(Eh-oh)
Bring it on, bring the pain oh yeah
(Eh-oh)
Come on up, bring the pain oh yeah
Rain be pourin’
Sky keep fallin’
Everyday oh na na na
(Eh-oh)
Find me and I’m gonna bleed with ya

(Eh-oh)
Bring it on, bring the pain oh yeah
(Eh-oh)
Come on up, bring the pain oh yeah
All that I know
is just goin’ on & on & on & on
(Eh-oh)
Bring it on, bring the pain oh yeah

Louder than bombs

It’s now become so distinct,
that unfamiliar shadow within those cheers
It’s probably that which I won’t be able to believe again,
the words of ‘let’s just see and hear good things’

The hushed sadness of yours
shakes me
In the quiet sea of mine,
the waves rise

Louder than bombs I break
Pain pours out
From the moment I knew your facial expression
wasn’t that expression
Louder than bombs I break

Baby I’m nothin’er than nothin’
Lighter than the light
Don’t you want a thing from me
But you say I’m somethin’er than somethin’
Lighter than the light
Don’t you give up your life
Here I stay, pray
Just for better days
Everyday’s a maze
Wonder if this is my place

Where’s my way?
The ground that continues to shake
Currently crumbling alone, mute
Louder than bombs yeah
I want to tell you that the darkness, yeah,
exists anywhere, don’t be afraid
Even if some night swallows me, I don’t give up
The fight for you, we’ll shine

You and I feel all things together
The sadness and pain
It’s most definitely not by chance
Yeah we picked this game

Louder than bombs I say
I’ll say it to the world
The times you were turned away
The days of constant running away, there’s none of that anymore
Louder than bombs I say

♕ People say, well, that they’re jealous of us
That my pain is hypocrisy
No matter what I do, turns out I’m rolling in filth
If it’s not us, huh,
who’ll do it?

♕

Louder than bombs I sing
I make a promise to you and me
Whatever waves crash over us,
we’ll forever sing towards you
Louder than bombs I sing

시차 (My Time)

Note: The Korean title can be translated as ‘Time Difference’

24, I feel as though I’ve become an adult faster than anyone
My life has been a movie all the time
I raced to where the sun rises every single night
It even feels like I’ve been to someone’s tomorrow,
a world too big for that boy
Keep on runnin’ errday, takin’ hold of the mic
Friends ridin’ subway, I’ll be in the airplane mode
I rock on all over the world, I made my own lotto
But is it too fast, the traces of what I’ve missed
Don’t know what to do with
Am I livin’ this right?
Why am I the only one in a different time space

 

🕒 Oh I can’t call ya I can’t hol’ ya
Oh I can’t
And yes you know yes you know
Oh I can’t call ya I can’t touch ya
Oh I can’t
Let me know
Can I someday finna find my time
Finna find my time
Someday finna find my time

Oh I think I was in yesterday
Cuz everybody walk too fast
I, who grew up without me knowing
(Like a child who’s lost their way)
This got me oh just trippin’,
this feeling of only wandering
Don’t know what to do with
Am I livin’ this right?
Why am I the only one in a different time space

 

🕒

At times, when I’m suffocating,
I push my hat down and keep running
Yeah I don’t gotta know where I go
Even if it’s opposite of sun
One time for the present
Two time for the past
Happy that we met each other
Now til’ the very end

Oh I will call ya I will hol’ ya
Oh I will
And yes you know yes you know
Oh I will call ya I will touch ya
Oh I will
And you know
Can I someday finna find my time
Can I someday finna find my time
Finna find my time
Find my time

Filter

Your dull expression, bored feet
Please look at me now
Put down your phone, don’t even think to turn your head
Let me know your type
You can choose which one of me to apply, yeah

Oh, I hide your eyes in my hands
Oh, we approach what’s shrouded in secrecy
I’ll take you to a completely new world
Yeah, open your closed eyes now, go!

🤳 Mix the colours in the palette and pick your filter
Which of me do you want
The one to transform your world, I’m your filter
Apply it to your heart

(OK) How is it, are you getting the idea? It’s not enough yet?
(Yes) Girl you have your chance
I can be your Genie
How bout Aladdin?
I’ll be whatever you want
You can choose which one of me to apply, yeah

Oh, like in your dream, I’m going to envelop you in my arms
Oh, they’re secret specifications
I’m going to be new each day for you
as it’s boring to always be the same

🤳

Look at me, suddenly changed into a kid
I get cuter the more you look at me, crazy cute
I surpass any preferences or criteria
You only end up wanting me
Yeah, for you’re the one that made me

I’m something that you’ve never seen until now, a brand new filter
Try entrusting yourself to me
To be able to see something more exhilerating, pick your filter
Try saving only me

Na na na na na na na na na
Pick your filter, try saving only me
Na na na na na na na na na
I’m your filter, try entrusting yourself to me

We’ll become a new ‘us’
Ay, apply it to your heart