#and also im a young and unstable person being thrown around in life with no idea what to do next

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

i am finally discovering a genre of character i actually really relate to! like, i personally relate to them rather than just love them a lot, i can hardly remember when that last happened to me, if ever, so that's cool. unfortunately, that genre of character is "protagonist of a tragedy severely doomed by the narrative and in no small way responsible for their own fate"

[flakandforay]

Intro: 花樣年華 Analysis

this is the intro: 花樣年華 analysis for bangtan’s 화양연화 pt. 1 ( In the Mood for Love pt. 1 ) mini album, their 3rd one. 

i will be analysing 3 components - music, lyrics and aesthetics.

disclaimer: this is just my personal opinion, feel free to disagree. let me know your thoughts in my ask box 

overall: this is the intro that showcases yoongi taking charge of the intro for this new 화양연화 series !! a nice change considering that namjoon was the one doing the intro for the school trilogy series and even dark and wild!! seems like the rapper line is taking charge of the intros now!! ( however we’ll see that in the love yourself series, with jimin doing the intro, theres a possibility that the vocal line would be the ones taking charge )

anyway, this intro is produced by yoongi, and can we all just appreciate at how raw this intro sounds? the angst and frustrations in his rapping can be heard so well, i love how he did this intro. to me, it is an eye-opener to to the unstableness and fragility of youth - exactly what HYYH pt. 1 is.

music: so the beat comes in with someone panting/heavily breathing for about 4 seconds, possibly out of tiredness before the piano actually comes in with some effect and the use of strings! i really like how distinct the piano sound is at 0:05 and at 0:10, to signal the pauses in between, yet you could still hear the distinct panting of the person. 

then right at 0:15 with the beat being dropped, so did the use of the basketball being dribbled around in a gym court was used on the 1st count. following that, you could also hear the sounds of sports shoes being scraped across the gym court together with the basketball being dribbled. the combination of the ball being dribbled together with those squeaky shoes has became the main dominant beat throughout this whole intro.

it’s interesting to see how yoongi actually made this beat from sounds that you won't have ever thought of to make such a beat. and the fact that he used these sounds - sounds that are close to him, it is a known fact how much yoongi enjoys playing basketball - even participating inside the ISAC event in 2015 and winning a medal for it, not to mention how in the Knowing Brother ( ep. 94 ) he has expressed his love for basketball. i think having these sounds inside this intro kinda personalises the style of the intro to fit more of him and it brings him ease, yet ironic as his rap vents out the frustrations and anger in his voice. 

anyway, bringing back to the point of yoongi’s rap, there isn't much doubling being used, its pretty subtle, only using the doubling when there are empty spaces such as in 0:18, 0:20, 0:26 while actually slyly putting in adlibs of ‘yeah’ underneath his rap along the way. 

yet when yoongi said ‘shoot’ at 0:36, it signals the start of another chunk of his rap, his frustrations being more evident now, with the dribbling of the ball being louder and then the doubling can be heard again such as in 0:43, while this time having adlibs of ‘shit/ssh’ underneath them all. but what’s important is that how yoongi chose which parts to take a breath which you can clearly hear at 0:48, that short pause before he starts to rap again.

we all know that breathing is really important for rappers, the timing needs to be right if they want to spit words etc, the time that they actually choose to breathe actually shows a bit of their style in rapping, it is like a teaser to how they rap. in this case of course, yoongi is spitting words, so the timing of his breathing is crucial. but i like how he does it so subtly, that it sounds as if he did those few lines in one breath. the way he enunciates certain words adds the flare and style to his rap.

then at 0:55 when he just shouted ‘god damn it’, the level of angst and frustration that could be felt through it. his rapping now here becomes even more louder and finally, the use of percussion!!! i am not too sure which percussion they are using, but it kind of sounds like those traditional drums that you hear at palaces etc, yet despite the use of percussion, yoongi doesn't get carried away in his rapping, he isn't speeding up and is still maintaining his rap and focusing on it. 

the next part of his rap at 1:16-1:20, when the beat briefly died down before returning later at 1:21, this adds more emphasis to his lines that were said and this is important which ill explain later on, but listen to his volume of his voice during this part, the frustration is so evident!! it sounds as if he is tired of everything etc 

you have this same effect of the beat dying down later at 1:27 when yoongi got, ‘what am i doing with my life?’ but the difference is that the beat comes back in one second with that resounding effect and the percussion entering again, you could feel how much the percussion is driving the beat, driving the frustration as well. 

but at 1:38, the rap ends and what is left is the creepy interlude of the piano and some strings and a brief 8 seconds of yoongi panting/breathing heavily again - a clear sign of how much effort he has put in. 

i really like how he used his breathing/panting as a hook and reinforcing it again at the end of the his rap to signify youth in general - the time of frustration, or at least thats what i think and then using the silence of 5 seconds before the end of the song. 

lyrics: from what im seeing, yoongi talks about a youth facing reality, someone who has yet to discover his own dreams but is weighed down by his thoughts and present circumstances.

오늘따라 림이 멀어보여 코트 위에 한숨이 고여 

=

The rim looks farther away today Sighs are building on top of the court

유일하게 맘이 되려 놓여 홀로 던지는 공 림을 향해서 내가 던지는 건

=

only when he throws the ball Throwing the ball by himself What I’m shooting at the rim

슛 코트가 나의 놀이터 손짓에 따라서 발 옆엔 작은 공이 튀어

=

Shoot, the court is my playground With my movements, a small ball bounces next to my feet

빨라지는 드리블 = The dribbles get faster

하며 살다간 코트처럼 인생도 노을 져 = Then the sun will set on your life like a court

he makes several references to basketball as seen here, which ties in nicely with the basketball dribbles in the beat and the squeaky sports shoes in a court or a gym.

림을 향해서 내가 던지는 건 수많은 고민과 삶의 걱정거리 세상을 아는 척 하지만 아직 설익은 몸

=

What I’m shooting at the rim Are my countless thoughts and worries I pretend to know the world but my body is still not ready

yoongi’s lines here expressing how he tries to grasp the real world, just like how the youth who begin to enter the real world, the youth who are past being the kids and are now on their way to being adults. 

성적은 바닥을 기지만 난 더 오히려 세상에 다 잘 될 거라며 괜시리 소리쳐 하지만 세상은 되려 겁줘 그럴 거면 멈춰 머리를 채운 상념 공 대신 미래를 던져 또 남들이 칠하는 별점과 성공의 기준에 결격 덕에 암처럼 퍼지는 걱정 god damn it

=

The results are as low as the floor But I just shout outloud to the world that everything’s gonna be alright But the world gives me fear then just stop Thoughts fill my head and instead of the ball, I throw my future Because of the other’s standard of success My worries spread like cancer again, god damn it

yoongi talks about how in reality, results dont always turn out how we want and though we comfort ourselves saying that its fine, reality will strip us off this comfort, ensuring that we know how little our worth is with such results after all. and eventually, anxiety and negative thoughts seeps in uninvited in the person. 

not to mention, how yoongi says that other people’s expectations of a success can be quite high, that they are not feasible, one could easily give up and see that he has no future at all, and then of course, the worries just spread all over just like cancer and in stages. 

던져버린 공과 함께 퍼진 웃음 턱까지 차오른 이 숨은 꿈틀대는 꿈들 빨라지는 드리블 행복해지는 마음 이 순간은 영원할 듯 하지만 해지는 밤이 다시 찾아오면 좀먹는 현실 정신을 차리면 또 겁먹은 병신 같은 내 모습에 자꾸만 또 겁이 나 덮쳐오는 현실감 남들은 앞서 달려 가는데 왜 난 아직 여기 있나

=

Along with the thrown ball, laughter starts to spread My breath rises to my chin, my dreams squirm about The dribbles get faster, my heart gets happier This moment feels like it’ll last forever but the sun is setting When the night comes again, reality gets destroyed When I snap out of it, I’m just a scared idiot again I keep getting scared at the looming sense of reality Others are running ahead but why am I still here?

yoongi now explains how that if one really did throw his future, how free he actually feels but how unstable this is, the reality won't accept such people. after all, this moment is only temporary, reality will come in inevitably and will wake the person up again. fear comes in again, as such, others are making progress but the person is still stagnant, refusing to do anything about it, giving up instead for that moment of bliss. 

What am i doin’ with my life 이 순간은 언제든 다시 찾아오지 않아 다시 나에게 되물어봐 지금 행복한가 그 답은 이미 정해졌어 난 행복하다

=

What am i doin’ with my life This moment won’t ever come again I’m asking myself again, am I happy right now? The answer is already there, I’m happy

he ends off with this short chunk of rap, questioning one’s own happiness as after all, despite the dreams that people are already thinking about and their paths to success, are they really happy? isn't happiness the more important thing of youth after all? instead of worrying about the future and of the real world, being happy right now is crucial nevertheless. 

Reference: Colour Coded © 

aesthetics: so this whole video is made of animation, with clear colour palettes and clear themes that are related to other videos such as the prologue, i need u mv, run mv and young forever mv. 

the clear colour palettes of the sun setting ( the sun is setting to tie in with yoongi’s rap when he mentions how the sun sets and how when night comes, reality gets destroyed ) - specifically yellow, orange, pink and purple ( first 3 pictures ) - which could be seen again in the Prologue video ( 4th pic- the frame when taehyung jumps off the structure by the sea ) and then the slight yellow, pink and purple colour which could be seen in young forever ( at the end of the mv- 5th and 6th pics ) yet the main character is stuck with more monochrome colours - black, grey, brown, white etc ( last pic )

the iconic frame of taehyung jumping off the structure and into the sea. ( prolgue video ) 

and this airplane runway that bangtan walks and eventually runs across. ( young forever mv ) 

again, the focus on basketball is evident again with the boy in the video at 0:34-0:49 literally playing basketball, ensuring to capture him dribbling the ball, shooting it and his movements which are tied in with the beat of the intro and in sync with yoongi’s lyrics such as ‘shoot’. 

the fact that the intro starts off with the window, with the curtains drawn up ( which would be shown again in ‘i need u’ ( 2nd pic ) as seokjin draws the curtains but notice how the there are petals falling, and will also be seen in again in the Wings short film: awake. ( 3rd pic )

i like how the animation showed a frame of a classroom - a typical place for any youth who would most likely be in high school ( an average 18-yr old in his last year ) 

despite this, the character begins to run for a brief moment along the track at 0:53 but it suddenly pans out to him staring out at the track at 0:56, but his sweat trickles down from his forehead as he sits on the bleachers. 

yet he despite his tiredness, he continues to run at 1:10 onwards, past the buildings and the sea, though its getting dark and the sun is setting 

it is also important to note how much the animation focuses on the character running since it shows his legs running for 5 seconds as he runs across the buildings and the sea and again for 2 seconds and another 4 seconds towards the end of the video.

then this frame of a bridge and an expressway appears, and this frame will be the exact same one that will be shown in the ‘i need u’ mv ( 2nd pic ) as hoseok prods across but eventually collapses in the middle of the pavement. 

one should also take note of how from 1:32 onwards, as someone dribbles and plays with the ball, someone else in the shadows was running - chasing something, as if he is running out of time - possibly showing that there are 2 separate characters in this video, as one tries to figure out what to do, someone  else is trying to reach something/someone just in time - in this case, the lily. 

yet, there is also a frame of a lily blooming as the whole video progresses as seen in 0:29, 1:06 and then at the end at 1:48 as the lily is fully bloomed, just in time as the character reaches it, but surrounding the frame are the pink cherry blossoms, yet when he reaches it, at 1:51, the petals of the lily fly away one by one - a significant thing as later in the ‘i need u’ mv, seokjin is laying down the 6 petals. but the fact that the petals flew away shows how the character didnt arrive in time, he was in fact, late. but what exactly was he late for? was it just the lily? or was it for someone that he couldn't reach in time? 

with such brief development over symbolisms such as the lily, theories can easily be rolled out and with the subsequent videos such as ‘i need u’, ‘run’, ‘young forever’ etc, it’s easier to see the links in between. 

here, i would like to say that possibly the character dribbling the ball is yoongi yet the one running is seokjin. yoongi has the most resemblance with the person dribbling the ball, possibly with his rap here and avid love for basketball but later on, it will be revealed how this whole HYYH series would be revolved around seokjin - the one who would try to save the rest but apparently, came a bit too late, just like how he reached the lily too late before everything fades away/fly away (  similarly to their song, Butterfly’s lyrics: 사라지려 하지마 = Don’t try to disappear and 손 대면 날아갈까 부서질까 = If I let go of your hand, you’ll fly away and break ).

as well know, the lily is going to be very important, lilies symbolise that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death. ( Reference ) and coincidence that it fits with this whole HYYH concept that is about to be uncovered soon and questions which members are still alive or dead?

the lily will be seen again in several videos such as ‘i need u’ mv ( 1st pic ), the japanese ‘i need u’ mv and even in ‘awake’, as seen in these videos, seokjin is doing repeated actions. 

yoongi next to the frame of a lily which would eventually be burned into flames inside the video. ( japanese i need u mv ) 

seokjin on a bed of lilies. ( japanese i need u mv ) 

in the short film: awake, he is back again with the lilies, putting the petals on the ground and setting them on fire. 

but it ends with this, the petals of the lily gone and indeed, it is all too late.

last thoughts: i really like the rawness that this intro offers - truly an intro to the whole concept of unstableness and fragility of youth - the period that many would avoid but bangtan chooses to center their whole theme of youth on for this mini album.

a lot of loopholes that will soon be filled with their subsequent releases, a story that could be built on, and endless answers that all sound plausible. not to mention, how bighit/lumpens doesn't give any direct answer to this theory, just lets the imagination run even more!! 

this intro especially gives a lot of hints and clues to possible links between videos that will be revealed soon, and it is time to think about what really happened in this era etc

a definite worthwhile album and intro to look forward to in the series to come: the most beautiful moment in life. 

[Photo Source] Bighit Entertainment  Credits: maxine ☕️ DO NOT REPOST ©