Stay Gold. Source: YouTube/Big Hit

On 26th June 2020, BTS has released their newest MV for their Japanese album, which is Stay Gold. After I watched the MV, I really want to make a review for this MV. After I watched again and tried to analyze it--not as detailed as the other ARMY, I supposed, I will try to share my thinking regarding Stay Gold here. 

The Song

At first, Stay Gold song has released one week before if i am not mistaken. I have listened the song via Spotify. You can try to listen it here.

At first, from what I listen and read through the lyrics, I believe that this song is for ARMY. Well, in the chorus, BTS emphasizes how someone should stay gold even though its in a dream. It's like how dark and painful the world is, we should always try to get up and stay strong. 

If we connect the content of the song to the MV, I think we could see clearly how this song will be related to ARMY.

The full lyrics could be read here. I take the full-translation lyrics from Bangtan Subs.

It reminds me of I Need You MV

When I watched the MV, I can feel the I Need You vibe from Stay Gold. Either it's because I just watched I Need You MV again before watch Stay Gold, or it's just because the ambiance is very similar to I Need You. But, the main concept is the same.

In Stay Gold, all of the boys is alone in their room. The looks so depressed and lonely. But, when they are together, we can see they will full of happiness. Even though it has I Need You vibe, I could see the different between I Need You and Stay Gold. 

In I Need You, we can see that all of the boys are torn apart. The happy moment is in the past. It's not the future. In Stay Gold, that happy moment is the ending of the boys' misery.

Reference from the old MV?

Even though I said that Stay Gold gives me I Need You vibe, I noticed that most of the scene at Stay Gold is resembled to so many scene from the other MV. But, most of the scene in my opinion is resembled to Fake Love. 

As I said before, Stay Gold MV begins with a scene for every member in separate room. All of them looks very lonely and sad.

The first member that appeared is Jungkook. He walked through a corridor that of course very resembles to Fake Love scene. Here is the scene that I think very similar between Stay Gold and Fake Love.

Corridor at Stay Gold.

Corridor at Fake Love.

After walking through the corridor, then Jungkook tried to look something from the window. I don't know why, but it remind me of when Jin want to close the curtain in the Fake Love MV Extended version.

Jungkook open the curtain at Stay Gold.

Jin close the curtain at Fake Love.

In the next scene, we can see Suga who sat in the middle of the room, alone. Ahh, I forget to mention. From this scene, we can see that the house where the boys stay is like has been destroyed. A lot of broken things scattered all around the floor, every corner of the room is very dirty and dark. I wonder what's the exact meaning behind of this house. 

Then, back to Suga's scene, I think this scene is similar to the similar scene at Fake Love.

Suga sat down in his room alone at Stay Gold.

Suga sat down in his room alone at Fake Love.

After Suga, we can see Jin lay on the bed, just like what V did on On Stage: Prologue and Euphoria. In this point, I am starting to questioning, why Jin who lied there?

Jin laying down on the bed at Stay Gold.

V laying down on the bed at On Stage: Prologue

The other scene is very vague for me. I mean, I don't think there is a direct reference for RM, Jimin, V, and J-Hope scene.

But, somehow the ambiance from RM's scene makes me remember about Fake Love teaser, especially the Magic Shop part. 

Then, about Jimin's, I don't have much clue. If we talked about a bus scene, as long as I remember, the bus scene only appeared on Love Yourself Highlight Reels. Then, about how Jimin looks so uncomfortable when laying down, it reminds me of when Jin struggle with his ability to time travel in most of MV and short films.

RM scene at Stay Gold.

Jimin scene at Stay Gold.

After that, we can see V and J-Hope on different room. For this, we can see V sat down in front of the fireplace and surrounded by a lot of books. At the other hand, we can see J-Hope who sat on the kitchen. I don't have any idea which scene that resembles from those two scene.

But, if I am being honest, V's scene reminds me of his scene on Fire. Yeah, when he played the video game. It's a little bit similar but with different emotion. Then, about J-Hope and the kitchen scene, I don't think there is a kitchen scene aside from Blood, Sweat, and Tears Japanese Version. 

V in front of the fireplace at Stay Gold.

J-Hope in the kitchen at Stay Gold.

When all of the boys feel very hopeless, finally a golden sparkle appear and lead the boys to leave their room. After that, we can see the important scene from the whole MV, which is the lake of paradise. I don't know how to name that place, but it looks like a meadow in the heaven.

For me, this scene is of course reminds me of Spring Day. It's like a reminder about how every winter will pass and the spring day will come. I mean, it will be very related to the MV. 

The lake of paradise at Stay Gold.

The spring tree at Spring Day.

Why I named it as the lake of paradise, it's because of the lyrics itself. I take the translation lyrics from Bangtan Subs.

Just close your eyes 

Don’t say anything 

I’ll steal your heart 

Just like magic

I’ll show you what a miracle is (Yeah) 

Reach out that hand

This verse definitely talk about magic and miracle, which is could be relate to heaven. Just like at We are Bulletproof: The Eternal lyrics, "We got to heaven". 

Because in the beginning of this MV I said that this song is dedicated to ARMY. So, I believe that golden sparkle will lead BTS to ARMY. You can see there are a lot f purple flower there. I don't know whether the sparkle itself represented ARMY or not, but whatever it is, that sparkle lift up BTS from the darkest place.

Conclusion

Even though this MV is noat part of Bangtan Universe, I believe there are a lot of reference from the old MV. Then, I believe too that there are a lot of hidden meaning for every scene. Even though I said that this MV has I Need You vibe but with happy ending, I ain't 100% sure, tho. I assumed that it has happy ending because the golden sparkle can going through all over the place in that crumble house.

Morever, there is a scene when V touch the tree in the lake of paradise and the golden sparkle started to spread everywhere. Therefore, I come into conclusion that this MV has a happy ending.

Well, because I haven't being a dedicated ARMY who can decipher all of the scene from the MV, I just can share what I saw and what I feel when watch it. But, maybe you have another perspective regarding this MV? Lemme know about it.

Sincerely,

Ra

Hi, there!

I think, this is the first time I made an actual Music Video review in this blog. Today, I would like to discuss about  '대취타' (Daechwita) by Agust D. As we know, Agust D is another persona from Suga BTS. Well, I have to admit that BTS is a new thing for me. I've just fell into the rabbit hole since February. So, everything is kind of a new journey for me.

Sumber: Twitter/Big Hit, edited by me

At first, I thought that my bias would be Jungkook. I mean, I interest with his quirkiness, but then, after watching a lot of BTS' content, I am captivated to Suga and choose him as my bias. 

The Mysterious teaser

Recently, Big Hit dropped a mysterious teaser with the black and white image with countdown in the middle of it. No one knows exactly what's the meaning behind of it. Some of it thinks that it would be the announcement of Muster or Bangbang Con. Then, when the image getting a little bit clearer, more speculation were arising from the possibility of Agust D 2 and JJK 1. 

Sumber: Big Hit

Realizing what's happening, I thought that it would be impossible for Agust D 2 will come out soon. Three weeks ago, Suga held his weekly radio streaming via VLive, DJ Suga's Honey FM 06.13 with RM #0613FM_0502. He was asked by fans about the continuation of Agust D. 

RM: (reading fans comment) When Will Agust D2 be out? It's not fixed as the title, is it?

Suga: It can be released only when it's finished.

RM: Right. He's working on it.

Suga: I've been working on it. Talking about some related stories... It was supposed to be released around September last year... Please don't wait for it, forget about it for a while... What I can tell you now is, that the music will not be released anytime soon. Not close at all.

RM: Not close?

Suga: Not today or tomorrow. Please wait for a while and I'll come back with good music.

After streaming that radio, I believe that Suga's word is true. So, I tried to push my imagination that the mysterious teaser will related to Agust D 2.

But then, some people has found out that the Agust D's photo profile at Apple Music has changed and resembled a lot with the mysterious teaser. So, me is starting to learn that #AgustD2iscoming. For real.

Anyway, when this thing trended at Twitter, I noticed another trending along with #AgustD2iscoming. It was All Man do is a Lie. This word trending because of the fact that Agust D2 is literally coming and when at some point Suga ever lied about BTS' come back date. That's how that sentence related to Suga.

D-2 is Out

Today, on 04.00 PM UTC+7, I checked my Twitter and found out that Agust D is literally out. I was very speechless and couldn't do anything. So, after telling Zis about this and nearly borrow her Apple Music ID, I try to calm my self down. Then, I tried to search in Spotify and found out the entire album.

After that, I realized that it should be an MV for this mixtape and I was really surprised when Zis told me there's a real MV has dropped at the same time. One word for the MV is incredible.

Maybe, I will babbling a lot for this part. So, please bear with it.

The lead single for the D-2 album is '대취타' (Daechwita). The MV is ridiculous and interesting. 

To be honest, I don't know how to start this review. I got a lot of things going on my mind.

All right. Let me tried to explain about the title first. Since the title is in Korean, I tried to Google it before I watched the MV. In case I need some basic knowledge regarding what will happened--even though I am still not ready to watch it, tho.

Based on Wikipedia, Daechwita means a genre of Korean traditional music consisting of military music played by wind and percussion instrument. After reading this, I know what could I expect. Traditional vibe in the MV?--anyway, I have listened to the song before watched the MV.

The Incredible MV

According to Yoongi's interview with TIME, the theme Daechwita was already in his mind from the beginning. So, he sampled the sound of the real Daechwita. The first thought, he wanted to sample the music that is played during the ceremonial walk of the King. Naturally, those elements ended up being the essential component to the track as well as the music video.

The MV is starting with Yoongi with his King's clothes. You can see the throne and his traditional outfit. Not to mention about his long-blonde hair. Stand up from his throne, he walked with much of confidence and goes to the Palace's courtyard. Then, you can see a lot of dead bodies lying there.

Sumber: Big Hit

After that, we can look another Yoongi's persona is walking down around the village. Why I said another Yoongi's persona? Because I could see that Yoongi with the King clothes and the one who walked in the village has different vibe. I don't know which one is Agust D or Suga or Yoongi. So, I will named them as Yoongi the King and Yoongi the boss.

He just passing by while rapping his verse. I like these market scene, tho. It's literally remind me of the Korean Drama Jewel in the Palace. They looks so authentic and you can find Jin and Jungkook being the cameo. 

In another place, Yoongi the king come down to the courtyard. He is surrounding by a lot of people who is kneeling down to him. I am not sure whether those people is alive or dead. But, I could tell that the are kneeling as if they are afraid to stand up against Yoongi.

The scene back to Yoongi the boss. He and his gang looks like preparing to do something. I can feel that he wants to confront something or maybe someone. 

Meanwhile, Yoongi the king still continue to wonder around the courtyard. Here is the interesting lyrics from this scene.

Who's the king, who's the boss

You all know my name

Off their heads

At this point, I know that this song is dissing someone. I believe this song is also for haters--just like Agust D mixtape in 2016. But, I sense that there will be something more than dissing haters.

Sumber:Big Hit

Next, we can see Yoongi the King stand up in the balcony. He is looking for the execution tradition in the courtyard. I tried to look more about this tradition, but I just couldn't find more about this reference. I mean, I never trust Wikipedia for this kind of thing and another source that I know is from Twitter. Like, seriously?

Then, I tried again and found an article from Gwangju News. I don't know whether this is the right reference or not, but the corporal punishment happened to be during the Joseon Dynasty.  One of types of punishment form this era is the death penalty with beheading the guilty one.

In the MV, you could see that the executor is beheading someone and saved the head into the wooden box. As you can see in the first courtyard scene, there are a wooden box beside each of the dead body. So, you can assume that all of them is person that has be punished by Yoongi the king.

After that, Yoongi the boss arrived at the palace and Yoongi the king could sense it. Both of them are smirking to each other. At this point, I don't what I could expect from the story.

The next scene is when Yoongi the boss rapping again. In this scene, you can see the sketch of Bang PD that mentioned by Yoongi.

Woo, who says time is money

My time is worth more than that

The lyrics is very strong and you just can't skip the "I'm so thankful I'm a genius" part. 

I don't know what's happening but seems like Yoongi the boss has been caught by the Yoongi the king's guard. He is tied and starting to rap with a slow-paced. 

I got everything I wanted, what more'll make me feel contented

I wanted clothes clothes, then money money, then goal goal, now what's next

Yeah what's next, here come my reality check there's nowhere higher

I only locked up and now I want to look down and put my feet on the ground

I am king, I'm a boss

Remember my name

All shit-talk they got no game

Off with their heads

Sumber: Big Hit

Then, you can see that Yoongi the boss is blindfolded and being dragged to the Palace' courtyard. To be honest, I wonder what's Yoongi's fault here? Insulting the king or what?  

The climax from this MV happened when the executor is starting his ritual to beheaded Yoongi the boss. Yoongi itself, is starting to head-banging and followed by all of the people in the courtyard. Who are they? I really don't have any idea, to be honest.

At the other hand, Yoongi the king only watch and smirk I guess. When the music is stopped, you can see that the executor has swung his sword to the Yoongi the boss. Is he dead?

Fortunately, he isn't. The executor handed the gun to Yoongi the boss. Then, Yoongi started to walk toward Yoongi the king and... you know what will happened next, right?

Is this a duality of persona?

Sumber: Big HIt

I believe that both of Yoongi the king and Yoongi the boss is representing something. Whether it will be Suga, Agust D, or Yoongi persona, or anything else. But I believe that they are the same person. 

I know that there are a lot of things happened in the MV and I believed that I know nothing about it. I will wait for the explanation video from my favorite Youtuber for this one. 

As for me, I think this song is kind of dissing haters and maybe a revelation of the life goals of Yoongi as an artist. I don't know if I make any sense or not, but I think that this song is so much more about dissing hatters.

Even though I have a lot of to say, I just couldn't write it one by one right away. Just like Jimin ever said, it's like there's a hole in my head. So much to take and I don't know how to express it.

Conclusion

This MV is absolutely incredible. The song is very lively and catchy. I think, I'll do the mixtape review for D-2. I don't know when will I post it, but I'll try to make it one.

Anyway, I love all of the songs from this mixtape. Agust D 2 is very iconic and worth to wait. 

Thank you, Yoongi!

Sincerely, 

Ra