Storytelling in SPRING DAY by BTS
In one of his most hopeful works, Percy Bysshe Shelley, gave winters and spring a new meaning – he wrote, “If winter comes, can SPRING be far behind?” Little did he know that 198 years later after writing this piece of poetry, a Korean band by the name of BTS will forever re-ignite the emotions of winter and thus SPRING in their song SPRING DAY.
Miss You, they say in the first line, and make us wonder of our unrequited loves and losses in the very next line – Miss you, saying this makes me miss you even more.
Throughout the lyrics of the song, there is something that caught my eye. Each emotion in the song relates to a season or weather. Winter marking the cruelest of all, and rightly so, there is no vegetation in winter, forever in literature and poetry winter is seen as the harbinger of news that leaves a sorrowful after-taste. The opening line of verse 2 – it’s all winter here, even in August – epitomizes it. The band is not afraid to even reference a pop-culture English language Korean movie Snowpiercer; meaning that RM has already entered Ice-Age and survived it like in the movie and is aboard a train where it is forever difficult for him to find someone who can relate to the emotions he is feeling. And before the verse ends, BTS with their masterful poetry remind us of their inspirations for the lyrics from Shelley singing – wanna put an end to this winter, to have the days of spring, friend. The usage of word friend here is layered. Is he longing for a friendship that is lost and unrecoverable or he is talking about his tale of loneliness and longing in love to a friend. See as you may, interpret friend as you may, the way you interpret the genius of the word friend here will depict the perspective you hear this song from.
The thematic color grading of the music video helps establishing the mood perfectly. All the scenes where the lyrics replicate the emotions of longing through winter, we see a cold, almost an indifferent color pallet. And right at the beginning of verse three, the color pallet changes to a shade of warm yellow giving us a feeling of warmth even in the times of winter distress. Lyrically as well, the reference of tiny dust floating faster than a human can ever represents an uneasy chase with which the song wants us to rekindle our hope to chase which was once lost. The only scene in the video which lacks symbolism with weather is the one with Ferris Wheel where the lyrics talk about snowflakes falling down. But that scene too with all its flaws contrasts very well with the next, a lone man walking on the snow covered railway tracks.
Trains too work in great effect to represent the symbolic journey from losing someone, to reminiscing about someone, to bridging the gap and being with that someone again. The pre-chorus and chorus refresh belief and hope in the listeners, re-affirming to them that the wait however long for the loved ones too shall pass eventually – passing by the edge of winter until the days of spring, until the flower blossoms – flower too is a metaphor, which flower are the BTS talking about, is it the same flower they are missing since the start of the song, or that old flower is buried deep in the winter laden snow covered land and new fresh flower will emerge, a new flower that will bring the morose and forsaken heart back to life. And by the Verse five it becomes clear that the flower of past, the lover who changed and then left will soon be forgotten however hard the process to forget be. But like always in love, the lyrics make you second guess your emotions about love – do you want to let go just yet – I say I’ll erase you but I can’t really let you go yet – the lyrics which once were inspiring you to wait for a new flower now make you completely dismiss the idea when Jungkook in pre-chorus again reminds you of the duplicity of heart questioning – how long do I have to wait, and how many sleepless nights do I have to spend, to see you, to meet you – the lyrics not only showcase the methods of a heartbreak but remind you that perhaps forgetting a loved one and starting with a clean slate may not be as easy as spring coming after winters. For love is eternal, even if it was meant to last for a day. Love, like seasons is not that easy to come and go. The morning will come again; no darkness, no season is eternal.
The song and lyrics embody the mind racing in two different directions and the heart unable to decide whether to hold on to the forbidden lost love or to seek pastures new since – maybe it’s cherry blossoms and this winter will be over.
There is another great imagery of the shoes hanging by the tree branch without any leaves. The visuals represent that after all the distress and the song of sadness the winter has finally passed, and autumn is there where the trees have shed their leaves. The shoes, whose hanging shoes are these? I reckon these are the shoes which comforted us during the winter. And come spring, we will be ready with a new pair of shoes in our feet, with a new hope in our heart, and a new love to blossom in our life.
