Day 44: Spring Day - BTS

Song: Spring Day
Artist: BTS
Feb 13

February has not been kind to me. I somehow managed to get the stomach flu out of the blue and I'm fairly certain I've lost at least 15 lbs in the last 24 hours. Needless to say I just want comfort and for this evil month to end already. 

I want to take a moment here to mention that "Spring Day" has never left the charts since its release 2 years ago today (Feb 13th, 2017). It won the Song of the Year (MMA) and Music Video of the Year(MAMA) respectively. "Spring Day" and its MV are believed to be referencing the Sewol Ferry Disaster that resulted in the casualty of 304 people, the majority of whom were high school students. You can read about the incident and BTS' relation here. The father of one of the victims spoke out saying:

 "Without anyone knowing, BTS quietly visited our kids through their song and video. They delivered their unforgotten hearts. Yae Eun would've liked it a lot too..."

A strong yet melancholy piano under a dizzying synth start "Spring Day" off ironically sounding more like winter. I do have to admit that the absolutely stunning MV for "Spring Day" has forever made the intro include the train sound effect in my head. A slight crescendo drops us right into the lap of RM who kicks off the vocals. The instrumentals also take a different shape becoming upbeat but still maintaining the somber tone. I love the tonal shift we get in Joon's vocals as he starts out singing and then transitions into a gently percussive rap. It feels like you are hearing the two different sides of a person. Jimin leads us away towards the chorus. The chorus is really interesting to me as it sounds like a conversation (even more so when we get to the lyric breakdown) between Jungkook and Tae. Usually BTS will rotate the front singers of the chorus or even given a bit of variety to it but in the case of "Spring Day" they stick with Tae and Kook. I am not complaining as I love the way their voices compliment each other and I know full well that a subunit featuring the pair is about as likely as the sun rising in the West, so I will take whatever I can get. Suga's rap verse is introspective and aggressive. It feels defensive, like he is protecting himself. It's Jin's turn to lead us to the chorus repeating our conversation from before and continuing it with Tae's deep honey vocal. Honestly, this is my favorite moment of the entire song. The soft almost muted instrumentals under the dark vocals of Tae raise goosebumps as Jungkook's bright vocal responds. It sounds like a tender reunion, reassuring and hopeful. I do have to note that despite the fact that he doesn't actually have any solo lines (a tragedy if you ask me), J-hope is the backing vocal you hear in all the choruses and the final verse. During the live performances of the song J-hope sings the intro before RM starts rapping  and the bridge between the first chorus and Suga's rap verse. 

As we venture into our lyric section there is a definite undertone that reads as grief, however, I also believe it to be more about missing someone in general than opposed to specifically death. RM has said that when writing the lyrics for "Spring Day" he was thinking about his old friends. Life has a tendency to cause people to drift apart and I think that "Spring Day" captures that feeling along with so many others, which is quite honestly why this song is so relatable to so many people.

"I miss you
When I say that, I miss you more
I'm looking at your photo
But I still miss you
Time is so cruel
I hate us
Now it's hard to even see each other's faces"

Despite the obvious first way you can take the song, a breakup or long distance relationship, I personally do not think of "Spring Day" in that way. I think of it as friendship, especially considering how many times the specific word friend is brought up in the lyrics. That being said, when I read this first verse I think about that you just grow apart from certain friendships. I believe we have two major categories of friendship. We have our life long friends, the ones that we will have with us at each milestone in our lives and then we have our growth friends, the friends that we find at the right moment in our life that either help us to grow or serve a purpose in helping to guide you on your path. The growth friends can sometimes travel into the lifetime friend category, however, for the most part they are the friends that will drift away as your need for them or theirs for you isn't necessary anymore. I don't mean for that to sound so cold, as if we are just using someone and then toss them to the curb. Drifting apart from a growth friend is really hard; at one point in your life they were so important to you and then suddenly all you have are memories.

"Did you change?
(Did you change?)

Or did I change?
(or did I change?)
I hate even this moment that is passing
I guess we changed
I guess that's how everything is"

We are constantly changing as people, our relationships change with each phase of our life. I am not the same person I was yesterday, nor are you. Sometimes it is just the dynamic in a friendship or relationship that will change, it may be time or location playing a role (you no longer have the freedom to see each other at leisure) and other times your interests no longer align. That doesn't stop us from trying to hold onto something we weren't meant to have forever. 

These next lyrics I am going to show the conversation I was talking about earlier. I am going to focus on conversation number two.

Jungkook:
"Snowflakes are falling
Getting farther away
I miss you (I miss you)
I miss you (I miss you)

Tae:
"How much more do I have to wait
How many more nights do I have to stay up
Until I can see you? (Until I can see you?)
Until I can meet you? (Until I can meet you?)

You know it all
You're my best friend 

This morning will come again"

Jungkook:
"Because no darkness,
No season
Can last forever"

Unlike our previous verses this sounds like a conversation between two best friends eager to reconnect, despite life separating them. They miss each other and want to see each other. There is a comforting and hopeful notion in the fact that this rough patch in the friendship or separation I suppose will end and the good times will come again. This is also a comforting lyric regardless of what you are going through in life. The dark times will past and the sun will rise again.

Lyric that attacked me:
"The morning will come again
Because no darkness,
No season
Can last forever"

Song Color: Billowy Aquamarine

Mood: Introspective comfort