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[sommniac]

a theory about ‘deja vu’ by dreamcatcher

I first heard of Dreamcatcher in 2019 after the release of Piri. I’ve always been an avid fan of rock music and was intrigued by a girl group that had a discography renown for that very genre. It wasn’t hard for me to fall in love with them. My first regular (read: non-Japanese) comeback with them was Deja Vu. Unfortunately, it would also be Handong’s last comeback until this year. In honor of her return and her birthday, I have decided to honor Deja Vu with a theory that I’ve been sitting on for the last two years.

My theory is heavily based on the Dreamcatcher cinematic universe so I’ll go over it quickly for those who are unfamiliar. The girls all used to attend a boarding school but, one day, Jiu found a spider in the woods and captured it. The other girls, namely Yoohyeon, tormented the poor creature. And then odd things started happening. The spider turned out to be a witch who transported them into a sort of parallel universe where they existed on the physical plane as ghosts only. They all escaped when they stole a book from a ghost hunter and trapped him in the other world in their stead. Alas, their freedom was short lived as the witch hunted them down. To escape, they had to sacrifice and abandon one girl: Yoohyeon. She then haunted them through their nightmares, possessed by the spirit of the witch.

Deja Vu is a peek into her head. 

Note: Every single gif is from @7nsomnia at https://7nsomnia.tumblr.com/tagged/mv%3A+deja+vu. She has a lot of really good dreamcatcher mv gifs and I would highly recommend checking her out :)

The music video open with Yoohyeon approaching a dais and the throne atop it. She sits down and closes her eyes, allowing thick black smoke to entirely engulf her. This represents her entering the mindscape we’re about to view.

The following lyrics match the idea I presented in my intro: that Yoohyeon is hurt because of her friends’ betrayals. “Far away through the dense fog / The far path I departed on only left hurtful marks / Even as I try to grasp the ends of the dream eventually, longer and longer, / I fall asleep in a deep silence.” In the context of this video, these words seem to describe Yoohyeon’s initial reaction to being abandoned. She’s just sad and confused, trying to process her newfound loneliness in this “dense fog.” She’s starting the deja vu process, reliving the pain that initially plagued her. We get a visual depiction of this in the next scene.

Yoohyeon seems to see Jiu as a symbol of her betrayal and the blonde girl appears multiple times in this way. This is likely due to her blaming Jiu for catching the spider that cursed them. In this scene, we witness Yoohyeon lying on the floor, staring at Jiu who’s leveling a sword at her. In Yoohyeon’s eyes, we see nothing but confusion and sadness as one of her closest friends so brazenly double crosses her. Once again, the lyrics reflect Yoohyeon’s emotions. She laments that “It grows more painful every day,” lending credence to the theory that everything she’s witnessing is repetitive, part of a groundhog’s day type loop.

The betrayal scene is broken up by a recreation of the last supper, the girls all standing at a table filled with food. Jiu stands next to Yoohyeon, just as Judas sat next to Jesus.

Between this moment and the next chorus, the lyrics only further develop this regret and sadness. “Oh Deja Vu Oh Deja Vu Oh Deja Vu” kicks off the chorus, the repetition of the words “Deja Vu” reinforcing the idea that this is happening over and over again. The rest of the chorus is filled with pain and a desire for change to what had previously happened. The next verse elaborates on this further: “I want these moments to all be false / I hope these are passing delusions / If through wet tears, / through belated regrets / If only I could return, return yeah.”

Again, at the start of the prechorus, Jiu raises her rapier to point at Yoohyeon over the same lyrics. However, there are some very noticeable deviations from the first time. It can be assumed that this betrayal is taking place numerous cycles later as the castle is comparatively decrepit. Banners are stripped from the rods they hung from, the window behind them has been entirely removed, columns are collapsed, and vines twist over the dais, reclaiming the now defunct palace for nature. Looking to the girls themselves, the differences are even more prominent.

For starters, the two have switched places. Where Yoohyeon once laid, Jiu stands in a fluffy, light pink gown. A flower crown adorns her curls. This is a stark difference from her all black dress in the first cycle. Yoohyeon has changed even more. She now dons the black outfit Jiu had forgone, replacing her pure white ballgown. Her crown is gone and she no longer cowers on the floor. Instead she kneels, back straight, gaze unwavering. She is no longer afraid of betrayal, instead expecting it and facing it head on.

Yoohyeon is encircled by her friends, looking around in what seems to be confusion. They all stare at her coldly and fade in and out of existence, implying one of two things. One, that she sees them when they aren’t really there. Two, she’s actually watching them appear and disappear and this represents how she saw them all abandon her repeatedly. Both of these interpretations connect to my theory, that she’s in a mindscape created by the spider witch and she is hallucinating everything happening: her friends abandonment of her over and over and over again.

Yoohyeon lies in a coffin lined with blue roses at Jiu points her sword at her. Then, the roles are reversed and Jiu is the one lying in the coffin with Yoohyeon leveling the rapier. Blue roses have several meanings, including unattainableness and manipulation. In this scenario, they could be referencing how Yoohyeon is being manipulated by the spider witch into believing she could never amicably reunite with her friends. Instead, she must kill them for revenge. This position change references something later in the video (I’ll explain further once we get there). It shows Yoohyeon taking the power from Jiu, becoming the antagonist rather than the victim. No longer is Jiu the one who betrays Yoohyeon, instead Yoohyeon is crossing her before she has the chance.

Once again, we watch all of Yoohyeon’s friends vanish. It’s a cruel reminder that she’s all alone.

This scene offers a continuation of the second chorus. Jiu releases her sword, letting it clatter on the floor, handle pointed to Yoohyeon. She then turns and runs, seemingly afraid of Yoohyeon. And not for no reason. The other girl immediately snatches it up and chases after Jiu, seemingly intent on killing. This is where the coffin scene sees relevance once again as the roles reverse. The naive, scared girl that Yoohyeon once was has been replaced by a cold hearted ruthless queen.

At the end, we get to see what the world really looks like. As Yoohyeon has been trapped in her own mind, reliving the same moment over and over again, the once beautiful castle around her has crumbled to nothingness, time eroding every inch of it until there was nothin left. And Yoohyeon sits above it all, queen of destruction and rubble.

But despite the ruins, Yoohyeon sees none of it. The video ends with her sitting on her throne in a mostly intact palace, implying that she is still trapped in that mindscape that has tortured her so, suffering from eternal deja vu.

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Happy Birthday Dongie!!! I love you sm and I’m so glad you’re back and I’m ecstatic you can celebrate your birthday with your members again!!!!!!!!!! <3

#dreamcatcher #deja vu #dreamcatcher kpop #yoohyeon #jiu #happy birthday handong #ily #i am never setting a deadline again this was so stressful #who decided to add a picture limit to tumblr #that one gif of the girls disappearing and reappearing around yoohyeon refuses to work and i dont know why

[sommniac]

a minisode: the use of shouting in ‘side effects’ by stray kids

In a post coming soon, I evaluate a kpop song that executes yelling improperly (it’ll make more sense if you read it) and contrast it with music that does do it correctly. One song I use for comparison is Stray Kids’s Side Effects because of the brilliant way it uses shouting.

I decided to release this specific post on their birthday as a sort of anniversary celebration. I should note I don’t actually stan them, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate their music, especially since it’s so good.

I first heard of Side Effects when I watched Cameron’s Philip’s dubbed version of the music video. The snippets of the song that I heard intrigued me and so I listened to the whole thing... And absolutely hated it. It was too loud. But then, I decided to give it another shot. And another. And one more. Ok, maybe two more. Eventually, Side Effects became one of my most listened to kpop songs of 2019. Reading the lyrics only heightened my love and appreciation.

They also gave me an epiphany. I realized that the yelling in the chorus sounded a lot like they were screaming “Ow!” in pain and thought it was just a coincidence. But the more I thought about, the more I realized it was probably entirely intentional.

For reference, Side Effects is about regret, uncertainty, and anxiety. The title refers to the side effects of these emotions. At the end of the prechorus, the members hit their heads three times and says “my head hurts.” In the chorus itself, an unknown voice lists all the side effects and as Stray Kids scream in what appears to be agony. The shouts start off relatively simple with a short “Ow!” but that mild intensity quickly ramps up and, by the end, the vocalist is practically howling in pain.

As I’ll note in my upcoming post, effective shouting in music must have contrast (between the basey instrumental and the higher pitched shrieks) and vocal power (which Stray Kids has no dearth of). With these two factors mastered, Side Effects is already good. But the intention in the shouting really elevates it to great.

What I truly adore about the yelling in this instance is the dual purpose. Not only do these adlibs hype up an exciting song, increasing its impact, it also contains meaning within the context of the music. Function and fashion are both taken into consideration, creating perfection.

I’m not sure how well I communicated my love for this song and, specifically, the yelling in it but it truly is all so fantastic I just wanted to put out a little appreciation post for it. Oh, also:

Happy Birthday Stray Kids! The artistry of your music is beyond impressive and I really appreciate all the work and heart you pour into it :)

Update: It’s 2022 and I’m a stay again. I feel like 2018 me all over again and it’s great

#skz #stray kids #side effects #kpop #lyrics #appreciation post #analysis #kpop bg #i have no clue how to tag stuff help me #happy birthday stray kids

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[sommniac]

correcting misinformation regarding bts

I watched affectaed’s video the mistreatment of bts and was appalled by the misinformation in it. I posted a comment on the video but I also understand that a lot of baby armys have similar misconceptions, so I thought posting this on tumblr could gain more traction.

When I first got into BTS about three years ago, I found myself ensnared by a ridiculous amount of falsehoods and presented those lies as facts to others. I know that this experience is common and I just want to help others avoid this struggle. The source linked in the video’s description does not cover all the information in this video so I cannot verify credibility but a twitter thread is not exactly the pinnacle of ethos. I try to be as factual as possible by linking all my sources but even then I might get some things wrong here. Please do not hesitate to correct me.

Please do not send this video or this creator any sort of hate, mistakes happen and I highly doubt they had any sort of malicious intent.

All links are integrated into the text (ex: click “friend,” “former employee,” “Park Jinyoung, the head of the Big 3 company JYP Entertainment,” or “JYP even loaned artists for Big Hit to comanage like 2 AM to help them get on their feet” in the first paragraph for sources)

"Big Hit wasn't a large company with great connections"

This is partially untrue as, at the time of Big Hit’s founding, Big Hit's CEO and founder Bang Sihyuk was a friend, former employee, and former roommate of Park Jinyoung, the head of the Big 3 company JYP Entertainment. JYP even loaned artists for Big Hit to comanage like 2 AM to help them get on their feet. So although the company was small, they did have rather large connections. 

Trigger warning for the next point: Mentions of r*pe, domestic abuse, and racism. The link to Fxxk You contains disturbing video and lyric content. Viewer discretion is highly advised.

"Their music bashed so many different forms of society and they were trying to thrive with that raw meaning in their music in an industry that was incredibly superficial."

Although partially true, this is a blanket statement clearly intended to discredit and dismiss the Kpop industry as a whole. The generalization renders this entire claim false. Even though they were the minority, many artists did create music with an important message. Back in the 90's, Seo Taiji and the Boys, the first kpop artist, wrote a multitude of socially critical songs like Come Back Home and Classroom Ideas, both of which went on to be covered by BTS. Gain, a member of Brown Eyed Girls, the oldest still active girl group, released Fxxk You, a song addressing rape and domestic abuse, just months after BTS's debut. Yoon Mirae, a rapper RM collaborated with on the song Bucku Bucku, discussed racism on Black Happiness all the way back in 2007. And those are just a few examples. While BTS is absolutely one of the larger artists that brought attention to important issues, they were not the first. 

This is a point regarding the graphic of the music chart at 1:17 (shown below)

It may not have been intentional, but showing this 2015 chart is a bit manipulative considering it was surrounded by details from 2013. I will, however, note that this achievement was still quite impressive considering BTS is one of just two non Big 3 artists on that list.

"BTS were nominated for Rookie of the Year at MNet Asian Music Awards. However, even though they were the best-selling rookie group of that year, MNet refused to give them that award"

Sales success does not automatically entitle an artist to a win. In contrast, BTS won Artist of the Year in 2016 despite EXO having over 600,000 more album sales. To claim BTS deserved to win Rookie of the Year and Artist of the Year would be hypocritical based off of this sales criteria.

“In 2014, a year after BTS debuted, they attended their first real variety show.”

Ignoring the descriptor of a “real” variety show because who can really define a variety show as being “real,” BTS appeared on After School Club on September 25, 2013, over half a year before they attended MNET Beatles Code 3D (the shown variety show). In fact, they appeared on ASC twice before the Beatles Code 3D episode aired (not including Jimin and RM’s appearances the day after the airing).

“BTS won their first Grand Prize award at the 2017 M-net Asian Music Awards”

 This is completely, blatantly false. BTS won their first Grand Prize, better known as a Daesang, in 2016 at MMA for Album of the Year for their album HYYH: Young Forever.

”As the industry came to realize that there was no stopping BTS, a lot of agencies tried to buy them from Big Hit Entertainment.”

I do not actually know if this is wrong because I’m having a lot of trouble finding any sources for this claim.

”SM Entertainment bought the boy group Infinite as soon as they started to become a threat to their boy group EXO.”

SM did not buy Infinite, they merged with Infinite’s company Woollim.

”The Kpop industry had no part in BTS’s success considering how they were the ones trying so hard to shut them out.”

The words “no part” render this statement entirely false. I find it appalling that, so quickly after (rightfully) bashing SM for reducing the KPop industry to a series of generalizations, this video turns around and generalizes the Kpop industry as hungrily claiming credit for BTS based on Lee Sooman’s comments. That is textbook hypocrisy. Additionally, it is outright false. Yes, the industry did significantly hinder BTS’s success, but it did not have “no part” in BTS’s rise. A majority of BTS’s original fans, the ones who got the group off the ground, were established Kpop stans and products of the industry that supposedly did nothing for them. More than that, BTS was on award shows early in their career when most artists never get to perform at any award shows. They performed at 2013 MMA mere months after debut. They even had a massive collaboration stage with Block B, a huge group (who were friends with RM predebut), in 2015. More than that, BTS won several best new artist/rookie of the year awards in their very first year. That’s more than countless other artists receive in their entire lives.  So even though the industry wasn’t exactly kind to BTS, they absolutely played a part in their success by granting them a platform on some of the biggest stages in Kpop exceptionally soon after debut when considering their company’s small size.

Not all of the information in this video is incorrect but there are some egregious errors that undermine the point of this video which is that BTS suffered a lot on their rise to the top. Which is true. BTS has the most incredible underdog story in KPop. They are my role models and have gotten me through the toughest moments in my life for years. But that doesn’t mean we can just invent struggles, not when they had so many legitimate ones. In 2016 alone, there was EXOLs mass petitioning that took down the Blue House website after BTS’s MMA win; there was the Black Wave at MMA and GDA; and then there was the infamous May “Terror” Month. All of these moments were results of targeted harassment (although there is some debate over what really happened at GDA) and are entirely factual. 

#bts #btsarmy #misinformation #correction #bighit #bang sihyuk #seo taiji #brown eyed girls gain #yoon mirae #bts mma #bts gda #bts mama #tw r*pe #tw domestic abuse #tw abuse #tw racism #idk how to tag pls lmk if i did something wrong #excessive link integration

[sommniac]

breaking down "life sucks” by ha:tfelt

Life Sucks by Ha:tfelt (real name: Park Yeeun, nickname: Yenny) is an underrated masterpiece. I loved Pluhmm but this song is the one that really drew me in. One thing that I adore is how the music video pairs with the song to create a vivid image of Yenny’s mindset during this period of suffering.

To kick everything off, I need to explain what the general song is about. Life Sucks is Yenny speaking out about her father who abandoned her family when she was a child and wormed his way back into her life for money once she got famous. She cut him off repeatedly, but felt guilty because he was still her family so she would always let him back in. Then he was caught soliciting fake donations from the church he was the pastor of and using her name and fame to gain his victims’ trust. He claimed she was an accomplice in all of this, even though she was entirely innocent. Although her public comments were minimal, she was emotionally distraught and later admitted to being depressed and suicidal during this period and its aftermath. Luckily, she found the strength to pull herself out of the darkness and released this song dedicated to the pain she’d undergone at her father’s hands.

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Note: All of the analysis below is my own interpretation and should not necessarily be regarded as fact.

Trigger Warnings: Suicidal thoughts, self hatred, and homicidal thoughts

Yenny begins the music video on the floor, in a room covered in plastic, cloth draping, and newspaper articles. Curled into an almost fetal position, she rocks back and forth with blood dripping from her hands and dress, pooling beneath her. At her feet are a broken mirror displaying the fragments of a warped reflection and a knife, close enough to grab. Scattered through the room are red shoes, matching the blood splattered against the walls.

The room itself likely represents her own head, covered in reminders of her father and herself and everything the media has collected about their (alleged) wrongdoings. Everything is sterile and white except for the darkness of her blood and hair which pierce through the cleanliness of it all. The color and size of the chamber and somewhat reminiscent of a padded cell, implying that she is trapped in her own mind where no one can ever hear or see her suffering in silence. She slowly lifts her head up to directly face the camera, blood smeared across her face in an acknowledgement of the eyes on her.

For the first time in my 29 years Daddy sent me a letter Never knew how wack his handwriting was I guess I should've known better

This part is depicting Yenny reconnecting with her father for the first time since her parents’ divorce. Although its meaning seems relatively simple on a surface level, there’s an interesting note about how she didn’t know “how wack his handwriting was,” implying that in her whole 29 years of living, she had never once seen his handwriting. It really goes to show how estranged they were from one another.

In the music video, her back is to the articles, all talking about what’ll happen to her and her eyes are blindfolded, insinuating she was naive and blind to what was going to happen in the near future.

That's why mine is so ugly too That's why mine is so ugly too For the first time in my 29 years Daddy wrote me a letter

These lines are far more tragic. As you’ll come to see, a recurring theme throughout the song will be Yenny noting her similarities to her father in a defeated sort of way and that is visible here as well where she repeats “that’s why mine [handwriting] is so ugly too.” She’s acknowledging that he and her are closer than she would like and this little mention here devolves into deeper, more scathing self hatred later on. 

How's your mom? How's your sis? I really miss ya But you better not come here I'm sorry, but don't you worry 'Cause I'm prayin' for your health and future

Like the snake he is, Yenny’s father returns to her life in a trojan horse constructed of pleasantries and false pretenses. He pretends he just wants to reconnect with his daughter, claiming that he “really miss”es her and is “sorry” but, as we see in the next verse, he only wants something from her, namely money. He doesn’t actually care about her as he claims to.

In the video, Yenny sits on a bed, dragging the knife from the first scene across the mattress before lifting it up to survey. Perhaps too obviously, it appears she’s looking at the knife that will metaphorically stab her in the back, examining his claims with hindsight she couldn’t access before.

Oh dear, sweetheart Things have gone a little south My girl, need your help Could you bail me out

This is where we see his true intentions. The attempts at rebuilding the father-daughter relationship that he so selfishly destroyed were, all along, just efforts to coerce her into giving him her hard won money. The word choice of “bail me out” is especially apt considering what he needed that money for.

The video depicts her singing from behind a piece of plastic that’s obscuring her face for the first line of the verse, representing how her vision still was not clear. It is only when he begged her to bail him out that she stepped out from behind the distortion and finally understood his true intentions.

Life sucks for everybody (No need to cry, no no no) Life sucks for everybody (Act like no child, no no no) I'm just survivin' everyday Right at the edge of losing my mind Life sucks for everybody Just let me find peace of mind

The lyrics for the chorus are pretty plain in their meaning. It’s an explicit expression of vitriol toward the world and her father. At first, Yenny’s words seem almost comforting, telling the listener that life sucks and they don’t need to cry because she understands them. But then she sings “act like no child” and it becomes clear she’s speaking to herself with a sort of spite, ordering herself not to cry. And it’s really really sad to hear. It’s voices in her head whispering to her to not cry like a child. That’s why she’s “right at the edge of losing [her] mind” and why she’s begging the voices to “just let [her] find peace of mind.”

The newspaper articles around her are the physical manifestations of these voices, surrounding her and caging her in accusations and hatred. There are flashes of her with the knife and the blindfold before entering into the chorus and each of them mean different things. The first shot is a look to the future where Yenny is more closely scrutinizing the knife now that she knows what it’ll do to her. The second shot is set in the past, where she is boxed in by the fabric and plastic on either side of her and her blindfold is still on, blinding her to the lie her father has trapped her in. The rest of the chorus is dedicated to shots of her singing in the room, nothing extraordinary to point out.

If only I could go back and tell myself "Don't you trust him, he already hurt you" When you cried on your knees Showing some regrets Wish I could've known better

People don't change so easily, nah People can't change that easily If only you meant all you told me that night But, guess I'd better blame myself

Here, she’s speaking from the future, cursing her naive past self for being so foolish as to believe her father, considering their history. She wishes she hadn’t been so eager to assume that he’d changed from the man he was when he left her family.

The video shows her shining a flashlight around the walls, looking for something beyond the articles that surround her.

Even though she clearly wasn’t at fault for having hope that her father wasn’t as awful as he really was, she unfairly blames herself for everything for being oblivious to the future. This furthers the themes of self hatred first introduced during the verse about how her father’s handwriting was as ugly as hers. Especially self hatred regarding her relationship with her father, blood or otherwise.

This part of the video is, perhaps, my favorite. She rips away newspaper articles talking about her present connection with her father to open a window into the past. A crayon drawing, clearly done by a child, appears beneath the controversy to expose a house beside the image of a bloody, hanged man that, supposedly, represents her father. The cadaver is separate from the house, implying her father and the concept of home are two different, individual ideas. Depicted visually in a single shot is Yenny’s current and past relationships with her father, both equally twisted and tragic.

How's your night? How's your sleep? Have you ever woken up by your conscience? Well I'm sorry, I've got no worries All I have are wrath and disgust

Here, Yenny is speaking directly to her father, asking him all the questions she never got to after he betrayed her. She’s sarcastically asking him how he’s been, wondering how he can sleep at night despite being such an awful person. She assures him that she isn’t worried about him, she’s just wrathful and disgusted. Her hatred toward her father is overwhelmingly clear here. She really does despise him for all he is.

To be honest, I don’t know what this scene of the music video means. She’s sitting on the bed, ripping apart red high heel shoes which would insinuate the red shoes have some meaning but I don’t have any definite ideas, just some theories. The first is the red shoes represent home like in the Wizard of Oz and she’s ripping them apart because home doesn’t exist anymore since he destroyed it. Another theory I have is the red shoes represent danger as the color red is often associated with that. It implies she’s ripping the danger out of her life. However, I’m not so sure how much of a stretch these ideas are and so I’ll refrain from saying anything conclusively.

One time, you said "Must obey or be cursed" You were right, I am cursed Running your blood in my vein

Yenny repeats a phrase her father employed to scare her when she was younger: “must obey or be cursed.” And she affirms that she was cursed, but not for disobedience. It was from her biological relation to him. The very blood running through her veins taints her existence. Her hatred of her father and her self hatred connect spectacularly here as she once again proves that a large reason she despises herself lies with her father and the DNA and features and blood they share. She loathes him to the point she also abhors anything related to him, including herself.

In the video, she speaks the first couple of lines facing away from the camera, talking to someone unseen, imitating her father. She then slowly turns to stare directly into the camera, singing straight to him to tell him that he’s wrong, yet right at the same time. During the last line, her hand creeps up her neck, strangling herself in a physical representation of how the idea of her father’s blood running through her veins makes her feel.

Life sucks for everybody (No need to cry, no no no) Life sucks for everybody (Act like no child, no no no) I'm just survivin' everyday Right at the edge of losing my mind Life sucks for everybody Just let me find peace of mind

The lyrics and meaning have not changed from the last chorus so I’ll jump right into the video because there is a significant difference in how this part is visualized in comparison to the rest of the song. Yenny has managed to be composed up to this point, looking at everything almost apathetically, stood up straight, not betraying any emotions. This is the point where that careful facade absolutely shatters. She collapses to the floor, the camera shaky and blurry as she claws at the floor and her head. By the end of the chorus, she’s back to her carefully constructed self but the time where she completely shattered is not forgotten. It’s a quick glimpse behind the mask of the perfect Kpop star into the head of a broken girl who is perpetually “right at the edge of losing [her] mind,” on the precipice of deciding that maybe the effort it takes to continue “survivin’ everyday” and soldiering through the pain just isn’t worth it.

I might pull the trigger, you know I might do it for good, you know I might pull the trigger, for both of us I might do it for all, you'll see

I might pull the trigger I might do it for good, you know Pull the trigger Do it for all

The lyrics here are chilling, especially in their repetition. She’s talking like a martyr, claiming that “pull[ing] the trigger” would be good “for all.” The “all” in question isn’t specified. Is it just for the “both of [them]”? Is it for the victims? Is it for humanity in general? She isn’t clear but perhaps that was the point. Yenny sings about how she wants to kill herself and her father with a certain oxymoronic apathetic vigor. She just sounds so confident in her words, that she’ll do it and everything will be better afterwards.

At this point, the music video reconnects with the beginning. As Yenny sings to the camera, blood flows from the ceiling, covering her face and dress and hair in red. She tries wipe it from her face but only succeeds in smearing it. Her expression is wholly apathetic, matching the nonchalance with which she speaks the lyrics. The state she is in at this point is the exact same as the one from the beginning of the video, creating a sort of loop. This likely represents how she was stuck in an endless cycle in her head, a time loop of guilt and loathing and death. For years, her mind was a broken record of her father’s crimes and her relation to him.

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Life Sucks is a painfully sad song of self-condemnation and mental suffering. For listeners, solace can only be found in the knowledge all of this happened in the past. For the most part. This is the type of event someone can never truly recover from and, as much as I would like to believe the contrary, I doubt Yenny is the exception. She’s a bright soul who deserves infinitely more than the life she’s endured and I’m glad she’s found the strength to move on that many others can’t. For now, we can only support her and her music. Her latest album “1719″ is a masterful body of work that reflects her mindset over the past few years. I would highly recommend it, especially Pluhmm, Sky Gray, and Cigar. Her latest release is La Luna and the music video, while having highly, highly dubious scenes, is visually beautiful.

#ha:tfelt #park yeeun #yenny #wonder girls #lyrics #lyric analysis #music video analysis #analysis #kpop #kpop gg #kpopidol #life sucks #tw suicide #tw depression #tw self loathing #tw homicidal thoughts #tw suicidal thoughts

[sommniac]

why i think “i need somebody” by day6 is a perfect song

To be honest, I believe that "I Need Somebody" is Day6's best song. I consider it a genuine masterpiece as you could probably tell based on the fact I'm writing an entire post that nobody will ever see dedicated to it. If you haven’t listened to it, then listen to it because it is gosh darn hecking fantastic.

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I first heard "I Need Somebody" while I was listening to Day6′s discography on shuffle, just kind of casually letting it be background music. Up until I heard Younghyun's "Why am I alone?" I genuinely froze in that moment and just listened, fingers frozen on my keyboard, absorbing the vocals and music, entirely enraptured. I escaped the stupor but continued listening, almost possessed by the music. After it was over, I listened to it again. And again. And again. And again. And many times more. Every time, I was struck by how absolutely fantastic it was.

Over time, I broke it down more and more until I was able to formulate a comprehensible opinion. Just a warning, the only musical experience I have is playing the Baritone for a year so please don't take my analysis as anything more than thoughts from a fan. 

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So let’s start by looking at the lyrics since they’re the easiest to comprehend. Even though they aren’t in English for the most part. That’s irrelevant, though, because lyric sites exist.

(Btw, I’m taking these from Genius)

“Hello there Is anyone there? Where is Is there anyone To answer me? Is anyone there?“

So, for starters, Jae sounds so vulnerable it’s heartbreaking. These words define loneliness. The narrator (I would say Younghyun because he wrote the lyrics but he said he writes based on everyone’s experiences so I can’t be sure whether or not he’s really the narrator in this situation) is wondering if he’s alone. Which sounds self-obvious, but I’m referring to how he’s wondering if he’s alone in the sense of not having anyone there for you if that makes any sense.

With the line “Is there anyone there to answer me,” the narrator’s asking if there is anyone who cares about him, at least enough to speak up and let him know that he has somebody.

“You’re disappearing, more and more, without a sound From me, without any reason Was everything a misunderstanding? Were we looking at each other in a dream?“

Here, I don’t think that the narrator is really talking to somebody in particular. He’s talking to himself. He’s wondering why he feels like he’s losing himself, wondering how much of himself is real and how much is his own delusion. This is referencing how loneliness is something much more than the physical lack of people, but also the mental state incurred by social isolation, whether or not it is self-imposed. You could be in a room alone not be lonely, or be in the middle of a crowd and be the loneliest person in the world. This song seems to be addressing the latter situation.

“Why am I alone? Among all the people surrounding me Why am I alone? I’m all alone, I need someone I need someone right now”

When the narrator is asking why he’s alone, he obviously isn’t talking physically as he is literally surrounded by people. He’s asking why he feels alone, without anyone to talk to or to hold or to love. And you can’t talk about this part without the vocals because it adds a different meaning to this question. To me, Younghyun and Sungjin have always sounded almost angry during this point, what with their strong vocals that are so different from Jae and Wonpil’s broken ones.

They’re angry that they’re alone. They’re angry at themselves. They’re angry at the world. They’re angry, seemingly without any reason. Their desperation to not be alone, to be heard is almost tangible with how it just tugs at your heart. And the music in the background backs this up. It’s not the typical excited guitars and drums of their other songs, but it’s not empty either. This is to represent the people the narrator is surrounded by, talking and existing but background noise to the narrator and his thoughts.

“Hello, is anyone there? Anyone who can accept me? Is anyone here?“

This is a continuation of begging for someone to be there for them on a mental level. He’s specifically asking for someone to accept him. I imagine it like him shouting into a crowd, crying out for anybody there to accept him, to be there. And then receiving no answer. It’s a raw sort of plea. Here, the music picks up a little, the crowd around him getting louder, almost as if it’s trying to match the noise of his thoughts.

“Come to me, without a sound Hold me, without a reason”

The narrator makes it clear that he isn’t asking for much. He’s barely asking for anything at all. He just wants, needs, somebody there. Someone to hold him. Not to talk, just to comfort him. He’s just so lonely that he’ll take anything. The music picks up more, almost hitting the same level as the narrator’s thoughts. And so he gets louder at the end of the line, struggling to stay above the loudness of everyone around him, trying to drown him out.

The whistling

This might be one of my favorite parts of the song because it sounds like loneliness in its purest form. The narrator is the whistling, the only truly clear part. It’s the calm before the storm. That whistle sounds like silence if silence was the sound. It’s contemplation, pensive thoughts.

And then there’s the “na-na”’s underneath it, the muffled sound of other people. These few seconds are a summary of the entire song. Caged loneliness in the center of a crowd. The only difference is the loneliness here is overwhelming, instead of the the narrator fighting to be heard. There’s a certain brokeness to how abruptly this section begins and ends. It’s like the narrator is collecting his thoughts before he’s overwhelmed by anguish and other people who are not there for him.

“Why am I alone? Among all the people surrounding me

Why am I alone? I’m all alone, I need someone I need someone right now“

Here, the music really ramps up and Younghyun and Sungjin are yelling, the narrator trying to be heard as he’s lost in a crowd, suffocated by his emotions. But no one is listening. At the end, there’s some repetition of the last few words, sandwiched in between the chords sounding like what I would consider the musical version of a stutter. The narrator is starting to realize that no one is listening and no one is going to listen. He’s hesitating and reconsidering what he’s doing, knowing that he’s truly all alone.

“As I am keeping my silence I’ve let everyone go A siren rings in my head I really don’t think this is right“

This is the softest that Younghyun’s voice has been the entire song. He’s continuing the thought of the last line, pondering what has led him to this point. The narrator is realizing that he is the reason that he is alone. He pushed everyone away.

The music is relatively calm but there’s an angry sort of sound at the end of each line. This brings it back to why he’s angry at himself, but now he understands why he is embroiled in this self-hatred.

“As I am keeping my silence I’ve let everyone go Oh now I got to do something“

Wonpil cuts in, his voice slightly louder. He enacts a call to action for himself, telling himself that he’s the only one who can cure this loneliness. Who can save himself. The music supports this, everything ramping up but it’s different from the previous music, indicating that it represents his thoughts instead of the crowd surrounding him.

“Why am I alone? Among all the people surrounding me Why am I alone? I’m all alone, I need someone I need someone right now“

This final part begins with the music doing that stutter, breaking up with the drums more audible than ever. To me, the end of each line sounds more conclusive than it had been. More resolute. It’s a step forward towards achieving non-loneliness.

The music is the most complex it’s been so far, each instrument more distinguishable as the music has progressed from being background noise to something discernable that the narrator is a part of.

“I need someone right now”

The last line lasts longer than the music does because it’s the narrator’s final declaration. It is stronger than the people around it as the narrator decides that he will no longer be lonely. Sungjin’s voice is strong as he makes a promise to himself to no longer be alone.

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Long story short, this song is a masterpiece and tells a vivid story. I would like to note that this is just one interpretation. A resolution to improve. To someone else, this song might ring with hopelessness that is never solved. I could just be optimistic in my thoughts but that is my analysis of Day6′s “I Need Somebody.” 

#Day6 #day6 lyrics #i need somebody #goddamn i love this song so fucking much #day6 analysis #angst #im so lonely #kpop #rock #because this is also rock music and i wont let anyone tell me anything else #unless they say its pop rock because it is also pop rock #first post