When we think of BTS and the word "love," perhaps the first that comes to your mind (or maybe not, I'm only assuming) are songs such as "Fake Love" and "Boy with luv," not to mention "Epiphany" and "Trivia: Love." These are just a few of the many songs in which the subject of love is incorporated or connected (in one way or another).
Before talking about the view on love that this band itself holds with its extensive discography, I should first make an introduction, or rather, a brief overview of the meaning of what love actually stands for. I will try not to make this more extensive than necessary, and yes, I tend to be a bit philosophical, I'm just that extra.
That said, we can get back to what concerns us: love in its different shapes and forms from a point of view set in BTS's discography. But wait, as I already mentioned, I'm a bit extra and dramatic, and therefore I'm adding a Greek philosophical point of view to all of this. Why? Because I'm a drama queen, and because I enjoy literature and culture as a whole.
There is something that has always fascinated me about ancient Greece and its people, and that is the way they knew how to organize their thoughts very well; they were clever, philosophical creatures of life, in which many of their beliefs and practices remain to this day and have contributed to our current society.
There are these sorts of love classified according to the philosophy of ancient Greece:
1. ÉROS (sexual passion, romantic love) -- PHYSICAL BODY & HORMONES
Eros is passion, lust, pleasure. It’s a passionate love displayed through physical affection. This love is a desire for another person’s physical body, an appreciation for one’s physical being or beauty.
With sentences such as: “I would like to sleep like a baby, drunk in your sweet scent" or:
“I like that, when you tie up your long, long straight hair,
your breathtaking neck and strands of hair flowing down
Wherever we go together, my handbag is your waist”
But the key part for me to consider this song as Éros is this part:
“I’d like to get submerged and swim, I’d like to know you more
I’m an adventurer who explores in depth a mysterious forest that is you
I admire a masterpiece that is you
because your existence is an art”
I don't know about you, but I doubt there's much to explain with the forest reference. It is purely passionate, sensual, and sexual. It persists in bodily desire, appreciation of beauty, and the combined effect of both aspects.
“Though you’re not mine, you’re the best
My body becomes all squirmish when I’m with you
Though I want to get close to you,
You’re too beautiful”
“Kiss me on the lips lips a secret between only the two of us
I get deeply addicted to a prison called you
I can’t serve no one but you
I drank from the poisoned chalice, knowing it was poisoned”
2. LUDUS (playful affection, a flirtatious or exciting love.) – EMOTIONS
A playful and fun love that occurs especially at the early stages of a relationship, the beginning stages of intimate love. Of all the Greek words for love, this one more than others comes without any eros or philia attachment.
Let's look at one part of Suga:
“An eating disorder, no matter what I eat, I’m always hungry for you
This cannot just be labeled with a word, addiction
A woman like you can’t be described, even a poetic license wouldn’t do a justice
This is all because of you
I’d like to put you in the very front of my life like a capital letter
A nice house, a nice car, although things like those cannot be happiness, I really want to give them to you”
Or a part of J-hope:
“Our future is bright and radiant, colorful
As long as I have you, I have everything like a millionaire
With you, the door of love opens now, go in”
The initial thoughts of almost passionate love are there, but it still takes much more than words and dates or a few kisses to make it work fully. That's why, in my opinion, it's totally Ludus. It's a rather delicate but gentle ideal of love; it's innocent and poetic in a way a blinded-by-love person would describe (without crossing the boundary limits.)
I do not include RM's part, because I feel it is more Mania kind of love than Ludus.
“The first date with you, I keep getting excited like a child
Everyday is a Sunday for me these days-Sunday when the sun called you is up
The first date with you, I keep getting excited like a child
Everyday is a Sunday for me these days-Sunday when the sun called you is up”
“Our happiness has been destined
Cuz you love me
And I love you”
3. MANIA (Unhealthy form of love, obsessive love.) – SURVIVAL
An inbalance of love caused by an imbalanced of Eros and Ludus; it is characterized by possessive behavior or unwanted jealousy. The desperation of a need, almost like a survival instinct, is the catalyst of this kind of love.
“That guy who I haven’t seen before, abusing “like” to every single photo you post…
Who’s he?
Ah, right, I’m not your boyfriend anymore”
This short extract from the song is just a sample of what obsessive love is; throughout the song, the lyrics show desperation for someone else, jealousy, and a love that is no longer reciprocated.
“The tag in the photo of you and your new boyfriend
makes me backspace into the memories
In that world, everyone has already stopped
But why am I still clinging to that time”
It's like that first love, even if it's been years, it still leaves its mark on you in whatever shape. For me, it is not bad to remember your first love relationship or that relationship of years that has already concluded, what is important and essential is not to become obsessed with those memories. This kind of love that usually hurts, are memories that may - or may not - return to you to remind you of what once was and was not, but if those memories are still stuck in you, that is Mania: the desperation of wanting to get some love and to feel that you have to get it at any cost, even by torturing yourself mentally.
“As time passed by, naturally, the two of us
checked each other’s feeling every day with words like lovers
Our first meeting that I engraved onto my heart
was sweet like a caramel macchiato”
“Though I open my eyes after drinking coffee,
I feel like I’m going to fall asleep, oh no no
I used to picture it
If I ruled the world,
I’d have you next to me again”
You will be surprised how after listening to the first BTS albums, you will associate more often coffee - and even autumn leaves - with everyday life and emotions hahaha
“I need you girl
Why do I love alone and say goodbye alone
I need you girl
Why do I need you again, knowing that I’ll be hurt”
“What do you mean by no, I’m blind for you
How is this love, It’s all fake love”
4. AGÁPE (brotherly love, selfless love, universal love) -- SPIRIT
An empathic attitude of love for everyone and anyone. it is the highest form of love given without any expectations of receiving anything in return.
Agápe is love for others that’s inclusive of love for God, nature, strangers, or the less fortunate. It’s generally an empathetic love toward humanity itself.
I don't know if maybe it's just me, but when I think of selfless love, or love that shows that it just simply means to give us everything good without anything in return, I find this in the song
“It’s okay to pause
There’s no need to run without knowing the reason
It’s okay not to have a dream
as long as there are your moments to briefly feel happiness
It’s okay to pause”
“On a day you hate being yourself, on a day you want to disappear forever,
let’s build a door in your mind
Once you open the door and enter, this place will wait for you
It’s okay to believe Magic Shop that will comfort you”
“I’m just a human, human, human
You erode all my edges
and make me a love, love, love
We are humans, humans, humans
Among those countlessly many straight lines,
my love, love, love
When we gently sit on it, it becomes a heart”
“Now it has become too clear,
the unfamiliar shadow in those shouts and cheers
The word that perhaps will never be believed,
Let’s only see and hear good things”
“Please don’t say “respect” so easily, yeah
because even I still don’t really know it well, yeah
because even I’m afraid of myself sometimes,
wondering if they see through the weak me”
_____________________________
PART 2 HERE =
