134340 – Analysed and Explained

Hi everyone,

Hope you’re all going well and apologies for the long interval between posts!

Welcome back! Today, we are going to be talking about 134340.

The title ‘134340’ puzzled me greatly when I first listened to it. It is just such an odd and unintuitive name for a song. A more intuitive name for the song would simply be ‘Pluto’.

I mean, why would you even think about looking up Pluto’s asteroid number? What on earth prompted BTS to think about that? And why would you want to name the song 134340 anyway? It is such an ambiguous title from a glance and it is so much less accessible to the audience given how most of us know Pluto as Pluto instead of 134340.

People would be forced to research in order to figure out what 134340 stood for… and for what reason? Why make it difficult for your audience? Why make your audience go the extra mile to figure out what the title of your song means? It goes against the basic principles of clear and concise messaging for any type of marketing.

I was further surprised when I learnt that the original title for this track was ‘Call me’. ‘Call me’ and Pluto (or 134340) are two completely unrelated names. How did one’s train of thought start off with ‘Call me’ and then end up at (not even the name ‘Pluto’) but the asteroid number 134340? It is just… odd.

Thus, I always felt that there must be a particular reason why BTS decided to:

1. write a song very specifically inspired by the planet/asteroid Pluto; and

2. use Pluto’s asteroid number ‘134340’ for its title instead of just ‘Pluto’.

61 posts ago (holy moley), I said in Serendipity that I do not believe that The Little Prince is the key to understanding Serendipity’s lyrics and that The Little Prince is actually the key to understanding another song.

Well, we are finally here. The day I read The Little Prince was the day 134340 made so much sense to me, and I can’t wait to finally share this with you.

Let’s get it.

SPOILER WARNING
I have written this post assuming you have read The Little Prince. If you haven’t read it, please do so before continuing this post. I have an e-copy of it here.

Assumed Knowledge & Assumptions

I have written this post assuming you know:

• and have read The Little Prince;
• my theory, that all of the songs in LY albums are connected and reveal storylines when read in a specific order; and
• Joon, Yoongi and Hobi’s stories discussed in my blog so far.

New Readers

Hello there and welcome to my blog! I’m sorry to say that if you haven’t read any of the above posts… I may lose you in the detail as my lyrical analyses are built on existing knowledge!

This is simply because all of the songs are interconnected and need to be read in a specific order for it to make sense, just like a book.

This idea is completely consistent with what Namjoon said about the Love Yourself albums – That there is a narrative throughout the albums.

If you’re wondering where to start, please start here.

Please also note the assumptions I apply when I analyse songs.

Enjoy! 😊

1. Namjoon’s Vlive

First, let’s start with Namjoon’s Vlive and see what information we can derive from it. If you wish to watch it, Namjoon starts speaking about 134340 from 19.30 onwards.

1a. The main author and his story

Namjoon said: “I wrote the lyrics really fast, I used lyrics that I wrote in the past so I was able to complete the lyrics fast... And as you know if you read the credits Julia Hart and Bobby Chung of Autumn Vacation… Bobby Chung wrote the lyrics for the main part* and I changed the intro part a little… It’s a unique song, I think this song plays an important role in the album… The original title was ‘Call me’…”

*I have assumed “the main part” to be the chorus of 134340

When Namjoon was talking about Magic Shop, he also said, “other than “So What” and “Anpanman”, I wrote most part of the lyrics for the other tracks [in the Love Yourself 轉 ‘Tear’ album].”

And, at the BTS Dinner Party 2018:

• Jimin said: RM pretty much wrote all all of the lyrics this time around;
• Yoongi said: He really wrote a lot; and
• Hobi said: This album is pretty much by RM.

Thus, although Hobi, Yoongi, Julia Hart and Bobby Chung are accredited authors for 134340, Namjoon had a heavy influence on the lyrics, title, metaphors and symbolisms in the song.

Namjoon also said, “The original title was “Call me”… This “Get back” part [of the lyrics] is repeated. It’s in every two bars.”

To clarify what Namjoon meant by the “Get back” part, if you listen very carefully to 134340, the words “Get back” are repeated in the background every two bars.

Now, from a surface read of the lyrics, we can easily see that 134340 is a post-breakup song.

Thus, we can tell just from the above information that the overarching story of the song is:

The speaker is addressing their ex-lover through the song lyrics after they have broken up. The speaker is pleading for “Her” to “Call me” so they can speak, resolve their issues, and hopefully “Get back” together.

1b. How 134340 fits into my theory’s order

Namjoon said that 134340 “has a very unique beat and the flute sound is the key. I love the instrumental part, and wanted to write to the melody.”

My theory’s order states that although 134340 (track 4) is after The Truth Untold (전하지 못한 진심) (track 3) and before Outro: Tear (track 11) in Love Yourself 轉 ‘Tear’ album; I believe that it should be read after those two songs (and if you don’t count the two hidden tracks!), Pied Piper from Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’.

Namjoon’s comments therefore lend support to my theory on two aspects:

1. There is a key element of continuation from Pied Piper to 134340 through the flute, the most defining characteristic of the Pied Piper; and
   
2. Since The Truth Untold and Outro: Tear are about breakups, to analyse 134340 now makes logical sense as a song about a post-breakup can only happen after a breakup.

Analysing 134340 now results in a natural continuous storyline across the Love Yourself trilogy.

2. The Little Prince of Pluto

2a. Asteriod 134340

Now, let’s talk about The Little Prince and how this relates to 134340 and the Love Yourself trilogy.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I always wondered why BTS would even think about referring to Pluto as asteroid 134340 instead of Pluto given how most of us are familiar with Pluto as Pluto instead of asteroid 134340.

Thus, when I started reading The Little Prince because of all the hints in Serendipity’s MV, I came to the following passages that made me choke on my tea:

I knew very well that in addition to the great planets – such as the Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Venus – to which we have given names, there are also hundreds of others, some of which are so small that one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope. When an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name, but only a number. He might call it, for example, “Asteroid 325″….

… He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330.

The Little Prince

This is significant because the calling of asteroids by their number is a style that is quite unique to The Little Prince.

Thus, I believe that the thought process behind naming the song 134340 instead of Pluto was inspired by The Little Prince.

2b. The significance of naming the song 134340 instead of Pluto

I believe two things of significance are achieved by naming the song 134340 instead of Pluto.

#1: It symbolises rejection

Pluto was officially degraded from a planet to a minor planet in 2005. This is because the dwarf planet, Eris, was discovered in the solar system and it is almost the same size as Pluto. It was this discovery of Eris that led to the demotion of Pluto to a minor planet.

Because of this demotion, Pluto was assigned a minor planet designation 134340 on 7 September 2006 by the Minor Planet Center.

Since Pluto is no longer considered a planet in our solar system, it officially lost its name.

The importance of having a name has been previously discussed in my previous song analyses (see here if you need a refresher). In short, being called a “name” means that you’ve been recognised and been given an identity by someone who loves you. Being called your real name means that someone recognises you for who you truly are.

Thus, to be stripped of your name (from Pluto to 134340) symbolises that you’ve been stripped of that identity and recognition from your ex-lover/ex-friend’s* eyes.

You’re now just a number to that person. Just one of the many many unimportant asteroids in their solar system.

*As Hobi and Yoongi did contribute to this song, I want to ensure that we remember that this song can also be about a breakup in platonic relationships, as per Yoongi’s and Hobi’s story arc.

#2: It characterises the speaker as The Little Prince

The Little Prince comes from a tiny planet known as B 612 and fell in love with a Rose.

Similarly to the Little Prince, the main speaker in 134340 (Namjoon), comes from a tiny planet known as 134340 and fell in love with someone who is symbolised by the Rose in the Love Yourself albums.

Both Namjoon and the Little Prince also met their Rose completely by chance (i.e. Serendipity):

But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprout on his planet… then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.

… the little prince could not restrain his admiration: “Oh! How beautiful you are!”

The Little Prince

The story of The Little Prince is about his quest to understand the Rose and how to love it. This is why The Little Prince told the pilot that he would not have left (i.e. breakup) with the Rose if he had looked at the rose’s deeds instead of her words. The Little Prince only realised later that the Rose actually loves him, but he was too young and inexperienced to know how to love her.

Summarising the parallels between The Little Prince, 134340 and the entire Love Yourself trilogy:

Namjoon has characterised the speaker/himself as The Little Prince of asteroid 134340.

Similarly to The Little Prince, Namjoon/the speaker is from a small planet. He met his lover by chance and then parted ways with “Her” because he was too young and inexperienced to know how to love “Her”. For example, Namjoon tried to love “Her” by trying to become a perfect doll for “Her”.

Just like The Little Prince, the person Namjoon loves embodies the Rose.

Thus, considering this and everything we have discussed previously, the Rose is indeed the perfect symbol for Namjoon’s lover.

However, since there are two other perspectives (Yoongi and Hobi’s), Yoongi and Hobi have also chosen their own unique flowers (the peony and the calla lily) to represent the person(s) that they love.

Like the Little Prince, all three of them know “a unique flower . . . enough to make him happy when he looks at the stars.” 

2c. The significance of Pluto

Lastly, you may ask – Why Pluto?

In addition to the symbolic demotion of Pluto to a number, asteroid 134340 was actually named after the god of the underworld from Greek and Roman mythology.

As we have previously seen across various song analyses, Namjoon has the habit of characterising himself as a being associated with the underworld (e.g. phantom, devil/demon and monster).

Thus, in consistent fashion, he has characterised himself as the freezing cold dwarf-planet named after the god of the underworld and darkness, whose existence is so unimportant and easily forgotten, it exists in the furthest corner of our solar system.

His ex-lover is, as usual, the complete opposite. Namjoon has characterised his ex-lover as the biggest, brightest and warmest being in our solar system, quite literally the star who is front and centre of our solar system: The all-important Sun.

There is also incidentally a small but cute connection between the Rose and the sun in The Little Prince:

…the little prince could not restrain his admiration: “Oh! How beautiful you are!”

“Am I not?” the flower responded, sweetly. “And I was born at the same moment as the sun…”

The Little Prince

Thus, the decision to choose Pluto is a wonderfully meaningful and consistent choice in the context of everything we’ve learnt from the Love Yourself albums.

3. Nameless

For simplicity and because it is not clear where Hobi and Yoongi contributed to this song, I’ve tried to strike a neutral balance by using “the speaker” and the pronoun “they/them” and “ex-lover” in my analysis.

However, please remember that it could be “ex-friend” (from Hobi’s and Yoongi’s perspective) and that most of this song is based on Namjoon’s experience.

I refer to the following lyrics:

If only I could, I wanted to ask
Why did you do that back then? Why did you throw me out?
Without a name to myself, I still orbit you
Our goodbye became meaningless; that unchanging colour*

There’s no name allowed for me
I, too, used to be your star
You must feel nice to be the light
All I do is to receive you

What would be the meaning of the remaining life for the collapsed planet
I will receive it until I die,
your stifling stare
I still orbit you, and nothing’s changed, but
if there’s no name to love,
everything has changed

*The Korean lyrics are: 작별이 무색해 그 변함없는 색채. Per Doolset lyrics, 무색해 (Mu saeg hae) means ‘to be colourless,’ but it can also mean ‘put something to shame’ or ‘to be meaningless.’ Therefore, choose your favourite interpretation!

The speaker makes it abundantly clear in the above lyrics that they have lost their name and is now nameless, “without a name to myself… there’s no name allowed for me… if there’s no name to love, everything has changed.” They have been completely stripped of their identity and their ex-lover no longer acknowledges them to be part of their special universe.

This is a particularly painful thing for the speaker to swallow because before the breakup, the speaker “used to be your star.” In other words, the speaker felt that they used to be the centre of their ex-lover’s universe.

We can derive the following information from the above lyrics:

• The speaker felt that it was their ex-lover who rejected them; and
• The speaker is still helplessly orbiting around their ex-lover, indicating that even after they broke up, the speaker still saw their ex-lover all the time, “I still orbit you, and nothing’s changed.”
  
  In fact, they continued to see each other so much so, that the speaker continued to “receive you” (i.e. the light, energy, presence of his ex-lover) and their ex-lover’s “stifling stare.”

This is consistent with what we’ve found in our previous analyses – That Namjoon and his ex-lover still continued to be part of each other’s lives even after they broke up.

3a. What would be the meaning of the remaining life for the collapsed planet?

Doolset lyrics explained a wonderful wordplay in the lyrics “What would be the meaning of the remaining life for the collapsed planet?” I have further elaborated on it here.

The lyrics in Hangul is: 무너진 왕성에 남은 명이 뭔 의미가 있어.

Breaking it down, it works like this:

The Korean name for Pluto is 명왕성.

Besides ‘planet’, 왕성 can also mean ‘royal star‘ or ‘star of a king’.

Besides ‘life’ and ‘Pluto’, 명 can mean ‘name’, ‘life’, ‘person’, ‘destiny and fate’ and ‘dark’.
(Please note that I have not been able to verify on Naver dictionary or Papago that 명 can mean ‘dark’ as doolset lyrics stated).

Thus, there are multiple ways to interpret this one line from the perspective of the speaker:

Interpretation #1:

Meaning: Collapsing at the royal star is me, the last remaining person left in the royal house of Pluto. Is there any meaning to my remaining life now that I’m all alone?

This interpretation echos the ending lyrics from The Truth Untold where Namjoon is all alone, collapsing in tears in his collapsing (royal) castle of sand.

Interpretation #2

Meaning: The star of the king (Pluto) is collapsing and so is our remaining destiny. I once used to believe that our destinies were so intertwined, it was part of our DNA. But now it is clear we are not meant to be together and soon there will be no destiny left. What’s the meaning of life without our destiny?

Interpretation #3 [Feel free to skip interpretation #3 if you don’t believe in Namjin 🙂]

If you believe that Namjoon’s ex-lover is Jin, here is another interpretation.

I explained in this post about the possible wordplay of 무너진 (MOON-ah Jin) from The Truth Untold.

Assuming this is an intentional wordplay, we can interpret the lyrics as follow:

Meaning: Moon-ah Jin, what is the point of my remaining life on this planet now that you’ve rejected me?

So, mix and match your favourite interpretations, choose your poison.

4. Finding Eris

Would it be really that you’ve found Eris
Tell me, how am I, in any way, worse than that moon
Us is just a plural form of u
Perhaps I wasn’t there at all from the beginning
Some day, you’ll also understand my words
My seasons were always you
My cold heart is at -248 degrees
it stopped on the day you erased me
Damn

Eris, as previously explained, is the reason why Pluto lost its name.

Thus, the lyrics “would it be really that you’ve found Eris” means: Have you really found a reason to reject me completely? Tell me, how am I in any way worse than that other “moon” (i.e. person) you’re comparing me to?

The lyrics also reveal to us that:

• the speaker’s ex-lover felt that the speaker wasn’t there from the beginning; and
• the speaker felt that their ex-lover did not understand them and kept misunderstanding their words (“some day, you’ll also understand my words”).

Consistent with everything we have studied, the speaker and their ex-lover broke up because of the perceived fakeness of the speaker (i.e. Fake Love).

The sincerity of the speaker’s words “could not be delivered” and therefore, the relationship suffered from misunderstandings.

The significance of the temperature -248 degrees is as follow:

• Pluto takes 248 Earth years to make one revolution around the sun. That means one year on Pluto is about 248 Earth years; and
• The temperature on Pluto can be as cold as -375 to -400 degrees Fahrenheit (-226 to -240 degrees Celsius).

Thus, by using the number of Earth years as the temperature value, the speaker:

• merges two facts about Pluto;
• conveys the understanding that the speaker’s heart is very very very very cold; and
• creates empathy from the audience through impossible emphasis. A cold heart of -248 degrees couldn’t possibly be alive and beating. But yet, it could stop “on the day you erased me.”

Damn.

5. Moving on… or not.

5a. The Newcomer

I refer to the following lyrics:

It’s not much different from yesterday ay
In the same daily life, only you’re missing ay
We were certainly together until yesterday ay
But in a day so typical to the point it’s scary, only you’re missing
To be honest, I was okay for about a year without you
The past days where even the so-called lingering feeling wasn’t there
Now I don’t even remember your aroma
But, wait, this is a perfume that I had smelled somewhere ay
When my memory is about to vaguely come back ay
As I turn my head towards there
Next to you approaching me smiling brightly, there’s…

Hello? Hello
How are you? I’m… well, doing fine

In contrast to my heart that feels like it’s about to explode,
At this moment, the temperature is -248 degrees

The above lyrics reveal to us that unusually, but unsurprising to us, the speaker’s life barely changed one bit after their breakup, “it’s not much different from yesterday… in the same daily life… in a day so typical to the point it’s scary…” They still saw the usual people, went to work the usual way, ate instant ramen, laughed at the maknaes running around, etc. The only difference was that “you’re missing.”

The speaker also thought they were making good progress in moving on and getting over their ex, “the past days where even the so-called lingering feeling wasn’t there, now I don’t even remember your aroma.”

However, this progress stopped short suddenly when one day their ex-lover showed up with someone… “as I turn my head… next to you approaching me smiling brightly, there’s… “

As the speaker realises who the person next to his ex-lover is, their “heart… feels like it’s about to explode, at this moment the temperature is -248 degrees.”

The lyrics reveal to us that the speaker’s ex-lover started seeing someone else and that on this first meeting, the speaker realised that they were still very much in love with their ex.

5b. Piecing together the timeline

[Namjin section, please feel free to skip it if you don’t believe in it 🙂]

The above lyrics give us a very helpful hint: This song is set about a year after the speaker and their ex-lover broke up, “to be honest, I was okay for about a year without you.”

Per my previous blog posts (e.g. “I Love You”, “I Know”, I NEED U, etc), we have narrowed down that Namjoon broke up with his ex-lover sometime around 2014 – 2015, but had reconciled with them by around 1 June 2016 when he released the song “알아요 (I Know)”.

If Namjoon’s ex-lover is indeed Jin, we then know from “I Love You”, “I Know” that Jin realised he actually still loves Namjoon towards the end of 2015 because “난 너를 사랑해 (I Love You)” was released on 4 December 2015.

Assuming that it takes approximately 3 months-ish for someone to realise that they don’t like who they are dating, break up with them, and then think about how they are going to declare their love to their ex-lover; Working backwards, this puts us to around September – October 2015 where Jin may have broken up with the person he was seeing (i.e. the person in the above lyrics).

Assuming it takes approximately 3-4 months-ish for someone to date and realise that they are not going to work out, this puts us to around May – July 2015. In other words, Jin may have started seeing this person around May – July 2015.

Thus, we can also pinpoint that this song is set sometime around early to mid-2015.

Working backwards again, since this song is set “about a year” after the speaker and their ex-lover broke up, we can narrow it down again to the exact year and approximate time of when Namjoon and Jin broke up.

Namjoon and Jin broke up around early to mid-2014.

Per this source, BTS moved from their first dorm (where they all shared one bedroom) to their new dorm (where Jin became roommates with Yoongi and Namjoon became roommates with JK) “in spring 2015.”

Spring in Korea is from March to May.

Thus if we are to assume that Namjoon’s lover/ex-lover is Jin, the above lyrics “in the same daily life, only you’re missing... in a day so typical to a point it’s scary, only you’re missing... now I don’t even remember your aroma…” make sense as they stopped sleeping in the same room and would have been able to avoid being alone with each other in their new dorm.

6. Still helplessly orbiting around you

I refer to the following lyrics:

I’m just orbiting you
(I watch you over the mist, you who is still smiling
Without you, or anything, there’s no meaning to my irregular orbit*)
I’m just going in circles
(To you, I’m a hard number to remember and the Pluto of darkness
but I’ll continue to orbit around you forever, damn)

I’m just orbiting you
(I missed you, I lost you)
I’m just going in circles
(You erased me, you forgot me)

Once belonged to the system of the sun,
(The song paused, the song stopped)
The star’s heart is just filled with smoky layers of mist
(You erased me, you forgot me)

*Per NASA, Pluto’s orbit around the Sun is unusual compared to the other planets because it’s both elliptical and tilted.

The speaker, who is mainly Namjoon, has called himself the “Pluto of darkness” because:

1. Pluto is the god of the underworld; and
2. it is a reflection of his dark thoughts and his perceived association with underworld beings. Quite poetically, he is the Little Prince of Darkness.

The above lyrics also reveal to us that despite the speaker’s ex-lover finding a new partner, the speaker still continues to be helplessly drawn to his ex-lover and exist in their space, even though they are no longer recognised to be a part of “the system of the sun.”

We can see clearly that the speaker is suffering the exact same fate as Pluto. Pluto continues to orbit around the Sun because of the Sun’s gravity even though it is no longer recognised as a planet. And, Pluto will continue to orbit the Sun forever even if the Sun forgets about its existence.

This imagery conveys to us the painful understanding that the speaker is feeling completely trapped.

They can’t run away from the Sun, or physically leave the presence of the Sun, or feel the Sun’s love and recognition.

They have to endure the torture of its presence and watch the Sun exult warmth, light and happy smiles from a distance (“I watch you over the mist” ).

In addition, the speaker says “I watch you over the mist… the star’s heart is just filled with smoky layers of mist…”

This tells us that metaphorically, the “smoky layers of mist” is coming from the Sun and this mist causes obstruction to the speaker’s line of sight, disallowing them from seeing the Sun clearly.

Thus, the metaphor of “mist” represents the invisible wall that has been created between them and their ex-lover.

“To put a wall up” means to put your guard up. It is a defense mechanism that people use to protect themselves by not allowing a person(s) to know their real feelings, or by not allowing a person(s) to become close to them emotionally and spiritually.

This is consistent with what we saw in Fake Love where the lyrics conveyed to us that Namjoon was feeling lost because he had lost his ability to connect with his ex-lover at the same spiritual and emotional level as he used to be able to.

Despite this, despite his ex-lover seemingly moving on, and despite everything we’ve talked about, the speaker still yearns desperately for their Sun to remember them again and to recognise them.

Dear Sun, I know I’m “a hard number to remember” but… please. Call me.

Author’s Thoughts

Ouch, rejection is a painful painful thing. There were moments where I felt the Sun’s burn on my heart. I truly admire how Namjoon was able to employ Pluto’s story to tell his story. It is so brilliant on so many fronts.

Anyway, I hope I’ve done justice to this song for all of you and have managed to explain clearly why I think 134340 ties into The Little Prince! I know many of you have been waiting for me to explain how The Little Prince fits into my theory!

I also want to sincerely apologise for the long wait. Work has been busy and I was having the biggest writer’s block! I had so much to say, but my first word-vomit draft was so messy, it took me a long time to figure out how to succinctly explain my messy thoughts!

Please continue to stay healthy, safe and happy!

💜💜 G

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Lyric sources:

Doolset lyrics and Genius lyrics

Please note I made some minor updates where I thought things could be expressed better. These minor updates do not result in any substantial change in meaning.

Disclaimer:

As per my first author’s note, please, no hate!

I do not have a shipping or individual bias, I love all seven members equally and I do not write my blogs because of a particular personal desire for one of them. I reached my conclusion on Joon and Jin being together based on the lyrics, logic and patterns as I have discussed in all my posts (i.e. I did not ship Namjin first, and then started trying to find things to prove my point). I genuinely enjoy all ships because I enjoy watching the different chemistries between the boys.

It does not matter one bit to me if they are straight, gay, intersex, a skrull, a mutant or if they could lay eggs. I love them wholeheartedly (as a sister who would love her younger brothers) for their individual selves.

This theory of 134340 is based on my interpretations of its lyrics. Please enjoy.