~ BTS Love Yourself Albums explained ~
Hello ARMY
As per my first post, I’m going to be analysing BTS’ Love Yourself Album series in detail to uncover the full meaning behind the three albums (Love Yourself: 承 Her, Love Yourself: 轉 Tear and Love Yourself: 結 Answer) and their respective songs.
I believe that the BTS Love Yourself Album Series is one great big (puzzle) story, and that at the centre of the story lies a beautiful love story they are forbidden to tell. I have summarised my theory at a high level here.
To unravel and be able to fully appreciate the special little details of their story (and the genius that is Kim Namjoon), we must first start our journey by talking about the song: “Trivia 承: Love”, a song written by Namjoon and sung solely by Namjoon. This is important as it means that this song is incredibly personal for him, and for him only.
As there is much to uncover, I have spread this analysis of Trivia 承: Love out over two posts:
In Part 1, I discuss:
- who Namjoon is dedicating this song to (and why I believe that); and
- hidden messages that you may not have noticed.
In Part 2, I discuss:
- why there is a prefix “Trivia 承:” in the song title; and
- the significance of the order of “Trivia 承: Love” in the album.
And, to see how all the songs in the Love Yourself albums connect, you will have to read my blog in chronological order from oldest to newest. A list of all my blog posts can be found here.
Before we continue, please know I did not start this blog because I ship anyone in particular. I do not have a shipping bias nor an individual bias, nor do I find someone’s gender preference a big deal. Someone’s gender preference is as mundane to me as someone liking chocolate, vanilla or mint chocolate ice cream because I believe Love is Love.
Read my About Me to understand why I started this blog.
The concept that Love Transforms
Now as many of you ARMYs know, and as explained by NamJin Home in a brilliant video, in this song, the Power of Love can transform and smooth rigidities. If this is the first time you’re hearing about it, I strongly suggest you watch Namjin Home’s video first as I don’t touch on everything, just the bits I find most relevant to my theory and analysis of the song.
Namjoon said that in this song, he played around with the text and focused on how words in the song looked like rather than how they sounded like. His work is based on the metaphorical concept that love re-shapes you into a different, softer being, smooths ups your edges and makes you see life in a less rigid and intransigent way.
As per the helpful screenshot below from NamJin Home:
So love, with its force, smooths out a person’s edges so that the ㅁ in 사람 (person) becomes an ㅇ to become 사랑 (love). In this song, Love has the power to metamorphose words. Here are some examples:
“…you are the one…who will make a ‘person’ into ‘love'”
“You erode all my corners and make me into love, love, love”
“My love…when you sit on top of it and you become my heart[1]“
(i.e. Sitting on the top of “O” in “Love” makes it becomes a heart shape)
This can also be seen in the English words “LIVE” and “LOVE” which appear recurringly throughout the song. The “I” changes into an “O” because of Love:
“I live so I love
I live so I love
(Live & love, live & love)
(Live & love, live & love)
I live so I love”
I also just want to point out that there is some brilliant imagery play on hand. Take a look at these lyrics:
“Too many words circle around me”
The sentence is overloading with “O” imagery, which is symbolically linked to Love and the concept we have just been discussing.
The relationship between the Korean words for “Straight lines” and “Seokjin”
Back to NamJin Home’s theory, the song contains the following lyrics:
“Before I knew you, my heart was filled with straight lines only”; and
“In a myriad of straight lines; My love, love, love”
(Note: There seems to be two translation of this line on the internet, the other translation is:
“In those countless straight lines, my love, love, love“.)
Now, in Korean, “Straight Lines” is spelt = 직선 (JikSeon)
And Seokjin’s name in Korean is spelt = 석진 (Seokjin)
If you simply swap the order of the first two characters on top of “직선”, it morphs into 석진 (Seokjin). As Namjin Home pointed out, given Namjoon’s brilliance and the theme of metamorphosis of words in this song, it is just too coincidental to be a coincidence.
The countless songs of Seokjin
Now keeping the above metamorphosis of words in mind, I also noticed something else about the following line:
“저 무수히 많은 직선들 속, 내 사랑, 사랑, 사랑”
(In those countless straight lines; My love, love, love)
Now let’s assume that 직선 (straight lines) is really referring to 석진 (Seokjin), the sentence would now read as:
“저 무수히 많은 석진들 속, 내 사랑, 사랑, 사랑”
(In those countless Seokjin; My love, love love)
Now this sentence doesn’t quite make sense, BUT, if we transform the “lines” of a single Korean word into something else. Something magical happens.
We are going to transform the “ㄱ” in the word “속” to an “ㅇ” so it now reads “송”. “송” means “Song” in English. The sentence will now read:
“저 무수히 많은 석진들 송, 내 사랑, 사랑, 사랑”
Now the word 저, the first word in the sentence can mean three things:
- 저 – That (thing) / Those
- 저(는) – I
- 저 – Writings
And the word 들 can mean field, or… boy.
Essentially the sentence “저 무수히 많은 석진들 송, 내 사랑, 사랑, 사랑” I believe can be interpreted three different ways (native Koreans/Korean experts, feel free to jump in here!):
- Those countless songs of Seokjin (a boy), My Love, Love, Love; or
- I sing countless songs of Seokjin (a boy), My Love, Love, Love; or
- Writings of countless songs of Seokjin (a boy), My Love, Love, Love
And, if we morph the word 사랑 (Love) into 사람 (which can mean: person, man, one, soul, spirit etc), it can effectively be interpreted so many more different ways (I’m not going to write all of them down as I think you will get the drift):
- Those countless songs of Seokjin, My man, man, man; or
- I sing countless songs of Seokjin, My one, one, one; or
- Writings of countless songs of Seokjin, My person, person, person; or
- Those countless songs of Seokjin, My soul, soul, soul; etc
Clues that Namjoon is not “straight”
I truly believe many BTS songs are dedicated to Jin and contain messages about LGBTIQ+ themes. In fact, I dare say a large part of the Love Yourself series is dedicated to Jin, and hopefully this will become evident as we continue to explore this series together and the songs within it in my future posts.
For example, the album covers are of straight lines being bended into hearts. The prominent colours here are also Blue and Pink, colours that I believe represent Namjoon and Seokjin respectively (I will do another post explaining why I believe this one day).
Also, another meaning that NamJin Home identified is that “Straight” in English is another word to describe heterosexuals. So, if Namjoon’s love interest happened to be a boy, this would give the song another meaning – that love made him go from “Straight” to “Not-straight” (i.e. gay).
Expanding from this, what I find particularly interesting is the specific choice of the word “pride” in the following line:
“넌 나의 자랑, 자랑, 자랑”
(You’re my pride, pride, pride)
Firstly, in Korean, not only is there a wonderful sound play between “자랑” (pronounced as JaRang, which means Pride) and “사랑” (pronounced as SaRang, which means man, soul, human etc), but notice again how very coincidental that the difference between the first characters (“자” and “사” is a straight line at the top of the first alphabet ㅈ); and from a Romanised lyrics point of view, the “J” sound from “자랑” can easily morph into an “S” sound in “사랑”.
The reason why I find the choice of the word “pride” so interesting is because the word “pride” around the world has immediate connotations to Gay Pride. And this line would have so much more meaning if the person Namjoon was referring to was a guy.
And if you just look at the Love Yourself: 結 Answer albums (and I point out, specifically the Love Yourself: 結 Answer album that contains this song)… there is a whole lot of rainbow going on, the symbolic colour of Gay Pride:
And let’s not forget that time in 2019 when Namjoon created this rainbow coloured keychain spelling “LOVE”:
Source: https://twitter.com/trviabts/status/1181899433572589568/photo/1
The confirmation that Namjoon is talking about Jin… and singing the song to Jin and for Jin
Now there is just one more thing I want to point out today in this post. Namjoon sings the following line in the song:
“Look, mine and yours also sound the same“
(봐 내와 네도 똑같은 소리가 나잖아)
In this line, Namjoon appears to be implying that his lover’s name and his name sound the same.
Now, both Seokjin and Namjoon have the same last names: Kim (김)
Seokjin is known as Jin to everyone, and sometimes Namjoon is referred to “Joon” or “Joonie”.
Now, Jin in Korean is: 진
And Joon in Korean is: 준
The only difference between진 (Jin) and 준 (Joon) is the one alphabet “ㅣ” in 진 which produces an “I” sounds and “ᅟᅮ” in 준 which produces an “OO” sound. Similarly to what we’ve discussed above, if this metamorphosis is applied to the “I” in Jin’s name, it can become an “O” (or I should say, two “O”s)… and their names would sound the same:
Jin — morphs into—> Joon, and therefore sounds like Joon.
Therefore, Namjoon is singing to Jin in this song.
I feel that this is just too elegant to be a coincidence.
Thanks ARMY and I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of my first theory and analysis. You can read Part 2 here.
Remember, to see how everything ties together, please read my overarching theory and my blog in chronological order. A list of all my blog posts in chronological order can be found here.
x G
(Twitter: @btsgtheories)
Disclaimer:
As per my first author’s note, please, no hate! I love all seven members equally. I’m merely sharing with you my theories based on my interpretations of their amazing songs. Please enjoy.
[1] https://genius.com/Genius-english-translations-bts-trivia-love-english-translation-lyrics
I’m baby ARMY and started wondering about Namjin after watching BTS content and then found all these theories on YT and then your blog here. I love it, so intriguing to read and to further realize the thought processes and work behind BTS songs is so enjoyable! And to have it based on such beautiful type of love is just the cherry on top. I wish my own love story could have been even a fraction like this. I also wish my braincells were also capable of creating things like Namjoon writes lyrics or you analyze them, haha!
I’ll be going through your posts when I have time for myself and enjoy it with my teamug in the comfort of my sofa. Thank you!
Hello! I discovered your blog after googling to get more theories on their songs and I was blown away. I looked for it after Namjin Home incredible videos. I’m not a shipper nor do I care who dates who as long as the people are happy and safe. But I absolutely love all the analysis and those videos had me not only convinced but also eager to learn more about the art behind each songs
I have been missing so much, thinking this or that was simply a cute song only. All the work behind, or at least most of it was obliterated. And at times the lyrics compared to what was said about them didn’t make sense so I was shrugging without thinking twice.
The thought process, the art, the poetry behind this is so fascinating to me. So I can’t thank you enough for this blog. This is not my first post ( I had read two so far : the one about Truth Untold which I googled after Namjin Home video, and one of the analysis about Hobi and Suga’s. )But I didn’t get all the details and I want to know more so I’m reading this in order now.
Thank you so much.
Hi, there!
Congrats for your blog. It’s beyond interesting!
I have a question, regarding that word “woman” that appears close to the end of the song…
Is it, maybe, another word play? What does the syllable “wo” mean in Korean? For, if we have read that this song was written inspired by Jin, and sung to Jin and for Jin, this “woman” inclusion maybe another intelligent move by our beloved and so smart Namjoon… what do you think?
Hi Alfreed!
I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying my blog!
Wo = 워 which means like wow! or Woah! or War…
Interpret that however you wish 😊! I personally don’t think it is a wordplay, but it may very well be!
Jin’s microphone is always pink. Namjoon’s mic is always blue. The cover of this album goes from pink to blue.
Your writing is soo good. I envy you for your writing skill. I understood everything soo easily
In the Fukouka Concert, Japan, while performing the mindblowing song Trivia 承 Love, Namjoon says “Its Love, Isn’t It?” in Japanese to Jin, while Jin shows him a finger heart!! When many ARMY heard this for the first time, they thought RM said “They are Early, Aren’t they?” ( or something similar) because coincidentally, that day BTS arrives early on stage during Namjoon’s performance to perform the next song Fake Love. But since Japanese is a language where the pronunciation of words can change the meaning of the phrase, when the phrase was said in the same way RM said it, the translation turned out to be “Its Love, Isn’t It?”
Once again, RM proved to us that he indeed is a Genius by acting witty with his pronunciation and choice of words!!
https://youtu.be/KBIOOHnJPNU
Time Stamp: Please hear the full song! But time stamp is 3:19 !!!
Uwu’s: Busted
Credits : Sus
@greenlajimolala on twitter
Hi G!
Don’t know if you gonna see this or not…. Today I listened again Love and also viewed a couple of Live, I found out the pronunciation of ‘woman’ seems like Wo Men, which, in Chinese means ‘We’ 我们. Just my assumption, not quite sure…
Love&peace💙❤️
I was on Twitter amd this video came through my TL. https://twitter.com/hyie__/status/1364228904404193282?s=19
I had to come back here and posted because it definitely supports this analysis.
Hi Zhenellie, thanks for sharing! 😊 I think you might have shared the wrong link haha as it is not a video!
Considering that Jin picked LOVE as his healing healing song, and Namjoon and Jin’s love for wordplay, I do not think your theories are far fetched at all. Namjoon is so romantic. I finally know why Jimin watches them like he’s watching the best love story, because Jimin was my first bias when I got into BTS and watching his reactions to them are what made me start wondering if they had something deeper than friendship in the first place.
Hi Susanna, thank you!! 🥰 And I totally know what you mean hahaha, Jimin is the happy third wheel. Just like all of us!! 😂🤣💜
Funnily enough I never noticed anything special about Namjin in the videos and never even occurred to me there might be something.
Finding the pattern and then the subsequent wordplays convinced me 😊
After read this analysis. I increasing believe that NamJin is real. Hope you always send a theory about Namjin. Because I’m very interested with your blog.
Oh yeah, speakingly about analysis NamJin ship, can you do analysis for Taekook and Yoonmin based on the materials and facts in the Love Yourself? album. Because I saw on several YouTube accounts of the army, they could find theories about Taekook and Yoonmin according to the MV and lyrics in the songs of the Love Yourself album. So can you also analyze and find what they find? If you can’t but it’s okay I don’t force you to make an analysis about other couples besides NamJin.
Oh yes, here I also say thank you because thanks to you my confusion was answered already. Honestly, from the start I saw the cover of the Love Yourself album I was suspicious why the colors of the Love Yourself album cover were very familiar to what I had seen so far (fyi: I am an LGBT supporter and I often read things related to that. It’s natural that I feel that seeing those colors is familiar to my eyes.)
In my opinion, the cover color for the Love Yourself album is more similar to the Bisexual flag (pink, purple and dark blue) and the pansexual flag (pink, yellow and blue).
Sorry if my opinion is offensive to you and is like patronizing you. It’s just that this is my opinion, it’s up to you to agree or not. Because I think you are more genius than me. The proof is that you can read all the theories correctly and continuously even after I have read so far about your blog it all makes sense and is not just delusional.
thanks.
Hi Revita, at the moment I’m only studying the LY albums. As you would have read, the only authors are Joon, Hobi, Yoongi and JK (one song only).
Nothing from Joon, Yoongi and Hobi’s perspectives have indicated, much less convinced me that Taekook and Yoonmin are real. If you read all of Yoongi and Hobi’s lyrics, there is nothing that indicates they have been in love with anyone. Sadly, Yoongi’s lyrics are particularly devoid from love as discussed in The Last of Agust D.
In saying that, Tae, Jk and Jimin don’t have any perspectives in this album, it doesnt mean Taekook or Yoonmin isn’t real. I’m simply saying objectively there is no evidence in the song lyrics in the LY albums.
All of your opinions are welcome here in my blog and you’re not patronising at all 🙂
First of all I want to explain why I so confidently hit the subscribe button on your blog.
The reason is because I really fell in love with your amazing blog. Because you can change the way I see NamJin, who I think they are just a couple of friends.
fyi: I believe everything you write because the materials you made to analyze the special relationship between Namjoon and Jin are real facts, not delusions. From lyric analysis, MV and much more.
I hope that Namjoon can be happy with Jin forever even going to the wedding. Because I know Namjoon really loves his lover, and his lover, Jin loves him too.
In fact, I remember him saying that Jin was the only person who made himself change. The point is that Jin is Namjoon’s first love and I hope that Jin will be Namjoon’s last love.
thanks.
Sorry if my English is bad because I’m not very fluent in English.
Hi Revita! Thank you so much for your comments! 🥰🥰🥰 Assuming my theory is more or less accurate, I too hope they are each other’s first and last love 💜💜 I hope joon is right and that their destines are written in the stars!
P.s. Your english is fine! It is so fluent! I wouldn’t have known English isn’t your first language! 😊
may i also add (although this is most likely irrelevant) that there was an interview where they were asked who was the most romantic
and my oh my, Jin pointed at Namjoon
After analysing their songs… I 100% have to agree!! 🙊💜
woa!!!
Also, Jin used to type Joon’s name to “Jon”
No way! I did not know that! *mind blown*
So then we both have live/love and Jin/Jon…
Ooh! So then we also have live/love and Jin/Jon…
Woops! Sorry I don’t know why your comment went into spam! And well… that certainly seems like what the lyrics are suggesting 🙂
I think RM leaves us plenty of clues in the songs that are to follow!
I really love how you just laid everything out there and started combining all the puzzle pieces together. I have watched lots of analysis of this song because I’m finding a specific explanation to confirm my hypothesis. While reading your blog post, I felt a chill down my spine (funnily i’m listening to spine breaker while reading your post 😝) because my hypothesis that I couldn’t find in other’s analysis aligned with yours. It’s the “Look, mine and yours sound the same.” In other analysis, they said that mine and yours sound the same in Korean which is “내” (nae) and “네” (ne) so I just dropped my theory even when I felt so excited when I found it. Thank you for sharing your theories! I appreciate you so much even if I’ve only read a couple of your posts and just started today. I’m off to binging your blog posts and fall deeper to find the password for even exclusive posts. It’s 2 a.m. but I’ve never felt more alive. This is such a precious and proud moment for me. Thank you for making it happen, G!
Hi Kuchishabishii!! Hahaha I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying my blog! 😄 It is all coming together isn’t it? 😉 if you read my blog in chronological order you should be able to find that password! Let me know if you have any issues!
Much much love and thank you for your support! ☺️