Fake Love: By Hobi

Hi everyone!

Welcome back! Today, we are going to be discussing the first song in part 2 of the trilogy that contains Hobi’s perspective.

Though Hobi did not contribute to Fake Love’s lyrics, I believe it is still relevant to Hobi because of its antithesis relationship with DNA, and because DNA contains Hobi’s perspective.

Further, as you may have all realised, it turns out that Hobi, Namjoon and Yoongi were all living parallel lives… pretending to be okay when they were secretly not, and doing everything they can to show only their best selves to earn the love from their respective “Her(s)”.

Hence, the true beauty of Joon’s lyrics is that Yoongi and Hobi can relate to every single word.

To illustrate this parallel, I’ve written this analysis in the same flow and structure as my Fake Love: By Namjoon and Fake Love: By Yoongi analyses. This song was purposefully written beautifully and ambiguously enough so it can resonate with different people and fit different contexts.

And, at the end, I will further illustrate how my theory and my approach is consistent with what BTS themselves have said about Fake Love.

Enjoy!

Assumed Knowledge & Assumptions

I have written this post assuming you know:

• my theory, that all of the songs in LY albums are connected and reveal a storyline when read in a specific order;
• Joon and Yoongi’s stories discussed in my blog so far; and
• Hobi’s story in Trivia 起: Just Dance and the Calla Lily, DNA and Outro: Her.

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.

You can absolutely still continue to read and follow how I draw meaning from the lyrics, but you may not, for example, understand why I am analysing Fake Love from Hobi’s perspective.

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

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

Alright, let’s get it!

1. Fake Love – The antithesis of DNA

We discovered in DNA that Hobi’s story was about his real love with ARMY, a love that was so real, our destinies are embedded in his and our DNAs. Conversely, due to its antithesis relationship, Hobi’s story in Fake Love is about his fake love with ARMY.

Now, before anyone starts getting mad, (especially if you’re new to my blog!) the above sentence is correct but sounds misleading without context.

To summarise, we previously identified that Fake Love through Namjoon and Yoongi’s perspectives are about them faking many things about themselves in hope that their respective “Her(s)” will continue to love them. The faking of their true selves makes their love for “Her” fake.

Hobi’s case, as we will soon see, is no different.

For Hobi, Fake Love is about him realising how the love he was giving to ARMY was so extreme, unnatural and crazy, it became fake.

This is a continuation from (Outro): Her where I stated:

Hobi shares with us that the only reason why he is able to continue this painful cycle of pretending to be okay when he isn’t is because “love drives a person crazy.”

Because of his love for ARMY, Hobi resolutely pours himself into his performances to be cheerful and to “give [ARMY] my everything.”….

…His commitment to his performances and to being a beacon of positivity and hope is so extreme, Hobi calls himself “a crazy guy.”

(Outro) Her: By Hobi

I have set out in the table below the relevant lyrics clearly illustrating that DNA and Fake Love are opposing concepts:

2. “Fake” Hobi

2a. Pretending to be okay

I refer to the first and last verse of Fake Love:

For you, I could pretend like I was happy when I was sad
For you, I could pretend like I was strong when I was hurt
I wish love was perfect as love itself
I wish all my weaknesses could be hidden
I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in a dream that can’t come true

• Hobi loves ARMY and wanted to make ARMY happy;
• he thought that being happy-positive-dancer-Idol Hobi is what ARMY loves about him. (“You who loves that, I who tries harder for that” ~ (Outro): Her); and
• he simpy wanted to be loved by ARMY.
  
  Being loved by ARMY was incredibly important to him because ARMY:
  • brings meaning to his Night;
  • is Hobi’s whole world and true love;
  • is the singular precious living flower in Hobi’s otherwise muddy and suffocating life; and
  • is the reason for Hobi’s (and by extension, BTS’) existence.

This pretence of being happy and positive is a lie because the truth is, Hobi was sad and hurting.

The act of putting on a “mask” to become “a star of yours and yours only” for ARMY results in the creation of “Fake” Hobi.

Because of his desire to be “perfect and happy” when he isn’t, and his fear that ARMY will reject him when we realise how imperfect he is; Hobi in Fake Love anguishes and wishes that the love between him and ARMY could be “as perfect as love itself” , and that he could hide “all [of his] weaknesses” from us.

As we identified in Fake Love: By Yoongi that Fake Love is set around about 27 December 2015…

…Fake Love from Hobi’s perspective is about “Fake” Hobi at around the period of 27 December 2015.

2b. The Flower that can’t be bloomed

As discussed in Fake Love: By Namjoon, the last line: “I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in a dream that can’t come true” is a reference to the Smeraldo.

The Smeraldo Flower is the “flower that can’t be bloomed” because it is fictional and therefore, cannot be grown.

Just like what we did for Namjoon, let’s break up the components from Hobi’s perspective:

• “Flower that can’t be bloomed” = Smearldo
• Smeraldo =
  • A fictional flower in the BTS Universe used to express your true feelings and love.
• Dream = Remembering that there is no real way to specify plurality in Korean, the above lyrics could also be: “I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in dreams that can’t come true.”
  
  As we previously discussed, Hobi has two dreams: One to become a globally famous dancer/Idol, and the other, to be continued to be loved by ARMY.

In other words, when Hobi says: “I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in dreams that can’t come true” , Hobi is saying to ARMY:

I tried to show you my love and sincerity in hope that you would love me, but alas, my sincerity “could not be delivered” (i.e. it could not be felt) by you, and thus my dream of being truly loved by you, and by extension, becoming a successful Idol* cannot come true.

*Remember, we learnt in DNA that the fate of Hobi’s dream to becoming a successful famous Idol lies in the hands of ARMY.

Interestingly but sadly, the above conclusion implies that many ARMYs got put off by Hobi’s never-ending positivity and felt that Hobi’s personality was too fake.

Given that Hobi’s stage focused cams are always one of the least-watched ones (which I was always found strange given he is the group’s lead dancer along with Jimin), I wonder if this could be the cause of it?

If you were an ARMY in 2014-2016, I would love to hear your thoughts and understand if ARMYs developed a “Hobi-felt-fake” impression during those years.

3. Love can drive people mad

I refer to the following verse:

I wanna be a good man, just for you
I gave the world, just for you
I changed everything, just for you
But I don’t know me, Who are you?
The forest just for us, you weren’t there
The route I took, I forgot
I even became quite unsure of who I was
Try babbling into the mirror, who the hell are you?

We can infer from the first three lines and the repetition of “just for you”, that Hobi loves ARMY very much and is willing to do anything for them.

This is consistent with what we discovered in Trivia 起: Just Dance, DNA and Outro: Her.

However, though Hobi tried to change “everything” and give the whole world to ARMY, unfortunately this process of “changing everything” causes Hobi to lose touch with his real self (“but I don’t know me” ), prompting him to ask himself “who are you?”

“The forest just for us” is a metaphorical private location and spot for Hobi and ARMY (i.e. at a fanmeet, at a concert, on VLive, etc). As discussed in my previous posts, I believe this may be inspired by 1Q84 where the forest is a recurring metaphysical space and image.

In other words, the lyrics “the forest just for us, you weren’t there, the [forest] route I took, I forgot, I even became quite unsure of who I was” mean that Hobi is feeling lost because he has lost his ability to connect at the same spiritual and emotional level with ARMY as he used to be able to.

The loss of his identity and ability to connect deeply with ARMY causes Hobi to babble into the mirror “who the hell are you?”, and take off the mask to confront his true self – his true self that is not okay. His true self that is stressed, lost and far from positive and hopeful.

The specific use of the term “babbling” draws negative connotations to a mad person, and conjures an image of Hobi talking in a rapidly foolish and incomprehensible way in front of a mirror.

This imagery conveys to us that the suppression of Hobi’s real self over time drove Hobi mad.

This is consistent with what we saw in (Outro) Her: By Hobi where the lyrics implied that if we knew about all about the sacrifices and decisions Hobi took just to look happy, strong and positive for us… we would probably call him crazy too.

4. The “Lyrical Ambigram“

In Fake Love: By Namjoon, I discussed the lyrical ambigram of the following lyrics in bold:

Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll
Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll

I’m so sick of this fake love, fake love, fake love
I’m so sorry but it’s fake love, fake love, fake love

Essentially, I believe it is possible to interpret:

• “Love you so bad” as either “Now you’re so bad” or “Why you’re so bad” ; and
• “Love it’s so mad” as “Now you’re so mad” or “Why you’re so mad” .

Please refer to my previous blog post for my full reasoning as I am going straight to discuss the various possible meanings and interpretations.

First, let’s interpret the chorus based on the official lyrics:

Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll
Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll

I’m so sick of this fake love, fake love, fake love
I’m so sorry but it’s fake love, fake love, fake love

In this interpretation, Hobi is saying to ARMY:

I love you so badly that I pretended to be happy (i.e. lie) for you. Love is so mad it has driven me mad enough to be willing to “put on clothes I hate, excessive make up” and become a perfect fake plastic happy doll (i.e. “the me that you love” ) when I am feeling anything but.

I’m sorry, but this love between us is just fake.

Now, let’s try one of the possible interpretations:

Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Why you’re so mad, why you’re so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll
Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Now you’re so mad, now you’re so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll

I’m so sick of this fake love, fake love, fake love
I’m so sorry but it’s fake love, fake love, fake love

In the above interpretation, Hobi sounds like he is saying to ARMY: I love you so much that I’m doing all I can to pretend to be happy and strong for you, so why are you so mad at me? I have given you my everything, I put on excessive makeup and clothes that I hate so I can be perfect for you… and this is how you treat me? Why don’t like me anymore?

As you can see, there is a distinct difference in both interpretations, particularly in the tone of voice. In the latter interpretation, it sounds like ARMY was complaining about Hobi and criticising him.

Similarly to Fake Love: By Namjoon, I’m not going to go into the many possible variations of the lyrics, I hope you get the drift! The point is, I believe that the lyrics are brilliantly ambiguous so that it can be interpreted in many different ways.

However, despite the chorus being opened for interpretation, one thing is still certain.

Hobi’s fakeness is causing the love between him and ARMY to feel fake, and this is making him (and probably ARMY) “so sick of this fake love” and “sorry” that he can no longer make the love between them feel real.

5. Say ‘I love you’… please?

I refer to the following verse:

Why you sad? I don’t know. I don’t know
Smile, say ‘I love you’
Look at me, even I gave up on myself
Even you can’t understand me
You say I’m unfamiliar, changed into the one you used to like
You say I’m not myself which you knew well
No? What do you mean no? I’m blind
Love? What the heck is love? It’s all fake love

The above verse gives us insight as to how ARMY were acting towards Hobi. Hobi wonders: “why you sad?” “smile, say ‘I love you'”.

We can infer from this that Hobi’s popularity appears to have shrunk and not as many ARMYs were saying “I love you” to Hobi anymore.

This is consistent with the conclusion above where I discussed how the lyrics imply that ARMYs got put off by Hobi’s never-ending positivity and felt that Hobi’s personality was too fake.

We can infer from Hobi’s reaction “No? What do you mean no?” that many ARMYs started to stop saying “I love you” to Hobi because they became unable to love the “fake” person Hobi had become.

In addition, the rapid fire of comments directed at ARMY, “look at me… you say I’m unfamiliar… you say I’m not myself... No? What do you mean no? Love? What the heck is love?” , mirror Hobi’s earlier “blabbering” thoughts and convey Hobi’s deep sense of despair as he is at a complete loss of what to do.

Hobi is desperate and lost because ARMY is the very reason for his and BTS’ existence, and Hobi loves ARMY very much.

He is scared that if he shows ARMY his “real” self, his true self that isn’t always cheerful, positive and hopeful, ARMY will stop loving him and he will lose both his dream of becoming a successful Idol… and us.

6. Because it is Fake Love

Woo, I dunno, I dunno, I dunno why
Woo, even I, even I don’t know myself
Woo, I just know, I just know, I just know why
Cuz it’s all fake love, fake love, fake love.

In the end, Hobi realises and understands that his relationship with ARMY is deteriorating because he has lost his own identity (“even I don’t know myself” ), and is thus unable to make the love between him and ARMY feel real.

In other words, Hobi realises that it is not possible for ARMY to truly love him if he is not really being himself.

Hobi ends Fake Love with the line: “I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in a dream that can’t come true.”

As we have seen above and in the previous posts, Hobi has been suppressing his true feelings and emotions of being lost, stressed and negative.

The Smeraldo, as previously discussed, symbolically represents true feelings.

Mirroring the story of Testesso and the grotesque man from the Smeraldo legend, another meaning of the line is:

Hobi wanted to be his true self and express his true feelings with ARMY. However, to do so, Hobi would have to reveal his “ugly” imperfect real self… and he did not have the courage to do so...

Author’s Thoughts

I wonder what happened to Hobi during 2014-2015 to make him feel like he was losing ARMY’s love 😔 When I got to know Hobi in 2020, I always somehow knew that he had a darker and more serious side through various videos… I wonder if old ARMYs feel differently about that?

Anyway, I’d like you to watch a section of the BTS Comeback show Highlight Reel provided below. I hope this will really resonate with you after reading the three perspectives of Namjoon, Yoongi and Hobi.

There are two things of particular significance I want to point out:

First, Namjoon said at 3:04:

“Fake Love can realistically be about love between lovers or people. But if I were to make a “self” of me, it can be a story between that “self” and “I”…”

This is consistent with my theory that Fake Love can be about:

1) The love between lovers – Namjoon and his lover;
2) The love between people – BTS themselves, and BTS with ARMY; and
3) The love between “self” and “I” – As I stated in one of my very first posts, I believe the entire Love Yourself album series is a documentation of Namjoon’s, Yoongi and Hobi’s journey to self-love.

Second, V said at 3.16:

“We need to be able to express those emotions when we perform. In order to match this song, [I ask myself:] “how should I express myself?” I believe I did a lot of research into that.”

The significance of V needing to do a lot of research into understanding how he should express himself is that:

1) Fortunately, it indicates Fake Love is not based on V’s experience. It implies that Tae has not fully experienced this issue and is thus unable to completely relate to each word from his own life experiences. Hence, to empathize with the lyrics and its meaning, he dedicated the time to researching and understanding the topic well. 💜

2) As Fake Love is not about V, V is then the actor/singer who takes what he is given and creates magic with it. While V may grow to understand what Fake Love is or may experience it one day, as at the point of writing this song, Fake Love is not really Tae’s story.

3) The above two points together support the most significant point and assumption in my blog; that we must approach the lyrics from the author’s perspective. It is for this same reason why I believe it is not appropriate to analyse Singularity from Tae’s perspective. Tae may have researched it and may be able to relate to the song from his own experiences, but ultimately since Tae didn’t write it, Singularity is not Tae’s story.

This approach is consistent with what p-dogg said: “The members themselves write about 90% of the lyrics… they believe that they should be the ones to tell their stories. They don’t tell stories that they don’t know or didn’t… experience themselves… “

P-dogg also said this:

“There is narrative in BTS’ music, for example, their Love Yourself era… the Outro from a previous album connects to the Intro for the next album.”

P-dogg’s interview is entirely consistent with my Love Yourself album theory.

So… you know how ARMYs wish that the boys publish autobiographies about their lives? ARMYs don’t have to wish it. We already have it! Well… at least Joon/Yoongi’s and Hobi’s! (Will the vocal line please write more songs for me to analyse?! 😛)

Anyway, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my blog below or follow me on Twitter, and if you enjoy my posts, please remember to share and retweet! 🙂

Have a lovely day everyone! 💜 G

BTS Comeback show Highlight Reel [Extract Only]

Full video link here

Lyric sources: Genius lyrics

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 Fake Love is based on my interpretations of its lyrics. Please enjoy.