Analysis of the song IDOL by BTS
- Rachel's Music
- Mar 27, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 28, 2019
In this entry I am going to analyse the song IDOL by the South Korean boy group BTS. The song was released on the 24th August 2018 and only five days later it became the fastest video to reach 100 million views on YouTube in 2018 – until Ariana Grande broke that record later in December.
The song is set to 126 bpm and it’s in the key of C#. It starts out with a heavy rhythm accompanied by a sampled sax melody. The beat is immediately defined by strong and repetitive layered percussions. The repeating sax is also the hook and it can be found in many different points throughout the whole song; since it can be heard straight up from the beginning, it makes the song easy to recognise and it could work as some sort of trademark.
Already since the very start of the song we can notice how the sonic characteristics were influenced by dance music. The track is full of energy, “According to the group’s label BigHit Entertainment, IDOL was inspired by gqom, a style of house music that originated in Durban, South Africa. Gqom combines powerful traditional thumping drum with bass and house synths in a balance between tradition and trend.” (Chakraborty, 2018).
Falling toms almost work as a warning right before a new, more powerful section is about to begin: 20 seconds in the song they are letting us know that the vocals are coming in. From the very beginning, since the rhythm is so well defined, the body can immediately feel the urge to move and dance to the beat.
It is interesting to notice that even though the song itself is in Korean, the very first lyrics are in English, which means that the song is addressed to a way vaster audience than just the South Korean one.
After winning the Top Social Artist award at Billboard Music Awards for two years in a row, both in 2017 and 2018, BTS was victim of hard criticism that accused them of being too westernised and focused on international affairs. The song IDOL can therefore be interpreted as an answer to these criticisms. This becomes quite obvious when we take into consideration the lyrics that are sang in English: “You can call me artist, you can call me Idol”, “I’m proud of it”, “I know what I am, I know what I want, I’m never gon’ change, I’m never gon’ trade”, and, probably most important, “You can’t stop me loving myself”. BTS is saying that it doesn’t really matter how people define them, as they perfectly know who they are and where they are from.
To counterattack the accusations of being too westernised, BTS mixes in a lot of Korean traditional lyrics, instruments, and dances with the African inspired dance sounds. For example, as David Kim explains in his video “BTS - IDOL explained by a Korean” (DKDKTV, 2018), in the chorus they say Ulssu and Jihwaja: these two are typical sounds of excitement that can be heard in old traditional Korean folk songs. The second one in particular is especially used in songs that celebrate the thriving nation and its peace. Even the seemingly meaningless sound “dukiduk kungduruhruh” mimics the drum beat used in a specific Korean rhythm called Gutgeori Jangdan (굿거리장단 in Korean).
It’s easy to see now how the whole chorus could be defined as a celebration of Korean culture and traditions.
Personally, the heavy beats, the repeating hook, and the lyrics themselves, make me feel empowered and they make me want to dance to the rhythm, singing along to the very important message that proclaims, “you can’t stop me loving myself”.
The music video and choreography help with this feeling of powerfulness. What I especially like about this song is that nothing has been left unaffected by Korean traditions. Even the visuals of the video and the choreography present very traditional characteristics. In the music video, we can see the members of the group wearing what is called a Hanbok, a traditional Korean dress.
There are some references to traditional Korean folklore as well, like the rabbit in the moon that, according to the mythology, is preparing the recipe for immortality (DKDKTV, 2018), and BTS is dancing right underneath the moon, probably meaning that their music will never die.
Incorporated in the choreography we can see the traditional Hat turning dance Sangmodeolligi (상모돌리기) , and the fan dance Buchaechum (부채춤).
It is very interesting to notice how in the Korean tradition the body is historically very connected to music. Unlike the Western rhythms that come from what Dyer (1979) refers to as a “Puritan heritage”, the traditional Korean rhythms are usually accompanied by a specific dance, and we can see flashes of them in the video of the song analysed. Dyer (1979) says that “Rhythm, in Western music, is traditionally felt as being more physical than other musical elements such as melody, harmony, and instrumentation. This is why Western music is traditionally so dull rhythmically […] It is to other cultures that we have had to turn—above all to Afro-American culture—to learn about rhythm”. This quote makes us think about how the song IDOL borrows rhythms and sounds from different cultures – African and Korean especially – and applies to them specific movements and dances. Dyer (1979) says that popular song’s eroticism is “disembodied”.
Could the same be said for this song, when it encourages people to learn a dance and follow along to the music? I believe that, since the song has a very detailed choreography that can be followed, we can quote Dyer (1979) again when he says that “popular song’s tunes are rounded off, closed, self-contained. They achieve this by adopting a strict musical structure […] This gives them […] a sense of security and containment. The tune is not allowed to invade the whole of one’s body”.
This can be said about the choreography as well: it only gives space for a limited freedom, which might also be the reason why this song became so popular so fast, as it gives the feeling of liberation from typical pop songs, but without needing us to leave the comfort zone that we are so used to.
However, “the fact that music can so influence the body accounts for much of music’s power” (McClary, 1994). Talking about how the song Midnight Hour was inspired by African rhythms and moves, McClary (1994) analyses how “under the influence of its groove, many white listeners started experiencing their own bodies in terms of an African-American sensibility”. Following this line of thought, we could say that the choreography in IDOL could prompt us to approach the Korean culture with an open mind, helping us understand different habits and traditions.
It is interesting to notice how during the second verse, the hook is repeated using a different, softer pipe instrument. It almost feels like BTS doesn’t want the listener to forget that, even when the song changes or shifts to a different section, it is always the same song, and since, during the second verse, the lyrics proclaim: “there are hundreds of me’s inside of me, I’m facing a new me again today, It’s all me anyway”, we could say that the instrumentation matches the message of the lyrics.
In conclusion, the song’s overall rhythm and instrumentation are very repetitive and borrow elements form various genres. I think the track could fit into the category of World music, as it was inspired by South African dance music, but it also includes Korean folk sounds, and typical western pop elements that give the song the ability to appeal to a worldwide audience.
References:
- Videos
- Articles
- Books and essays
Dyer, R. (1979), In defense of Disco, Routledge
McClary, S. (1994), Same as It Ever Was: Youth Culture and Music, Routledge
Комментарии