BTS (방탄소년단) 'Black Swan' Official MV Quick Take

You've touched on how BTS manages to write songs which millions of people find themselves relating to 😍

Just getting caught up a little bit- I love love loved this! I haven't gotten much into BTS yet but I feel like this is a beautiful intro. My background is in dance- I majored in dance in college (ballet, modern/contemporary, jazz, tap) and taught for a while, then life took me in other directions and after a long break I started dancing again recreationally at a local studio a few years ago. I had yearned to go back to dance for a long time, but couldn't find a good way to manage it with my life as the wife of a Navy servicemember and then disabled veteran and mother of kids with additional medical and developmental needs. But I realized that dance is essential to my mental health and to me just feeling like a whole human being...like myself. The way in which I integrate it in my life might change, but I need to always be involved in dance in some way. Even the way in which I engage with music is consistently about how it makes me want to move, and Black Swan makes me itch to have the space to MOVE to it. This one is definitely going on my regular playlist!

BTS is consistently introspective and reflective. You might be interested to view an official art film by a dance company to Black Swan: https://youtu.be/vGbuUFRdYqU?si=HXWZBLc51VUuiuzj

https://youtu.be/TxRoayjXlLY?si=o-v8STPbvhcLQT5H I know singing is your thing, but if you’d like to see some more of Jimin’s dancing, this is a decent enough compilation with the camera focusing on him

From the same album and another slower introspective one is Louder than Bombs. I put a link a little while ago in the chat, but here it is again. https://youtu.be/I1Pcj3CHun8?si=jPp5l-pz-4LEl959 if you want something a little heavier hitting on the beat, Dionysus and ON are good ones. https://youtu.be/899yvqCpdpk?si=V3l0SAto90FaWY5k and https://youtu.be/gwMa6gpoE9I?si=N_I3dSZ66-nB-6Iy Dionysus is about how art is like wine and getting drunk on the creative process while fans are also intoxicated by the art. A bit of a simpler concept, but a very heavy hitter. ON is a bit more complex, simplified it’s about persevering through the challenges of life by accepting your “shadow” and using pain as a catalyst for growth. Refer to my other comment for what “shadow” means

Oh I’m so glad you finally listened to Black Swan. We’ve kind of been throwing the big explosive songs at you, but they have a lot of slower introspective ones like this too. An inspiration for this song that may contribute to the theater setting, as well as Jimin being a dancer, is a quote by dancer Martha Graham “A dancer dies twice - once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful”. It’s referenced directly in the song lyrics “If this can no longer resonate/ No longer make my heart vibrate/ Then like this May be how I die my first death”. Equating the first death to no longer making music as opposed to no longer dancing, but with the understanding that even with this fear, music is an essential and inseparable part of who they are. Same for anyone with their passions. The Black Swan is representative of inner darkness and self doubt as opposed to a confident public persona. The whole album Map of the Soul 7 is centered around introspection and self acceptance. If you pay attention to the lyrics and not just how upbeat some of the songs sound. Much of what they go over in that album was heavily inspired by the philosophical theories of Carl Jung. Facing the “shadow” (hidden flaws and weakness) while also embracing the “persona” (the mask aka public identity) and combining the two for personal growth

I love this one because of Jimin's dancing and the subject matter is right up my alley. Jimin was a contemporary dancer before he decided to become an idol. The live performance of this song is amazing because of the dance choreo.