You may have heard or watched the Academy Award-winning film Black Swan which starred Natalie Portman as Ballerina but let's see how the 4 times Billboard Music award winner group BTS expresses through their own version of Black Swan.
So Black Swan is a song by a South Korean Boy band BTS for their 4th Studio Album Map of the Soul 7. The song was written by RM (Leader of BTS), August Rico, Vince Nantes, Clyde Kelly, and Pdogg, with the latter of the five also handling production.
The lyrics are of deep contemplation and introspective which find BTS confessing, as artists, the fear of losing their passion for music.
LYRICAL ANALYSIS
The song is not your usual K-pop song or any song which gives a mainstream message, that's why I decided to touch upon this topic because we don't see artists being so vocal and raw about a subject that is branching through various media.
According to the description of “Black Swan” on Melon music platform, Martha Graham’s quote was the inspiration for the song. “Black Swan,” tells the story of a dancer, an artist, who fears the death of their career: the moment when they can no longer perform on stage. The moment when music no longer touches BTS’s hearts or stirs their passion is the moment when the specter of that “first death” appears
The heart no longer races
When hearing the music play
Tryna' pull up
Seems like time has stopped
Oh that would be my first death
I've been always afraid of....
"I have been always afraid of if this can no longer resonate," RM raps over a rolling trap beat, translated to English. "No longer make my heart vibrate / Then like this may be how I die my first death." (It's important to note that the accompanying video, an "art film" featuring a haunting performance from Slovenian troupe MN Dance Company and stripped-down vocals, begins with the quote from dancer Martha Graham:
"A dancer dies twice — once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful.")
( BTS leader RM rapping his parts in the song Black Swan)
Jimin's verse is the most emotionally potent:
"No song affects me anymore / Crying a silent cry."
It's a moment of catharsis — the realization that you're burnt out by the thing you love the most. Still, where there is despair there is also hope. And while BTS come face-to-face with their deepest fear, they don't let it completely paralyze them.
Suga Raps;
"Slowly, I open my eyes I’m in my workroom, it’s my studio,"
"The waves go darkly by in a throe / But I’ll never get dragged away again."
Jin then cries out,
"Nothing can devour me / I shout out with ferocity."
Overall to summarize, Black Swans lyrics speak of the unspeakable inner fears that would make you uncomfortable, anxious, and irritated. It's the part of the collective subconscious we avoid the most. We don't know how to deal with it. That's what the black swan is, the darkest shade of the shadow which BTS has been telling about it through their album Map of the Soul 7
PERFORMANCE APPRECIATION
To start off, the aesthetic of the stage like a magical forest helped the background give emphasis to the 7 of them with a dark view, the instrumental or rather intro - playing as a frame of the members are on the intentional sight of shadow-like figures of nothing but themselves, they're on different poses, raising arms up, their hands following the music soft beats as they continue...
Plus every performance of Black swan has had that artistic and mystic imagery that is very pleasing to the eyes. Even if you don't understand the song because of the language barrier you can't help but be blown away by the performance.
( Jimin's solo shot from the Black Swan music video)
REVIEWS FROM CRITICS
"Black Swan" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics all around the world. Review for Consequence of Sound, Hannah Zwick complimented the song's "beautiful blend of trap drumbeats and strings, rap and vocals, that creates an atmosphere of anxiety before you even read the lyrics" and chose the song as a highlight of Map of the Soul: 7.
So Seung-Geun from IZM viewed it as "heavy and philosophical" and described the song's production as "dark and serious." Calling the sound "mature," he rated the song 4/5, writing that "two completely different elements of Oriental Classic and Western Trend are compatible and entangled in an enlarged position, embodying the inner desire to fly much like a feather."
Los Angeles, August Brown described "Black Swan" as "foggy," "artsy" and "catchy as hell" and stated that, "If 7 has a statement of purpose, it’s probably this cut. It shows the biggest band in the world as attentive students of trippy modern hip-hop, but aware of the meticulousness and skill they bring to it as well.
OVERALL RATING 4.8/10
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