Weverse Magazine: Revisiting “Spring Day”

“Spring Day” will never end. BTS concludes the song with the words, “please stay.” It’s their way of telling us that we will meet again if we just “wait a little longer.” But the second they utter the last syllable, the many sounds that lingered in the background fade away. Just like the backdrop that transitions from day to night, “Spring Day” ends after their voices are locked in a forlorn space. The irony of a song about an imminent reunion ending in stillness and solitude is only mitigated once the song is played again. Time within the dark, dreary place starts to move forward only when “Spring Day” is played again with its calm main riff and keyboard sounds. But we know that all-ending darkness waits for us again at the song’s end. If that’s where the song ends, and if their voices are locked in darkness, then time doesn’t move forward anymore. The music video of “Spring Day” starts off with V in the snow listening for the train approaching the station from afar. There’s no promise that V will reach “there” where “you” are, even if he boards the train. But it can take him somewhere else, away from the snowy station where he stood alone. While the song “Spring Day” unfreezes time, the music video animates space. Ultimately, “Spring Day” is a song about someone who is stuck at a certain point in space and time, unable to reach “you.” It’s also an emotional journey about struggling to move on from the said moment.

SUGA talks about how he came to write the lyrics to the song in the official BTS book entitled BEYOND THE STORY : 10-YEAR RECORD OF BTS: “I resented my friend.” “I missed them so much, but I couldn’t see them.” This was the reason why he sang, “Yes, I resent you/ You’re gone but I haven’t forgotten you for a single day/ I honestly miss you/ But I’ll let you go/ That hurts less than hating you.” He can no longer be with his friend that he spent so much time with. But life goes on. The song portrays someone who begins to embrace this truth after breaking free from what had gripped at their heart like a freezing winter and finally moving on. But still, they can’t leave the moment entirely behind them, nor do they feel like they should. The main riff and the keyboard are the highlights in the opening to “Spring Day.” These two sounds have key roles in creating the lyrical mood to the song. But the moment the members’ voices come in, they blend into the background, and more sounds are layered on top. The longer the song plays, the faster the two sounds grow. The melody speeds up into a steady beat while blending into the backdrop to BTS’ vocals. The line “The heart runs through time/ A lonesome Snowpiercer” nicely summarizes the way “Spring Day” is conveyed. The train from the graphic novel and movie of the same name speeds on ceaselessly along the train tracks in the seemingly unending cold. That is how the lonely heart speeds through time, dredging up the object of loss, as well as the moment of loss. How much sadness, rage, and resentment did SUGA endure until he was finally able to say, “But I’ll let you go/ That hurts less than hating you”? He would have gone through the cycle of regret, calming down, then coming back around. SUGA sublimates these emotions into a highly refined language. His voice calmly conveys the lyrics, leaving behind the increasingly complex emotions mirrored by the multi-fold sounds found in “Spring Day.” Its melody never really allows the emotions to run freely. When the main voice sings the climax: “I miss you, I miss you/ How long must I wait/ How many sleepless nights must I spend” the rest follow in a low, quiet voice. “Spring Day” embodies the quiet, painful process of calmly resolving one’s emotions—the complex hurt that arises from a life that couldn’t all be put into words. As such, “Spring Day” embodies the very process of sorrow being sublimated into art, and it’s a record of somebody’s life becoming art itself. When someone is able to talk so calmly about their pain, it isn’t necessarily because they are done processing it. They are simply doing their best to move away from the realm of static time to one where time flows again. All while being considerate of others.

While the soundtrack ends with “please stay,” the music video concludes with the repetition of the chorus, reminiscent of a group of people cheering. The chorus, which had relinquished the center stage to other sounds and served as their backdrop, takes over the song again, now accompanied by a passionate guitar. In the video, BTS members stand in front of a large tree. The train that they were on has left, and Jimin holds a pair of shoes. The music video ends with the shoes hung up in the tree. The tree is still bare, but it is rooted in the ground. They have gotten off the train that felt like it would never stop and rooted their lives into the newfound soil. Not everyone finds a new home like this. Loss is all the more painful because it is an emotion that one must endure again and again throughout the repetitive mundanity of one’s life. While the soundtrack “Spring Day” shows the process of enduring and dealing with loss in everyday life, the music video shows us what could be at the end of the dark tunnel. That there could be light. That there is a reason for getting out of bed the next morning. There might not be a tangible final destination in reality like the one in the music video. But we can cultivate the tree in our hearts, every day, little by little. It has no leaves yet, but our lives will grow again, with their roots embedded in the soil of our hearts. A broken heart can’t be restored to the way it was before. But even on that seemingly cracked soil, a tree can grow. And one day we’ll realize that while we might be constantly looking behind our shoulders to the past, we’ve come much farther than we could have ever imagined.

BTS released “Spring Day” on February 13, 2017, right after The Most Beautiful Moment in Life (HYYH) and WINGS, which together, are considered the first highlight of their career. Their popularity soared with their two HYYH albums in 2015, and they won the Mnet MAMA Artist of the Year after releasing WINGS in 2016. A little while after the release of YOU NEVER WALK ALONE including “Spring Day,” they began to completely change the global trajectory of pop music. The moment they were given every imaginable honor, and when their unimaginable future began, they looked back on everyone from their past, whom they no longer could be with. Some of them found success like BTS, while some aren’t here anymore. “The cherry blossoms are blooming. This winter is ending, too. I miss you. I miss you.” The winter coming to an end also means that the memory of the past will be left behind. Like the pain that SUGA had felt over his friend, the deep sense of longing for someone they can no longer reach is expressed in the line “I miss you”—that they want to go back to those moments, even if it means they’d have to turn back time. But reality urges them to face forward and run. When they debuted, they were far from being in the spotlight, just because they were an idol group that was represented by a small, unknown label. They were unjustly overlooked before their popularity, and they were just as unjustly attacked after. They could only protect themselves by earning more love, climbing higher, and proving themselves. They were hurt countless times in the process, and had to climb ever higher, only facing forward. BTS’ success story from HYYH to YOU NEVER WALK ALONE mirrored the experiences of many Korean late Millennials and Gen Zs at the time. Almost an entire generation had to compete. Some survived, while others fell behind—whether they were idols, studying to go to university, or trying to get a decent job. Some children weren’t even able to stand at the starting line. HYYH captures the experience of the youth of the times, and WINGS portrays the group of young people who reconvene after surviving the tough days. “Spring Day” is a prayer for everyone who disappeared along the way, and the purest form of consolation for all those who survived. Even those who are here now are constantly reminded of their loss. But we must push forward to the end of winter, to a place where the tree can start growing leaves and flowers blossom. “Spring Day” is a song for people who have accepted their fate of constantly marching into the future, cradling the sadness of their past in their hearts. It captures the essence of the lives that Korean people lead. They are always running forward with their eyes on the prize, never stopping for breath—the experience which inevitably leads to loss. But still, they endure. They shed tears, but they can never look back.

Since its release seven years ago, “Spring Day” has never not been on the top of the daily chart on Melon, which is the most used music service in Korea. RM’s wish of wanting to create a song that is “loved by Korean people for a long time” as mentioned in BEYOND THE STORY : 10-YEAR RECORD OF BTS has come true. For those seven years, some may have outright bawled while they listened to the song on repeat. Others may have heard it for the first time as they finally resolved to move forward, baggage still in their hearts. Meanwhile, the meaning of spring in Korea has changed, as well as songs about the said season. Spring has now been made synonymous with the anticipation of having better days ahead, but overlapped with the memories of loss. This is proof that all the young people, including BTS, have grown. Everyone experiences loss. Everyone has regrets. But some won't forget and will grow trees in their hearts in the memory of somebody they refuse to let go. In the “‘Boy Meets Evil’ Comeback Trailer” heralding the release of WINGS, j-hope showcased his renowned dance solo. The lines to the rap “My breath shortens, and I close my eyes in this twisted reality tonight” is uttered between each crisp and powerful move. j-hope embodied the struggles of youth confronted with earthly temptations, at a time when his team had to deal with endless attacks, increasingly tight schedules, and the pressure to climb even higher still. But when he comes around to “Spring Day,” he leads a contemporary style group dance at the forefront of the stage with Jimin. His dance flows smoothly, without any breaks in his movement, just like the song that moves forward with the sadness from a past loss embedded in the heart. This marked the beginning of BTS’ signature contemporary dance performance that can be later seen in “Black Swan.” After “Spring Day,” they returned the love they received with the “LOVE YOURSELF” series. The ones who had to grow despite sustaining scars, are revisiting and contemplating the time during which their friends and contemporaries experienced loss and overcame it. They carry all the baggage, and embrace everyone they’d met along the way. And thus, they are adults. Kind adults. “Spring Day” celebrated the ascension of youths who have ever been hurt. And the song that embodies the saddest of their memories has become the most ubiquitous song defining an entire era.

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