BTS - On Explained, kinda... (Script)

BTS is back with what seems to be the second and final entry to their Map Of The Soul series. The title song – ON has an epic M/V that’s packed with all sorts of references. But before we go on to the M/V, let’s decipher the lyrics first. And just a quick reminder, I have explained the basic concepts of the Jungian psychology many times in previous videos – so I suggest you go watch those videos in the pinned comment before you watch this, if you are unfamiliar with such concepts.

I can't understand what people are sayin'
어느 장단에 맞춰야 될지
한 발자국 떼면 한 발자국 커지는 shadow

Right off the bat, the Jimin talks about his troubles. He’s having trouble finding out who to listen to – and as he takes steps forward his shadows become bigger. As you may remember shadows are repressed, less desired elements of one’s personality. The more he listens to others the more of himself he has to repress, and the bigger his shadow gets.

(Look) Look at my feet, look down

날 닮은 그림자

흔들리는 건 이놈인가

아니면 내 작은 발끝인가?

Here RM talks about HIS troubling thoughts, and how he’s not fully comprehending whether it is him that is having troubling thoughts, or the shadow. In reality it is both, as the shadow is a part of him, and the shadow is not the only one shaking it is him too. He realizes this in the next lines.

두렵잖을 리 없잖아

다 괜찮을 리 없잖아

그래도 I know, 서툴게 I flow

저 까만 바람과 함께 날아

RM shows his vulnerability by admitting that his troubled state has made him fearful, and not okay. However, he has come to a realization that he must accept the shadows. In this beautiful line he calls shadows the black wind – a very imaginative metaphor for a shadow that really captures how his shadows are shaking in trouble, as he is as well. He says he will fly with the black wind – the shadows, meaning he will embrace it and become better with it. 

Now encountering and embracing the shadow is a key step in the process of individuation. The process of individuation in Jungian psychology is where the unconscious parts of the psyche such as the shadow, are brought into conscious, developing the personality, and making the person distinct and unique. Jung believed that through individuation one could achieve mental and physical health and become just better human beings overall. You could say the entire map of the soul series is about BTS’s process to individuation, and it here on this verse where they finally come to embrace their shadows and bring them to the conscious.

Hey, na-na-na

미치지 않으려면 미쳐야 해

Hey, na-na-na

나를 다 던져 이 두 쪽 세상에

Hey, na-na-na

Can’t hold me down 'cause you know I’m a fighter

제 발로 들어온 아름다운 감옥

Find me and I'm gonna live with ya

In the prechorus BTS has fully committed to the individuation process. They see that they must throw themselves into two worlds – the two worlds being the unconscious and conscious parts of the mind. They must see both sides in order to truly be whole, truly develop their character. 

Also we need to talk about this interesting line 미치지 않으려면 미쳐야해 

I think this refers to how sometimes what people consider sane is insane if you think about it, and vice versa. BTS, who have figured out their path to individuation, they have decided to go deeper into the shadows, into their repressed elements, their pain, which to a 'normal' human being may seem like going against their intuition and instincts. No 'sane' human being deliberately tries to delve deeper into their pain. However, if you think about it, maybe more people are insane than sane, they never really are grounded to their true self, or even know what it is. So in that sense, delving deeper into your pain to find more about yourself and grow is the sane thing to do, while others who do not go such depths and decide to live the way life is handed to them, are insane. Hence, you need be insane to be sane. 

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(Ayy-oh) 가져와 bring the pain, oh, yeah

(Ayy-oh) 올라타봐 bring the pain, oh, yeah

Rain be pourin', sky keep fallin'

Everyday, oh-na-na-na

(Ayy-oh) 가져와 bring the pain, oh, yeah

Individuation can be painful. Our minds want to dwell on security and stability. However for individuation to take place, for our minds to grow, we need to fight our urges to stay in our comfort zone - we need to take risks getting into the unconscious. This can mean doing something that you have never done before, or something that others do not do. Individuation is a journey of conflict - 

"There is no birth of consciousness without pain." Said Carl Jung. BTS understands this and is braced and ready to take on that pain.

Bring the pain

모두 내 피와 살이 되겠지

Bring the pain

No fear, 방법을 알겠으니

작은 것에 breathe

그건 어둠 속 내 산소와 빛

내가 나에게 하는 것들의 힘

넘어져도 다시 일어나 scream

Here J-Hope in full wiseman mode. He knows, as stated in previous lines, that acknowledging their shadows are going to be helping them grow as a person. And furthermore, he’s not afraid to take on the pain of confronting the shadows – a contrast to what RM was saying in the first verse of the song. He knows the process, how this will help him become a better person – so he accepts it and he actively asks for more of the pain, as it’ll only callous them and make them stronger.

Just from the lyrics, this song is about growth, and full acceptance of one’s shadows in order to become a better person. I really like how the song has an element of progression to it – how it starts from being confused and fearful about one’s shadows to accepting it and asking for more pain so they can grow. It really is a nice way to end the Map Of The Soul saga. The music video is in similar vein. I know there’s a lot of different takes on the MV, but I’ll try to keep my theory connected to the themes of individuation and its development of one’s wholeness as a person through confronting the shadow and unconscious.

In the beginning we see a battlefield that has many lying dead, with Jin picking up a dove that has been shot down by an arrow. I think the battlefield represents the battles inside the psyche, not that of the actual outside world, as the song and the entire series is about going inside your mind. In fact, I’m going to go out of my way to say the entire setting of the music video is within the psyche. 

The dead dove represents peace, as it does in many different cultures, more specifically in the Bible, as this MV heavily references. The dove has been shot down because BTS is going through a sort of war inside their minds, they are confused as the beginning of the lyrics suggest – and peace is no more.

Here in the next shot Jungkook is running away from some structure that looks like tall walls – he has thorns on his hands. In a recent video he stated that he is running away because he got kicked out after the people have discovered a special ability. I think this is a reference to the garden of Eden and how Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and was banished from Eden. This is essentially a metaphor for no longer being in an innocent, infant like state as Adam and Eve were prior to eating the fruit. It is essentially Jungkook being thrown into the world, out from the protection of God, or the walls of the Eden or the castle here – and being forced to face the turmoils of the world. As I have said in the lyric breakdown, such hardship and pain is essential in the process of individuation.

In Jimin’s shot he is with a drummer boy, which many ARMYs have been claiming represents war, as they had been used extensively in wars to signal between soldiers. I personally found this part the most confusing, the MV seems to be full of bible references, but I could not find anything regarding drummer boys in the bible. Going with the ARMY’s theory that the boy represents war – I think Jimin is preparing for another fight, an inner fight in his psyche in order to come to accept his shadow. 

V starts his appearance in what seems to resemble Jesus on a cross. He also has a blindfolded girl next to him, which in the Bangtan TV sketch video calls ‘Lena’. Lena derives from the biblical name Magdalene. Mary Magdalene from the bible is a devout follower of Jesus Christ. She was present at the cross when Jesus was dying, and also was the first to see Jesus after his resurrection. I think in this scene V represents hope that’s yet to be realized, as he is still laying on the ground in a crucified like posture, and Lena is blindfolded – the devout follower of him has yet to see him become alive in the metaphorical sense. This reflects the rather confused and doubtful state of the first lines of the verse.

RM is an obvious reference to Noah’s Ark. Judging from the state of the ship – the great flood seems to have already passed here. I think the great flood represents great turmoil in the psyche – like confronting the shadow, and identifying your ego and self from the persona. RM has asked these questions already in the Persona : Intro – perhaps why he has already passed the great flood in this scene. In the Bible, after the flood Noah meets a new world – so will RM and BTS after their process of individuation is over. They will come to a new world, a new, actualized self.

In this scene Jin brings the dead dove back to his room. The room is full of empty cages, likely other doves that had been there but have died. This shows that there is no more peace in the world, in the psyche – then something magical happens, the dead dove seems to come alive as its cage starts moving. Perhaps BTS wanted to show that it’s only when you lose all peace in your mind and really confront your shadows that you can gain true inner peace. 

In the next scene JK passes out and is in a field with J-Hope. I think this scene represents the psychic death – this is where one’s psyche shifts back to the existential position of the natural self. Jung believed this fundamental transformation of the psyche would have radical improvements on one’s quality of life. Essentially think of it as thinking you know everything to realizing you know nothing. Only when you reach that state can you have a fundamental transformation of your psyche. During the psychic death the self remains in tact. This is because the self is deeper in the psyche than the ego and much less personal – rather archetypical. J-Hope seems to represent the self that remains from Jungkook’s psychic death. 

Then in the next scene we have Suga in the midst of some ritual. Now one youtuber named Bookish Theories suggested that this represents alchemy as it has four colors that represent each stages of alchemy. Jung used alchemy as a symbolic representation of individuation – so it does seem to make sense, and what happens after this scene supports this interpretation. 

The drummer boy starts playing drums, doors to the wall open, V rids Lena of her blindfolds – allowing her to see hope and the new land behind the walls, all signals for hope. Everyone gathers at the open door, trying to walk into the new land of hope. Jungkook goes into a pond – somewhat resembling a baptism. Essentially another metaphor for ego-death. He trades his thorns for a conch shell. When he blows on the shell, and I think this scene represents how he has become enlightened, knows now that he can, and must take on the shadows, as him doing so turns the skies dark and cloudy. 

We now have the dance break – I think this can be interpreted as the confrontation and acceptance of the shadow. It ends with everything being engulfed in a fireball, and a shot of the new land growing abundant with new trees and life. All the people go into the new land, and on top of the Simba rock. BTS has completed their process of individuation.