On Jan. 9, K-pop sensation BTS released a new trailer titled “Interlude: Shadow,” which is a solo song performed by group member and rapper Suga. The comeback trailer came just days after the announcement of their new album, Map of the Soul: 7, which is slated to release on Feb. 21. BTS’ Map of the Soul series first began back when the group released Map of the Soul: Persona in Apr. 2019.
The album title may sound familiar to students studying psychology; the album series is based on Carl Jung’s theory of analytical psychology and self-discovery. In Jung’s model of the psyche, which is also referred to as the map of the soul, there are four stages that a person must go through in order to achieve individuation, which is also known as the discovery of one’s identity. Each person must face their persona, shadow, ego, anima-animus and their self in order to complete the process.
So far, BTS has been following this path of individuation since their release of Map of the Soul: Persona, in which BTS examined persona, or identity, on the surface level. In contrast, shadow represents the traits that you hide from others as a compromise between you and society. Examining the new trailer “Interlude: Shadow” can help us predict what message and concept BTS is going to explore in their upcoming album.
The song begins with Suga listing out a series of desires, such as “I wanna be a rap star, I wanna be the top, I wanna be a rockstar…” In this scene, Suga is standing in a hallway wearing all black, while several dark shadow-like figures stand motionless before a series of doors. We can connect the black outfit to Suga’s shadow personality.
In contrast, when Suga is wearing white, the shadows are nowhere to be found. One scene, in particular, shows the shadows banging on a door, trying to escape, while Suga, wearing white, stands idly on the other side. This scene depicts how, while attempting to reach his goals, Suga has been forced to hide his shadows within him. The white represents his on-stage personality that rejects all shadows, or flaws, in order to fit his superstar persona. In their album, BTS is likely going to talk about their sudden rise in fame over the past few years and how such a change has forced them to hide certain traits from their fans.
Suga raps “I wondered every day how far I’d go” while shadows are depicted to be reaching out towards him. He mentions that the shadow at his feet has “gotten even bigger,” showing that the more goals he accomplishes, the more he’s forced to hide from others as he rises in fame. As he further associates with his superstar persona he says, “but my growing shadow swallows me.” He expresses a desire not to go any further at the expense of his shadows when he says, “I rise, rise (I hate it).”
These emotions culminate in the chorus of the song, in which Suga is seen rapping while on a stage before an audience. He expresses fear at the idea of confronting his Shadow when he says, “the moment I face myself brought lowest, it so happens I’m flying the highest.” Since the release of persona, BTS has been guiding fans on how to continue the stages of individuation and avoid getting stuck at one phase. Despite achieving the desires he initially laid out at the beginning of the song, Suga still has to acknowledge the existence of his shadows in order to complete individuation.
The final portion of the song takes a dramatic turn as Suga finally confronts the shadows within him and acknowledges them for the first time since the beginning of the song. Here, Suga’s shadow seems to replace Suga’s persona and becomes the narrator of the song. The music suddenly pauses and picks up again in an intense bass pattern, interlaced with several unidentifiable sound effects. Furthermore, this transition is highlighted by the new effects placed on Suga’s vocals such as distortion and increased compression, in order to create this a distorted, grainy vocal-track.
Cinematography further shows the transition between a persona narrator and a shadow narrator. The camera pans down from the Suga on the stage to a Suga hidden in the audience, which mimics the way in which shadow is mapped out to be directly below the persona in Jung’s map of the soul. There are several images of glass shattering and coming back together again, showing that the wall that has kept the shadows hidden away is physically breaking and resulting in the persona and the shadow intermingling. Finally, to seal the transition, the lighting of the video shifts from stable, bright lights to flashing red lights, showing the sudden shift to the perspective of the shadow. Throughout the songs of BTS’ new album, the narrative voice is likely to switch back and forth seamlessly between the shadow and the persona, providing a wide range of perspectives within individual songs.
Suga, as the shadow, then concludes the song with, “Yeah I’m you, you are me” and “We are one body, sometimes we clash. You can never break me off.” The shadow further solidifies its connection to the persona and still just as much of part of one’s identity as the positive parts portrayed by the persona. This theme connects back to BTS’ Love Yourself series that started in 2017, in which BTS campaigned for self-love and appreciation. BTS is likely going to continue on the path of exploring identity and self-acceptance, with connections or symbols from the Love Yourself series incorporated in their new album.
Although the end of the song appears to be dark due to the sudden change in the instrumentals and visuals, the song still provides a message of hope: individuation, while difficult, is feasible. Through the tracks of their new album, BTS is likely to explore how fans can overcome the dark parts of their shadows and learn to balance both the shadow and the persona in their daily lives.
Article by Vismaya Mohindra of Richard Montgomery High School
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons