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An interesting part of Taeyong's lyrics is how he adds layers of meaning to his descriptions.
Note: this thread contains my own personal subjective interpretation of his lyrics
Note: this thread contains my own personal subjective interpretation of his lyrics
Intertextuality is a term that aims to describe how understanding of a text is shaped by its context, meaning other works that are one way or another connected to it. It can e.g. be previous artworks that are represented in the current one and thus help shape the meaning
Taeyong frequently references other artworks such as movies, characters or artists in his lyrics, connecting their stories or concepts into his new text.
In No Manners, he references Sid and Nancy, real life people, who have a movie about them called "Sid and Nancy: Love Kills". As the title predicts, the movie portrays the couple's toxic relationship of drug addiction.
Even though people warn Sid of Nancy's negative impact of his life, he cannot break away from her. When he tries to end it, Nancy begs him to kill her and attacks him, resulting in him stabbing her, and she dies.
However, later when Sid is picked up by a taxi, he believes he is seeing Nancy on the back seat, a moment Taeyong is most likely referring to with the lyrics "dancing on my back seat"
This enhances an understanding of the need to end a bad relationship roughly in order to get out of it as it might end up haunting you, making it impossible to break free completely. It serves as a reminder of just how badly it can end up.
In BDS, he mentions the artists Mark Rothko, Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel. Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel were French Sculptors from the 1800s. Claudel became Rodin's muse and lover even though he was already in a relationship with another woman.
Claudel was an inspiration to Rodin, and they influenced each other artistically. Claudel was also daring with her art, which often contained more sexual elements than generally tolerated at the time.
Therefore, their relationship in this song becomes a symbol of beauty, passion, sensuality and appreciating one another's body
Rodin and Claude's artworks
Rodin and Claude's artworks
He also raps "I play in the Paris", which can be understood as the city – a cultural hub for art. But it might also be a reference to plaster of paris, which is a substance to sculp with. This indicates thinking the person as art and them together will be a beautiful artwork
As someone cleverly commented on my yt video it could also be a reference to the character Paris from Greek mythology, who's the lover of the beautiful Helen and known for his beauty and being a charming lover, which would also tie well in with the meaning of the song
The last artist Rothko is an American painter from the 1900s, whose artworks mainly contain bright and shining colours. This creates an impression of the song describing a passionate relationship that makes you feel the heat of love and lust.
Rothko's artworks
Rothko's artworks
Taeyong explaining a bit about the lyrics of bds himself:
In Cherry Bomb, he mentions "Kingsman Chip", which is a reference to the Kingsman movies. The movies are action spy comedy films with some macabre scenes in them, which is what he is referencing.
"Kingsman chip" refers to a chip that has been implanted in people's necks, which makes their heads explode. And it is not just an ordinary explosion but an explosion that looks like fireworks, which matches the meaning of a "cherry bomb" which is a spherical exploding firework.
By connecting the meaning of Cherry Bomb to the Kingsman movies that contain stylised action sequences and dark humor, Taeyong is also able to highlight the double sidedness of Cherry Bomb, which is the aggressive confidence combined with a cheeky charm.
In Taeyong's verse of Ava Max's song "So am I", he calls himself a Grinch, a character by Dr. Seuss, which is a green mean-tempered creature, living isolated by himself, who doesn't enjoy the holidays like everyone else.
Relating himself to this character, could be a way of expressing loneliness and feeling isolated from others because he feels so different from them.
He also calls himself a berserker – a creature from old Norse mythology, full of fury and wrapped in bear skin. This could be a reference to disguising his real self due to fear of not be accepted by others and thus isolating and putting on a tough shell so no one can bring hurt
This ties well into the meaning of the song overall, which is about feeling different, but we shouldn't let that hold us back, because we are not alone about being a bit weird and different.
Taeyong's verse in Yunho's city lights has a ton of intertextual references
Let's start with Gulliver: Gulliver is the main character in a novel called "Gulliver's Travels", by Jonathan Swift in 1762. Gulliver is a ship captain that travels to many unknown lands throughout the novel, where he always ends up in trouble
The reason for inserting Gulliver into the song, could be to enhance a feeling of searching and wanting to find out more and get closer to the lover, who is the focus of the song. But there is trouble finding her trail, making the longing even greater.
Other intertextual elements are the mentions of NCT, The 7th Sense and 1-2-7 referring to the subunit NCT 127.
Mentioning the 7th Sense, he adds that this lover gives a feeling so strong it goes beyond your regular senses, he even describes that he loses his senses, meaning the lover is the only sense to be felt.
And mentioning NCT is a play of words as he and his members call themselves N-city (Neo City), which relates to the title of the song "City Lights". He connects himself to the song and its story through word play, which functions as self representation and branding as a rapper.
In conclusion to this intertextuality part, I just want to highligt that it's important to look at the context Taeyong references in order to know how to interpret the rest of his lyrics and the particular song. There is usually more to dig into than what meets the eye at first
Also his lyrics aren't nonsense! Seriously just learn how to freaking analyze instead of taking everything literal!
For people coming across this: this analysis is a part of a bigger one I uploaded on youtube a while ago
