yoongi's lyrical universe - a thread of every self-referential lyric i could find throughout his and BTS' discography

"I like to refer to my old verses, I feel differently about some of the verses compared to when I first wrote them."

- Suga's Interlude Vlive, 2019.

2014's Tomorrow 'Though the dawn before sunrise is darkest' referenced in Suga’s Interlude as 'because the dawn right before the sunrise is the darkest' both about struggling in your present, but keeping hope of a better tomorrow

2016's First Love 'my beginning and end' in 2019's Song Request as 'I'll be with you for your birth and end' in First Love as the piano reassuring him, in Song request as music itself/yoongi reassuring us

Intro: Never Mind's "I don't give a shit, I don't give a fuck' referenced in the Last 'I don't give a shit, I don't give a fuck, all those words are to hide my weak self' a heartbreaking juxtaposition of his true feelings at the time

Eight's 'the word forever is a sandcastle' referenced in Savege Love remix as 'perhaps the word forever is a sandcastle'

perhaps forever doesn't exist, it falls apart just as easily as a sandcastle. even when built up again, its not the same

Intro: the most beautiful moment in life's 'why am I still here while others are running ahead' referenced in So far away as 'why am I here alone when everyone else is running'

The Last 'holding onto my fucking crushed shoulder thanks to the accident on my part-time delivery job' in First Love as 'grabbing my crushed shoulder I said' and this might be a stretch, but he alluded to a sore shoulder 2 years before he ever told us about the accident, in Rain

Spring Day referenced in Dear my friend, perhaps this is the same persons he's been missing

Suga's Interlude's 'that my leap would not be my fall' referenced in Interlude: Shadow as 'that my leap can be my fall' both song's expressing the fear of this 'leap' being the end. perhaps in Suga's interlude hoping it won't be, in Interlude Shadow realizing it very well could

chasing money, of wealth as a monster in both Tony Montana and The Last. The Last placed before in the album, perhaps expressing his fear of what he could become - Tony Montana his resolution of what he wants to be

The Last 'my success earned at the cost of my youth' in What do you think as 'its the money i loaned with my youth as collateral'

No more dream's 'Big house, big cars and big rings' referenced in 3 other songs, Home, Interlude: Shadow and What do you think? its really interesting to see him use this line as a thematic device, standing for the idea of absolute success and its reference his struggle with it

Airplane pt. 2 'You’re the ones who benefited from media bahahaha' and 'i got fed up by your cutely bragging about your money' in What do you think?

We are bulletproof pt. 1 referenced in Agust D's self-titled song

sending people to Hong Kong in Agust D self-titled and Cypher pt.3

Outro Tear's 'woo yeah yeah yeah burn it' really interesting to consider these two in juxtaposition because he uses similar terminology throughout but applied differently and referring to different ideas in the two songs

Never mind's 'if you think you're going to crash, accelerate even harder, you idiot' in Moonlight.

I like that it sounds like he's telling himself that, that he can get something out of his own lyrics as well. Never mind is all about just plowing ahead in the face of insecurity

Interlude Shadow's 'the life you wished for, the life you wanted' referenced in 28

i love how yoongi's lyrics really do act as a sort of time capsule for his thoughts at the time. his thoughts abt dreams he wrote about in in 2014-2016 very different from his present

The Last 'the greed that used to be my weapon now swallows me, ruins me, and puts a leash around my neck' in Magic shop 'and my greed, which used to be my weapon, became a leash that chokes me'

not overt, but his verse in Paradise reminds me of So far away, the fear of not having a dream, feeling berated by the world for it. its so interesting how So far away prays for all your dreams to come true, tells you to dream

- but Paradise tells you its okay to live for the small things. you don't have to fervently grasp onto a dream in order to find purpose, whether you're one way or another - its both fine. they are both ways to live. yoongi's complex relationship with the idea of a dream

is so interesting. because he's obviously changed, he obviously doesn't feel the same way about dreams. in 28 he says 'where did the fragments of my dream go' its the coolest thing to be able to follow this change throughout his lyrics

Sea and Make it right, not overt references but building on the concepts proposed in Sea

Not an overt reference again, but the idea of yoongi's pain and loneliness being seen as hypocrisy or pretending by others in both Whalien 52 and Louder than bombs

Anpanman's 'who's gonna do it if it isn't me' in Louder than bombs 'if it's not us okay, then who's going to do it? yoongi's talked about how he feels that they do and should tell their own stories and speak for their generation. if not them, then who?

i think that's about what i could find just glancing through the discography. there are a lot of songs and i very likely missed something, but to finish it off i think yoongi's tendency of referencing his old lyrics is so interesting overall because

he has his own lyrical universe where he can be self-referential and rely on either the themes of the original lyric or the juxtaposition between how it was used in the old and how its used in the new to showcase multiple meanings and contrast. its something unique to him

btw all lyrics and screenshots taken from https://doolsetbangtan.wordpress.com/