Growth : Yoongi's journey as an artist through the persona of Agust D

This thread is to interpret how Yoongi shows us his growth from a trainee to an artist to a successful artist, who he's always wanted to be, with the Agust D mixtape.

#WordsByBangtan @wordsby_bangtan

Yoongi's self titled first mixtape covers what life was like for him as an aspiring musician till he finally became a member of BTS. The mixtape also focuses on his rise to fame, and also explores the psychological effects his training period had on him.

The mixtape begins with "Agust D" and "Give it to me", an introduction of sorts to this persona. Both tracks introduce Agust D as a person who has worked harder than most to get where he is, and how far he plans to go with his work, because he believes he is worthy of his fame.

Before exploring his roots, Yoongi puts in the skit, a conversation between him and his brother where he says that these songs couldn't have been made by Suga because they explore a unique persona of his, which I believe, is the persona of his growth.

Following this, Yoongi puts out tracks that explore his life as a trainee.
724148 is named after the 2 buses Yoongi would take to his high schools before and after he shifted to Seoul. Covering this, the song focuses on why he left Daegu to come to Seoul, and his life there.

We move ahead from why he went to Seoul, and come to a snippet from Yoongi's training days - 140503 at Dawn, where you can hear him yawn, get up, and talk about how's he felt distanced from his loved ones even though he was doing well as a trainee.

In The Last, Yoongi shows to us how these events impacted his mental health, and even though his childhood dream of becoming a famous musician is fulfilled, he fears the greed, anguish and feelings of depression that have made a home in him.

Turning these feelings on their head, Yoongi celebrates the success he's achieved by starting from the bottom with a movie character who did the same - Tony Montana, a drug kingpin. With this song he settles on his priorities in life and how different he is from the rest.

Slowing the pace of the mixtape with the interlude, Yoongi shifts us from his reality, to his perspectives on dreams with So Far Away. While his "uncommon" dream made it hard for him to expect success, he encourages listeners to dream because he knows how dreams can empower us.

Agust D's persona and his mixtape are the perfect example of genuine, sustainable growth - growth that came from hard work, skills, perseverance, despite the effects it had on his mental health. With songs in a certain order, he lets us learn from his sequential journey.

If he wanted, Yoongi could've chosen to focus on just the bright side - talked about his fame, his skills. Instead he gave us a 360° look on exactly where his growth came from, what it cost him, and why he's so confident about it now.

This mixtape is a symbol of growth to me, growth that helps you establish yourself in this world, and become the person you've always wanted to be, despite your circumstances.

In continuation, 4 years later, after finally becoming the artist he wanted to be, Agust D turns an introspective glance at his own life. For example, he explores his environment (Moonlight), his fame (Daechwita, WDYT), his past (Burn it), people around him (People).

Thus, we see how Agust D, after sharing his story of growth, grew into a more introspective person by sharing his unique perceptions of the things around him.
If Agust D is his Growth, D-2 is his expansion.

Thank you for reading my thread !