The Genius of Suga’s Song ‘Interlude: Shadow’

 



BTS album ‘Map of The Soul: 7’ explores the four major archetypes of Carl Jung. The album consists of sixteen tracks which can be classified under the three archetypes of Persona, Ego and Shadow. Along with these sixteen tracks, the albums has an Intro, Interlude and Outro.

The first five tracks explores the archetype ‘Persona’ and the sixth track ‘Interlude: Shadow’ is the first song that explores the archetype Shadow. Written, produced and performed by the rapper Suga of BTS, Shadow serves as a reminder about the mental turmoil fame brings to a person.

The opening stanza starts with Suga expressing his wish to be a rapper with fame and money. His tone, however, was one that of intense fatigue as though he was tired. It sounded as though Suga was repeating those words to force himself to move forward.

The second stanza is a repetition of the first stanza but the tone changes. Suga’s voice transitions from weary to assertive and demanding. It was Suga’s shadow that starts speaking in this stanza.



“People say, there's splendor in that bright light

But my growing shadow swallows me and becomes a monster”

Suga expresses his loneliness which was born as a result of his fame. He expresses his fear of falling now that he is on the top. He desires to leave it all behind and simply run away.

“And on top of that, you have a big house, big cars, big rings

All the things you wanted, you've got it all

So what's the problem? Just enjoy it”

His shadow responds to his fear by asking him to enjoy the life he has got. It asks him to embrace everything that fame brings him and this is exactly what Suga fears. He doesn’t want to be carried away by fame and forget his roots. This is a recurring theme in Suga’s album trilogy. He has always been in conflict with his Shadow.

His Shadow seeks glory, wealth and power and is willing to sacrifice anything to achieve that. Suga fears the consequences of this. He hates the spotlight as it takes away his privacy yet he craves the power it gives him.




The song ends with Suga’s Shadow taking over him completely. His Shadow talks to Suga saying that both of them are inseparable and that they are one. Suga must never forget this as he can never run away from his Shadow.

“We are one body, sometimes we will clash

You can never break me off, this you must know”

He doesn’t want to lose his humanity and become a ‘monster’ in his pursuit of power. This fear is so great that he ‘kills’ his alter ego – the power hungry monster he fears of becoming – in two of his music videos.

‘Interlude: Shadow’ is an introductory song to Suga’s battle with his Shadow. By the end of the song ‘Interlude: Shadow’, he loses to his Shadow but this battle continues in his sequel songs ‘Daechwita’ and ‘Haegeum’

His battle with his Shadow seems to be a never-ending one but he will always try.

INTERLUDE: SHADOW

Please turn on the CC for English subtitles.


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