Studio Notes Pt. 3- Arirang (3/20)

Part 3 of their Weverse/YouTube Live

My commentary in green.

Please find PART 1 here.
Please find PART 2 here.

SUGA: shall we move on to the next song?
j-hope: starting with the next song - an important song is coming
SUGA: this is the title [track], SWIM

::RM swim zoomies::

V: I don't think we knew we were doing it but we gave a lot more spoilers than I thought...

RM/SUGA: oh really?
V: mm
Jimin: about this??
V: yea
Jimin: oh really?
V: like in our group live, someone was ::does swimming motions::
RM/V/SUGA all look at RM

RM:
RM: but anyone can just do this, no? ::is swimming:: (lmao help what a walnut i can't)
Jimin: was it you???
RM: O__O?? was it me?

i normally don't have severe cuteness aggression over RM (most commonly kookoo/sugi) but he's SO friggng cute here jakd;fgjladfkg

JK: were we by the ocean during that one?
V: i'm not sure
RM in tiny/defeated koalabb in the background: was it me again?
V: i don't know
JK: ...!!
(boba will defend honeythighs to the moon loll)
Jimin: hyung, was it you again?

(loool bobaa)

RM: ....okay

j-hope: okay let's move on to the theme of the song
RM: so this song came out pretty early on, and it was really good and catchy, but it wasn't really strong. if you listen carefully, there aren't a lot of instruments in the arrangement. the melody isn't like "lalalalala!! lalala ah!! lala" it's just kind of swim
Jin + boba ::crack up at RM's lalalala

RM: it's a song with a lot of rests. but there were a lot of twists and turns before we decided to make this the title track. i think the reason we had to make this the title track is because it felt like a song that could be accessible to anyone, and also, even though i've listened to our 'BE' album a lot, this is the one that i don't get sick of.

SUGA: i mean that's that too but for me, i mean listening to our album SO MUCH - this is a track i definitely don't get sick of
RM: that's true
Jimin: i also wanna say..
SUGA: yea i don't get sick of it
Jimin: ...cuz when it was proposed to make this the title track, the one who opposed it was also me hahaha ::laughs::
::JK laughs::
SUGA: were you just opposing for the sake of opposingggg ::trolling jimin::
Jimin: nooo - it's not that - it's cuz like we, as an entity, have this kind of established image/rep
RM: oh yea like .. IDOL ..Dynamite..
SUGA: [we had] a clear beginning/development/climax/resolution narrative arc type of thing
Jimin: right.. like ON..
RM: like kpop
Jimin: because we'd always do things where we can really show off our choreography ..if Bangtan Sonyeondan is doing comeback and .. like..::sings 'swim' faintly:: that felt..
SUGA: i mean ..it's not quite ::imitates jimin's sad little faint 'swim':: no like
JK: [he/Jimin] ALWAYS does that ::faint 'swim' imitation:: all the timeee
::Jimin/SUGA/JK laughing::

Jimin: i mean so anyway i was thinking ..that wouldn't be great [for a low-energy song instead of a high-performance/energetic song to be the main title track] -but then partway through, hyung (you, RM) wrote the lyrics ..and then I actually felt that it was the most fitting song for our team right n ow and then completely agreed from that point/was totally on board

RM: like we're simply, day by day, just swimming forward
Jimin to JK on the side in tiny: i think i kept opposing stuffs...
::boba laughs::

RM continuing: while we were preparing the album and actually even during the military too .. just day-by-day, we just kept counting down the days. i think life is just swimming forward one day at a time

하루하루 (haruharu) - day by day, this lyric is also in Best of Me (and MANY other songs in general)
SUGA (in English): KEEP SWIMMING KEEP SWIMMING
RM: i mean we don't need to be like professional swimmers or anything - we just keep treading forward day by day .. i mean tbh i can't even swim so ..if we just swim one day at a time..
j-hope: even if there are waves that crash against you
RM: yea something like that
j-hope: indeed..i mean we do have to swim forward even now .. but this wave ::gently gestures to RM's busted leg:: was maybe too strong

and this is how i learned RM can't swim...

Jimin to RM: at this rate, isn't it a tsunami??
RM: i think it's like a triangular wave..
j-hope: the wave was a bit too strong just now huh - how will we swim outta this one?
Jin in tiny off to the side: think you crashed against a rock that's all..
SUGA: well that's us though
Jimin: we just try to move forward
j-hope: yea i mean the circumstance right now even is just so us

RM: if you watch the SWIM music video, the members are all like, because of the exhaust from the generator..
SUGA: yea
Jimin: ah, to be honest, my head does hurt.. i don't know how the heck we're going to perform. tomorrow ... my head is throbbing, really.
SUGA: i mean we just gotta keep swimming ...what choice do we have

j-hope: i think we came out with a really solid song - a really great song has come to BTS
RM: a new feel for BTS in our 30s..
j-hope: yeaa

V: for me - the SWIM lyrics - Namjoonie hyung like.. overall wrote such a great song
j-hope: was heavily involved
V: but really i think the lyrics are so good

RM: what's fun is if you hear it like a love song it can sound like a love song
JK: that's right that's right that's right
SUGA: like ARIRANG right~
RM: i suppose you could say that..

RM giving me major cuteness aggression in this live... and friends after all that reading and all that typing - we are only just past the halfway point in the live lol - this is at 45minutes/84minute mark

V: 🎶water falling off your skinnnnnn🎶
RM: talking about the water falling off your skin.. so.. anyway - it can be interpreted in many ways

aka he said it could be a sexy time song - meanwhile, i'm 90hundredpercent sure that all ARMY went straight to thinking this song was about the boombooms from the get LOL i think exactly 0.000% of people heard this song and watched that music video and thought "ah, this is about striving in life" HAHAHA but now hearing their explanation and really digesting the theme of perseverance and resilience - i STILL CANNOT HEAR IT THAT WAY LMAOOO

bruh be so fr right now... "don't make it so hard, nights like these i just wanna get lost, right here with the moon and the sharks, i ain't gotta think bout a thing, baby i just swim" is ZERO PERCENT the vibe when i'm like working hard to achieve a goal HAHAHAHAHA but maybe one day, when i need it most, these lyrics will hit that way~ all good art allows space for different interpretations to hit differently in changing seasons of life

j-hope hyping up his twin: yea i think it's so witty and came out so well
JK: it's so awesome
j-hope: it doesn't feel limited/confined to just one thing~
RM: yea i think depending on what context you're in when you listen to it can..
j-hope: yea [that moment's] emotions let it hit differently
RM: i think that's why it became our title track
j-hope: right right
JK: so coool

boba's heart eyes for the leader - we get it, bobaball, we get it

RM: are we going to talk about the music video at all at this time? orrr
Jin: the music video?
SUGA: maybe after we're done with all of the songs?
RM: maybe if we have time after all the songs ..
Jimin: okay let's do that

SUGA: okay next song - Merry Merry Merry-Go-Round
RM: oh? Merry Go..
SUGA: Merry Go..
RM: Merry Go is.. so like I ..
SUGA: did you do this?
RM: more than being heavily involved.. like Tame Impala, I really like Kevin Parker and one of the friends that I work with a lot, I think his name is Sam, he's really close with Kevin Parker and works with him a lot, and he had a lot of Kevin Parker tracks. and when I heard this track, I was like "this is SO good"
Jimin: hyung, wasn't this the first song you made?
RM: it did come out in the earlier days
Jimin: right?

(Tame Impala is Kevin Parker's stage name)

RM continuing: but kinda like Jung Kook just randomly thought of 'Hooligan' - I was reminded of a Merry-Go-Round, kinda feeling like every day.. i keep going round and round in circles
SUGA: weren't you actually in the same studio B? Weren't you in B working on this?
RM: that's right - I was in B.. so to Aldae, I was like 'I'm going to go work on different lyrics for a little bit, can you do brainstorm a bit with the concept of a merry-go-round? and then 40 minutes later, Aldae called me and just sang the vocals as they are right now and not a single lyric changed- and I was like 'oh? the song is already done??' and that's how this song came about

j-hope: Aldae's good
RM: Aldae wrote it really well

Jimin: i'd love it if this became like the 'Spring Day' of our chapter 2, it's such a great song
j-hope: like it came out so well
Jimin: thank you
RM: going round and round

V: omg trying to copy Aldae's demo was like..
j-hope: i don't remember the demo at all
V: oh really?
j-hope: i think i should find it and listen to it later

Jin: I've only heard the version of it with our members' voices
V: but Aldae sang it so well
Jimin: oh that's right for you hyungg.. and i mean our members voices are SO good too so
RM: Aldae was so good
JK: so good so good
V: really good

SUGA: i mean it's not on the album but the first thing I worked on was with Aldae and.. the other guy...um
V: Sam?
SUGA: well anyway as SOON as I listened he was so good I was like oh this guy is the real deal..

j-hope: but trulyy all the producers [from abroad] that we worked with .. like fascinatingly so - it was like HOW could they come up with this line? how'd they come up with this kind of track? there were LOTS of moments like that
RM: learned a lottt
Jimin: their process is so different

JK: if you wanna work like that, you have to live there
j-hope: true
RM: and anyway, us, living in Korea - there are things only we can do too
j-hope: that's true for sure too
SUGA: i think this album is a good mix of everything

V: but you know how like, more than you'd think, there are some melodies that come out more - like each person keeps..
RM: there are quirks/habits/go-to's for sure (re: the kinds of music they each (members/other artists) bring to the table)
V: but they each have like their kinda go-to melodies or their go-to *gibberish you know?
JK: right right
V: don't you think, after coming back from America, we all came back SO different?
JK: a lot of different
SUGA: changed the modes..
RM: i expanded the gibberish/lines a bit

look how happy he is talking about music lol

*gibberish - beyond just meaning nonsense sounds - turns out this is an korean?? music industry term I only learned since becoming ARMY but basically when artists (not just BTS) need placeholder "lyrics" before the actual lyrics are written or finalized, sometimes well before the lyrics are even considered - they sing 'anything' to the melody - these are also called mumble tracks, dummy vocals, scratch vocals, etc. in english

i'm not sure if this is a ubiquitous music-making term or just specific to the korean music industry

RM: like the pattern got longer
SUGA: it's like a lick
Jimin: we just learned a few new things
V: like my lines..
j-hope: i mean it's the same i think.. like .. cuz we'd just stand in front of the mic and ::sings nonsensical syllables:: to get the vibe of the song and these guys [the producers abroad] also did the same type of thing- they'd sing 'nonsense' into the mics too

a lot of gibberish being sung

they're singing nonsensical syllables so im not tryna type all that out but it's definitely worth watching because it's fun to see what they found amusing in meeting/learning from/working with international artists/producers

they're basically going over how much they have in common but also the little quirks that each new artist shared that felt interesting and special and fun and funny to each of them

i've never recorded anything but often times when you meet experts of any kind that have truly given a HUGE chunk of their life to something (baking, painting, piano, writing, etc.) our preferences, our go-tos, etc. and it's so fun to compare notes and to be introduced to each others faves.

i'm blessed to have some very thoughtful friends but i know almost no one that has seriously studied/done visual arts academically/professionally after graduating and just figured that's a part of my life i enjoy solo AND THEN - on a whim, because it was happening near me - I went to an illustrator's workshop (for beginner to intermediate level) with zero expectations because I was intimidated but figured it couldn't hurt to try.. AND I MET MY PEOPLE! THEY HAD FAVORITE FONTS. FAVORITE FONT FOUNDRIES. FAVORITE DESIGNERS. GO-TO TOOLS, etc. - I think it's always so fun to see these little details of others who know/love/respect deeply the craft of choice and being delighted by each others' ways 🥰

JK::imitates someone else's gibberish featuring a lot of kakaka sounds::
RM: yea it kinda feels like 'martial arts' vibes??
SUGA: but what's so funny is that like them too.. as we're approaching the final stretch/end of the day/final moments - they also lose all creativity (in their gibberish syllables, etc.)
JK: hahahaha that's right that's right
BTS::laughing::
SUGA: they're just like us...
JK: yea they're exhausted/depleted/run outt..
Jimin: then they keep doing the same th ings too
j-hope: i mean the members each have their own things too right?

(more gibberish but make it BTS-flavored this time, kongkong, pungpung, hahaha it's cute)

RM: why do we like ddongddong so much
j-hope: i really like ong ong
JK: i do a lot of kongkong

AWWWWWW LOOK AT HIS LITTOFACEEEE jkal;dfjglakjdfg;lkajdfl;kgajdfkgjaf
HSJKGJDSLFKGJ:SLKJGL:KSJFLKSJFAHHHHHHHHHH

SUGA: okay on to the next song
RM/JK: ah, this songgg
j-hope: my favorite
RM: Ryan Tedder
Jin: when I arrived in LA - this is the song that you all were like 'this is a MUST-INCLUDE' and showed me first
j-hope: totally my favorite forreallll
V: but Normal is ..
j-hope: SUCH A GOOD SONG
RM: this song just makes you ::starts dancing??:: all together just..

SUGA: all the full english songs seem like ones our American friends would all like...i think
RM: for this cuz the keyword "normal" was in the demo - I really wanted to protect/preserve that concept/word but the original [demo] NORMAL's lyrics weren't like this [the current version] at all and rather it was about a kind of obsessive love for a lover