Kpop is known for its rather bubbly and light-hearted nature, but the genre is gaining popularity due to a particular band is known as BTS.
Throughout history, love has often been romanticized in music. There are countless songs that tell how wonderful it feels to be in love, with special emphasis on what it means to care for somebody endlessly. There aren’t many songs out there that discuss how it feels to be in a selfish, one-sided, or even “fake love”.
BTS recently released their album ‘Love Yourself; Tear’ in May 2018. This particular album was the third part to their ‘Love Yourself’ series. Rather than dropping one large album at once, BTS kept fans persistently tuning in while they would drop one segment at a time over the span of a couple years. The feature track for the album was the song ‘Fake Love’.
‘Fake Love’ breaks the traditional vibe for most of BTS’ past music. The song discusses what it means to be in love with someone without fully understanding yourself. Many individuals forget the importance of coming to terms with the true definition of accepting yourself.
The MV sets the mood by showing each member of the group seeming distraught, lost, and overall conflicted. Each scene previews the personal issues that they are facing with their relationships.
The lyrics are what sets this track apart from the others. A continuous theme throughout each part is pretending to be the perfect person for their significant other. They are sacrificing their own happiness in order maintain their partner’s. While this may have initially seemed nice, the song expresses the turning point in their emotions. They have become dissatisfied with what they mistook for love. The relationship has become nothing but lies on top of lies.
During an interview, the leader of the band explained their inspiration behind the tone of the album. They wanted to focus on the aspects of love that aren’t as addressed, such as falling out of love with someone, or refusal to accept the reality of being miserable in a relationship.
The song concludes with the line, “I wish love was as perfect as love itself”, and this stands out to me most. Relationships are a lot of work. It’s easy to fall in love with someone, but keeping that love consistently despite hardships is much more difficult. It is embedded in our minds that love between two people in this beautiful and faultless occurrence, but love has its darker sides that are often overlooked and hidden.
