YNWA + Spring Day explained + Dance practices + Live performance's

Re the Not Today MV choreo: Yes, there is commentary here that is political and has to do with the situation at that time in Korea and the impeachment. But also, the black hooded figures which appear in multiple MVs (Not Today, Fire, Shadow, Mic Drop, etc) represent BTS haters and antis. Because of their antiestablishment, underdog rise, and their always open and blunt social and political commentary, they have a lot of them. In this particular video, they are chasing and taking shots at the guys in the beginning, as well as blocking them in a wall formation that they break through during one of Hobi’s verses. Later the haters cast off their outer layer hoods to the ground and join BTS in formation dancing. So the haters have become ARMY. Later when they are dancing on the steel platform, the guys are again having shots fired at them and the figures who are now ARMY form a shield (the official ARMY symbol is a shield) and literally fall to the bullets at BTS feet protecting them. BTS are also shown running again, but this time with the ARMY in an arrow formation behind them. At the end of the video, BTS stands in front of ARMY, linking arms to form their own shield. So this illustrates how BTS and ARMY protect one another.

Nanci B. Kuykendall

I just wanted to say as a westerner I have been very interested in the amazing history of your country even before BTS. Please know that not all of us think the only thing Korea has to offer is abused Idols and Sewol. I think Koreans are lovely people (all of the Korean's I have ever met were warm, intelligent and normal).

Becca L

Hi, I has been said that Suga's verse also refers to a friend of his that lost his life due to drug overdose.... Yeah, I hate you Though you left, even for a day, I haven’t forgotten you To be honest, I miss you, but I’ll erase you now Because doing so hurts me less than resenting you

Becca L

And you are so right that Korean's are lovely people. We should not judge to people based on the people in their government.

Becca L

You are correct - They donated 1/3 of their earnings in 2014. This donation was done in private when they went in person to pay their respects to the parents of the victims. They did not make this public. It was only in 2017 once the president was impeached that one of the fathers of the victims was sick of all of the hatred BTS were getting and he wanted to let people know that they are such good guys.

Becca L

I understand how hard it must have been to edit and post this, but you have helped keep the memory of Sewol alive and maybe others who do not know of it will learn of the tragedy. I feel that you have reacted to this song with such respect and understanding that I want to share with you a comment to another reactor from a survivor of the Sewol disaster.. I would like you to hear from him just how BTS has healed him through this song and the messages they have: His name is Chilo Abellon - and this is his public comment in full - unedited - from 7 months ago.......... "I remembered when they rescuing us its so tragic when you see your classmates/friends stuck asking and hearing them scream for help, the screaming and voices of people asking for help while the ships is sinking the scream slowly vanished. When you can’t help them because the water got deeper and deeper while they rescue us slowly. The time that i got rescued only 3 of us survived, my two classmates and i in our and my other classmates stuck in the ships hoping they’re still alive but when the time i heard the news that they’re all gone. It slowly sinking in that all my friends and the other class are gone and will never comeback. I feel guilty when I survived, I’m thinking am i lucky? Or is it not right that i was alive and not them? Do i deserve to live?. Feeling depressed, having suicidal thoughts, every night you can’t sleep because i keep hearing those scream a scream people needing a help but you can’t because your weak and got broken bones. Everything time I struggled to see what life is all about, thinking what if all of my friends survived and they with me survived. It would be dream to see that happening. I struggled to make a good life that i can be proud of because of that incident happened but when i found out about BTS my life changed me because of their music they changed my life the way that i can be proud of and I started loving myself by little by little and finally the day I realize life is so short and the incident happened 7years ago impacted my life to be a better person and all of our hardships are just a big task for us to make them done and the outcome will be 100times better the incident happened 7years ago thought me so many things. The biggest one is don’t forget they might be gone but don’t forget them put them on your heart and like life all of your hardship and your mistakes will not lose or fail you it’s always a win win situation because we always learn from them. Spring day is my number 1 fav song of BTS because I reminisce the things happened 7years ago while watching the mv and it always help me to keep going in life and do not give up on things that i want to achieve — My name is Chilo one of the survivors of the sewol ferry incident." I truly hope he does not mind me passing on his public comment - but this best shows the power of BTS message

Becca L

The comments are so good! Thank you all and thank you Jim. FYI on the latest K-Drama " All of Us Are Dead" they allude to this tragedy by the context of what happens and said at the school in the show. People in South Korea are not forgetting.

Marjorie Taylor

Wow. Thank you for sharing that with us.

Thank Mir. I'm looking forward to everything this week too :)

I’m not yet done watching the stream but I wanted to share my story. In late October to early November of 2016, I was in Seoul with friends on vacation and happened to pass by Gwanghwamun Plaza one night. It was eerily dark nearer the Gyeongbok palace but a crowd was forming on the other end of the plaza, nearer Cheonggyecheon. This was the start of the protests. About several hundreds of people were gathering with their placards, milling about the area where tents and stations have been set up where people with megaphones and microphones spoke out about the Park administration’s corruption and scandals. Yellow ribbons were everywhere. The most chilling one was a middle-aged woman crying into her microphone about her child who was on the Sewol Ferry. I will never forget that night. Nearer the statue of Admiral Lee Soon-shin, in the opposite side of the protests, a group of policemen were being gathered and oriented. I knew something big was going to happen. You could feel the tension in the air. By the time I came back home from my vacation, that group of several hundred protesters grew to several thousands. And a few days later, it swelled to a hundred thousand. The impeachment hearing happened soon after. Spring Day was released in February 2017 and former President Park Geun-hye was formally impeached by March 2017. I still have photos from that night and it still gives me chills.

Tia Bee

It was an emotional stream, but I am glad you took the time to understand the many layers of that song. That is one reason why we say to all reactors to please read the lyrics and take the time for an explanation vid. There is gold! Side note you can lower vid playing speed, I was trying to telepathically suggest it to you, while you were strugling! Emot chat wasn't enough for it i guess. :P 💜

here's the video, only 2.5min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSpSw_j7D3Q&t=41s

PamTan

Hi and thank your for your reaction. Firstly, someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I read (can’t remember where now) that when BTS donated 100M won to the families of the Sewol tragedy, that amount was 1/3 of their earnings that year! Secondly, you are never wrong in your interpretation of a song. BTS intentionally makes music that is open/vague so each listener can interpret it and relate to it in their own way. While the music video is about the Sewol tragedy, the song itself has a much wider meaning - simply about love, loss and longing - whatever that may mean to you. Lastly, while this government leadership was indeed corrupt, please don’t extrapolate to Korea in general. The leaders were overturned in the end and Park was impeached and arrested. I’d argue the corruption is no different than any other country (dare I say Trump?). Although there are many issues in Korea every country has its own problems (like the BLM movement, Asian hate, and many other issues in the US.) Sorry, don’t mean to get political just wanted to point that out because I know this tragedy is extremely anger inducing, but don’t want you to start thinking of Korea as a corrupt dictatorship or something! It is still a first world, democratic country with many great people! Sorry for rambling and thanks again! I’m sure it’s not easy to react to these things live with hundreds of people watching and criticising everything you say/do. You’re doing a great job! BROHA! 💜

I really appreciate everything you do Jim! 💜 Looking forward to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday!!

Mir

That's weird I don't know why it would delete. J Hopes birthday stream is going to be fun I'm excited too. Have a good one Broha!

I get it and it definitely didn't feel intentional. The sad thing is, while I do feel marginally less safe it's not significantly. Not because things aren't that bad, but because they were never really that good to begin with.

Hana Park

BROHA Jim! lol just watched the whole stream on twitch but came here two leave my two cents. Spring Day was my first comeback so it holds a special place in my heart. When it came out, I had a hard time listening to it at first, because the lyrics always reminded me of my father who sadly passed away in 2009. Now I can listen to it but it always leaves me feeling nostalgic. RM and Suga wrote it based on their own experiences with loss, but it's not exactly about love or death. It's more about missing a friend, someone who is close to you. As we grow older it often gets harder to keep in touch with old friends. We get busier, our interests change, and we as people also change. In their case, it's probably even worse because they got famous and we all know what can happen to friendships when one person suddenly seems unreachable and "mightier" than the other. I know that they still have friends that stay by their side and I'm happy about it, but at the same time, it's sad to know that they also lost some along the way. WEMBLEY! I was there on the first day and it was simply amazing! It kinda sucked that the performance that you watched didn't have the best audio. The song is perfect for concerts because we can sing along so it's a bummer that you couldn't hear it well. Maybe you could watch another one when you react to the other live performances? Would be really nice! Anyways! I always enjoy watching your streams and I can't wait for the next one on Friday :D 💜💜💜 (idk why but patreon keeps deleting my comments. so if you see this more than once, it's because I'm reposting it...)

nal (jjinjjin)

I'm sorry, this reaction was triggering for you. That was not my intention. I just get angry with elitism and corruption. Trump's America is a horrible stain on our history. I can only imagine how that must have made you feel. Also, I just finished the video. It was quite informative. Thank you for sharing that with me.

I'll be honest, as a Korean American there were parts of this reaction that were a bit triggering for me. In Trumps America 2022, I hear someone getting angry about anything remotely Asian and I kinda shut down tbh because it never ends well in my real life. That said it's not the first time, or last I'm sure, where my entire culture feels like it begins and ends for people at Sewol and "The Dark Side of Kpop". If you have 20 minutes to kill, and are interested in a little insight into the history, including the American installation of a corrupt Korean President here's a very simplified video https://youtu.be/JEY00w1xtms Not a reaction request, just an offering of a video to remind people that Korea is a whole country, filled with normal people who look and act nothing like idols, with a hard fought history that has nothing to do with the entertainment industry.

Hana Park

Thank you Tori!

this is a tweet about a article posted in 2020 :) "Isn't the real key to @BTS_twt's success, comfort & hope?" It was revealed by victims' families of the Sewol Ferry Disaster that back in 2014, BTS, who were accompanied by Bang PD, personally visited the families, burned incense, donated 100 million won & comforted them. Since then, the families have been praying & cheering for @BTS_twt's future, knowing that at the time, BTS could have risked a government blacklist. The reporter explains that BTS' comfort & hope is their greatest reason for success. translated by a Korean army on twitter their account @charts_k and heres the link to the original article even though its in korean : https://m.hani.co.kr/arti/culture/culture_general/973891.html?_fr=tw#cb

tori

Well, I appreciate you letting me know.

I really wish they would have written what Spring Day was written about. RM and Suga were the main songwriters and have spoken many times about what they wrote the song about. They later dedicated it to the tragedy through the MV, but the song itself was written based on their personal experiences with loss. A lot of people tend to just ignore that.

Ophelia