MAP OF THE SOUL: How BTS Encapsulates Jungian Psychology To Bring Comfort Through Honest Music

 

"Jungian therapy, or Jungian analysis,* is a type of psychodynamic psychotherapy which utilizes the instinctual motivation for psychological development in addition to those of love and power. The goal is to achieve psychological healing and wellness by aligning conscious and unconscious aspects of the personality." (Source Link)

In today's post, I will share my love for one of the biggest KPop group in the world right now, Bangtan Seonyodan or commonly known as BTS, and how they encapsulated Jungian Psychology to bring comfort and healing through their album, Map of the Soul: 7. 

Map of the Soul: 7 is their fourth Korean-language studio album. The album was released on February 21, 2020, by Big Hit Entertainment. The year 2020 also marks their 7th year as BTS. With 7 members on their 7th year, they considered 7 as indeed a lucky number.

--

Unfortunately, their plans of  another worldwide stadium tour were cancelled due to the pandemic. They were forced to only conduct a 2-day online concert back in October 2020 for Map of the Soul: 7 entitled "Map of the Soul ON:E". I had a privileged opportunity to stream this, and it was nonetheless excellent and an absolute pleasure to watch; it was even comparable to feelings of attending a physical concert.

The boys' work ethic and passion are absolutely inspirational and contagious, and yet they remain humble.  

In lieu of the cancelled tour, their latest release of Map of the Soul ON:E Concept Photobook's artistry inspired me to write this, and explain just how exactly they captured Jungian Psychology for ARMYs* (fanbase name*) and listeners worldwide. 

I will explain the solo songs per member of the group through lyrical highlights and their Psychological explanations as counterparts, but I highly suggest for you to listen to the entire album including their title tracks "Black Swan" and "ON", which talk about death of passion, and finding grit despite darkness, respectively.

___________________________________________________________________________________

1. Persona (RM) 

(from bts.bighit official instagram)

Lyric highlight: "Who am I? The question I had my whole life, 

the question which I probably won’t find an answer to my whole life"

RM is a stage name, and his real name is Kim Namjoon. He is the leader of the group, and named himself "RM" as an acronym for "Rap Monster" during their earlier days, but has decidedly changed the meaning of "RM" as "Real Me" when they transitioned from an earlier hip hop genre, then to ballads, pop, rap, R&B and other various experimental genres.

This transition of genre focus is because they released themselves from the music industry's pressure to produce "hit sounds", and decidedly produced raw, honest and lyrical masterpieces in beats that best represent the emotion and message they wanted to deliver.

Persona, in psychology, is the personality that an individual projects to others, as differentiated from the authentic self. The term, coined by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, is derived from the Latin persona, referring to the masks worn by Etruscan mimes. One of the Jungian archetypes, the persona enables an individual to interrelate with the surrounding environment by reflecting the role in life that the individual is playing. In this way one can arrive at a compromise between one’s innate psychological constitution and society. Thus the persona enables the individual to adapt to society’s demands.

Our persona may not be who we truly are because we were raised into standards of society, so acknowledging that and knowing that is always a good first step to our journey of continuous mental and personality rebirth. 

___________________________________________________________________________________

2. Filter (Jimin) 

(from bts.bighit official instagram)

Lyric highlight: 

"Mix the colors in the palette, 

Pick your filter

Which me do you want?

The one to change your world, I'm your filter

Overlay me in your heart"

It is important to note that Jimin also has a solo song from a previous album "Wings" entitled "Lie" that delivers the message of a boy falling into temptation and sweetness of fame, and feeling trapped in it, though he knows evil surrounds it. 

Continuing with the concept of Persona, Filter is the rude awakening that humans must understand in their quest of self-knowledge.

Following are quotes that provoke the thought of "Filter":

“Awakening is possible only for those who seek it and want it, for those who are ready to struggle with themselves for a very long time and very persistently to attain it.” G. I. Gurdjieff

“There is no coming to [self] consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” C. G. Jung

“Try for a moment to accept the idea that you are not what you believe yourself to be, that you overestimate yourself, in fact you lie to yourself. That you always lie to yourself, every moment, all day, all your life…You are the prey of lying. You lie, everywhere…But you never stop yourself in what you are doing because you believe in yourself.” Jeanne de Salzmann

___________________________________________________________________________________

3. Shadow (Suga)

(from bts.bighit official instagram)

Lyric highlight: 
"Ooh, I wondered everyday how far I’d go
I came to my senses and I find myself here
Yeah, hmm, shadow at my feet
Look down, it’s gotten even bigger
I run but the shadow follows, as dark as the light's intense
I’m afraid, flying high is terrifying
No one told me how lonely it is up here"

In reflection of BTS' rise to fame, Shadow, as rapped by Suga, describes the fear of being too high up in fame with lights too bright and thus facing one's  growing shadow along with it. 

It is a rap song confronting Suga's personality of dreaming very high and working very hard, and realizing that attaining the dream of fame and fortune has its very dark consequences. 

Complementary to Jung’s idea of the Persona, which is “what oneself as well as others thinks one is” [CW9 para 221], the “shadow is that hidden, repressed, for the most part inferior and guilt-laden personality whose ultimate ramifications reach back into the realm of our animal ancestors…If it has been believed hitherto that the human shadow was the source of evil, it can now be ascertained on closer investigation that the unconscious man, that is his shadow does not consist only of morally reprehensible tendencies, but also displays a number of good qualities, such as normal instincts, appropriate reactions, realistic insights, creative impulses etc. “ [CW9 paras 422 & 423].

What needs to be emphasized very strongly here is that the shadow contains all sorts of qualities, capacities and potential, which if not recognized and owned, maintain a state of impoverishment in the personality and deprive the person of sources of energy and bridges of connectedness with others.

___________________________________________________________________________________

4. My Time (Jungkook)

(from bts.bighit official instagram)

Lyric highlight: 
"The boy who found the world too big

Keep on runnin’ errday, pick the mic up

Friends ridin’ subway, I’ll be in the airplane mode

All over the world rock on, I made my own lotto

But is it too fast? There're traces of losses

Don't know what to do with, am I livin' this right?

Why am I alone in a different time and space?

Can I someday finna find my time?"

Continuing with the concept of Shadow, Jungkook expresses his feelings to the consequences of their fame.

As the youngest in the group, Jungkook, who has trained and worked as an "Idol" even before high school wrote "My Time" in hopes to get the normal pacing of life one day. He is not able to live the way normal boys live. 

Being unfathomably successful and impeccably rich at 24, he knows no other life but work, music, performance and ARMYs. He is practically raised by his older members, and not his biological family --- a life that is a far cry from "normal".  

___________________________________________________________________________________

5. Moon (Seokjin)

(from bts.bighit official instagram)

Lyric highlight: 

"Though everyone says I'm beautiful
But my sea is all black
A star where flowers bloom and the sky is blue
You are the truly beautiful one.

You are my Earth
I'm just a moon to you"

As the oldest, the happy and goofy mood-maker, and even known as "World Wide Handsome" because of his face value, Seokjin, writes his deep reflection that his physical quality does not necessarily equate to what he feels mentally ("But my sea is all black"), and tells otherwise that it is the ARMYs, his fellow members of the group, and everyone that he loves is what he considers "the beautiful one". 

It is also worth sharing that he depicted himself here as The Little Prince, which is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. 

The novella centers around the theme of refusing to subject one's self to societal standards and see the world in rose-colored glasses, but not discrediting that the world indeed has a lot of darkness within it.

___________________________________________________________________________________ 

6. Inner Child (V or Kim Taehyung)

(from bts.bighit official instagram)

Lyric highlight: 

"Now I wish we would smile more,

It will be okay, because today's me is doing fine,
Yesterday's you, now it's all clear,
I want to hug the many thorns in the budding rose,

The smiling kid, the child who was always laughing brightly,
When I see you like that, I can't help smiling,

We gon' change"

For V (stage name) or Kim Taehyung, it is important to note that the public saw his transformation from being the most child-like, playful and cheerful member of the group in their earlier days to barely smiling and even evokes an intimidating vibe when they rose to fame. 

It is only in this recent times when they released BE album in November 2020 that he is able to show again his child-like qualities and is finally smiling with his eyes again. 😁

In Jungian Psychology, the general idea is that we all have a childlike aspect within our unconscious mind. The inner child can be seen as a ‘sub-personality’, a side of your character that can take over when you are faced with a challenge.

The idea is that accessing your inner child allows you to find the roots of your issues as an adult.

Inner child work can help with the following:

• discovering and releasing repressed emotions holding you back
• helping you recognize your unmet needs
• assisting to resolve unhelpful patterns
• offering an opportunity for increased self-care
• helping you be creative and playful
• raising your self-respect.

___________________________________________________________________________________

7. Ego (JHope)

(from bts.bighit official instagram)

Lyric Highlight:

"I go back every day
To me of yesterday
To the life of giving up
I let myself go away
But in this world, you know
There are truths unchanged
Time rushes ever forward
There's no ifs, buts, or maybes"

Yeah, I don't care, it's all
Choices by my fate, so we're here
Look ahead, the way is shinin'
Keep goin' now"

"J-Hope" is a stage name for his real name, Jung Hoseok. It is important to note that sometime around 2018, BTS was on the brink of disbandment. JHope was one of the members that wanted to leave due to some personal reasons. 

The song EGO is the Outro of Map of the Soul: 7, and not only is an honest reflection of Jung Hoseok's conscious mind and story, but uplifts the listeners that all the conscious choices make up our own fate, and that all we must do is keep going.

According to Jung, the ego represents the conscious mind as it comprises the thoughts, memories, and emotions a person is aware of. The ego is largely responsible for feelings of identity and continuity.

___________________________________________________________________________________

In summary, my thoughts on BTS' unfathomable rise to fame, especially since they were not part of the top KPop entertainment companies when they started, is not just because of hard work, face value, pop/music quality or the usual South Korean Idol aesthetics, 

but because every piece of music and artistic release has a deeper meaning that confronts human realities while bringing comfort to people across generations; that although this world is damned, maybe we can sit down and listen to music, and confront our inner mental struggles and keep living anyway. 

(Source Link)

Keep going now,

Belle x