INDEX
Lyrics Crafted Like Journal
-When did you start writing songs?
Taehyung : In the first year of high school. I lived in Thailand for a year when I was in 6th grade, and when I came back I got a guitar for the first time. Daniel Caesar’s “Best Part” was popular at the time, and they say that “music begins with imitation,” so I decided to make a song by copying the chord progression. I added my own little arrangements and that’s how it all started.
-You mentioned at the beginning that you had a desire to release the soundtrack as soon as possible.
Taehyung: I was on a half-year break from college due to Corona, and then switched to online after that, so I was studying DTM for that entire period. I still have a song on the platform that I made with GarageBand at the time, but it was super low quality for me (laughs). After that, I had the desire to make and release more properly. But until I met HALLEY, I didn’t have any friends around me who could share this kind of musicality.
-Do you think that what you want to write lyrics about has changed since you were in high school? Or do you feel that the roots are the same?
Taehyung: I don’t think it has changed. There has been a change in that I started writing lyrics in English at some point, but since then I have often written love songs by writing down my feelings when I fell in love. In the band, there are songs like that, and sometimes I write happy lyrics, so there is a lot of dialogue with myself.
-That’s exactly right. It’s a dialogue with myself. You write songs about yourself for yourself. I feel that kind of attitude from the songs.
Taehyung: Yes, that’s right. My English teacher in high school had a big influence on me. From that time, I got into the habit of reading and writing poems in English, and I think I write lyrics like this as an extension of that habit. It’s like writing a journal. It’s a journal.
-There is a subtle difference between a “diary” and a “journal,” isn’t there? A “journal” is more about organizing one’s mentality and keeping track of what one is thinking. For you, making music is similar to that kind of thing, isn’t it?
Taehyung: Indeed. I often write as if I were throwing up. I tell myself what I want to say, or write things that I don’t think about. In the case of “Clear Mind,” I write things like, “What’s in the past is all for the best. I don’t think about it at all, but it is easier to think like that, so I wrote it as a kind of a spell.
The first paragraph of “Set Free” was a lyric that already existed, and I added it when the song was written. Since the atmosphere changes between the A and B sections, I thought my feelings must also change, so I incorporated the changed feelings into the song. So it’s conflicting content. I am writing about myself being saved, with a self-deprecating story.
-The “you” in the B section is written in a way that can be taken as “someone else” but also as “yourself”.
Taehyung: That is my intention. In my mind, there is a person to whom I am singing, but there are also things that need to be felt by the listener. I often use “he” and “you” so that there is no subject.
-In other words, in the last line of “Breeze,” “We know he’s the only king. (After all, he’s the only king of us.)” Like you just said, it’s up to you who you apply the “he” to, isn’t it?
Taehyung: Yes, it is. Who will be the king of your life – I’m a Christian, so when it comes to “he,” such a being comes up – it can be yourself, or it doesn’t have to be a person. It can be myself, or it doesn’t have to be a person. I hope that when people listen to this music, they will feel as if they are being guided by someone or something that they remember.
-When we listen to the groove of “Breeze,” it can be taken as if the music is guiding us.
Taehyung: That’s a nice interpretation. In the music video, the breeze is in the middle of the story, and I think it can be interpreted as if the breeze is the one who helps you.
