Dear Alex,
As you know, I’ve been a Kpop fan for a good handful of years now. Most notably, a follower of BTS (and TXT as of this summer but that’s a whole ‘nother blog post). Agust D (DT Suga – Deagu Town Suga), aka Suga, aka Min Yoongi released his third solo album on April 21, 2023, called D-Day. The significance of this name is not lost on anyone, but per Yoongi, the album focuses mostly on the present unlike his other albums which focused on the past. If you compare D-Day to his self titled first album or D-2 his second album, you can right away see the maturity with which he has approached this project, and the growth of his lyrics.
As a quick background, his first self titled album was one that not only dwelled on the past but represented such a distinct departure from his “Suga” persona in BTS. It’s bitter and angry, depressed and sad, seeping through the cracks and wanting to keep it all in, but letting it all out in the form of a mixtape. Understandably, there’s a lot of reflection of him becoming an idol as he was an underground rapper before joining BigHit and working towards debut in BTS. This shift caused a lot of backlash against him in the underground rapper scene and the lyrics reflect his ire at everyone who wanted to wish him ill due to his departure from his roots.
His second album D-2, released well into his career as a Kpop idol, begins a shift of focus from purely himself towards the present and what he brought from the past. There’s still the diss tracks, which slap but are just more directed anger outwards. Then there’s more inward doubts, what it means to be growing up, to be an adult, to be moving so fast “부딪힐 것 같으면 더 세게 밟아 임마 “(trans. If you think you’re gonna crash, accelerate even harder, you idiot). Overall, this is not my favorite album, but it’s an important one. It’s the feeling of being in the present and being so scared of it, and yet reminiscing on the past and everything that led up to this point.
And now, to get to the most recent album, D-Day.
As with a lot of Kpop, there’s a thread connecting the music videos. From Daechwita to Haegeum, you can see there’s a struggle of the self, what it means to be Suga, Yoongi, what it means to be Agust D. These are all selves of one person, and yet they all hold different meanings and connotations.
I won’t do a song by song analysis as you had done, but I will give you my highlights. If you haven’t already listened to Haegeum I highly recommend it, and just in case here is a live version as well featuring some traditional instruments.
One of my favorite songs off of the album though, is undoubtedly Snooze. It’s a continuation of another song from his first album, So Far Away. So to understand one, you have to understand the other.
So Far Away starts with the following lyrics:
“It’s really a bitch to not have something you want to do
I know that it seems pathetic
To not have a dream like everyone
“Everything’s going to be alright if you go to university
And do as we tell you”
I’m the asshole for believing those words
I’m living because I can’t die”
Knowing me, you know these stuck out to me. I feel so lost in life so often, not knowing where to go, or what to do. And to hear someone, who has pursued his drive to produce and create beautiful meaningful music say something like this is honestly a little heartbreaking. Fast forward 7 years later, and we have Snooze. An answer to So Far Away, letting the audience know he has grown and though the road is hard he doesn’t feel so lost anymore.
“So don’t be miserable as me
You who sleep for your dreams, it’s okay to rest
For today, don’t even dream
When you silently give me a light smile
Only then, I feel a little relieved”
The way he describes it, it’s meant to be song for those lost in life who need someone to be there for them, and that he will be there to catch them if they fall. There’s so much self reflection in the lyrics.
Though the first album was so raw in it’s emotions, he doesn’t shy away from that on this more mature version either. Next up for review, we have Amygdala. Trigger Warning on this one, and the linked video (pills and self-harm depicted). This really deals with the feelings of depression and suicidal thoughts that was present in The Last, but approaches it from the point of his brain keeping in all this trauma and having to process it as he grew up. In interviews he states this was one of the hardest songs to write as he often felt himself reliving the past as he was working on it. That’s why I’m so amazed and shocked he decided to make a music video so poignant about the topic and make himself film it/himself in these situations repeatedly. I guess that’s growth but man that’s hard. In the lyrics he repeats “Please save me/ My Amygdala”. Amygdala is the fear response center in the brain that processes trauma and life threatening situations, so in this sense, he wants it to save him, maybe to erase all his memories as he says in the song “Traveling to memories/ Let’s erase them one by one”. Yoongi’s alter ego Agust D, never shied from being vocal about the things he went through in life, and yet it strikes me every time to hear him so honest about what he’s really going through, mostly because it’s so taboo in SK culture to talk about mental health.
I highly recommend listening through the whole album, and reading the corresponding lyrics. Unlike his other 2 albums he also talks about love and relationships between people. It seems cursory but still incredibly profound to understand the intricacies of love and being loved.
“They say life’s a struggle between resistance and submission
I say it’s a struggle against loneliness
If you can’t hold it back, it’s okay to cry
You’re already more than enough to be loved”
In conclusion, to this long drawn out review of Agust D’s career as a solo artist, there’s so many things he’s able to tackle in the expanse of one song. I think that’s why it’s so hard for me sometimes to understand the meaning of the song in one go because there’s so many layers. I can’t even begin to think all the double meanings so many of these songs have in Korean, which I know is the case as well.
As a final wrap up, the concert I went to for Agust D did a really great job of showcasing the feelings each of the songs was meant to convey through their performances. Amygdala was heartbreaking as it’s meant to be, and at the end of the concert, when the whole stage went up to the ceiling and Yoongi was left standing on the ground surrounded by surveillance cameras, the first notes of The Last began to play. It’s an understatement to say it’s a shocking song to end on. A song of desperation and loneliness and depression and social anxiety and everything. And to walk out after that, after hearing that song and seeing him from every angle as the feed from the surveillance cameras was displayed on the big screens was, a lot.
At multiple points during the concert, he was brought out onto the stage as a unmoving body, a corpse. And revived to sing only to collapse once more. The mvs recorded specifically for the concert (this is a Kpop specific thing I feel idk how to explain lol), showed his struggle between Agust D, Suga, and Yoongi, tying into the storyline in his music videos. An emotional rollercoaster to any onlooker is all I can say.
Take care friend, I write this as I have missed TXT’s concert tonight and am full of sadness.
Love,
Lucia
We love an extensive music review! You best believe I am adding all these songs, and listening to this album, to my monthly playlist (should i make a post about my monthly playlists? its an interesting time comparing them year to year). I really miss those nights we stayed up and sat on your/my/our stolen bed in the corner of your room, eating biscoff cookies and exploring KPop storylines. I must admit I was surprised to see that you were writing about D Day (almost exactly one month early, I may add), but KPop makes so much more sense.
Next time TXT comes to town (either of our towns, though I doubt they will come here) im buying us both tickets, the cheapest shittiest tickets, but tickets nonetheless and were gonna have a great time.