It's like R3d V3lv3t's Peekaboo.
I do agree with you because it works for ordinary people like you and me. Most literate people know what loving ourselves truly mean.
However, if we were to talk about the
musical and lyrical concept for LY era (this is just my opinion) their concept of 'loving yourself' has been much of extreme narcissism. It is supposed to end violence with UNICEF (tbh, how does one
actually end violence ? Moreover, popstars like them can actually do something about it ? Sorry, no way).
Let us revisit their LY time-line, shall we ? Their story begins at
Euphoria: this is when they were the happiest with own dreams like any other young people; they were in the most ordinary tshirts and jeans and no make-up), then the boys had the fluffiest feelings, as depicted in their Highlight reels and
DNA, when they met their ideal partners during their journey of becoming kpop idols. However, as they began to become more famous, they actually preferred the
Fake Love between them (this is supposed to symbolize their initiation) and their fans (as opposed to real love between them and the girls) and the final answer is
Idol - the trippiest video with weird colors: they don't care whether they are idols or artists, because they want to bask in the glory which only their fans can give them aka selling out (aka selling their souls to .... you know who).
Also, we have
Mic Drop,
Ddaeng (although this song is only presented as somewhat a gift to Armys during their 5th Anniversary but it's very popular among the fans AND it is still within LY era),
Hangsang (I feel that Hobi's mixtape is purposely to have something to do with LY, otherwise why is there even Airplane pt 2 ???!),
Go-Go,
Pied Piper,
Epiphany -- I may be wrong but these songs have repetitive structure of lyricism that I find unsuitable to the very concept they are promoting.
What does the story tell us ? How does this end violence ? They can do so much with UNICEF, but all they did is only to create more merchandise to sell in guise of helping children. Personally, I feel that the true outcome of this era (as
@Maggieca pointed out at her latest post i.e. fans waiting outside the stadium just to buy the merchandise), is Beetees has become one and only true manifestation of global kpop commodity. No other groups at this very moment sells more than BeeTees. Through pictorials, merchandise and bulks of albums, they are mere products for their fans to consume and own happily. And if their fans can think for themselves for once, this very action has nothing to do with
loving yourself. And may I add that their fans seem to be more critical and aggressive to other fandoms on social media - simply because of BeeTees' so-called achievements ? For me personally, lyrics tend to be more important than music because words can
influence one's thinking and actions. It's quite clear to me that the fans have learned unconsciously from the subtle bullying phrases from Mic Drop/Ddaeng (and also Cypher Pt 4 - that's where this whole era is based on). Also, it is even more obvious that the fans tend to associate materialism to a successful life (again, from Ddaeng, Hangsang). In the end, they don't care about loving oneself to help others (so what happen to UNICEF campaign?). They only love themselves because BeeTees have been telling them to love BeeTees is equivalent to love themselves mainly because other kpop groups suck and they are obviously not as rich as the boys.
Sorry for such a long post. I try to avoid shading the boys and I hope I give a rational explanation to why I think the boys are hypocritical about their Love Yourself campaign. The concept itself is noble but the way they present it is questionable. Again, my 2 cents only
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