You Never Walk Alone: A Special Third Anniversary Post

Image description: BTS in the final scene of the music video for "Spring Day". This song came out six years ago almost to the day, so it felt appropriate to honor it, since today is also my blog's own anniversary. Read on to learn why this song and the album it's found on are so relevant to my life and to this special day.

 

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you may know that today is the anniversary of two very important things in my life – the start of this blog, and the day I became a fan of the Korean group BTS. While those two things might not seem to be related, they’re intrinsically tied together in my mind, united not just by this shared date, but by the ways BTS and their message have given me comfort and strength in my identity. Naturally, I wanted a topic today that could encapsulate both things, and I realized that around this time six years ago, BTS released what many consider to be one of their best songs – the moving ballad “Spring Day,” – as well as the four-song “special” album it appears on, You Never Walk Alone.

As the name implies, this tiny epilogue to the 2016 album Wings is meant to be an assurance that none who suffer ever suffer alone. However, what makes this album and its noteworthy track so appropriate to discuss on the blog are the heavy themes of friendship that run throughout it. In a world that often devalues friendship, platonic love, grief, and other emotions, I think it’s extremely special that one of BTS’s most enduring songs pays homage to those very things. So in honor of my anniversaries, I want to explore these moving pieces of art to honor their own anniversaries as well.

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You Never Walk Alone was released on February 13th, 2017, and the music video for “Spring Day” was released one day earlier. As a short epilogue, this special album only has four songs – “Spring Day,” “Not Today,” "Outro: Wings" and “You Never Walk Alone,” – each of which are very different, but nevertheless form a common message: never give up, keep moving forward, someone is here to help. This theme permeates many BTS songs, but this album may contain many of the clearest examples; in fact, the album is described that way on their website, calling it “a message of warm consolation and hope” for those in pain. For instance, “Outro: Wings” encourages listeners to believe in themselves to overcome their fear and “Not Today” likewise tells “all the underdogs in the world” that if they can trust themselves and those beside them, “together we’ll survive.”

These messages have been invaluable for me on numerous occasions. The struggle between hope and despair is especially pronounced for me when I face trials I likely wouldn’t have to endure were I a “normal person,” so this message of moving forward is very important to me. It’s a motif that shows up in all the songs on this album, encouraging me to go step by step, no matter how slowly, and to believe that better things will come. However, perhaps no song encapsulates that better than “Spring Day,” a song about grief, loss, and healing. What makes this song special on an already special epilogue album is the melancholy yet beautiful longing that is both sad and hopeful, both sentimental and full of the ability to continue onward.

I feel like every time I hit one of these milestones, I’m lamenting that the past year has been a rough one – something that may just be an inevitable reality, since I began this blog in 2020 – but yet again, it’s been a tough year for me. Since I last did an anniversary post, and there have been countless times where I’ve struggled, and even beyond just this year, a lot has changed since the first time I listened to “Spring Day”, or even since I first discovered BTS and launched this blog. I’ve talked about a lot of those things here, from deep personal losses to disappointments of all shapes and sizes, and my latest hardship is one that effects BTS themselves. In December of 2020, due to the mandatory military requirement of South Korea, the oldest member of BTS was forced to enlist and will be gone for 18 months.

Since BTS and their music is such a safe space for me, this requirement has represented a huge dose of cruel reality. It feels wildly unfair that the group who lifts up the marginalized and forgotten and who want to fight for those who have no advocate are being forced to abandon their work primarily because those with power in their society don’t deem it as important – all of which are themes in “Spring Day”.  Appropriately enough, in fact, the boys performed “Spring Day” one more time in a concert back in October of 2022 shortly before their military service was announced. I watched that concert again earlier this month when it was shown in theaters and couldn’t stop myself from crying as I thought about the song’s meaning under these new circumstances.

The apathy of the world is always difficult to stomach, as it is in the case of BTS having to join the military despite all they’ve done and given to the world. In my own life, I face apathy all the time in a way that makes me feel like I too am locked into a perpetual winter, wondering if I will ever find my own spring day where things will get better and I can be happier or safer. There are many times when I meet the apathy of the world, or where I see those who would willingly turn a blind eye to those of us who are struggling or in pain, and I wonder if it’s just easier to give up. The longing feels too great to overcome, the coming spring feels too far away, and the winter feels too oppressive for me to want to even try moving forward, all of which are themes in the song, and especially in the song’s music video.

“Spring Day’s” video, at first glance, may not seem as complicated as other BTS music videos; in fact, most of it takes place in very innocuous, seemingly normal places – a train, a laundromat, a motel room, a field. But the imagery and the lyrics of the song weave together a message in this very understated way. Of the many themes portrayed in the song and the video alike, one of the most prominent is the longing brought about by time and distance. The song’s opening line is “I miss you,” a line which is not directed at any one specific person or thing, but is expressed in a wider, sadder, and more complete way, which makes it infinitely more relatable.

Furthermore, as stated earlier, something I admire about the song is that this longing is entirely expressed in a platonic sense. There is a desire to see and meet another person who is identified solely as a friend, both in the conclusion of the first verse (“how much longing must fall like snow/until the spring day comes again, friend”) and in the later bridge verse, “you know it all, you’re my best friend”. Rather than have this longing be one of generic love, it lends what some critics refer to as a maturity, an ability to recognize the suffering of others in a way that is not always prevalent. In fact, one of the other clear themes in “Spring Day’s” video is the notion of hopelessness, despair, and the tragedy that comes from the apathy of the world. BTS songs are often about recognizing the plights of those who society ignores, and so it’s not surprising that this video would draw from two tragedies about that very thing – the fictional tragedy of a town called Omelas and the real-world tragedy of the Sewol Ferry Disaster.

“Omelas” shows up explicitly in the video early on in the form of a motel bearing the name, whose sign claims “no vacancy.” It seems to be heavily implied that other scenes in the video, featuring the group all together, are taking place in a room at this motel, where they can leave the troubles of the outside world behind and exist in playful harmony with one another. However, later in the video, the Omelas motel is dark, desolate, and empty, further highlighting the feelings of loneliness and sorrow. Even before this moment, the happy times the friends share seem to be twinged with a layer of sadness, as if acknowledging that this happiness might be temporary, and the cares of the world will find them eventually.

In general, “Omelas” is a reference to Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” which I’ve discussed other times on the blog. The story centers on the titular fictional utopic city, which exists in perpetual happiness; however, the reason why Omelas thrives is because one child is made to be their scapegoat and must live in constant misery. If that would ever change, the happiness of everyone else would vanish. Citizens of the city learn of this when they come of age and most, although initially horrified, come to accept this as a necessary sacrifice. However, some people learn this and choose to leave instead – the titular ones who walk away from Omelas, who depart the city and are never seen again.

Image description: A scene from the "Spring Day" music video featuring the "Omelas motel" and its illuminated "no vacancy" sign

The story is extremely short, but nevertheless yields many different interpretations and theoretical questions. Is suffering ever justified? What is the moral obligation of society regarding the suffering of individuals when weighed against “the greater good”? Who defines this “greater good” and what if society’s definition doesn’t match our own, or if the socially accepted “good” isn’t actually good? It also begs us to ask what we would do in this situation and why. Would we stay in Omelas, acknowledging that sometimes terrible things lead to better ones? Or would we leave – if we even can – knowing that leaving doesn’t actually do anything to help the situation, but at least means we don’t benefit from it? Is there a right answer in that situation, or are they both ultimately futile choices?

The notion of society defining “good” and “bad” in ways that often seem at odds with what’s actually right and wrong is a big theme of BTS’s music. Thus, it’s no surprise that they lean so heavily into the themes of “Omelas” in this video. The music video shows the group sharing good times in the motel bearing Omelas’s name, time in which they have each other and don’t have to worry. By contrast, the outside world is cold and desolate – referencing the dystopian film Snowpiercer – but when they brave it together, they can start to see the possibility of a spring thaw after all. I find it interesting that they choose to reference both the utopia of “Omelas” and the dystopia of Snowpiercer, another story in which people benefit from the suffering of others, showing that a paradise for some is a hell for others. In so doing, especially with the song’s lyrics about being stuck in winter, they make a commentary on what it’s like to be locked into a suffering that no one else cares to end.

This ties into the other main reference: the 2014 sinking of the Sewol, a South Korean ferry boat, that resulted in the deaths of 306 people, including 250 students. Although reports are conflicted to this day, it seems that much of the loss of life might have been preventable, such as when the ship began taking on water and passengers were repeatedly instructed to stay where they were – even when many of the crew abandoned ship. In the aftermath, a great deal of public outrage centered on the apathetic attitude taken by government officials, a feeling BTS seems to channel in the song and its video. Much like the story of Omelas, it seems this disaster represents the societal willingness to ignore the suffering of those dubbed “unimportant” and pretend everything is functioning normally. In their sensitive and heartfelt handling of this topic, BTS points out the tragedy of any society that willfully ignores suffering, and in so doing, seem to walk away from Omelas and take us with them to a place where we can actually care.

Certainly at its core, “Spring Day” is a song about tragedy, injustice, and grief. It’s a song about the unfairness of life and about loss – loss of things and people, of innocence, of ourselves. But it’s also a song about renewal and the belief that things can be better. It’s a song about hope. And at its core, it’s about friendship. In an article for Rolling Stone India, writer Riddhi Chakraborty interprets the final scene of the music video, in which the boys stand together in a field as spring arrives, as representing “a new journey with their friendship as their salvation.” Honestly, I couldn’t have said it better myself, and the fact that this is a journey specifically of friendship, healing, and emotion makes it all the more beautiful – and more relevant now than ever before.

Lately, it seems like there’s been a pushback against attitudes of insincerity that seem to have become the norm over the past few years. I’ve seen people begin to complain about the pervasiveness of glib humor in media, the lack of being able to discuss hard topics or ideas without debasing them somehow, the inability to show real emotion, etc. But I feel that songs like “Spring Day” – and the other songs on You Never Walk Alone – are the antidote to a world that’s weary of insincerity. In my opinion, you won’t find a more sincere song or album. The same is true of an overwhelming majority of other BTS albums. The same is true of BTS themselves, and their sincerity is one of the things that drew me to them in the first place and why I’m still by their side three years later.

Earlier in this post, I discussed my own feelings of sorrow and inadequacy – and often on the blog, I discuss the many, many ways in which the world makes me feel lacking. This is why the very notion that I never walk alone and the themes of “Spring Day” are so valuable for me and, I would argue, for many other types of people. The end of “Spring Day” represents a dramatic turn from the earlier melancholy feelings of longing and sorrow, in which moving on feels impossible and it seems like spring will not come. Here instead, they assure us that the winter can’t possibly last forever and that, in fact, the cherry blossoms might be blooming, signaling that spring is on the way.

Six years later, this theme has never been more appropriate to the world; and three years after I became a BTS fan and a blogger, it’s never been more appropriate to me. Like “Not Today” says, there may be a day where I lose, but it’s not today, and “Spring Day” reminds me that somehow, someway, things will get better. I don’t know if I always believe that lesson – I don’t know if I can always have faith that I’m not alone – but that is why I return to these themes again and again. As circumstances continue to change and I continue to face unique trials, the notion of friendship, love, faith, and healing all being a salvation brings me through some of my darkest times. It reminds me that, in the midst of apathy, the world needs people who are willing to champion all of these things. So, if I can do nothing else and if I can be nothing else, I’d like to at least be someone who does these things.

In a 2022 Rolling Stone article ranking the 100 best BTS songs, “Spring Day” comes in at number one, and I feel the accompanying description does an incredible job of summarizing everything I’ve tried to say thus far: “The perennial sentiment packs an emotional punch that’s universal, transcending country, culture, and language. And the bud of hope BTS offer at the end – ‘the morning will come again/because no darkness, no season can last forever’ – is the reason they’ve cultivated a garden of blossoms.” In my life, I give into despair more often than not, but on this special day, I’d like to remind myself I’m in that garden of blossoms that has been cultivated on the back of hard-work, dedication, friendship, and platonic love. Whatever else comes next, that is surely meaningful. As the boys say in the song “You Never Walk Alone” – “even if this road is long and dangerous, will you walk it with me?”

As always, thank you for spending part of your Valentine’s Day with me. I hope it can be a day full of deep, profound, and meaningful love of all kinds, because the world could definitely use more profound emotion if you ask me.

With platonic love,

Rachel, aka The Asexual Geek