Fake Love: By Namjoon

Hi everyone, hope you’re all keeping safe and well!

Today we are going to be discussing Fake Love, the second song in Part 2 of my theory’s song order.

As always, for the purpose of my analysis I will be referring to Namjoon’s lover as “Namjoon’s lover” because I find it helps remove our unconscious bias, allowing us to truly appreciate the lyrics and the story for what it is.

To skip to my final interpretation of the song, please click here.

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Assumed Knowledge

I have written this post assuming you know:

• my theory , that all of the songs in LY albums are connected and reveal a story line when read in a specific order;
• the significance of the antithesis relationship between certain songs;
• Joon’s story told so far through Serendipity, DNA, 보조개 (​Dimple), Trivia 承: Love (P1, P2 and the Rose), (Outro) Her: By Namjoon and Singularity; and
• The Point of the Smeraldo Flower.

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New Readers:

Hello there and welcome to my blog! I’m sorry to say that if you haven’t read any of the above posts… I may lose you in the detail as my lyrical analyses are built on existing knowledge!

This is simply because all of the songs are interconnected, and need to be read in a specific order for it to make sense, just like a book.

You can absolutely still continue to read and follow how I draw meaning from the lyrics, but you may not, for example, understand the significance of the antithesis relationship 🙂 .

If you’re wondering where to start, please start here!

Please also note the assumptions I apply when I analyse songs.

Alright, let’s get it!

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1. Fake Love – The antithesis of DNA

Based on my observations of the antithesis structure in the Love Yourself albums, I believe that the concept of Fake Love will be the exact opposite of DNA.

Since DNA (Part 1 and Part 2) was about Real Love…

… In theory, Fake Love should be about… well, Fake Love.

This is consistent with my antithesis theory.

In addition, though Namjoon is the sole accredited BTS Author for this song, because it is the antithesis of DNA, it must consistently contain three perspectives.

Hence, I believe then when Namjoon was writing the lyrics of Fake Love, he factored in three perspectives: His, Yoongi’s and Hobi’s.

In other words, Fake Love is about:
1) Namjoon’s relationship with his lover;
2) The relationship between the BTS Members; and
3) BTS’ (or more specifically, Hobi’s) relationship with ARMY.

However, as I mentioned in Singularity, for the purpose of maintaining the flow and continuity of Namjoon’s story, I will be concentrating on telling Namjoon’s story first.

2. “Fake” Namjoon

As we discussed in (Outro) Her: By Namjoon, Namjoon made the decision to try and suppress his “Whole New” self to continue to be the man his lover wants.

This suppression results in the creation of “Fake” Namjoon.

Unfortunately as we saw in Singularity, Namjoon’s “Fake” self (i.e. the pretence he is happy and okay) is starting to affect his relationship with his lover.

Pretending to be okay

We can see that the story in Singularity carries on into Fake Love.

I refer to the first and last verse of Fake Love:

For you, I could pretend like I was happy when I was sad
For you, I could pretend like I was strong when I was hurt
I wish love was perfect as love itself
I wish all my weaknesses could be hidden
I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in a dream that can’t come true

The lyrics “For your, I could pretend like I was happy when I was sad… I could pretend like I was strong when I was hurt” tell us that just like what we discussed in Singularity, Namjoon is trying to pretend that he is happy, strong and fine for his lover (i.e. being his “Fake” self).

This pretence is a lie because the truth is, Namjoon is sad and hurting.

Because of his love for his lover, and his desire for their relationship to continue, Namjoon anguishes and wishes that his relationship could be “as perfect as love itself” and that he could hide “all my weaknesses” from his lover.

Consistent with what we saw in Singularity, Namjoon’s plan of suppressing his “Fake” self is not going to plan as his real unhappy “Whole New” myself that he tried to bury under the ice, keeps resurfacing.

The Flower that can’t be bloomed

The last line: “I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in a dream that can’t come true” is a reference to the Smeraldo.

The Smeraldo Flower is the “flower that can’t be bloomed” because it is fictional and therefore, cannot be grown.

To understand the meaning behind this line, let’s break up its components:

• “Flower that can’t be bloomed” = Smearldo
• Smeraldo =
  • A fictional flower in the BTS Universe used to express you true feelings and love. We can see it from:
    1. The legend of the grotesque man in the castle who grew the Smeraldo flower to express his love for the girl;
    2. Jin purchasing the Smeraldo for someone because he wants to be a good person; and
    3. Testesso the florist who states he works with Smeraldos because he wants to “help others deliver their true feelings.”
• Dream = Namjoon’s hope and dream that his lover will continue to love him (as discussed in my previous posts).

In other words, when Namjoon says: “I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in a dream that can’t come true” , he is saying to his lover:

I tried to show you my love and sincerity in hope that you would continue to love me, but alas, my sincerity “could not be delivered” (i.e. it could not be felt) by you, and thus my dream of being loved by you cannot come true.

3. Love can drive people mad

I refer to the following verse:

I wanna be a good man, just for you
I gave the world, just for you
I changed everything, just for you
But I don’t know me, Who are you?
The forest just for us, you weren’t there
The route I took, I forgot
I even became quite unsure of who I was
Try babbling into the mirror, who the hell are you?

We can infer from the first three lines and the repetition of “just for you”, that Namjoon loves his lover very much and is willing to do anything for his lover.

However, though Namjoon tried to change “everything” and give the whole world to his lover, unfortunately this process of “changing everything” causes Namjoon to lose touch with his real self (“but I don’t know me” ), prompting him to ask himself “who are you?”

“The forest just for us” is a metaphorical private location and spot for Namjoon and his lover. Like many references I’ve discussed in my previous posts, I believe this may be inspired by 1Q84 where the forest is a recurring metaphysical space and image.

In other words, the lyrics “the forest just for us, you weren’t there, the [forest] route I took, I forgot, I even became quite unsure of who I was” mean that Namjoon is feeling lost because he has lost his ability to connect at the same spiritual and emotional level with his lover as he used to be able to.

The loss of his identity and ability to connect deeply with his lover causes Namjoon to babble into the mirror asking himself “who the hell are you?”.

The specific use of the term “babbling” draws negative connotations to a mad person, and conjures an image of Namjoon talking in a rapidly foolish and incomprehensible way in front of a mirror.

This imagery conveys to us that the suppression of Namjoon’s real self is starting to drive Namjoon mad.

4. The “Lyrical Ambigram“

I refer to the following lyrics, specifically the lyrics in bold:

Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll
Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll

I’m so sick of this fake love, fake love, fake love
I’m so sorry but it’s fake love, fake love, fake love

When I was a fetus ARMY, (i.e. before I actually started reading and analysing the official lyrics), I always thought BTS was singing:

Now you’re so bad, Now you’re so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Why you’re so mad, Why you’re so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll
Now you’re so bad, Now you’re so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Now you’re so mad, Now you’re so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll

Or a similar variation. Some days, I thought they were singing “Now you’re so mad” , other days I thought it was “Why you’re so mad” .

In other words, I had mistakenly heard:

• “Love you so bad” as either “Now you’re so bad” or “Why you’re so bad” ; and
• “Love it’s so mad” as “Now you’re so mad” or “Why you’re so mad” .

Or have I? Have a listen.

Five reasons why I don’t think it is a mistake

Originally I had put it down as me simply mishearing the lyrics. However, the more I analyse and listen to BTS lyrics, the more I am convinced that nothing they do is a coincidence.

I have listed five reasons below why I believe BTS have purposely pronounced their words so that “Love you so bad” and “Love you so mad” could sound and mean “Now you’re so bad” , “Why you’re so bad” , “Now you’re so mad” and “Why you’re so mad” .

First, BTS love giving things multiple meanings (e.g. The Smeraldo Flower and the Ambigram of Save Me vs I’m Fine).

Second, BTS are geniuses when it comes to word play. Besides all of the 20 million different ways BTS managed to play with the word “Ddaeng” as explained in this video, the following line in Ddaeng:

이번 생은 글렀어 넌 땡
(Ibeon saeng-eun geulleoss-eo neon ddaeng)
(This life is all wrong for you, ddaeng)

…to an English speaker, sounds like BTS is saying: “People saying we’re good as nothing.”

Given the context of the song Ddaeng, I think the lyrics “People saying we’re good as nothing” is incredibly fitting.

This is further supported by the word plays I’ve identified in my previous posts:

• The transformative words in Trivia 承: Love;
• How “Tear” is pronounced three different ways to sound like “Dear”, “Tear” (like tearing paper), and “Tear” (like crying tears);
• How illegal can be pronounced to sound like “이 네것” in Korean in 보조개 (​Dimple);
• How “Anyway” sounds like “Alleyway” in 보조개 (​Dimple);
• How 지나가 (everything goes) is phonetically the same as 진 아가 (Jin Baby), and 진짜 네게 is pronounced to sound like 진진 아가;
• How 이 밤이 지나면 has a different meaning when you consider Chinese and Korean word play together.

Third, Namjoon is extremely particular about how certain words need to be pronounced. For example, in his Vlive video for Paradise, Namjoon talks about how the word “Marathon” must be pronounced in a certain way.

We can infer from this that BTS pay strong attention to how they pronounce words when they record a song.

Fourth, BTS clearly know how to pronounce the word “Love” properly and clearly. When they sing the chorus “I’m so sick of this Fake Love” , “Love” sung in this line does not sound in any way like “Now” or “Why”.

This further indicates that the pronunciation for “Love you so bad” and “Love it’s so mad” is pronounced specifically to create ambiguity and allow room for interpretation.

Lastly, given that there are three perspectives in the album, it would make poetic sense if one line can be interpreted and sung three different ways.

By giving it three different possible meanings, Namjoon is able to convey and create more than three different meanings and interpretations at the same time.

To show you what I mean, let’s first interpret the chorus based on the official lyrics:

Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll
Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll

I’m so sick of this fake love, fake love, fake love
I’m so sorry but it’s fake love, fake love, fake love

In this interpretation, Namjoon is saying to his lover:

I love you so badly that I pretended to be happy (i.e. lie) for you. Love is so mad it has driven me mad enough to be willing to erase myself and become a perfect, but fake plastic doll for you.

However, this has made our love and relationship fake, and I’m sick of it. I’m sorry but it is true, the love between us now is fake.

Now, let’s try one of the possible interpretations:

Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Why you’re so mad, why you’re so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll
Love you so bad, love you so bad
Mold a pretty lie for you
Now you’re so mad, now you’re so mad
Try to erase myself and make me your doll

I’m so sick of this fake love, fake love, fake love
I’m so sorry but it’s fake love, fake love, fake love

In the above interpretation, Namjoon sounds like he is saying to his lover: I love you so badly that I pretended to be happy (i.e. lie) for you, so why are you so mad at me? I have tried to erasing myself and making myself into a perfect doll for you because I love you so badly; and now you’re mad at me for that.

I’m so sick of this fake love and relationship. I’m sorry, but this love between us now is completely fake.

As you can see, there is a distinct difference in both interpretations, particularly in the tone of voice. In the latter interpretation, Namjoon’s lover is mad at him and it sounds like they are quarrelling

Anyways, I’m not going to go into the many possible variations of the lyrics, I hope you get the drift! My point is, I believe that the lyrics are brilliantly ambiguous so that it can be interpreted in many different ways.

However, despite the chorus being opened for interpretation, one thing is still certain.

Namjoon’s fakeness is causing the love between him and his lover to feel fake, and this is making him (and probably his lover) “so sick of this fake love” and “sorry” that he can no longer make the love between them feel real.

5. Say ‘I love you’… please?

I refer to the following verse:

Why you sad? I don’t know. I don’t know
Smile, say ‘I love you’
Look at me, even I gave up on myself
Even you can’t understand me
You say I’m unfamiliar, changed into the one you used to like
You say I’m not myself which you knew well
No? What do you mean no? I’m blind
Love? What the heck is love? It’s all fake love

The above verse gives us insight as to how Namjoon’s lover is reacting and feeling. Namjoon asks his lover “why you sad?” and “smile, say ‘I love you'”.

We can infer from this that Namjoon’s lover is unhappy and is no longer saying “I love you” to Namjoon without prompting. This is a stark contrast to Serendipity, DNA, etc where we learn that Namjoon’s lover loves Namjoon so much he told Namjoon he wanted to die with him.

This is because Namjoon’s lover no longer understands the person Namjoon has become, even though Namjoon thinks he is being his “original” self, “You say I’m unfamiliar, [but I] changed into the one you used to like” .

We can infer from Namjoon’s reaction “No? What do you mean no?” that Namjoon’s lover sadly no longer loves the person Namjoon has become, and can no longer say “I love you” back.

In addition, the rapid fire of comments directed at his lover, “look at me… you say I’m unfamiliar… you say I’m not myself... No? What do you mean no? Love? What the heck is love?” , mirror Namjoon’s earlier “blabbering” thoughts and convey Namjoon’s deep sense of despair as he is at a complete lost of what to do.

Namjoon is desperate and lost because being “fake” as his “original” self is not working out, and he believes being “real” with his “Whole New” side of him can’t work out.

6. Because it is Fake Love

Woo, I dunno, I dunno, I dunno why
Woo, even I, even I don’t know myself
Woo, I just know, I just know, I just know why
Cuz it’s all fake love, fake love, fake love.

In the end, Namjoon realises and understands that his relationship with his lover cannot work because he has lost his own identity (“even I don’t know myself” ), and is thus unable to make the love between him and his love “real.”

In other words, Namjoon realises that it is not possible for the love between two people to be real, if he is not really himself.

Namjoon ends Fake Love with the line: “I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed in a dream that can’t come true.”

As we have seen above and in the previous posts, Namjoon has been suppressing his true feelings of being sad and depressed.

The Smeraldo as previously discussed, also symbolically means true feelings.

Mirroring the story of Testesso and the grotesque man from the Smeraldo legend, another meaning of this line is:

Namjoon wanted to express his true feelings of pain and sadness* to his lover. However, to express his true feelings, Namjoon would have to reveal his “ugly” real self… and he did not have the courage to do so…

*The deep feeling of pain and sadness discussed in The SEAcret “Whole New” side of Namjoon and Tonight (이 밤)

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Author’s Note

In Fake Love, Namjoon shares his story about how his relationship with his lover deteriorated because of his inability to show his real self to his lover.

As his “fake” self, Namjoon realises that he and his lover can no longer connect at the same level as they used to and he has forgotten his own identity. Namjoon’s lover also finds the “fake”-“original” Namjoon unfamiliar and has thus fallen out of love with him.

In the end, Namjoon realises that their relationship cannot work out because the love between them is no longer real, it is fake.

Despite this realisation, Namjoon ultimately does not express and share his true feelings of pain and sadness* with his lover because that involves revealing his “ugly” true self… and Namjoon did not have the courage to do so.

*As what we have previously discussed in The SEAcret “Whole New” side of Namjoon and Tonight (이 밤)

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Sigh, oh Namjoon, you could never be ugly… <3 I take a lot of comfort that I don’t think he feels this way now.

And oh god… the next song I need to analyse is the The Truth Untold. Be still my beating heart.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog and stay tune for the next post!

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Stay gold everyone! x G