The Motif of the “Lonely Monster”

Welcome back everyone,

Today we are going to be discussing the recurring motif of the “Lonely Monster”. The “Lonely Monster” that I believe is Kim Namjoon.

Studying the motif of the “Lonely Monster” is important because understanding Namjoon’s relationship with his “Rap Monster” identity will allow us to clearly see his character development and growth over the next couple of songs we will discuss.

I have written this post assuming you know my theory that all the songs in LY albums are all connected and reveal a storyline when read in a specific order.

If you’re a New Reader, welcome! I would recommend you to start here.

Just to be clear, I do not think of him as a “Monster”. I love Joon and all of the boys wholeheartedly. I’m simply pointing out that there is a character/motif of a “Lonely Monster” in the lyrics of many BTS songs, and I believe this is Joon based on my observations below.

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1. But first, what is a Motif?

A motif is an object or an idea that repeats itself throughout a piece of literary work. A motif can be an image or a figure with symbolic significance, and it is used to help develop the theme(s) in a story.

In this case, the motif of a “Monster” (or something similar) appears repeatedly not only in the Love Yourself albums, but also in many of Namjoon’s solo work.

This “Monster” is used to develop Namjoon’s story line and the central theme in the Love Yourself albums – which is about the importance of loving yourself.

2. The “Monster”

We can infer that Namjoon embraced his identity as a “Monster” in his earlier days. This can be seen from his:

• decision to call himself Rap Monster when BTS debuted in 2013;
• bellowing cry in his solo song titled “Monster” from his “RM” mixtape (released in 2015) – “R to the M I’m a mufuckin’ monster!” and many many other songs where he clearly refers to himself as a ‘Monster’; and
• depiction of himself as a “Monster” on his “RM” mixtape cover (see below).

In other words, when a “Monster” or something similar is referred to in the lyrics, the “Monster” in the lyrics is Namjoon.

Namjoon’s Monster

Based on the above picture, I have two impressions of Namjoon’s “Monster”:

• First, the “Monster” is half black half white, like half good half bad. Namjoon appears to be depicting himself as someone who has a good side, but also a dark bad side. Namjoon’s “Monster” is an antithesis in itself, like a juxtaposed mix of a devil and an angel. Quite literally, a Monster.
  
  This picture also reminds me of what Namjoon’s said in an interview when asked about “RM”. He said that the lyrics for “RM” “came from his own inner darkness, worries, greed”.
  
  That, certainly sounds like the dark half of him talking.
  
  
• Second, Namjoon’s “Monster” concept looks like it was inspired by the Phantom of the Opera (where the Phantom is also depicted as a monster).
  
  After all, Namjoon and the Phantom share many similarities besides the half monstrous face.
  
  Both of:
  • them are exceptionally talented musical composers;
  • them believe they are ugly and have been called ugly by others (for Namjoon, this was particularly pervasive in his younger years);
  • them feel that they are lonely and misunderstood (this is discussed further below);
  • their works involve the recurring motif of masks; and
  • their lyrics make references to a “phantom”.

The significance of this is that Namjoon has characterised himself as a “Monster” and a “Phantom” in his lyrics. We can infer he has done this because he believes they reflect his true image, nature and identity.

3. Lonely and Misunderstood

I am not going to go into too much detail here as there is already a fantastic video by Namjin Home explaining this.

In short, I believe Namjoon suffers (or suffered?) from loneliness because he feels that he is not on the same wavelength as most people. Things that people view as important, he views as unimportant and vice versa.

This can be particularly inferred through the song Whalien 52. Whalien 52 appears to double up as Namjoon’s autobiography (remember, many BTS songs hold multiple meanings) and this is supported by many comments made by Namjoon himself.

For those who don’t know about Whalien 52, Whalien 52 is about an (actual) whale that is described as the ‘loneliness whale on the planet’ because it ‘speaks’ in an unusual frequency of 52 Hertz. No other whales ‘speak’ this frequency and thus, no other whale can understand it.

It thus lives its life alone as it cannot communicate with other whales.

Based on the above, I believe Namjoon has characterised himself as a “Lonely Monster” in his lyrics. This is something to note as we will encounter the themes of loneliness and ugliness soon.

4. The Identity Crisis

As discussed above, Namjoon debuted with BTS embracing his identity as a “Monster”.

However, something significant occurred between 2013 and 2017 which compelled Namjoon to officially change his stage name from “Rap Monster” to “RM” in November 2017.

The official change of his stage name from “Rap Monster” to “RM” signified to me that after BTS debuted, Namjoon developed a complex relationship with his “Monster” identity.

By the end of November 2017, Namjoon felt that he could no longer relate to (nor did he want to be related to) his “Monster” identity.

This identity crisis compelled him to officially change his stage name to RM.

Further evidence supporting the idea that Namjoon no longer saw himself as a “Monster” can be found in the name of his second mixtape “MONO” released on 23 October 2018.

“RM” (Name of First Mixtape) = Rap Monster
“MONO” (Name of Second Mixtape) = Monster No More

The cause of Namjoon’s identity crisis

So… What caused Namjoon to experience an identity crisis and undergo such a transformation that he no longer viewed himself as a monster by November 2017?

Two events of particular significance happened in 2017:

1. On 18 August 2017 – Jin tweeted about the Smeraldo flowers for the first time.
   • This is significant because in the Smeraldo flowers folklore, the main protagonist is a man with a “grotesque appearance” (i.e. a “Phantom” or a “Monster”).
   • The meaning of the Smeraldo flower is “non potevo dire la verita” (or in English, the “The Truth that couldn’t be Told”), which is a direct reference to the song “The Truth Untold” in the second Love Yourself album, Love Yourself: 轉 Tear.
     
     This is significant because as we will come to see, the lyrics (for The Truth Untold) feature the theme of loneliness, motif of masks, and a “Monster”; and
     
2. On 18 September 2017 – The first Love Yourself albums, Love Yourself 承: Her was released, which based on my theory, is connected to Love Yourself: 轉 Tear.

As I hope I have managed to illustrate in this post and this post, the Love Yourself albums have intentional structure, suggesting all three albums and the Smeraldo flower folklore must have been meticulously planned in advance.

This further suggests to me that in the lead up to the development and release of the three Love Yourself albums (i.e. in 2016, early 2017, or possibly even earlier), Namjoon must have experienced his identity crisis; and this experience is the inspiration behind some the concepts and elements in the Love Yourself albums and the Smeraldo flower folklore.

My study of the lyrics suggest that the cause of Namjoon’s transformation from “Mo” to “Mono” occurred due to “Her”.

After all, Namjoon did say that Love has transformative powers…

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And we will continue the story another day! Thank you for reading and 보라해!

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x G (@btsgtheories)