The concept of self-love is not really common in pop music. But in k-pop it’s different. Even the most well-known Korean boy group BTS has many popular songs about self-love.
Is loving yourself hard? No, it’s not. Once you start to understand yourself, it will be much easier. You can simply ask yourself, why I should love myself. This question can give you the perfect answer.
The interesting thing is the lyrics of a song can change your mind or the way you think. People often listen to music that is relatable to their daily life. What is your favorite song? Have you ever wondered why you love that song so much? Most of the people say it’s because of the lyrics relate to their lives.
Every song has a concept. And the uncommon concept is ‘self-love’. People often ignore the concept of self-love. But we forget that it’s really important for our mental health. Without loving yourself you can’t really be happy because you are not being yourself. BTS reflects that in their songs.
BTS debuted in June 2013, with seven talented members who are running the world of music in this generation. With the members Kim Namjoon (RM), Kim seokjin (Jin), Min Yoongi (Suga), Jung Hoeseok (j-hope), Park Jimin (Jimin), Kim Taehyung (V), and JeonJungkook (Jungkook).
BTS is famous for its relatable and heart touching lyrics. “I’m the one I should love in this world/I love me though I may lack, I’m so beautiful” (lyrics of epiphany song by Jin). These lyrics can melt everyone’s heart.
In 2017 BTS launched the ‘Love Myself’ campaign with none other than UNICEF. LOVE MYSELF is an anti-violence campaign launched on 1 November 2017 by BTS in partnership with the Korean and Japanese Committee for UNICEF.
And the leader of BTS, RM’s (real me) memorable speech was a cheering one:
“Last November, BTS launched the ‘Love Myself’ campaign with UNICEF, built in our belief that true love begins with loving myself.
“We’ve partnered with UNICEF’s non-violence program to protect children and young people all over the world from violence – and our fans have become a major part of this campaign with their action and enthusiasm. We truly have the best fans in the world.”
Kim Namjoon (RM) also said. “We should ask ourselves, what is our name? What does excite us and makes our heart beat faster?” He added, no matter who we are, where we’re from, our skin color, our gender identity, we should just speak ourselves. His words were powerful.
BTS songs like ‘Magic Shop’, ‘Euphoria’, ‘Trivia: Love’, ‘Epiphany’, ‘I’m Fine’, ‘Answer: Love Myself’, ‘Paradise’ and ‘So What’ became a new way to self-love.
Other k-pop groups are also encouraging people to be themselves. 'ITZY' is a great example of it. The popular South Korean girl group “ITZY” debuted in February with the song "DallaDalla". In Korean Dalla means different. With lyrics including-“I’m different from other people, I love myself, I'm different from you.” Also, their song “Wannabe” was a song about self-love. “No matter what anyone says, I am me. I don't have to be something because I'm perfect when I'm just me. I don't wanna be somebody just wanna be me, be me”, these were the catchy lyrics of “wannabe”.
Other Kpop songs like: “SELFISH” by moonbyul (ft. seulgi of RED VELVET), “Grow up” by stray kids, “Dear Me” by Taeyeon, etc. also represent the world of self-love.
If you have only one reason to love yourself, that is enough. And with this one reason, you can make all the reasons to hate yourself disappear. Once you start to love yourself, every time when you look at yourself in the mirror you can see the perfect you, without any regret for being yourself. You will have confidence in yourself.
Every year many people want to take their own lives because they don't love themselves as much as they should. Lack of self-love can easily create depression. And this were it gets harder.
If you still cannot understand the concept of self-love then just close your eyes, listen to your heart and say “I love myself.”
Nufaiysa M Rahman is a 7th grader at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka