This Is Their Normal

The latest news in BTS BTS K-POP GROUP BTS (방탄소년단) is a South Korean K-pop group formed by BigHit Music and debuted on June 13, 2013. The group consists of seven members: RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. Known for their powerful performances, me -world has ARMY everywhere buzzing, theorizing, and pumping out fan edits faster than I can write this article. Normal, a song relaying the expectations and reality of celebrity, has a music video, making it the 5th song from Arirang to get a music video. 

The vibes are immaculate. The visual storytelling is stunning. The symbolism and “Easter eggs” had me watching it 3 times in a row this morning. While fans are already combing through every frame for hidden meanings, one thing becomes clear after just a few watches: Normal rewards close attention to detail. 

Anyone familiar with BTS BTS K-POP GROUP BTS (방탄소년단) is a South Korean K-pop group formed by BigHit Music and debuted on June 13, 2013. The group consists of seven members: RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. Known for their powerful performances, me ’s HYYH era received a sucker punch when they opened Spotify this morning. This beloved era features songs like Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Spring Day,  and Black Swan. The Normal music video is stuffed with references and subtle nods and callbacks to the imagery used in the music videos for these songs. The following is my takeaway from this masterpiece of a video.

The HYYH nods are rampant in this video. A swan sits by a flight of stairs as Jimin lays sprawled out on a half-made bed, himself partially undressed while Jungkook stands under a shower, fully clothed. The shower, the bed, the swan, are all nods to prior music videos, as I mentioned. Suga wanders out to the courtyard, where he runs into a tall iron fence. Fame does not come with freedom, it would seem. The fence itself is a nod to Save Me. 

The cake and pillow fight reminds me of the Spring Day music video. Jungkook’s lighter from Run makes a reappearance. We also see V holding the pendant from the Swim music video, causing many fans to speculate that the two music videos are connected, although Swim did not contain nearly as many references to the HYYH era as Normal does. The whole setting of the run-down mansion is reminiscent of the Blood, Sweat, and Tears music video.

Normal is more than just fan service. It seems to invite viewers to reflect on something deeper than its surface imagery, and my interpretation is this: celebrity is not simply glamorous parties and luxury fashion. It's also exposure and vulnerability, often against the wishes of those inside it.  The video begins with a woman throwing polaroids of the seven members at the camera, perhaps to call to mind the notion that celebrities have no privacy–everything is on display for the world. The next scene overlays the title of the song, but the letters appear in reverse, showing that there is in fact nothing normal about the life of a public figure. 

There is a scene in an ornate parlor, where all seven members relax in various poses, calling to mind the opening scene to Blood, Sweat, and Tears. All seven look a little sad and hungover, and the lighting in the scene is gray and heavy. Then a montage of cut scenes between the dreary living room and a party with flashing lights, glitter, and a crowd of people surrounding them as they all appear to smile and laugh creates a sharp contrast between the two realities–the version the camera sees and the version they live alone.

The members individually show us what “normal” looks like for them throughout the music video. We see Jin sitting alone at a table for two, sipping tea in a forest lane. In true Taehyung-fashion, we see V lounging on a couch, covered in bandages, looking very bruised and battered. ARMY knows how much V likes to play the tragic, tortured characters in his music videos. RM sits in the back seat of a car. Given that he only recently obtained his driver’s license, the image of him riding in the back seat may resonate differently for longtime fans, though whether that connection is intentional is open to interpretation. 

Another thing that struck me is the scenes with Jin, Jhope, and Suga–Jin is seated at a table drinking tea…in the middle of a lane. Jhope is seen standing in a bathtub in the middle of a forest, and Suga sits down on a couch out in the yard of the mansion. The imagery here again points to the fact that as idols, even their private moments are made public. 

The bathroom scene makes me wonder if they are saying that nothing about their own relationships with each other is normal–they even use the urinals together, never a moment to themselves? But the goofy montage of them all pushing each other and laughing, trying to pose in the center for the camera shows the truth: these men adore each other. This is their normal.

Then we get to the highlight of the video–the puppies! The symbolism continues here too. Each breed appears to represent an aspect of each member. Whether intentional or not, the dogs seem carefully matched to the members’ public personas, with breeds commonly associated with loyalty, optimism, intelligence, elegance, and endurance. It’s another example of the video’s attention to visual symbolism.

Beyond the visual masterpiece, there is the statistical side of the video. Premiering exclusively on Spotify for the first 48 hours, the video broke records, becoming the most streamed K-pop music video in a single day on the platform, according to Rolling Stone. Although Spotify did not disclose how many views the music video actually accumulated, the teaser trailer achieved 2 million views.

BTS BTS K-POP GROUP BTS (방탄소년단) is a South Korean K-pop group formed by BigHit Music and debuted on June 13, 2013. The group consists of seven members: RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. Known for their powerful performances, me has once again proven that their art is not constricted to just music. The visual arts are also a huge part of the band’s identity. I am sure I missed so many subtle hints in this review, despite watching the video five times. But isn’t that the beauty of BTS BTS K-POP GROUP BTS (방탄소년단) is a South Korean K-pop group formed by BigHit Music and debuted on June 13, 2013. The group consists of seven members: RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. Known for their powerful performances, me ? No matter how many times you consume their content, it never gets old as there is always something new to be discovered. If Normal is trying to say anything, perhaps it’s this: normal isn’t found in celebrity. It isn’t found in privacy or routine. For BTS BTS K-POP GROUP BTS (방탄소년단) is a South Korean K-pop group formed by BigHit Music and debuted on June 13, 2013. The group consists of seven members: RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. Known for their powerful performances, me , normal is found in seven people who have spent over a decade growing up together. Amid the symbolism, callbacks, and visual spectacle, that may be the video’s simplest–and most powerful–message.