Adagio Apassionato

Having grown to love wave to earth in the last year, I was so, so excited for their first ever studio album! It did not disappoint at all and I have been playing it on repeat since it came out. If I were to sum up this album in a few words, they would be “love in a day.” The two sides of the album come together beautifully to represent the many ways of experiencing love and heartbreak, while associating them with the progression of a single day. wave to earth’s music is unique because it always evokes not just a specific feeling, but a specific picture or scene in my mind. 1. bad The first track on A-side, ‘bad’, begins with an almost playful melody on the guitar, and is perfect for signaling the start of this day of love. The narrator sings of deciding to let themselves out of the house on this day, which seemingly turns into the best decision they could have made – they meet the person they love, and realize that their day could only go well if they spend it with them. The music used...

With his third album, ‘D-Day’, Agust D critiques today’s society and calls for a new age where we liberate ourselves from restrictive conventions. He reflects on the information age, the nature of love, his own pain, and ends with messages of hope for his juniors and those he loves with this final solo album before he enlists in the military. I wrote a (very long!) analysis of each track, because Yoongi’s lyrics and musical choices are insightful and convey his thoughts truly and beautifully. 1. D-Day D-Day creates an upbeat, energetic start to the album. The song, interestingly, is one that is uplifting, motivational and somewhat comforting, but uses strong beats and sounds. It is interesting that the song is called ‘D-Day’, usually synonymous with something dangerous, ominous, or bringing doom – yet, he begins the song with “Future’s gonna be okay,” and “D-Day’s coming, it’s a fucking good day.” His optimism for the future is seen in a wordplay on the lyric, “look at the mirror and I...

FACE by Jimin recounts his struggle with escapism and how he eventually learns to accept his painful emotions and move forward with them by his side. The tracks, when listened to in order, create this narrative perfectly through their lyrics and sound.  ‘Face-Off’ is the beginning of a madness in the mind that you try to satiate with alcohol (or any unhealthy coping/escapist mechanism). The jaunty and mischievous melody at the beginning suggests a kind of disturbance, a dissonance, as if the mind is playing its own tricks and pranks on you. The song sounds distinctly like a drunken, confused argument. He describes a masquerade party and being drunk in the first verse, then screams “I don’t care about you” in the second, as though he’s trying to explain his feelings and justify himself to his own mind, to his own confusions, but his mind is addled by the disturbance taking over him, and he can’t clearly say what it is he’s trying to escape from. “Tonight I don’t wanna be sober,” thi...