Agust D’s Daechwita dropped a week ago and we’re still not over it.
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It’s been 4 years. 4 years since Min Yoon-gi (aka BTS’ Suga) released his first mixtape, eponymously titled Agust D, a solo persona he adopts. Luckily for those in the music industry, that’s how long he decided to wait to drop his long-anticipated second mixtape, D-2. Despite telling fans “please don’t wait…forget about it [D-2] for a while”, D-2 was dropped shortly after. “I like surprises”, he tells Billboard later. And people have the nerve to wonder why I have trust issues.
If that wasn’t enough to cause chaos, the music video for Daechwita, both the second and title track of D-2, was released simultaneously. In just 24 hours, the video had global domination. In the first day, YouTube viewership came to almost 24 million, trending at #1 on YouTube in over 86 regions, quickly becoming the most liked YouTube video by a Korean soloist - AND the song was the #1 iTunes single in 57 countries. So, it’s safe to say the single may have made a slight impact.
Daechwita’s music video itself is extremely intricate. In a BigHit Interview, Yoon-gi explained how the director was originally going to keep the video “minimal”, but Yoon-gi had insisted on filming it on the set of a historical drama. The video is not just an elaborate visual of storytelling, but a cinematographic one, with in-depth detailing and hidden meanings throughout.
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It should be known that “Daechwita” is traditional Korean music played during royal processions, now more commonly played for special or military purposes. The single included samples of this very music, yet this was not simply done for auditory pleasure. Themes of rebellion strike the core of Agust D’s Daechwita, so to play that alongside royal and military music? A power move, to say the least.
The video begins and we are immediately introduced to the “crazy king”, as Yoon-gi later referred to him, lying on a throne. Blonde-haired, luxuriously dressed, Agust D.
The MV cuts to a different Agust D. Black hair. It snaps to a cow. Butchered meat. Then a staring black-haired Agust D. These 2-second close-ups build up a powerful story. The commoner. A cow whose fate is to be meat. Butchery. The commoner again, implying he too, will be butchered - but his unflinching stare suggests otherwise.
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Unmissable is a searing red scar, dragged over both Agust Ds’ right eye. This, of course, caused an uproar of about a million fan theories, of which a particularly popular one is the fact that a South Korean king must not bear any scars, and yet Agust D shows his off; meaning despite Yoon-gi’s, metaphorically speaking, scars, he made it to the top. Amusingly, when asked about the scar, Yoon-gi explained how he “just wanted it to be shocking” when he lifted his face (but we still think the link to royalty here can’t be a coincidence).
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The music video is a wonderfully crafted visual of revolution and the inner fight with oneself. To go through each scene would be to take away the impact of visual art, so we recommend watching it for yourself. However, we have laid out some of the deeper meanings and behind-the-scenes explanations perhaps not so obvious to the first watch. [Huge spoilers ahead, read at your own risk].
The Accessories. Yoon-gi has since pointed out how the accessories worn by blonde Agust D were all only gold, and black-haired Agust D’s were silver, complimenting each hair colour and ideologies. Black-haired Agust D is also seen wearing a “mother-of-pearl” shell pendant, which at the time of historical setting (during the Joseon dynasty), symbolised “long years of hard work” and “perseverance”, matching Yoon-gi’s life and lyrics.
The Sword. After sending his own meticulous research to BigHit, Yoon-gi’s sword, Hwando as this specific one is known in Korean, was custom-made. That’s right. Yoon-gi also spoke about how the sword dance, for which he practised for two-days straight after being informed just before shooting, was performed much longer than is seen; “My two days of work went down the drain…I noticed the director cut all the cool parts” (we still think it looked insane Yoon-gi).
The Keychain. His keychain, attached to his car key (handed to him by none other than BTS’ stylist), is made to appear to look like jade, a prized and extremely valuable stone to many parts of Asia. Jade of this colour is known as “imperial jade”, used by nobility, showing us that the real king is the rebel. Not to mention how Yoon-gi himself has ancestry of a royal clan. In other words, Yoon-gi is the king, and he’s making sure we don’t forget it.
The Executioner. As rebel Agust D awaits execution, we watch the executioner dance and drink – but this isn’t just for effect. In Joseon dynasty, it’s almost a ritual for the executioner to drink and dance beforehand. Additionally, the executioner is actually the same man as the butcher, whose character was a part of the lowest class in Joseon, and who briefly exchanged glances with rebel Agust D earlier on. These knowing looks foreshadowed the two joining forces to overthrow the king, for the executioner frees Agust D and hands him a gun.
The Gun. In the final scene, we see black-haired, uprising Agust D shoot his other self, the mad king. The type of gun used is called “Colt 1860 ARMY”, a sweet detail paying homage to the BTS fanbase, ARMY.
Yoon-gi has never been one to shy away from his mental battles through (but not limited to) his lyrics, and his latest mixtape is no different. His lyrics remain just as personal, from discussing fame, insecurities and survival, to economic inequality, bittersweet nostalgia and boldly daring those who disrespect him. D-2 is philosophical, political, sentimental and emotive. You can feel a shift of growth from within Yoon-gi, whose first mixtape was louder, angrier; “There’s another name for the blonde Agust D. It’s rage. And I shot him at the end”, Yoon-gi later reflected.
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With D-2 debuting as #9 in Rolling Stone’s Top 10 Albums Chart, and Agust D becoming the first solo Korean artist in history to earn a top 10 album in the UK – debuting at #7 – (a country notorious in its difficulty for international artists to break through), despite the album being an unpromoted, unprompted drop and available for free, the long-awaited second mixtape clearly sits, of course, on the throne.
