Backstory first, I think: This song, like all of the songs on Mixtape, was performed for the first time on their “survival show.” After the first mission – writing, choreographing, and performing “Hellevator” – JYP determined that three members were at risk of elimination – Lee Know, I.N, and Hyunjin. For their second mission, they formed three teams around these three members, and each team wrote and performed a song targeting the key criticism that the member received during the first mission.
Lee Know’s team was him, Felix, and Changbin. And “GLOW” is the song they wrote and performed. JYP’s main criticism of Lee Know was his singing not being stable, so it’s no surprise that this is a very lyrical, singing heavy song as opposed to the more rap heavy “Hellevator.”
Of course, this song was recorded later with all, at the time, nine members and released on Mixtape. It held a lot of significance for all of them at the time, and I’m excited to get into the lyrics.
Note: This is one of the songs that has never been rerecorded as OT8. As such, the lyric distributions do include SKZ’s former member.
Disclaimer as always: I’m a pretty new STAY, and I don’t speak Korean. I am using my limited SKZ knowledge and the English translations from Genius. These are my own thoughts based on those translations and not meant to be a definitive interpretation.
Here is the audio to listen to as you read:
There is so much more commentary on this song than we got on the first four songs on Mixtape.
In the “survival show” itself, just before Lee Know’s team performs, Changbin gives some backstory to the song: “For this song, our team practiced until late at night often. The side of us when we give each other strength when it gets hard. The darker it gets, the brighter it will become. To portray when we get dark, we will become lighter, we have named the song GLOW.” (From the StrayKSubs English captions.)
And overall, it’s a song about practicing day and night nonstop. And specifically, this mission was very heavy. It was their first elimination mission, the first time there was a real possibility of someone getting cut. “Hellevator” was nerve wracking as their first original song to be performed for JYP and to be recorded and released. But this was scary in the sense of losing someone.
And at the end of this mission, Lee Know was eliminated.
And that bittersweetness is very present in the Happiness Train VLIVE I talked about in my last post. This song starts playing, and they all kind of go quiet. And Lee Know comments that it’s a little sad. And they all comment that it’s something they really relate to, that really resonates with them.
Changbin shared, specifically, a part that I didn’t catch the meaning of as I was going through the lyrics: “In the first verse, you run and then fall. And you hurt your knees and get a scar. But in the second verse, it’s not only a small scar, but the feeling of emptiness because someone’s fallen out.”
These are the lines he’s talking about:
Verse 1:
Everyone’s busy running, but one fell down
Thankfully, only a small cut on his kneeVerse 2:
Everyone’s still busy running but one fell down
Now instead of a small scar, emptiness remains
I did not get this meaning until watching this again. In the first verse, someone falls and the consequence is a scraped knee and a scar. In the second verse, someone falls and the consequence is emptiness, is someone being eliminated. A mistake doesn’t just mean you get hurt or reprimanded. It could mean you don’t move on. It could mean a group member gone.
It’s an impactful visual, especially as I imagine a dance practice. Someone falls and they get back up. Or…someone falls and they don’t. An empty spot that’s eventually erased with new formations and practice. How gut-wrenching is that? How deeply Changbin – and the rest of them – must have felt writing and singing that line in the face of losing one of their members. They didn’t know they’d be brought back. They thought it was for good.
Hyunjin makes a comment about how recording it together was cool, because it became all of their story. They all have different voices, but they’re all together. And I hadn’t really thought about that before, how this song was so intensely personal to Lee Know, Felix, and Changbin because they all wrote it and performed it under this immense pressure. But then recording it all together once they had passed that, once they were confirmed to debut and were still working hard but for a very different goal in mind now, must have been a very interesting experience for them.
I was thinking specifically of Hyunjin singing these lines:
Going to work in the morning, coming back the next morning
After two or three hours of sleep with the hyung behind me
I go to work even if the fluttering feeling of my first day disappeared
My passion still overflows, hope it reaches you through this rap
Obviously, this line was reassigned to him when they recorded it for Mixtape, and I wonder if it was intentional. Because his main criticism from JYP during the first mission was that his diction and rapping wasn’t good enough. And he worked insanely hard for the second mission and through the rest of the show to bringing his diction and rapping skills up to snuff. So, I wonder how it felt for him to do these lines, talking about working so hard on so little sleep and hoping his hard work and passion show through in this rap. It’s absolutely brilliant.
All of the lyrics are so emotional, and, as I mentioned in my annotations, it has a very different tone and feel from “Hellevator” or “YAYAYA” but a lot of the same themes. “Hellevator” and “YAYAYA” are high energy, a lot of rap and heavy beats. They definitely have softer moments here and there, but they are overall intense in sound and imagery. Training is “hell” and we’re fighting our way up and out to success.”
“GLOW” is softer, more melancholic. It fits the whole theme, of course, of training and practicing late at night. It feels more tired, more solemn. There’s less about the “other side” of debut and more about the sacrifices they’re making and the endless feeling of practicing in the dark and truly not knowing whether you’re going to make it or not.
But there are some concepts that seem to be taken directly from “Hellevator” and “YAYAYA.” A big one is paths, maps, and mazes.
Hellevator, verse 1:
I don’t even have a map to tell me whether this road is right
There’s no way to go up,
What I’ve been through is a maze I never want to go back toYAYAYA, verse 2:
Brr-ah, I’m still scared, no visible exits, goals no, ayy, ayy
Ayy, even though I keep looking I’m lost,GLOW, Intro/Bridge:
On this path without a map
It’s a maze, don’t wanna look backGLOW, Verse 2:
The lights in the studio shine brighter
The lights in my eyes turn on too
So I can find paths that weren’t there before
I think this is really fascinating, because when I think of K-Pop, I think of a machine, right? There is a much clearer picture of how get into the entertainment industry than in the States. And I’m not saying there’s one path, of course, but there is this industry of entertainment companies who train, debut, produce, record, etc. It feels much more streamlined than the music industry in the US (maybe that’s my naivety showing).
And yet, here, they’re talking about not having a map or feeling like they’re in a maze or not have a light to show their way. You really don’t know what it’s like until you do it. That goes for a lot of things. You can research a new country and watch videos and see pictures. But until you travel there yourself, you don’t know what it’s going to be like.
The other theme is moving forward/up, lighting the way, I have to go, this is my path. This brings in the determination and fighting spirit that ties these songs together. It’s all over “Hellevator,” of course. They’re moving up in the elevator toward debut/fame/success. They’re fighting with everything they have to prove themselves. They’re bringing they’re own light to find the exit and get to the penthouse.
“GLOW” is, again, softer and more subtle. But the hope is still there. This the path they must be on. This is what they want. They don’t know anything else. And they’re only going forward, only shining brighter in the darkness.
If we fast forward to now, we see this concept repeated over and over in officially released songs and YouTube only releases alike – the concept of shining brighter in spite of – and because of – the darkness. Reaching new successes after – and because of – struggle. And it’s really sweet to think of “Star, Light” that was just released. It’s all about stars and being led through the darkness by stars (STAY).
They’re bringing their own light and also relying on us for their light. And we’re pressing our way forward. Together.
Sources:
“GLOW” Survival Show Performance
“GLOW” Unveil Tour Bangkok Performance
Stray Kids “Survival Show,” Ep. 4
Stray Kids x Happiness Train VLIVE
You can find posts about the other songs on Mixtape here:
Back to the Beginning | “Hellevator” by Stray Kids
Teenage Angst in Eight Part Harmony | “BEWARE (Grrr Law of Total Madness)” by Stray Kids
Coming of Age: A Double-Edged Sward | “Spread My Wings” by Stray Kids
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