Once again, here I am relating to a song about becoming an adult when I am well into adulthood. And it’s not just because I know what it was like when I was a teenager. I still absolutely feel like this a full blown, 27-year-old.
Anyway, this is the other new song performed during the last episode of the “survival show.” During the live performance to determine whether they would debut as seven or nine, they did two sets of performances. JYP asked them to prepare stages with seven and separate stages with nine. They performed “YAYAYA” and this song as seven, and then “Hellevator,” “School Life,” and “BEWARE” as nine. It was, obviously, later rerecorded with all nine for the Mixtape and then rereleased as part of SKZ2020 as OT8.
Let’s take a look at the lyrics.
Note: I’ve used the English translations for Mixtape (from the official performance video), but the lyric distribution from the SKZ2020 OT8 version. I could not find English translations for SKZ2020 anywhere, but from what I could find, no lyrics were changed. If some lyric distributions are incorrect, that’s my error (and my inability to tell if Hangul is bolded/italicized or not).
Couple disclaimers: I’m a pretty new STAY, and I don’t speak Korean. I am using my limited SKZ knowledge and the English translations from the official performance video. 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 the lyrics.
Again, the discussion of the writing of this song is brief in the survival show, but it’s pretty plain what this song is about – the contrast between anxiety and excitement around becoming an adult. 3RACHA specifically talked about wanting to write something that could highlight the other members more, specifically the vocal members. It’s more lyrical and emotional than the other songs they had worked on for the survival show up to this point.
I mentioned this in my last post about “Grrr.” JYP made a comment at the end of the live performance that these two new songs didn’t try to be mature and that they used the members’ own experiences. Changbin explicitly says “I’m nineteen years old, right? I become an adult next year. Like half excited half scared?” Han says something similar. In the same way they used their experiences of being angsty teenagers in “Grrr,” they’re using the experience of being on the cusp of adulthood here.
It’s very plain in the lyrics, using less metaphors and more outright examples:
- Wearing different clothes to look older.
- Watching the news to act like an adult.
- Days use to feel long, now they feel shorter (aware of the passage of time).
- Acting like an adult but being nervous at the thought of it.
- Thinking their school books are heavy, but the responsibilities of being an adult are heavier.
It’s in almost every line, almost like whiplash. Which is brilliant. It’s the exact way it feels. “Ooh, I can drive now…But I have a buy a car/pay for gas/pay for insurance. Ooh, I get to go to college…But it’s way harder than high school and so expensive. Ooh, I can move out and live on my own…But that requires money and is scary living away from my parents.” All of these first are so exciting but also terrifying.
And there’s some bittersweetness woven in here, too, especially with these lines:
I used to be a regular at a stationery
Now I go to Garosu-gil
I’m assuming stationery store has to do with school supplies. And as I noted in the lyric annotations, Garosu-gil is an upscale area of Seoul known for luxury stores and restaurants. Not only is it showing the difference between buying school supplies and spending time in these expensive stores, it’s a bit nostalgic – a bit of longing for the simplicity of shopping for school supplies. (Side note: I was totally the kid who loved shopping for school supplies. And I still love a good stationery store.)
The line that really stood out to me was the addition from the intro to the bridge. They are exactly the same except that in the bridge, Han sings “I don’t do that anymore” after Seungmin, Lee Know, Chan, and I.N all sing about changing their clothes and watching the news to appear older. There are a lot of possibilities there for interpretation.
Did you stop because you didn’t want to grow up? Did you stop because you felt weird for acting “too adult?” Were people teasing you for “acting too adult?” Did you stop because you actually don’t like watching the news or hated the clothes you were trying to wear? Is this a realization on the adult side of things or the teenager side of things? Knowing SKZ, it’s most likely a bit of both.
I also wonder if this song had anything to do with how they were feeling about debut – half scared, half excited. It’s all happening in this same time frame of teenagers to adults, trainees to idols. Relative simplicity to relative complexity – more pressure, more visibility, fear of failing. But also excitement of being idols, literally living the dream.
And that’s really where I relate. Well, I relate on a lot of levels. I absolutely remember what it felt like to reach adulthood and be like…well, this is overrated. I was excited to have my own car and go to college and travel and study abroad vote and do all these things for the first time. And yet, how scary is it to spend $5,000 on a car or actually figure out who to vote for or file your taxes or move away from home?
I still feel like this sometimes. I’m nearing a decade of being an adult, and I still feel like a kid riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. How do you go about buying a house? How do you decide to have kids? What the heck are you supposed to do about investing? What do I actually want to do with the rest of my life? All of those things are exciting and terrifying in equal measure. It’s unknowns and heavier responsibility and commitment.
I think we all feel this way about big changes no matter how old we are. Change is scary but can be exciting. Two things can absolutely be true at once. And as I’ve said so many times already, SKZ is good at expressing that, not only through lyrics but also through the music and choreography.
There’s some flipping back and forth between more intense rap moments and more melodic vocal moments. The backing track does the same thing – upbeat verses into slower choruses and the standalone piano at the beginning and end. And the choreo is a lot simpler than some of their other tracks, really bringing attention to the vocals and the emotions in the lyrics, while also having more intense parts.
I love all of the wings imagery throughout the choreo – I.N being lifted up at the very beginning, the many formations that look like they’re wings around whoever is in the center, making wings with their hands, and of course, the wings around Chan at the end. It begins and ends with wings. The ending is particularly interesting, showing Chan reaching toward the sky, being pulled back, and then being given wings. Something very symbolic there of wanting to fly and feeling like you’re being held back, only to get wings.
I feel they really did highlight the other members well, too. And they’ve continued to do that. Most if not all of their songs are written with every member in mind (excluding solos, of course) and showcase the full breadth of their talent. And as they have grown over the years, they continue to showcase the fact that all of the members are truly all rounders – great rappers, singers, dancers, and sometimes even lyricists and composers as well.
It felt especially meaningful revisiting this song now, after the 6th Gen Fans membership theme was “Stay with your Wings.” I can’t stop thinking about this post I saw after the concept photos dropped. It was Chan with his wings from the shoot. And then someone put a bunch of photos of the other SKZ members being “Chan’s wings” in choreo for this song and others over the years. It made me really emotional. An extra meaning of the other members being “Chan’s wings” to debut and everything that comes with that.
And an extra meaning of STAY being their wings, helping them reach new heights. I’m sure they’re feeling some of these same conflicting emotions now. They’re getting bigger, playing bigger and bigger stages and reaching bigger and bigger achievements. It must be very exciting and also very overwhelming. They’ve said as much.
I can’t wait to see them continue to spread their wings and wow us with how high they can go.
Sources:
“어린 날개 (Spread My Wings)” Performance Video
“Stray Kids” Survival Show, Ep. 10
You can find posts for 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
Back to the Future | “YAYAYA” by Stray Kids
Shining Brighter Because of the Darkness | “GLOW” by Stray Kids
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