Are you curious about the trend and the reason for “Spine Breaker?” In this article, Channel-Korea will talk all about the lyrics and criticism contained in BTS’ song “Spine Breaker.” So, stay tuned and keep scrolling down!
Release Date
Big Hit Entertainment released “Spine Breaker” as part of the EP Album Skool Luv Affair. The EP was released on February 12th, 2014, with “Boy In Luv” as the title track. “Spine Breaker” was written by Pdogg, OWO, Rap Monster, Suga, J-Hope, Slow Rabbit, Supreme Boi, and Song Chang-sik. Pdogg and OWO produced the controversial single. “Spine Breaker” peaked at Number 201 on Korean Gaon Music Chart and sold 6027 copies in Korea.
Song Meaning: Different Social Status Because Of A Clothing Brand?
BTS showed their concern about social injustice through their single “Spine Breaker.” The song took a jab at the young Korean generation who buys and wears trendy and expensive clothes when they can’t afford to pay them. The expensive clothes are far more expensive than a similar type of clothes, albeit from a different brand. The teenagers begged, wished, and urged their parents to buy the trendy clothes in order to follow the trend. Their parents worked even harder or borrowed money or even took out loans to purchase the clothes. It seemed like the children’s wish made the parents bend their spine working harder and longer. Many times the young generation folks work part-time and sacrifice their study time in order to gain income for purchasing trendy items. BTS criticizes students who wear jackets worth much more than similar types of jackets. Wearing the expensive jacket gave the student pride and confidence. It doesn’t make any sense to purchase a jacket for the brand name rather than for the function. Similar types of jackets cost much less than the trendy branded jackets. One particular brand stood out as the culprit of the trend. North Face is considered as the most popular winter jacket brand in 2009. It was the best selling brand and an enormous number of winter jackets from the brand sold like hot cakes. Almost all of the students wear the same type of jacket, making it the unofficial school uniform. To make things worse, based on the price and the type, some students even got bullied and mocked for wearing a less expensive type of jacket. Wearing the cheapest North Face jacket was like indicating the low social economy and financial status of the student. Wearing the most expensive type would boost the popularity of the student. Students even begged their parents for a chance to work part-time after school in order to buy the most expensive winter jacket. They asked their parents again and again, relentlessly until their parents bought the trendiest item. Having such an unnecessary burden of providing expensive clothes on top of the high fees for education made parents stressed and overworked. Some students even went as far as stealing to purchase the jacket. Some, bullied and ashamed even stole jackets from other students. When they were caught, their answer was as simple as just wanting to have the jacket. After many years of crazy spending and following the trend, the brand name became obsolete in later years. However, another brand came up, a much more expensive one, and set a similar trend. BTS members expressed their opinion about this ridiculous trend. They said that students will not freeze to death if they buy a less expensive jacket. The most important thing is that the jacket serves its purpose as a protector against cold weather. The brand name and the trend are not worth following. BTS blamed the students who follow the trend as the ones who broke their parents’ spines. They encourage the students to stop following the trends and reflect on their mistakes.
Special MV
BTS made an interesting self-made music video for “Spine Breaker.” Each of the BTS members has a specific part in the music video. Rap Monster acted as the MV director, while J-Hope worked as an assistant director. Jin arranged the choreography while Jung Kook participated as the man behind the camera. The actors in the MV are Food Truck Suga, Mental Carer V, and Luggage Guy Jimin. The MV and the lyrics of “Spine Breaker” were meant to criticize the young Korean generation for following the trendy winter coat. The MV was made while BTS were taking a break between tours inside their hotel. In the movie, the camera shoots each member as they rap and sing the lyrics. Each of them is dressed in a similar coat, albeit a rather feminine one. Other than the coat, they wore different pants, shirts, and sunglasses. The feminine clothes looked very expensive with pearl accessories stitched surrounding the coat.
BTS Book
BTS’ ARMY couldn’t wait for the upcoming release of BTS’ BTS Book series. On June 23rd, 2020, BTS’ label management, Big Hit Entertainment announced the plan to release graphic lyric books. Before releasing the album, Big Hit Entertainment posted a short animation video about the concept, appearance, and design of the graphic lyric books. Pre-sales order opened on June 23rd, 2020, and the official sales opened on June 29th, 2020. Big Hit Entertainment released 5 beautiful pictorial books that are based on each BTS song. Among all BTS songs, five singles are selected: A Supplementary Story: “You Never Walk Alone,” “Save Me,” “House of Cards,” “Run,” and “Butterfly.” The lyrics are chosen from 5 less popular singles. BTS’ Jungkook achieved the record of being the first person to surpass more than 10 billion views on his personal Tik Tok account. On June 26th, 2020, he became the first singer to reach the milestone. His solo track, “Euphoria,” set a new record of the longest-charting single by a male Korean artist on the Billboard Chart. He amassed a total of 26 weeks of charting on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales. His other solo singles like “Still With You” and “My Time” also achieved huge popularity. That was all the information about the hidden truth behind the BTS song “Spine Breaker.” Find out more about BTS’ singles in another Channel-Korea article.
