During the article I wrote on the occasion of first anniversary of Taehyung’s Sweet Night, I inevitably got caught up in a whirlwind of emotion with the Sweet Night tones playing in the background. Like “door opens door”; “memories pave way for memories”: I suddenly found myself listening to RM’s Tokyo that he released in 2018.
In this solo song, which is entirely in English, RM experiences and gives life to the feelings of longing for homeland and the being far away from one’s own depths of soul.
It is impossible not to admire these incredibly deep lines:
Life is a word that sometimes you cannot say
And an ash that we will all turn into one day …
When tomorrow comes
How different will it be?
Why do love and hate sound like the same thing?
The five lines above, which make up the choral part of the song, evoke so much. He manages to express the difficulty of describing life with incredible clarity, with the phrase “a word that you sometimes cannot manage to say”. It is different for all of us, but none of us know it … Then he asks some deepest questions about life … Vocals and resonances that combine philosophical depth with emotional depth reveal the magnificent and fascinating power of art.
RM getting started with the track:
I woke up in Tokyo, I’m like a torso (wasted soul)
I know it’s time to grow up
I see a Pinocchio wearing his coat
This was me, a while ago
Do I miss myself?
Do I miss your face?
I don’t know
I don’t know
Unlike the first part, where RM deals with his distance from himself, in the last part, he calls out to the person he longs for. He says all I want is to be with her (or himself, his own soul). He says if I’m going to follow my dream, it’s just getting near you. Thus, he gives a clear answer to the question he answers “I don’t know” at the entrance part of the song. What happened in between, I think is the spiritual and philosophical questioning in that magnificent choir part …
The part he sings with the whistle at the end takes your soul into a completely different dimension …
Here’s this incredible solo RM classic and an equally perfect piano cover:
