This is a special edition of Moament. Today we are partnering with our dear friend @txtlyricism and @dreamsputnik for their signature #MOAMusicMonday!
@txtlyricism and @dreamsputnik are dedicated to uncover the beauty, sensibility, and musicality of TXT. #MOAMusicMonday is a great way to share your thoughts on TXT songs with other MOAs. We highly encourage you to participate. The more you engage with the music, the more you will get out of it.
This week we turn our attention to Ghosting from TXT’s Minisode1: Blue Hour. It is the opening track to the album and B-side to the lead single Blue Hour. Even though all TXT songs are good and special, Ghosting holds a special place in MOA’s hearts.
Today’s post will cover the following:
The dichotomy of nostalgic indie-rock music and its gut-wrenching lyrics
Ghosting’s relationship to Minisode1:Blue Hour tracks and previous albums
A short story Michael wrote after listening to Ghosting
Most importantly, what YOU want to share (!!)
Source: Big Hit official website
Ghosting starts with vocal harmonization that elicits dreaminess. It is instantly attractive. The drum and guitar follow-up to a rock ballad at 0:24 sets the tempo for the rest of the song.
If you pay attention, you will notice a slight seven-note percussion gloss at 0:26 that sounds like a ringtone. This is intentional on the producer El Capitxn’s part.
To non-Korean speakers, the lyrics are at first unclear except the English words and phrases such as “all day”, “window”, “hashtag”, “logout”, and “like a zombie”. Aside from piquing interest, these words subtly hint at the narrator’s connection to digital technology, a theme we will analyze later.
While the song contains a healthy dose of production finesse, it evokes nostalgia akin to a indie-rock ballad written by perhaps a few young musicians hoping to become bigger than a garage band and this song is their piece to make it big. Ghosting’s musicality is on point, not flashy nor showy. It carries a comforting vibe.
Except this feeling is a lie. At least it is incomplete.
A dichotomy unfolds when you consider its lyrics.
Let’s take a look at the lyrics translated both by the amazing @translatingTXT and @moacokr.
A few things stand out immediately.
One, Soobin and Taehyun are talented lyricists. We credit every writer of the song, but it was Soobin and Taehyun (who wrote the chorus) that made the song unique.
Two, the process described is both external and internal (another duality). While the special person (who the narrator is searching for) slowly fades away, a part of the narrator grows hollow as well.
Three, the song’s accurate portrayal of angst when it comes to digital connection and how it makes us feel lonelier than ever. This is a big reason to the genius of Ghosting and why MOAs listen to it on repeat.
Soobin once remarked his favorite part of the song is
Something is strange, already been a week
Only the number greets me, just 1
While the number 1 can refer to different things depending on the specific app, the lack of change over a week implies the narrator’s tossing and turning. It also hints at the first stage of rejection in the five stages of grief cycle.
Are these feelings over the top? Maybe (to some adults). Are they real? Yes, and it’s in large part due to our relationship to digital technology.
Instant communication brings us incredible convenience. At the same time, it leads us to expect everything to be instant and it triggers the most paranoid part of our mind. When the … bubble appears, disappears, reappears, and disappears again, we often go through a rollercoaster ride (even if that is due to technical glitches). Worse yet, the “seen” marker seems to imply something much darker and scary.
Do I not matter to you? Who am I to you?
Thus begins the mind game.
Four, the subsequent unfolding of one’s psyche following being ghosted.
I cannot sleep. I have insomnia. My mind cannot stop spinning and wondering why are you doing this to me.
I blankly look at your newly posted
Hashtag ‘Today_TheSkyIs_SoPretty’
I can’t believe it, all in my world already
You’ve logout, I realize
A few words here seem to encapsulate the entire five stages of grief. It’s this moment of realization and the narrator’s subsequent acceptance with an open-arm longing that make Ghosting a song fans resonate with deeply.
Even though the special someone started ghosting the narrator, as Taehyun says, “even though a person has stopped responding, we hope they will come back someday.” Not all hope is lost.
Like the “us” in the picture
We must go back quickly
I’m still here though
I’m still here though
Five, the song reminds us that we also do this to people sometimes even if we don’t intend to hurt them. We ghost people just as often as we are ghosted
Words matter. Feelings matter.
With Ghosting Tomorrow X Together is telling their listeners “we understand what you are going through because we go through that too.”
And fans clearly understand that TXT gets us.
Here are some comments under the Mnet comeback show performance:
Ghosting has this very comforting vibe in terms of musicality but the lyrics just hurts. I swear TXT songs really be fluffy on the outside but a heart breaker in the inside. - rai b
Honestly, this song feels like riding a bike through a meadow after a heartbreak, the sun just started to peek outside of the clouds, making the sky bright but still grey. your fingers flowing through the flowers and the wind blowing your hair around. - youmakemydawn
Ghosting gives the "it's okay to cry, let it all out" vibe. - stan txt
Enough said.
A close look at the tracks of Minisode1: Blue Hour reveals a lot about Ghosting’s importance as both as the introductory track and the B-Side to Blue Hour.
Blue Hour captures the momentary wonder one has during a particular time of the day when the sky is more colorful and sentimental than the rest. We Lost The Summer is an ode to all the youth feeling lost due to ongoing forces accelerated by the pandemic. Wishlist is a lovely song about well, a wishlist for someone special. And Way Home elicits a feeling of loneliness and the needing of companionship, as one walks home alone from school, a new experience.
Do you notice the feelings of lost and longing both in the first and last track of the album? Minisode1: Blue Hour is designed to be self-sustaining and thematically repeatable. Looping from Way Home to Ghosting does not feel out of place.
Except, Minisode is also a clean break from previous albums.
Hence, Ghosting is also the track that transitions TXT from the Dream Chapter albums to the next stage (The Chaos Chapter: Freeze). A lot more can be said about the Dream Chapter albums, but detailed explanation will significantly expand the scope of this essay (so we skip it for now).
While Way Home is a strong contender for that transition role, it is largely a continuation of The Dream Chapter: Eternity. Taehyun recently confirmed that Way Home almost made it to Eternity, putting the debate to an end.
Yet at the same time, Ghosting still possesses certain reminiscing elements. In the comeback performance, Soobin is once again alone just like the Can’t You See Me music video. The feelings evoked by the lyrics are largely parallel to the journey the narrator faces in the Dream Chapters.
Perhaps a not so obvious connection is in the music production. Producer El Capitxn is well-regarded for his ability to create atmospheric music with his arrangement and editing (his discography is here). Ghosting is a great example along with his earlier works Fairy of Shampoo and Drama, as well as the later smash-hit Anti-Romantic. They are different in style and mood, but they all allow listeners to immerse in the song lyrics and musical atmosphere. His close collaboration with SUGA of BTS (the sunbae to TXT) is also a connection that deserves a closer look both in terms of musical production and hidden elements
As a comment says under the Seoul Music Discovery performance:
You know what? Every txt’s comebacks is feeling like a new chapter of life and you couldn’t forget the moment from last chapter. - Farz Ana
Perhaps Ghosting is not as clean a break to the album like Minisode1 is to TXT’s discography. Nevertheless, a transition is a transition and it’s a beautiful one at that.
Beomgyu and Soobin said:
Ghosting is important to Minisode1: Blue Hour and Minisode is important to TXT.
Oh, while we are at it, don’t forget the KBS cool FM performance. It’s really cool to hear them sing Ghosting live in a radio studio setting.
This following section is fictional (or is it??), so readers can skip it. In many ways it is the original fuel for writing this essay.
There is someone I immediate think of when I listen to Ghosting. One from a few years back.
The person is someone I’ve known for a few years, but we were not close. Once we moved to the next stage of life, we somehow got together for the first time and found out we enjoyed each other’s company. More hangouts followed. More conversations happened. The person has always been shy but smiled much more often during these moments than I could previously remember.
Of course, the naive me started to think I might have a chance. Because I started to like this person.
It was one breezy afternoon in March. We were on the freeway, driving back from a nice day trip. The sun was crouching towards the horizon and the car stereo was playing Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves. I thought the atmosphere was immaculate, yet I was also nervous, a feeling rare for a rowdy loudmouth like me.
When the car stopped and I should say goodbye like usual, I started to instead say other things. Things that made zero sense. Words that felt complete foreign to me. But at last I said it.
I have feelings when I’m with you. And I hope I can be more than just a friend to you.
A long pause. A really long pause. Or perhaps I was just too nervous that the moment seemed to last forever.
Then came the rejection. The “thank you for telling me this” consolation. The “I won’t let this affect our friendship” promise. At least, we can still be friends, right?
Right?
Until you stopped responding. Until you started ghosting me.
I was fine with it, but it felt a little cruel. I don’t think you lied. You are a kind person who aspires to be a pediatrician. But seeing no replies to my occasional asking if you are doing well with exams (dates I somehow memorized without realizing) and your busy schedule hurts maybe just a little bit.
But I want you to be happy, even if I’m not that special person to you. I wanted to know why you chose to do this, but sometimes it’s better to just accept things and move on. I don’t need to stay up all night like a zombie. I don’t need to feel like a ghost.
Whatever it is, I got over it.
I deleted your contacts. I deleted your messages, all the tapbacks (which we joked about as the privilege of using iPhones), emojis, and encouragements we sent each other. I removed you from my social media accounts, so you wouldn’t have to see any of me on your timeline and feel uncomfortable. I even unfollowed your best friends (who I don’t know well), so I wouldn’t randomly see a glimpse of you and start my feelings (even if slightly) all over again.
I really wanted to move on, because that’s what you wanted, at least it seemed that way.
Except I still think of you, even if just so slightly, when I listen to Ghosting.
I don’t miss you, but I hope you are happier now than before.
Whew. Writing this has been so fun, especially by looping Ghosting for the 26th time. Huge thanks to @txtlyricism and @dreamsputnik for being so inviting and kind to let me write something for this week’s #MOAMusicMonday!
No matter how many words I write, the much more important thing is what YOU, our beloved MOAs think. No one can entirely capture the essence of a song, because we all feel different things. My story deals mostly with a romantic interest, whereas ghosting happens even more with friends (and sometimes family). Piecing the differences together, however, allows us to understand ourselves better and perhaps result in a better future.
Please join #MOAMusicMonday, share and comment below tweets, and maybe try listening to Ghosting on repeat if you haven’t done so already. The original tweet is here, so you can comment, quote retweet, and tag @txtlyricism.
Many MOAs have already shared their thoughts in the last several hours. Here is a non-exhaustive list of MOA responses:
Thank you to all the MOAs who have shared your thoughts!
And if you find this interesting and want to request other TXT songs to cover, you can always DM @moament304 and comment below this post or the tweet.
Looking forward to what happens this week! Moament issue no. 3 will be released on 220401 Friday
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Ghosting: Feelings Matter
Wow this was awesome. The personal experience adds up another level of hurt. I honestly like how the song doesn't only apply to romantic relationships as I have had experience with this as well. At first reaction I liked how nostalgic the song feels but after looking at the lyrics several hours later, I bursted into tears all night. I was reminded about a friend that have done the same thing to me. A few years ago as young as we were, we've had childish arguments and is one of the reasons of our weird conflicts. At that time, that person was asking me to do a dare(one of which I stubbornly declined coz I just simply don't want to and because I thought it was childish and unnecessary for me to do so), what I didn't expect was how they'd completely ignore me for almost six months. So after several days, I actually kept thinking "How did it happen like this? What could I have done that something that minor have to be this big of a deal? Why does it have to be this way?" I don't think there was no reason for them to do that however, they kept insisting that I have to do it, after relaying that message to my classmates. And I kept rejecting it until they insisted that we'd stay distant and I went with it. As an introverted person, I tried going out of my way to socialize to everyone in my class but despite of that all, I had no one to connect personally. I felt lost. I couldn't understand why when all throughout my school life, all of the friends that I made eventually moves away to a new place and leaves. Sure, it sucks to be left alone and start with new people again but I never thought it would affect me that someone would completely ignore my existence, that that person is very far to reach no matter how near you are to each other. In my previous experiences, one friend I was friends of since kindergarten until elementary have to break it to me that they were moving away after the end of the school year. Although we didn't meet each other again after more than a decade, we've separated with good terms and have contacted each other recently these years. The other one completely disappeared by the next school year at the same time as the former one till I found out they transferred school. And I was reminded yet again by that experience after a few years through that person. Even though I have to get used to it and move on, it felt really isolating since I'm not the person that socially engages. I started feeling empty later on especially when I start to realize that no matter how many people you try to befriend around you, there wasn't anyone you could reveal yourself to personally and emotionally. And at the time, I'd just assure myself and think: "They'd leave anyway, all you have is yourself and sometimes it's fine being alone." But sometimes it wasn't. And just like the bridge of Ghosting, I kept thinking that if ever that person changes their mind and talk to me just in case they get tired of ignoring me for months, I'm still here waiting.
This is a great read though.