Agust D’s “Haegeum” is the medium and the message

Sometimes, the choice of the medium to convey a message is a statement per se. When Min Yoongi embodies Agust D, you already know he’s going to break free(r).

Min Yoongi makes music under different stage names: in BTS, he’s SUGA; solo, he can be SUGA or Agust D. The latter was born out of Yoongi’s desire to tap into personal issues and tell a deeper version of the stories that inform his lyrics in BTS.

The persona Agust D was introduced in 2016, in Yoongi’s first solo mixtape. The timing of the Agust D release is a statement in itself since 2016 was perhaps BTS’s toughest year thus far (in the promotional videos for his docummentary “SUGA: Road to D-DAY”, Yoongi admitted that 2016 was a “living hell” for the group). No wonder Agust D is considered to feature some of the most straightforward lyrics ever in the Korean industry. It was also one of the first in K-pop to directly address mental health struggles and the downsides of fame.

As Agust D, Min Yoongi has messages to convey; but Agust D is more than just a vessel. He’s a message too. His very “existence” is evidence that the messages he brings are needed. So much that Agust D has shaped the industry Yoongi is inserted in.

When Marshal McLuhan wrote that “the medium is the message” in 1964, he could not have predicted the many ways in which that statement would prove itself true through technology and media. But almost 60 years later, his theory is proven true even through mediums as simplistic as identity. In the context of capitalist art, an identity, persona, or brand is a medium. A new facet of an artist’s identity is not just part of their message; sometimes it’s a reaction to it. A new artistic medium holds the potential to change the narrative an artist has built thus far; so if they decide to explore it, that alone says something about the type of message they want to convey from then on.

Any and every Agust D song is a statement in itself because Agust D is a medium for Yoongi to say things. “Haegeum” (from his 3rd work, 1st full album, D-Day) makes it clearer than ever.

The word “haegeum” has different meanings in Korean. It describes a traditional Korean instrument (which can be heard in the instrumentals of the track), but it can also mean the lifting of a ban/prohibition, according to Doolset’s translation.

“This song is a haegeum”, he raps, and later adds: “bustling rhythm, maybe would also be another haegeum ”. The “haegeum” is the instrument for the liberation, the song itself is both the sound and its intent, the medium and the message.

Then Agust D goes on rapping about wanting to provide means for people (himself included) to liberate themselves from all that’s restraining them. Interestingly enough, he even addresses liberation from (supposed) freedom of expression, by questioning how much freedom there really is in it. When he raps “A flood of information prohibits the freedom of imagination”, it’s hard not to think of McLuhan’s definition of hot media, that is, the type of media that is “low in participation” and “completion by the audience”.

And even more interestingly, Yoongi raps about liberation by calling shots that could backfire on himself. He calls out the “slaves to YouTube” on a track whose very release was done through a YouTube video. He criticizes the “slaves to capitalism” and “slaves to money” while being himself a pop star that uses all the tools that corporate media provides to make money and encourage the consumption of a handy of products. He’s part of the same system he describes as flawed in “Haegeum”. Of course he is. If he wasn’t, this song wouldn’t even exist in the first place — the very Agust D persona was created so Yoongi could address these issues more throughout.

McLuhan wrote that “the personal and social consequences of any medium — that is, of any extension of ourselves — result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.” By introducing Agust D into the K-pop industry, Yoongi raised the bar in terms of the honesty that can be expected from K-pop artists.

If capitalism, mass media, and the music industry (especially the K-pop industry) are mediums to be criticized, then Yoongi is sending a message by being part of these mediums. But more than that, he’s exposing the dangers of these mediums by using another one (after all, said McLuhan, “the ‘content’ of any medium is always another medium”); one that he created to enjoy as much freedom as possible, which is Agust D.

Back to McLuhan’s conceptions of hot and cool media based on the space for individual participation, Agust D is Yoongi’s way to insert new elements into a world that would rather have you consuming the ones that they’ve connected for you. When Yoongi raps that the intention behind the flood of information in capitalism is “to have our thoughts standardized”, “make our heads hurt” and “blind us”, he’s claiming his awareness of the little room that is left to think for ourselves in a “culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control” (McLuhan, 1964).

Would be it hypocritical or ironic that Agust D points out patterns that apply even to himself and to BTS? BTS does release a lot of stuff (from music to content to all sorts of products). Are they flooding their fans with information to cage them into consumer loyalty? Maybe yes, maybe no, it’s up to the fan to say it. If being a BTS fan brings any sort of pressure or restriction for somebody, then the verse “This song is a haegeum / Get on it now” might be for them.

If you’ve checked the lyrics to BTS’ songs such as “Pied Piper”, you’d know how well aware BTS is that one can be captured by the system while trying to disrupt it, and they trust their listeners to be aware of that too — even if it means their fans will reject BTS sometimes. Using a medium to criticize said this very same medium is a hell of a message. Yoongi has done it with BTS, and also with Agust D.

In “Haegeum”, Yoongi is claiming his awareness of being an endorser and a slave of the things he disagrees with (“All those controversies cause confusion in judgment / What would it be that restricted us? / Would it be possible that we did it ourselves”, he raps). Agust D is both an addition to the system and an answer to it — like any other medium.

“The railway did not introduce movement or transportation or wheel or road into human society, but it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions”, wrote McLuhan. Yoongi did not invent art as a tool for liberation either, but he was one of the first and rarest to introduce such an idea on the K-pop idol scale. Agust D changed the game in 2016, and 7 years later, he is still a very much-needed medium.

It’s not surprising or contradictory that Yoongi felt the need for more opportunities for artistic freedom while being a part of a group that had artistic freedom as a motif itself. It’s proof of how the human need for freedom of expression cannot be encapsulated in one medium or message only. Another proof is how the Agust D mixtapes/albums were not enough for Yoongi: he’s also going on a solo tour now. He’s the first BTS member to do so. It’s another medium inserted into the BTS message and another “haegeum” for Yoongi.

Cited works

• Doolset, 해금 (Haegeum). https://doolsetbangtan.wordpress.com/2023/04/22/haegeum/
• McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. 1964.

If you enjoy analysis of Yoongi’s music, I wrote two other articles you might like:

• BTS’ SUGA and the true colors of his ambition, for Rolling Stone Korea in 2022;
• The Metaphysical Dream of BTS’ SUGA aka Min Yoon-gi, for PopMatters in 2021.

If you’re a fan of BTS & songwriting, you may also want to check other things I’ve written:

• 5 ways BTS defies songwriting rules — and one lesson aspiring songwriters can learn from them (Medium)
• 7 super interesting chord progressions in BTS’ songs (Medium)
• All the languages of BTS: the role of multilingual songwriting in the global brand of the Korean group (Medium)
• j-hope’s “Hope World”: songwriting as an architectural tool for the persona (Medium)
• BTS master the art of timeless, universal songwriting with ‘BE’ (PopMatters)

I’m an independent music writer and critic with articles and reviews published in PopMatters, Rolling Stone Korea, The Line of Best Fit, Remezcla, Sounds and Colours, Tenho Mais Discos que Amigos, Consequence of Sound, and more.

This blog is not monetized, though.

The reviews and articles posted in this blog are original and have not been published on any of the websites I write for.