Review: "열꽃"

“열꽃 Part 1”

I am pretty sure Mr. Garrioch and Namdo would be confused at the title of my post. “열꽃” is a Korean word that beautifully describes an ugly thing. “열” means “heat”, while “꽃” is a word that means “flower”. So the word “열꽃” means “heat-flower”. But there is no such plant called heat-flower. The expression “heat-flower” is used to describe the symptom of measles having red eruptions all over the body. The word is used more frequently to describe the symptoms of measles for babies.

The title of Tablo’s new album is “열꽃”. What can we infer from this title? Maybe it could be a story of Tablo suffering measles. Or maybe his baby daughter is suffering from one. Or maybe he is comparing himself with a baby who is suffering from measles. Maybe he is comparing the sorrow he feels with measles.

<집>

This is the first song of the whole mini-album. The biggest point of the song is the beautifully done metaphor. Tablo compares his sorrows with a house. His song is about how the house he lives in is so comfortable, although it means endless sorrow if he never comes out.

I believe this song portrays the emotions of a person who is depressed for a long time. When I was shocked and depressed because of an incident. The depression went on for a quite a long time. And when it was time that I should be out of it, I was so used to the sorrow. It’s rather hard to explain, but being used to sadness is a rather comfortable thing. Because a sad person tends to be alone, the aloofness becomes a part of him.

The song compares other’s demands as “stack of newspapers and mails in front of the door” and being happy as “taking a short walk outside”. Taking a short walk implies that he would come back soon.

<나쁘다>

“Ones whom I love the most hurt me the most.” People sometimes have to become dark to protect his beloved ones. Similar idea is portrayed in the Godfather Trilogy. But after one turns dark for his beloved, then the beloved ones show disdain.

It is always the kind ones who jump into the abyss for others. They do it to prevent others from taking the same path. Depravity follows sacrifice.

That is why the speaker in the song can’t sleep well. He becomes more and more aggressive or colder to protect others. Love for others become Hamartia for the protagonist of one’ own life. It makes them hypocritical and corrupt, and finally loses their beloved ones. Tablo seems to feel such depravity to protect his family as a young adult.

“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”- Friedrich Nietzsche

<밀물>

Is there anything more alike to life like tides? Why resist the current and quarrel with the flood? After all, the world is a small fishbowl. It is meaningless to escape from fishhooks and be relieved.

This song puts a lot of metaphor for the listeners to understand. It never criticizes; it describes. Because the song is sad and melancholy, it is actually more critical than rap songs filled with swear words. It depicts. How we’re all part of the same hypocrisy. How the world teaches us ethics, and the next moment rips our heart. How our dignity is thinner than a single bundle of Benjamins. How promises get broken easily just like pinky fingers. (children use their pinky fingers when they promise, right?)

So let it go. Instead of fighting them, burning in fury, let us inhale and exhale. After a big flame ignites, only ashes remain. Let the world in yourself. Forgive them and yourself as well. Be inundated.

Just drown.

<밑바닥에서>

In English, it would mean Rock Bottom. This reminded me of Eminem’s song with a similar title, Rock Bottom, but the content was clearly different. While Eminem’s Rock Bottom was a young adult enflaming in wrath, disgusted at injustice and poverty, willing to “f- the world”, Tablo’s song is more like an apology to his wife.

Tablo is a graduate of Stanford University, having Master’s Degree on English Literature. This was a great merit for a Korean musician. So he was able to express his talents before a big audience earlier than other musicians of his age. But as always, haters gonna hate no matter what it does. Some people, probably jealous, formed an internet café for the purpose of criticizing Tablo. They made futile efforts to prove that his degree was fraud, along with his other achievements. They wanted to take down his wife as well, even though it was just past honeymoon.

It must have been hard for Tablo, but especially for his wife. So this song is like an apology at the very bottom of his and her life.

“Every time you smile, I feel guilty. That smile could’ve been wider. You say everything’s ok, but I guess that’s what I just manage to give you. I wanted you to take my half, but not the half of my sorrows. I’m sorry that this roof of our house became your ceiling. I’m sorry that I am your umbrella and rain.”

Horrible translation, but this song would touch anyone who catches the context of apology and guiltiness.

.

<Airbag>

Airbag. How is it different from seatbelts? An airbag is a vehicle safety device. It consists of a flexible envelope designed to inflate rapidly during an automobile collision. Seatbelts secure the driver against harmful movements. But the two have some big differences.

Seatbelt is a strict and hard piece of cloth that secures, restricts the user’s movement for the user’s safety. Not only that, it is used quite often by drivers. Whenever the driver uses the brake is too abruptly, or the car behind slightly bumps, seatbelt is used.

But not airbags. One never sees airbags too often. Airbags activate only when a great impulse is done onto the driver. It is used when a big accident that shouldn’t happen is already occurring. It does not restrict; it lets the driver absorb the same impulse, only which it lets the driver take in such impact with slightly longer time.

Tablo uses this metaphor in his song Airbag to depict the sorrow he feels during his life. The song is a soliloquy of a man in a taxi cab after work. He observes the view outside the window along with the taxi driver.

The taxi driver is upset at a friend who refuses to drink with him. Ironically, the driver has put a photograph of his family on the car. The driver is obviously avoiding to go home. Then the speaker in the song raises a question. Why do men wander? Is it because there is no place to go? Or is it that there is no one to welcome them? I believe these questions would have incised Korean boys and men.

For boys, they would feel loneliness from circulating academies and schools. Surrounded by cut-throat competitive peers and demanding parents, they would feel there is no one to welcome them. Same for fathers. After a long day's work, his wife is sleeping, while the sons are busy studying. The loneliness is far greater than housewives who at least see their sons during the day. Very Korean emotions. And Tablo expresses it pretty well.

열꽃. I don't think there would be any other foreign language that has words particularly describing baby's measles by using the concepts of heat and flower. The word holds  connotation of a suffering of a very vulnerable person, like a child. Maybe Tablo wanted to express his sorrows of becoming a man with a family from a young adult.

Lyrics: ★★★★★
Beat: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★