My Universe - Love is Love by Michayla
My Universe: "Love is Love"
by
Michayla
When I first heard about the collaboration between BTS and Coldplay, I didn’t really think anything in particular because Coldplay hasn't ever been on my radar. I probably could only name one Coldplay song which is ‘Fix You’ and that’s only because BTS covered it on MTV Unplugged. So I went into this collaboration as BTS ARMY who had simply heard of Coldplay, which was refreshing after living through Dynamite as a Michael Jackson fan.
When the teaser was released on TikTok, I instantly liked the song. It was such a brief sample but I had the feeling that it would end up on every playlist that I have and I was right. Thankfully I’m always awake early for work so have been up for all of the early releases and there’s nothing better than rushing to get ready for work and sitting down with a cuppa, ready to hear a new song for the first time.
There are some songs that have a little bit of work to do because they aren’t an instant hit but My Universe wasn’t one of those. I immediately liked the sound of the song, a kind of outer space, synthesizer sound. My feelings were magnified by the quotes from Chris Martin, telling us what the meaning of the song was and I already felt an emotional attachment to it. It is essentially a love song, a difficult love of sorts. I certainly think this could be about any kind of relationship and in typical BTS style, it’s about overcoming the difficulties.
‘Darkness used to be more comfortable for me
Within the long shadows (eyes)
And they said that we can’t be together
Because, because we come from different sides’
I get the feeling from the lyrics that this song encompasses ‘Love is love’ and that is definitely something that I support wholeheartedly. The chorus is so beautiful and the words explain the theme of the song so perfectly:
‘You (you), you are (you are) my universe
And I (I) just want (Just want) to put you first
And you (you), you are (you are) my universe
And you make my world light up inside’
There are a couple of moments that really stood out for me as I was listening to My Universe. I think that collabs give you the chance to really hear the voices of the members because suddenly there are new voices amongst them on a track. I am Taehyung biased and could pick his voice out of a crowd so I was incredibly moved when his voice came in. Taehyung’s voice is so very distinctive and was a perfect match for this song. Another vocal that stood out for me was Hobi. That low register rap made me melt and was incredibly sultry. I adore Hobi’s voice, especially in songs like ‘Lights’, ‘Heartbeat’ and ‘Tear’ so I loved hearing him on this track. I also loved the contrast between the pitches of Namjoon and Jimin but that’s what I adore about My Universe, it really highlighted each member so well.
After the release of the single and a few different versions of it (I personally really like the acoustic version), we were treated to the official MV which follows the visual theme of Coldplay’s ‘Higher Power’ MV released in June 2021. It actually gives me a ‘Avatar’ film vibe with the colours and range of alternative characters.
The MV was filmed in Barcelona and Korea and certainly covers diversity, with such a wonderful collection of unique characters. I was surprised when Jungkook appeared as a hologram and throughout the MV both groups appear this way. The first thing that came to mind when I saw the outfits that BTS were wearing was ‘ON’ the MV, not the Kinetic Manifesto version. I’m sure there are people reading this that will laugh at that association, if you know how I feel about the song ‘ON’.
My Universe is about unity on so many different levels. It’s about love and the desire to overcome the hurdles people face when apart for whatever reason. The lyrics can be applied to everyone, no matter who you are and I think that is really important. I can certainly see why BTS were involved in this song because it slides right into their discography, in my opinion.
MV poster credit: @coldplay
Comments
Post a Comment