Once you get into BTS, you’re bound to get to know certain recurrent symbols through their discography, music videos, and speeches that ARMY holds dear to our hearts. One of them is the whale, which originated from the 2015 song, “Whalien 52.” It has since become almost synonymous with BTS and ARMY, alongside the color purple, but some people might not be entirely up to speed on its meaning and origins. So today, we will take a look into that!
Origins of the Metaphor
The whale is partially a metaphor and partially a symbol. “Whalien 52” is a song off their album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Part 2, part of a series that focused on the experiences and bittersweet moments of youth. The song utilized the 52-Hertz whale as a metaphor for isolation and loneliness. This is a singular whale, discovered in 1989, with an unusual song frequency that made it impossible for it to communicate with its peers.
The lyrics circle again and again around the dichotomy between the pain or frustration of not being heard, and the hope that one day the whale’s voice will reach others if it doesn’t give up trying. From their initial struggles to get recognition and later on the isolating quality of celebrity life, to simply living in our increasingly individualistic society—both BTS and ARMY know what that feels like. However, in this song, they are pairing social commentary with encouragement to keep hope alive because an honest message doesn’t need to end up being exclusively pessimistic.
This metaphor can ring true for all kinds of people, experiencing all kinds of situations. There’s isolation at all ages, many people struggle to speak up or are silenced if they try to do so, and loneliness exists among all cultures. It is a universal experience, which explains why the 52-Hertz whale was so eagerly embraced by BTS’s diverse fanbase. We can all see ourselves in it.
Music Video Appearances
As was mentioned before, the whale is also a symbol, and its appearances have become a sort of meaningful easter egg for ARMY to spot. It has shown up briefly as balloons on the Permission to Dance concerts in Seoul and in music videos, like “Heartbeat,” but its most significant moments have been in the animated music videos.
Let’s take the “We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal” music video for example. Here, the whale jumped through the clouds at the climax of the song right after BTS sang: “Tell me your every story, tell me why you don’t stop this, tell me why you’re still walking, walking with us. Yeah, we got to heaven.” That same whale later transformed into millions of purple lights that resembled stadiums during their concerts, illuminated by the ARMY Bomb lightsticks.
This video was shared as a FESTA gift in the first year of the pandemic when the entire world was isolated from each other. It made sense for the lonely whale to show up, but it carried a more hopeful feeling this time around. Now, the whale had evolved to tell us all that we would meet again one day.
Then, there’s Tiny Tan’s Dream ON video, with “Zero O’Clock” playing in the background. Once again, the whale took the protagonist, a young woman, up into the sky alongside the Tiny Tan characters. There, she got to briefly live her dreams of playing piano, finding joy and hope again to face her life's daily struggles. "Dream On" is a perfect title to solidify the renewed symbolism that the whale has adopted through the years.
Just like BTS urged ARMY to speak themselves years ago at the United Nations, now they are encouraging us, with a little help from the whale that found its voice, to hold on tight to hope and to keep on trying to reach what makes us happy.
The BTS & ARMY Symbol
This whale has become a beloved symbol among ARMY, and of course, that means people have looked for ways to keep it close to their hearts. Some get beautiful tattoos, try to buy the elusive purple whale plushie, craft their own whales, or create art pieces including it. The sky’s the limit when it comes to ARMY’s creativity.
Why would we do any of these things? For some, it could be a reminder of hope or a promise they’ve made to themselves, for others, it could be a way to show their love for BTS and what they’ve brought into their lives. Once again, there are as many reasons as people in the world—the whale is for everyone.
As we’ve seen, the lonely whale has accompanied BTS and ARMY through their long journey, and we have all grown together. Long gone are the days of hopeless isolation, because now we have found our voices and strength, and can hold onto each other when life gets tough. The whale metaphor has expanded to include a hopeful outcome after not giving up, which is the chance of making the unthinkable a reality, just like BTS and ARMY have done.
Our once lonely whale has become the hopeful whale, a symbol that embodies our ability to make our beautiful voices be heard, and our promise that we won’t give up believing in a brighter future.
DISCLAIMER: We do not own any audio & visual content in this video except for the editing. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS. No copyright infringement intended.
Written By: Rebeca
Edited By: Aury
Checked By: Juju
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