Many artists channel their alter egos to express different aspects of their artistry. Beyoncé has Sasha Fierce. Nicki Minaj occasionally taps into Roman. Suga of BTS becomes Agust D.
Suga introduced his alter ego back in 2016 on his first solo mixtape, “Agust D”. He revisited his Agust D persona for his 2020 mixtape, “D-2”, and has brought him back again for his recent solo debut album, “D-Day”.
The rapper confessed that although this will not be his last solo project, this may be the last time he does an album under the name Agust D.
When Agust D was created, he was going through a lot of trials in life that he used Agust D to talk about. Many of the stories Suga told as Agust D stemmed from a place of anger. Suga admitted in an interview with IU on her variety show, “IU’s Palette”, that he has mellowed out and is less connected to the feelings he had when creating Agust D.
“Once Agust D’s trilogy comes to an end, it might be hard to see him again,” Agust D said. “… As I get older, the less and less I get angry.”
Keeping with the trend of his previous two solo projects, “D-Day” consisted of ten songs that reflected a portion of his life. Agust D began writing these songs three years ago during the pandemic so many of the thoughts on this project span from then to now.
Agust D crafted the tracklist to reflect his most heavy-hitting rap songs first before slowing the pace down as the project progressed. He began the project strongly with its title track, “D-Day”.
From a more sentimental standpoint, beginning this album with such an uplifting message made sense. Considering how deep many of Agust D’s previous songs are, it was important that he wanted to let go of the negative experiences of his past and move forward.
Also, Agust D flipped his initial intention for this version of himself by turning his passion into something positive rather than grasping the anger that used to fuel his lyrics.
The quality of this album did not fall going into its first collaboration, “HUH?!” with Agust D’s fellow BTS rapper, J-Hope. One of the contenders on “D-Day”, the rappers held back no punches on this drill-influenced K-hip hop track as they addressed their haters.
Although the messages each rapper relayed had the same intent, both of their different rap styles shined through and complemented one another. Also, the strength in their deliveries went perfectly with the song’s cutthroat lyrics.
The most lyrically intense song on the album came with “AMYGDALA”. Agust D went more into storytelling mode with this song as he spoke about the emotions he felt going through many of the darker days in his life.
The amygdala is the part of the brain responsible for fight-or-flight responses. It is often activated during more fear-inducing moments.
In Agust D’s song, he wanted his amygdala to save him from fear. He did not want to continue being controlled by his fear of confronting past trauma such as his father’s cancer diagnosis, his mother’s heart surgery, and the life-changing shoulder injury he experienced during his pre-debut days.
Not only was the message powerful, but Agust D did a wonderful job at delivering it in a heartfelt and passionate manner. The strength in his lyrics and delivery made “AMYGDALA” another favorite from “D-Day”.
The sonic direction of the album shifted after the first four songs. He tapped into his singing side on a sweet pop song, “SDL (Somebody Does Love)”. Although Agust D still rapped on this song, the chorus with his singing voice was the most memorable part of “SDL”. Also, the background vocals of singer Adora were a wonderful addition to the song.
The most seamless transition on the album came between “SDL” and “People Pt. 2” with IU. This calm, somewhat relaxed pop song was the rapper’s second collaboration with IU after producing and featuring on her 2020 song, “eight”.
This song was an indirect extension of Agust D’s “People’’ from his second mixtape, “D-2”. “People Pt. 2” gave a different perspective on the difficulties of the human experience. While “People” spoke about how people change and evolve, “People Pt. 2” showed Agust D processing the loss of those who he used to hold dear.
Topically, “People Pt. 2” had a touching message that was just as important as “People”, but when comparing the songs, “People” had a more poignant impact sonically.
Another impactful song on the album was “Snooze”. This song could be interpreted in many ways, but it was mainly meant for young K-pop idols.
Many people may know the difficulties and grueling demands of K-pop idols, both newer ones and seasoned ones like the men of BTS. Agust D got help from a fellow K-pop idol, Woosung from the band The Rose, and the late composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, to create this stunningly powerful song encouraging young idols to hold onto their dreams and not give up.
In a time where conversations about protecting the physical and mental health of young idols have risen, this song came at the perfect time to comfort those struggling.
The album ended beautifully with an ode to BTS with Agust D’s solo rendition of their song, “Life Goes On”. BTS’s version of “Life Goes On” was a sentimental comfort song released in response to the changing world during the height of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
The optimistic and calming feeling of BTS’s version was still present in Agust D’s version. This song was the perfect one to end a fantastic album that was largely focused on letting go of the negative aspects and experiences of life and moving forward positively.
- Amaya Graham - medium.com
