BTS’ SUGA aka AGUST D’s Daechwita's music video EXPLAINED

BTS’ Suga is currently taking a break from promotional activities to focus on his recovery from soldier surgery. As such, netizens are revisiting Suga’s solo music released under his alter ego name, AGUST D and falling in love with it all over again.

At such a time, let us look at the title track of AGUST D’s latest mixtape D-2, Daechwita. While his first mixtape entailed an expression of the tough times Suga faced as a teenager and young adult, D-2 is written from a widely different point of view. He stands at a place distinctly different from where he was when he produced his debut mixtape Agust D. D-2 has a completely different vibe to it while also retaining the Agust D flavour and the album peaks with its title track, Daechwita. Keep reading to learn about all the different historical references and cultural nuances hidden in the expertly made music video.

To begin with, “daechwita” is the Korean word to refer to the traditional marching music played at the time of a King’s arrival. It is also played to announce important guests and other royalty. The music video starts with the King avatar of Agust D with a scar running across his eye. It looks fresh and hasn’t completely healed over yet. The other protagonist of the video is Agust D as himself, also with a scar running across his face, completely healed over. This is relevant in order to show a natural progression and further reinforce that these two characters are simply versions of the same person in and out of time. In Korean tradition, a man or woman with a scar is barred from coveting the throne even if it rightfully belongs to them. As such, the fact that the King has an evident scar right on his face proves that he’s probably had to fight off all royalty to retain his position. It is likely that he wasn’t born royal either and had to fight his way up to the top. Having struggled so much, the King is wary of outsiders and taken on the role of a tyrant so that nobody can even dare to threaten his place. Taking the easy way out, he executes whoever complains, signified by the kneeling figures in black and disembodied victims of the King.

At the same time, AGUST D, backed by his crew of 6 other men and a woman, is quietly making the moves to stage a coup. He’s loved by the people and he has connections everywhere. The 6 men in his crew represent the rest of the members of BTS and the woman represents ARMY. Likely after long periods of careful planning, the two finally meet face to when AGUST D drives up to the King’s palace. A fun fact about this scene is that the scroll drawing of Bang PD has its origins in a sketch made by Jungkook. The King is unimpressed and has him captured whereas Agust D is equally unbothered and is headbanging to his own beat. He reiterates the word “daechwita” announcing the arrival of the real King, Agust D. The figures in black, kneeling down earlier, have now raised their heads, joining hands with Agust D. The “King” engages in an elaborate sword dance in preparation for the execution of Agust D. At the end, the King believes that AGUST D is dead but before he can turn his back, the executioner, who was evidently part of AGUST D’s people all along, fakes his execution and frees him, handing him a gun instead. The very last scene finds AGUST D getting up, pointing his gun at the “King” and shooting him dead.

AGUST D of the past, with wounds fresh from the humiliation, malicious comments of haters and lack of support is defensive and reacts violently to opposition. For AGUST D of the present, those scars have faded away, leaving behind a more mature persona. Daechwita’s music video single-handedly chalks the progression from Suga’s first mixtape to his latest, from being a young rapper to a professional Grammy-nominated artist. In order to reach this place, Suga has had to reject parts of himself that focused entirely on the negatives. He’s had to fight his shadow, represented by the King Agust D and only when he could overpower his shadow, his true self could prevail.

ALSO READ: Are idol rappers like Suga and Lisa different from 'real' rappers like BewhY and Jessi?

What did you think of the music video? Share your thoughts with Pinkvilla in the comments section below!