By Hiranmayi Ganapathy (‘24)
K-pop band BTS and British Coldplay released a collaboration song titled “My Universe” on September 24, 2021. Both bands comprise male singers. Coldplay has been on the charts for quite some time, but K-pop and BTS have recently taken the world by storm.
Both Chris Martin, lead vocalist of Coldplay, and members of BTS were excited to collaborate together. In the recently made My Universe documentary, Chris Martin mentioned that he “got a message from somebody that said BTS wants to do a song with you.”
Having not known any Korean, Martin also added, “I will learn some Korean with Jungkook.”
Martin was eager to sing in Korean and with one of the famous members of BTS.
Even though both parties were nervous to meet with one another, they both had similar interests in the song. Jung Hoseok, J - Hope, the other members of BTS, couldn’t believe that Martin was right in front of him. J - Hope explained that “At the end of the day the meaning of this song is ‘you’re the one who created my universe.’”
It seems that both groups were fanboying over the other.
The theme of this song is “not alone but together”.
Both BTS and Coldplay are very close-knit bands that would support each other no matter the consequences. “My Universe” has a deeper connection to both bands.
For Martin, the song was simply very personal.
Kim Namjoon, RM, and other members of BTS stated that “My Universe” should be dedicated to ARMY, BTS’ fandom.
Senior Anjali Ravi rather enjoyed listening to “My Universe”. She said, “I liked how BTS’ voices and Coldplay’s instrumental sound complimented each other, 10/10!”
“My Universe” is about loving one another for who we are. It is a great pick-me-up song because of the very loving and supportive message that is portrayed.
In the YouTube documentary that was released on September 26, 2021, the concept of the song was touched upon. It describes both the meaning behind the song and how each band was able to write the song.
“My Universe” has 79 million views on YouTube with over 6 million likes. They first released the lyric video and when that came out everyone freaked out. The lyric video has 49 million views and 5 million likes.
The music video is so unique.
It consists of fake CGI alien people on a green screen and since BTS is in Korea and Coldplay’s in America, they did holograms to replace BTS. Their vocals are beautiful and the way they came up with the concept of putting space because My Universe and space go hand in hand. Chris Martin sang in Korean on the Global Citizen Live and Kelly Clarkson Show. This collaboration says so much about how K - Pop and Pop music will become more of a worldwide thing and it will change the world.
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