In 2012, there was a central theme in the K-pop music world: rebellion against society. Society stinks. Society makes you do the jobs they want you to do. Society turns you into an emotionless, working robot that is completely obedient to the standards of society. Evil, evil, evil society. Now this was back in 2012, but I’m sure there is a number of us who feel that this theme is still present today. Between January and April, there were two songs released painting their own picture of rebellion against society and their ways of handling it. Both songs are very well written and have their own spin on rebelling against society. These songs are known as “Mama” by EXO and “Warrior” by BAP.

We’ll start with BAP. The acronym stands for “Best Absolute Perfect”. The group debuted in 2012 with their well-sold first album “Warrior”. Here is a group that gives us a song about rebellion as their debut song. Like I said, this was a common theme in 2012, and they made a good move not bragging about themselves until their next album, “No Mercy”, six months later. By then, they had some popularity from their first album, therefore they had progress to brag about. Since “No Mercy”, they came out with more than four albums including “First Sensibility” in February 2014.

“Warrior” starts out with the glorious sound of strong trumpets and the wonderful flowing vocals of BAP’s main vocalist, Daehyun. Also joined in the mix is the group’s trademark, the whistle. The whistle can be heard in many other BAP songs and there is no way you can miss it. Another plus to this, and other BAP songs, is maknae Zelo’s fast rapping (“maknae” in Korean means “baby,”; therefore Zelo is the youngest member in BAP.) His fast rap in “Warrior” could be a worthy challenge to TOP’s fast rap in “Fantastic Baby”. It takes true talent and breath control to rap ten words in three seconds total.

Now let’s talk about the lyrics. As I stated before, the central theme of this song is to make a difference and stand up against the controlling ways of society. BAP makes a deal with the listener: If you can show me (BAP) that you absolutely want change, you have to physically take action. They don’t state specific things, but something that involves action and is effective. If you succeed, we (BAP) will help you:

맞서 싸울게 이 거리에 영혼들은 위해 /  I will confront and fight for the souls in the street

태양아래 너를 맡겨봐 / Lose yourself under the sun

내 가슴에 불을 거겨봐 / Start a fire in my heart

Basically their deal is: I will help you to defend and glorify your existence if you help me rediscover life. They want the human race to be free and happy, but they aren’t going to fight for that if the human race is content to live in turmoil. They would also have to let go of their righteousness and hypocritical way of thinking:

그대들이 위선은 용서받을 수 있나? / Will you hypocrites be forgiven?

어두운 가면 속을 다 던져 / Throw away all the dark masks

In the latter line, the “dark masks” refer to the untruthful way that humans present themselves. They cover up the humanity and run the show in an ineffective way.

I would say that BAP presents an effective way to rebel against society. They don’t immediately swoop in to fix everything; they ask the people most needing of a revolution to make the first move. One thing that will make a revolution happen faster is action, so if BAP were to cause a breakthrough in the way humans present themselves, they would have had enough of the human population’s action behind their rebelling. Give and take. Both parties win in this situation.

And now there’s EXO. This group has come a long way in only a couple years, gaining a national and international fandom. Their 2012 debut was met with much curiosity and support. Their first album, “MAMA”, reached number 1 on the South Korea charts. The lead song on the album, same as the album title, became the main song stuck on replay in fans’ heads for about a year. You might be thinking, “Well, wouldn’t there be other songs that could replace the one?” Well after promises of comebacks, the fandom was continuously lied to and disappointed. As a result, the EXO fandom is probably the worst and most annoying fandom out of all of the K-pop fandoms because ever since EXO’s comeback last year, they have set the group on a higher level of idol and believe they are the only greatest K-pop band in existence.

But now, in order to stay on topic, we will discuss the significance of “MAMA” and how it is classified as a cry for change in society. The song begins with choir-like voices singing in what I first thought was Latin, but after looking up the lyrics, it turns out they were English lyrics sung in heavy accents. The song is filled with a mixture of real instruments (horns, strings, etc.) and the deep bass of an electronic beat-maker. Both instruments blend well with each other as well as the vocals.

The term “Mama” in Korean refers to a being with the status and abilities of a god. Throughout the song, EXO pleads Mama to save humanity in the area of communication and love as it has disappeared into an era of hollow text messages and fake generosity. If I could, I would quote the entire song because the lyrics are truly spot-on. Check out the lyrical video I posted to see what I mean. To quote a couple poignant lines:

익명의 가면에 감쳤던 살의 가득한 질시 / Envy filled with murderous desire is hidden behind the mask of anonymity

끝을 봐도 배고픈 듯한, 이젠 만족해? / Still hungry even when they see the end, is it enough now?

 These lines are pretty self-explanatory: Hate is a powerful force that drives people against each other past the point where it should have stopped.

EXO sends a prayer-like song to Mama asking for sanctuary: have people smile and laugh with each other again, talk to each other face-to-face rather than through computer screens, and stop the hate that’s tearing humanity apart. The key difference between this song and “Warrior” is that EXO is relying completely on Mama to change everything rather than asking the people to change.

If I were to offer my own opinion about which song is the better “cry for change” song, I would have to choose “Warrior”. BAP asks the listener to contribute to change by physically doing things that would open society awareness. While I believe on some level that praying could help, I prefer that action has better impact on a society’s future in terms of making a scene and getting people’s attention. And maybe both could make an impact on some level! Basically, the main idea both songs want you to understand is that if you want to change the world, you have to want it for yourself.