Song Analysis: Strange by Agust D ft RM
The song ‘Strange’ is a conscious hip-hop song by Korean artists Agust D and RM, written by them alongside EL CAPITXN and GHSTLOOP. It was released on 22 May 2020 and the making of the song began on 20 August 2019. The lyrics have a conversational tone and the two rappers question and discuss the workings of the world touching upon topics such as capitalism, polarisation, dreams and competition, wealth and a false sense of freedom while being a slave of the system.
The song was written to prompt the listeners to look beyond the facade that the world puts forward and truly think about how each individual falls prey to the system that has been normalised. The artists of the songs have the power to influence people through their words and they chose to pose the question, speaking from the stance of having experienced the flaws of the system.
Being a long-time listener of the artists (as part of the group BTS), I have seen social and political commentary through their music and believed that it was put forth in this piece of music as well. In addition to this, I was personally in reverence of the artists after interpreting the lyrics as they truly made me contemplate about the world in which we live and helped me develop my own stance as well.
There are a number of elements in the song that shape the song and help enhance the message it tries to put forth. The tempo of the song is 90 BPM: it is a moderate tempo and when paired with the key of G major, which the song is in, it helps create an idyllic mood. The song starts off with this mood with the piano melody at the beginning reinforcing it. However, the first lyric of the song “Everything in dust, do you see?” is in stark contrast to the mood created. As the trap beat and distorted vocals become more profound in the song, a dystopic atmosphere is established, leading into the verses.
The structure of ‘Strange’ is intro — chorus — verse — pre-chorus — chorus — verse — pre-chorus — chorus — outro. It starts and ends with a piano melody and the chorus, additionally, the piano melody is played throughout the song with a decreased attack. This helps in establishing continuity and bringing it full circle to convey the message. Additional instruments being used in the song are a zither, bass guitar, glockenspiel.
The dynamics of the instruments and how they change as the song progresses help create the mood and transition from idyllic to sombre to ominous. One example of contrast in dynamics is seen between the intro of the song and then its progression to the chorus. The trap beat of the song was to create the basis for the rap verses and the accenting of the beats works with the emphasis on particular lyrics. The music box equalisation and mixing of the audio create an eerie atmosphere as the music is winding down and the song is coming to an end.
The artists’ purpose was to highlight the rampant bigotry in our society, and that has been brought out through the lyrics of the song.
They address how wars and inequality have been deemed normal — indicating that everything is in dust. Individuals today turn a blind eye to these issues. The artists ask through their lyrics that if one is ignorant about the world’s issues, then do they truly see the world as it is? The chorus of the song points to this, touching upon having a lack of self-awareness.
The first verse paints a bleak picture of the world, criticising capitalism, with the prominent lyric being “capital injects morphine called hope with dream as collateral”. The line speaks about how the capitalist system injects a strong desire for wealth, especially in front of the working class, enticing them to make sacrifices. It also refers to how dreams are the collateral for this, how wealth has been so entangled with dreams and happiness. Young individuals fall prey to the capitalist society, holding onto the thought that they’d be allowed to dream and accomplish their dreams later on in life, but they become slaves of the system. This further leads to how a desire for wealth is now a rampant disease. Additionally, the lyrics are about how taste is controlled by capital and how one’s display on their feed — social media — is a pretentious reflection of wealth.
The commentary on polarisation is about how everything in the world seems to be painted as black and white, right and wrong, and these opposing views don’t leave room for grey areas, ultimately leading to the dissipation of any possible complexity. They call polarisation “a round nail that’s been hammered into a square hole” — which refers to how unnatural polarisation is. But they also link polarisation to social media. These lyrics help visualise an image, and this image of the logo of the social media app Instagram.
The rapper Agust D talks about how one is treated as a mutant if they have a different opinion to the blind masses, especially because there are no right answers to reality but society makes it seem so. Additionally, he contemplates about who benefits from the system the most, basing on his belief that the different people in the social stratum are affected by the system differently. He suggests that the polarisation of the system is the problem.
The rapper RM converses about the same topics but has a different take on them. He raps about how strange it is that there’s only one who has their eyes open in a world that’s blind, expressing horror about there being a lone truth-seeker. He also says that “No matter how much money one has, everyone is a slave of this system” — that no one truly benefits and everyone is shackled. He suggests that the system is the problem, and polarisation is the outcome.
These aren’t opposite perspectives, they’re complementary. These perspectives tie into previous lyrics because they aren’t black and white and shouldn’t be classified that way either.
The song ‘Strange’ is an exceptional narrative and commentary piece. ‘Strange’ starts and ends with the same words — the chorus — but while the first chorus slowly drifts from a utopian image into the verses, the last chorus leaves you at loss for words as you see an image of an apocalyptic world, painted throughout the song. From the lyrics to the vast number of musical elements that accentuate the lyrics, or contrast them — all these help reiterate the central message of the song and compel the listener to take a pause and scrutinise the world around them.
Listen to Strange by Agust D ft RM here:
