song review
An anonymous Korean taught us that to love is nothing, to be loved is something, but to love and be loved is everything.
Performed by: DAY6
Album: Youth Pt.1. (EP)
Release Date: 26 June 2018
Label: JYP Entertainment, Studio J, IRIVER
Producers: J. Y. Park, Hong Ji-sang, Lee Woo
Shoot Me is about a troubled relationship. Although the lyrics of the song are direct, they describe the harshness of a partner’s words by comparing them to a bullet in the form of an ongoing metaphor.
Rather than “a romance movie” which is what he wanted, their relationship fires up and “turns red so easily” that it becomes “like a drama”. “Everything will be fine” but one wrong move can spark up her hot-temper “and it all starts from there”. This even causes a hardship towards the man in which “it’s never an easy thing, to stand in front of you” stating that “it’s like a thriller movie”.
Their constant arguing leads to words “getting sharper and sharper” as their relationship goes on. Despite this, he still loves her and wants to believe that she just “felt nervous” when she said “it’s over now”, praying that “you don’t mean that”. He experiences pain from her so often that he becomes “so used to this now” singing, “I’ll take it anytime, if that’s what you want” and if hurting him “makes you feel better, just shoot me”. In the end, he is deeply hurt by the breakup but still plays off the pain that he feels because he loves her too much.
The music video emphasises the symbolism of the woman shooting at the man with her own initiative, her own hands causing him to feel the pain of a bullet, although there were no real bullets shot.
The music itself is very confronting as it goes from a verse which has a softer layer of instruments, a fast build-up as a pre-chorus, and a loud hit as a chorus which includes all instruments playing at their loudest. The bridge almost sounds like a break in the whole “I’m okay” message given throughout the song, which through the lyrics, it is. The chorus claims that he’s “used to this now” but during the bridge it gets overridden saying “each bullet that pierces my heart, honestly, hurts so bad“. The whole vibe of the song creates a mood of anger, but sadness; hurt, but sacrifice; fear, but bravery, and that’s why it’s such a good song - it makes you ponder on your experiences and your interpretation.
Shoot Me explores how “vicious words hurt like a bullet”, just like it says on the shattered bottle in the opening scene of the music video. The lyrics in the song hit close to past experiences. The song not only targets romantic relationships but all types of it. This could also be seen as a fall out with friends, family and people you trust if you filter out lyrics about romance. Sometimes an unsolved problem between people can create tension that even standing in front of them is the hardest thing in the world and that saying something that is done ever so slightly wrong can detonate a thousand landmines. Seeing their eyes “getting colder” and feeling that “the mood is getting heavier” are things that I’m sure we’ve all felt something during a heated argument and the feeling is very restricting, “quietly sitting here, trying to get my breath back”.
We recommend this song to those who like rock vibes or simply just want a new refreshing listen. The song’s direct lyrics may be harder to understand being in another language but it’s an enjoyable song consisting of strong guitar and bass riffs, heavy drum beats and a powerful underlying synthesiser.
-F Soliman, T Dinesh, C Bartolome, Year 9