The Temptation of Racing Into The Night

 The story centers around the male protagonist obsessed with a suicidal girl constantly attempting to end her life. From the short story, we learn that the "Temptation of Thanatos" is strong within the girl and that it lies dormant within the protagonist. Since the focus of the story is on the protagonist's internal struggles and motivations only limited information about the protagonist's environment is mentioned. We are told that the protagonist works for a "black company" suggesting exploitative practice and a lack of job satisfaction. The hostile work environment, isolated neighborhood and toxic relationship with the girl create a damaging environment that reinforces the protagonist’s existential uncertainty.

The most significant environmental effect on the protagonist pivots around the harmful atmosphere that his relationship with the suicidal girl creates. However, the protagonist ends up attempting to find solace in her company, the only other person in “The sinking sun and rising night sky”  with him. The melancholic setting is aided by the constant depiction of the pink blob in front of the girl's eyes in the music video. The pink blob could be intended to represent blood, symbolizing an off-putting death drive. It is mentioned that girl had already attempted jumping off the building four times. It’s as if she’s blinded by the pink blob, and all she ever sees is death.  As the song progresses, the optimistic tone turns into a defeated and hopeless one.

In the lines above, “tick-tocks” represents unsettling time, and the repetition of the word (later in Pre-Chorus 3) could potentially indicate how it might run out for the two. The depressive tone in “heartless words” and “loud voices” reveals how the protagonist is familiar with the feeling of depression, regardless, he decides to reassure the girl.  

[Chorus]
In the troubling days, for the never-smiling you
I give my utmost love in hopes for the dazzling tomorrow
In the never ending night before we fall
Come and take my hand
Even the days that you hid inside, wanting to forget
It'll melt with the warmth of my embraces
No need to be afraid, until dawn comes someday
Let's be together

The protagonist hopes to comfort her in the chorus, reminding her that she should be looking forward to the “dazzling tomorrow” and that her pain will melt with “warmth" his "embraces". The assuring tone builds some hope in the audience, which is later shattered.

The protagonist gives in to hopelessness, almost admitting his own suicidal intent – “I want to end it all”. The protagonist is “tired” and “unable to smile”. The hopeless and guilty tone tells us how he gives up on living much less comforting her. At this moment, the girl is shown to smile for the first time. For an instant, the pink blob disappears from her eyes, and it is now seen in the protagonist’s eyes. The tone changes from hopeful to defeated and the symbol of the death drive spreading out brings forth suicide contagion. At the end, the protagonist commits suicide alongside her – both “racing into the night”. They are seen jumping off the building, fulfilling their wish and giving in to their temptation together.

Major depressive disorder is a mental health condition characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and a loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyable . It is also mentioned that individuals with major depressive disorder may experience "recurrent thoughts of death or suicide" (DSM-V 161). The lyrics throughout Racing Into the Night (Genius English Translations) depicts the protagonist to be struggling with their mental health, possibly indicating a major depressive disorder with melancholic features. The pervasive depressive lyrics and regretful attempts to give hope to his lover is characteristic of a "profound despondency" and "excessive guilt" (DSM-V 185).

After the tone change, a further dramatic tone is displayed through a change in the musical key of the song. This play of tone romanticizes suicide, word choices like “overflowing tears” and “never-ending night” evokes a sense of poignancy in the audience. The protagonist’s want to “dissolve” into her shows the admittance of his weak mental state. In this vulnerable moment, his existential uncertainty alongside the toxic atmosphere pushes him towards suicide.

The virality of Racing Into the Night song on social media is primarily due to the groovy pop musicality that the song presents. It would be hard to believe how the song could mean anywhere close to depression because of the upbeat musical tone and vibrant colors in the music video.  It is important to note that the song lyrics are a work in translation, a degree of meaning is bound to be lost. The songwriter mentions the reason for such a contrast in the musicality and the message in the lyrics in a billboard interview, "If I were to write a gloomy tune… It would just become unbearably bleak, so I made it catchy and pop on purpose. I wanted to express the grotesque that resides within beauty and cuteness". The incongruence and contrast between the meaning and the perceived impression of the audience emphasizes the twisted mental experience of existential uncertainty. The artist’s comment about seeing the “grotesque” that resides within “beauty and cuteness” appropriately represents the music video where the story is played out. The title itself is contrasting to an extent, Racing creates overtones of excitement reinforced by the general musicality of the song. However, the Night represents the downright death. The contrasting connotation builds tension in the audience, and the idea of racing into the night reflects intense suicidality and the dire consequences of a major depressive disorder.

Although the work portrays people undergoing mental illness as being on edge, Racing Into the Night elicits a sense of sympathy and understanding for people going through strenuous times.  The effective depiction of the chain effect of distorted repercussions of one's surroundings on their mental state and, ultimately, on their reason for being highlights the importance of fostering healthy environments for those around. We are reminded of how delicate an individual's existential motivation could be. The song underscores the shattering of one's will to live caused by depressive mental states and damaging environments, leading them astray towards the Temptation of Racing Into the Night.