"Butterfly" (LOONA)
(written by Luna)
published 11.05.20
The song “Butterfly” by K-pop girl group Loona is about these 12 girls trying to make a butterfly effect through their music-- hence the lyric “fly like a butterfly” that repeats throughout the song. It represents women and women-identifying people in capturing their freedom, being courageous, and raising their confidence and voices alike. Not only are the lyrics powerful, but the music video is even more dynamic and influential. As a young woman myself, I found this song very empowering and was touched by all the representation of being a woman and expressing who we are. I think others should also listen to the song and find the true meaning behind it.
Starting off with the lyrics, group members Gowon and Choerry have a very iconic lyric that goes: “it starts with a small flap, now inside my heart, a hurricane.” The reason this line is so powerful and iconic is that it is a representation of the butterfly effect and how it works-- small changes cause greater impacts (finding yourself, gaining courage, and raising your voice). Throughout the song, there are a handful of similes and symbolism. In this case, the hurricane would be the mix of emotions when being represented on such a large scale. The following line, sung again by members Gowon and Choerry, “been been there, never been been there // the world gets smaller and smaller” refers to how women are being treated unfairly for being “different” and being ambitious in the patriarchal society. “Been been there” would be the women who have experienced discrimination, while “Never been been there” would be those who have discriminated others and don’t know what it’s like to have been discriminated due to their privilege. The following line, “the world becomes smaller and smaller,” in my opinion means that so many women have been discriminated against for wanting to be themselves. So, in a way, the world does get smaller due to the fact that these women all have similar experiences with the discrimination that they get on a daily basis.
Now onto the music video that I think is even more powerful. These girls really impressed me with all of the representation. In the music video, they feature a lot of young women and ethnicities who are bashed by society: such as gingers, WOC, Muslims, people with albinism, and a Chinese girl. I think this was so empowering because they were showing different women in the world who typically get hated on for simply being “different.” Hyunjin, another member of the group, once said in an MTV interview: “Although LOONA was born in Korea… we’re aware there’s a lot of fans from countries we haven’t been to. When they are encouraged and get strength from our music, that’s an aspect of the “butterfly effect.”
They showed beyond society's beauty standard, which takes a big part in the meaning behind the song-- to be confident, proud to be a woman and to be yourself even if you are different from what others expect you to be. As Yves, another member, said in that same MTV interview: “You may have realized it during butterfly, but we want to go beyond gender, race, and nationality.” They also shot this music video in different parts of the world such as Hong Kong, China, Korea, Iceland, LA, and Paris, which I think is pretty cool since they are also trying to represent different cultures.
Their dance choreography had a lot of symbolism as well. For example, their choreography was made to look like the life cycle of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. Again, in the same MTV interview, Chuu speaks on the meaning behind butterfly and says: “Butterfly means so much… Especially the part where the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, I thought it really overlapped with us… we can all identify as one. You know how there are obstacles for everyone’s hopes and dreams? I hope we can all picture overcoming it and flying upwards.” I think that’s really powerful because they tried to portray the meaning of their song and the butterfly effect not only through their lyrics and visuals but also through their dancing.
If you’re reading I hope that you check the song out; there’s more to kpop than BTS (or as people say “Chinese music”) because these idols put a lot of time and dedication in their music to make us feel good, confident, and proud of who we are no matter the barriers (like language).