I’ve watched a few reaction videos now for the SWIM music video, and I don’t quite agree with their takes, so here’s my interpretation. The members said it’s about their journey back to ARMY, but I think the story starts earlier. So here goes…

1/5

#bts #btsarmy #fediarmy #kpop #Arirang

I think the woman is ARMY. At the start, the compass leads her to BTS and she appears on the boat when she becomes ARMY. At first, it’s happy as she falls deeper into the fandom. BTS are working together as a unit and the ship protects them.

2/5

#BTS #BTSArmy #FediArmy #KPop #Arirang

The music break halfway through is when military service starts. From then on, she’s devastated. The members come in and out, but not together and there’s a separation between them and ARMY. The only time we see the members together, they are in uniform completing their service.

3/5

#BTS #BTSArmy #FediArmy #KPop #Arirang

She then runs through the ship, running past the members who are still isolated - swimming to the future - until at the end she breaks the chain and they return.

4/5

#BTS #BTSArmy #FediArmy #KPop #Arirang

My thoughts on the ending, where she’s back in the museum, but all wet, is this: she wasn’t really there on the boat - she didn’t go through what BTS went though, but emotionally she went through it with them - she came back with it all, but the smile tells us she doesn’t regret it. She’s glad that she went on that journey with the group.

There’s A LOT more going on in the MV, but that’s my current take on the story.

5/5

#bts #btsarmy #fediarmy #kpop #arirang

@rLok Your version is the one which makes the most sense to me. I had friends crying about why are BTS portrayed as ghosts, etc. It's all to do with RM saying before how the journey with ARMY is parallel, with each in its own space.
@pixiecata yeah, I heard the ghost theory, and visually it works in the MV, but thematically and as a story I don’t think it fits
@rLok If there's one thing I've learned from BTS MVs, one can't take them too literally (or even linear-ly, sometimes).