A Closer Look at “Stigma”
V’s first official solo song, Stigma, off BTS’ 2016 record-breaking album WINGS, presented fans with a unique expression of his vocal flavour and musical style. Described as a neo-soul track, Stigma flows effortlessly through staccato vocals, spoken lines of dialogue, and impressive falsettos. Though the song doesn’t have an official music video, a short film with the same title was uploaded to Big Hit’s YouTube channel prior to the release of WINGS. Taking both the song and short film together, a clear picture of Stigma’s themes and connections to the Bangtan Universe emerge.
Looking first at the lyrics, it’s clear the song is about guilt and catharsis — a plea to end an internal suffering.
I’ve been hiding (something), I’ll tell you something
Just burying it
I can’t stand it any longer
Why couldn’t I tell you back then?
Anyway, it hurts me
I really can’t stand it
The narrator admits to hiding something, and it’s finally reached a point where he can’t hide it any longer, so he’s decided to come clean. In the next two lines, he says “Now cry, I’m just so sorry towards you / cry again, because I couldn’t protect you”, indicative of how this hidden act has affects others in his life.
Deeper and deeper, my wounds only grow deeper
Like pieces of broken glass
that can’t be restored
Deeper, every day my heart only hurts more
You were fragile,
and took my sins for me
The chorus highlights the reason why the narrator must come clean now: his wounds are becoming more severe the longer he goes without acknowledging or admitting his “sins.” The last two lines explain the reason why he’s so sorry towards this person, for that person was not only hurt by him, but they took his punishment (or his “sins”) for him. The emotion with which V delivers these lines demonstrates both the narrator’s guilt and his desperation for relief.
In the next verse, V asks the person to hold him accountable. In a spoken line, he urges them to ask him “Why did you do that to me back then?” But, he immediately reverses this by admitting he has no right to tell this person to “do this, do that.”
The bridge contains his outright apology — repeating “I’m sorry” several times, acknowledging that “it can’t be erased” even if he “hides it, conceals it.” As the song moves into its final portion (with some great falsetto adlibs), he pleads for the light to “shine on my sins” because “it can’t be undone, crimson blood is flowing down.” The track ends with another heartfelt plea: “Please let me be punished, please forgive me for my sins, please.”
The lyrics alone position this song in relation to V’s Bangtan Universe (BU) character, especially the line about blood flowing down. In the original music video for I Need U, the Save Me webtoon, and some of the HYYH Notes, we witness V’s character killing his father in an impulsive fit of rage. His character has suffered abuse for years, and when he sees his father hurting his sister once again, he snaps and kills him — a scene that’s shown in detail in I Need U. In Save Me, there is a scene of V’s character being arrested for killing his father, and later scenes feature Jin’s character trying to prevent him from committing the crime. Additionally, as the lyrics are about hiding something that hurts others, the track fits well with the themes of V’s character, who hides both the abuse he endures as well as (potentially) his violence towards his father.
Indeed, the BU is also where the short film for Stigma fits in, as it depicts V’s character from the series. The video opens with a quote taken from Hermann Hesse’s Demian and narrated by RM:
“It was the first fissure in the columns that had upheld my childhood, which every individual must destroy before he can become himself. Such fissures and rents grow together again, heal, and are forgotten, but in the most secret recesses, they continue to live and bleed.”
The quote is appropriate for Stigma, as it references where Sinclair, the novels’ protagonist, has stolen money from his parents to pay a bully, and then subsequently hides that sin from his parents, causing him much internal strife. This passage comes right as Sinclair’s father is scolding him for his muddy shoes, having no knowledge of his son’s other, more severe transgressions. Sinclair says it’s the “first rent in the holy image of my father.” Though Sinclair is dealing with different issues, the fact that this quote appears where his worldview begins to shatter as he interacts with his father is parallel to V’s character’s connection to his own father. Both V and Sinclair must “destroy” the “columns that upheld childhood” before becoming themselves. For the storyline of the BU, we don’t know the exact ending yet, but we can assume that when V’s character destroys his father, he is also effectively moving beyond the violent “columns” that upheld his childhood, even if he only kills his father in his mind.
The bulk of the Stigma short film serves the purpose of illustrating V’s BU character — the scene opens with V in front of a graffitied wall, scratching through the name “Abraxas” (which is also found in Demian). V’s character is heavily associated with both graffiti and the police throughout the BU, and so it’s no surprise when the cops show up to bring him into the station. He goes without resisting, contrary to his character’s reaction in the Run music video, where he runs away at first.
As the police interrogate V, asking his name and age, we’re shown other scenes of V dressed in white, running around a dark room. When the police officer asks about his parents, he’s visibly bothered, and there’s a cut back to the empty room as V is hit by unseen forces, symbolic of the abuse his character endured at the hands of his father. Appropriately, he answers “I don’t have anyone like that” to the question about his parents.
Later, the bridge of the track plays as a white puppy runs toward V, who has been knocked down. He cuddles the puppy for a moment before a large cage appears above, beginning to descend. V desperately tries to hold on to the puppy, and we see flashbacks of V’s memories of abuse and fear. It’s as if he’s trying to hold on to some form of innocence or childhood, and when the puppy walks away from the cage, which has fully descended, V watches it go, unable to fit through the bars. He’s forced, in a sense, to let go of his childhood innocence, due to his father’s actions.
At the end, we see the line “Here, there are only different whales talking in different languages,” a line from the track Whalien 52, which emphasises the loneliness of V’s character. The final scene is of V at the police station, asking to make a phone call, which is likely when he tries to call RM (who doesn’t pick up).
With its moody atmosphere and splendid high notes, Stigma is a cathartic track, even if we don’t quite get absolution by the end of the song. As its high-production short film makes use of V’s BU character, the video is an apt visual companion to an emotional song about guilt, forgiveness, and internal torment.
Courtney Lazore is a writer/editor with special interests in BTS and Korean history and culture. You can find her on her website The BTS Effect or on Twitter.
