This week, Seoul is mired in rain, though the showers fall too softly for monsoon season, the perfect backdrop for listening to RM’s “Forever Rain.” It’s my favorite track from his magnificent mixtape album “mono.” The song perfectly encapsulates the motif of the whole album, which deals with the dichotomy and contradictions of life, of both wanting to be left alone and to be loved. Here, the rain is utilized as the metaphor for both a buffer to keep him out of people’s sight and a friend who keeps him company. 

“Forever Rain” provides insight into Kim Namjoon’s psyche, not into the public persona of RM, the way he, a sensitive, thoughtful and philosophical savant, views life. And what a beautiful view it is, replete with poetic lines that honestly bare his soul to his listeners about how difficult his life has been and, despite all his success, how baffling life continues to be for him, something we can all inherently relate to as part of the humanity. 

Lyrics:

*Refrain, Bridge, and Chorus sang in English

Verse 1:

Let it rain all day;

Let the sky do all the crying for me

Let it rain all day;

Let no one notice me

Verse 2:

The umbrella shielding my melancholic face,

People scurrying busily to care about me

Let me live deliberately at my own pace,

For I’ve long lived and rapped in haste

Verse 3:

Everything is converging into this particular place,

Where I’m mired on a pitchy black ground, 

My forlorn body casting a shadow over the sky

Lowering my head, I plant my heels down and sigh

Verse 4:

Rain is an unofficial companion,

Who makes me feel I’m not abandoned,

Who keeps knocking on my windowpane

To ask how I’m coping with life

And I answer:

I still haven’t found the meaning of life

Death does not consume me,

But maybe I’m still shackled to its presence

Verse 5:

Rain, I wonder how it would feel to travel like you,

To reach all humanity like you

If so, would I be welcomed by anyone,

Would my existence be acknowledged by someone?

Verse 6:

Rain, you are not intruding on me

Just keep pouring down to keep me company

I feel belonged when you come and stay

Nothing lasts forever in this world

So, I don’t mind living in your gray world

Outro:

Forever rain

Never stop

Forever rain

Please keep falling

Forever

Please keep falling