Hi! It’s Annie!
Obviously, Namjoon’s birthday was something we had to cover. Specifically for me, he is my bias wrecker and he’s actually been wrecking me more and more recently. But more than any of that, he’s our leader, president, and deserving of all our praise and more. Especially because he doesn’t think he does. And ARMY’s behavior yesterday and today for his birthday was, frankly, disappointing. Just a couple weeks ago on Jungkook’s birthday we had several different hashtags trending on Twitter for several days, video ads absolutely everywhere, and several projects running at once. Namjoon’s birthday only trended on Twitter yesterday and was buried under everyone concerning themselves about the maknae line. Namjoon deserves just as much as everyone else without his trends being blocked by our own fandom. (‘Plants for Namjoon’ was an amazing effort though!) So, this will be dedicated to who is possibly the biggest comfort person in my life (both literally and figuratively)! These are some of my favorite comfort moments from Namjoon.
Persona:
One of my favorite performances from Namjoon is in his own personal music video to this song, which I have used to get me through a lot. The promise of giving us all the shoulders when we cry is comforting and Namjoon doesn’t stop there with the comfort. The entire song Namjoon talks about the struggle of figuring out who you are as a person and the way fame has affected that journey for him. But though the song comforts mainly through its relatability, Namjoon never passes up the opportunity to directly comfort as well.
Mono:
This is an entire album made of comfort songs directly from Namjoon. His mixtape is one that I use often for multiple different reasons. I have used some songs for falling asleep such “seoul” and “forever rain”. I use the songs as alarms to wake me up in the morning because they are soft enough to lull me from my slumber without making me annoyed. And I swear these are the firsts songs I’ve found that have been able to do that. This is also an amazing album for if you have bad anxiety or even panic attacks. I don’t think I’ve found an album as soothing as this one before and I doubt any album will ever be like this after. No song is quite as comforting to me as “moonchild”, where he discusses his own struggles and then encourages both himself and his listeners through the song. But “forever rain” is the song that probably calms me down the most. It even begins with soothing rain sounds. Definitely an entire album that will be on my regular playlist forever.
Dionysus:
I know this sounds a little odd for comfort Namjoon moments, but his moments during the choreography for this song in particular are ones that I’ll never get over. Namjoon with the staff gives off the entire feeling of “leader” and I legitimately cried when he walked out with the staff for the 2019 MMAs. Because I couldn’t help but think how powerful our leader looked there. I seriously go back to that moment in the performance all the time. It was too amazing.
Awareness and Diplomacy:
One of the main things that I love about Namjoon is how seriously he takes the leader position. Taking care of the rest of the boys is important to him. So much so that before debut, Namjoon and Jin made a point to discuss together how they were going to take care of the rest of the group. Namjoon is Jin’s comedic partner, Yoongi’s respect, Hobi’s best friend, Jimin’s pillow, Tae’s caretaker, and Jungkook’s big hug. We’ve seen his moments of caring so many times. He’s generally one of the first to notice if a member of the group is hurt and when Jungkook started dancing during his solo song in concert when he should have been sitting, Namjoon was the first to report this to Hobi. Namjoon grabbed an ill Jungkook to remind him not to be too hard on himself. He comforted a crying Taehyung and took equal blame for an argument he wasn’t a part of. He teaches the others English and tries to get each of them heard in any interview they participate in. Namjoon is everything a leader should be. And much of that comes from his natural caring side. If anyone was going to be the leader, the giant teddy bear who’s always there for everyone else was definitely going to be that.
Namjooning:
One of the best parts of Namjoon, is his Namjooning. This was a verb coined by fans to describe Namjoon just doing regular Namjoon things. Usually having to do with nature. Always loved how much Namjoon loves being a plant Dad? Me too! That’s just Namjoon Namjooning. What about him ankle deep in water looking for crabs? Or riding his bicycle along the Han River? Or visiting countless art museums? That’s all Namjoon Namjooning. I recently saw a video of him apologizing to frogs and asking if they were the only ones there while looking for crabs. The video was so cute I just about died. Namjoon’s love for nature and art is unmatched and some of the things he cites as keeping him so down to earth.
No Benefits:
I think we’ve all seen moments of Namjoon in various BTS content when they’re supposed to be taking a break, working instead. This was most prevalent in ‘Bon Voyage’. Namjoon felt bad that the others were driving and cooking, both things that he cannot do well, and took out his frustration by trying to get some work done. And sometimes he doesn’t have a choice but to do the extra work. He talked to Jimin once about how stressed he was to do work during a time where he wished he could be relaxing. Yoongi has said several times that being the leader of BTS comes with no benefits and a lot of extra work. And Namjoon being the main lyricist of the group only adds onto his plate. Namjoon feels immature for not being able to cook or drive, but I think he’s incredibly mature for all the work he has to do instead of those things. How many times have we seen Namjoon leading interviews? And for every single time we’ve seen that we’ve also seen footage of him behind the scenes trying to quiet his nerves. Many people forget that both Yoongi and Namjoon have suffered with anxiety. This man is without a doubt one of the hardest working people in his industry. Not to mention he was given the choice between a solo career and BTS and he chose the group without hesitation.
Bicycle:
This song flew completely under the radar when it came out. And it’s one of my favorites from him. Some of his other soothing songs have a more somber note to them, but this one is more upbeat. It really makes you want to go on a bike ride with Namjoon, whether you know how to ride a bike or not. More people need to listen to this song. Seriously, if you haven’t, go listen to this immediately. It needs more listens because it’s truly a masterpiece and Namjoon deserves for his solo pieces to be heard as much as the rest of them. I swear your life will be better for listening to it.
Namjoon is one of my favorite people on the planet. I’m so glad that we got both “Fake Love” and “Idol” to a billion for his birthday, but actually celebrating his birthday is also important. We need more people to respect Namjoon in the way that he deserves. He does so much for this group and I hope that we all are much better at celebrating his birthday next year than we were this year. Namjoon deserved better than all of us freaking out over other issues and trending other members on his birthday. So let’s look at how amazing and comforting this man is and at least try and give him some of that comfort back. He told us all to use him to learn to love ourselves, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t take him up on that offer. But I hope that myself and other ARMY can eventually be there for him in a similar way. He has been there for us, and we should be there for him too. Our leader. Our comfort. Happy Birthday, Namjoon!
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 