on the meaning of 花樣年華

nikkmonoxyls:

hello cuties!!! this is carboxyls breaking her hiatus to give a lil language lesson!!! \( ‘з’)/

i have seen people calling bangtan’s new era ‘in the mood for love,’ most likely due to the fact that it shares its name, 花樣年華 with the critically acclaimed wong kar wai movie in the mood for love. 

speaking only from a mandarin speaker’s knowledge, these things are completely different! the english title of that movie was derived from the pop song i’m in the mood for love. 花樣年華 (or 花样年华 in simplified) is a chinese idiom that refers to the teenage years, roughly between 14 to 20, or the “flowering years.” 

花 = flower
样 = like
年 = year
华 = a period of time

so directly translated, it means “the years like flower,” or the years people blossom, explore, and find themselves. 

why i think this is so important to bts is that this is their sixth album. even their youngest is almost an adult now, and their oldest is speeding headfirst into his twenties, and they’re leaving that age behind. in the trailer’s lyrics, yoongi ends it with 

“what am i doing with my life
this moment will never come and find me again
and ask me again, ‘are you happy now?’
that answer is already decided,
i’m happy.”

the phrase 花樣年華 means, topically, your “flowering years,” but usually it’s spoken with a little nostalgia or melancholy, because it’s such a short, fleeting part of life. sometimes looking back on it and wishing you had done more, or become a different person. that’s why, hearing yoongi say this, it!!! this just!!! fills me with so much happy because! it’s really quite a struggle now to find happiness during that age, in this world. and i am so super excited to see what they have done with this album and see how they have grown in their lyrics!!! LET’S ALL ANTICIPATE IT TOGETHER, GUYS!!! I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I AM SO READY TO PLAY BTS DISS AT FULL VOLUME ♪~♪ ヽ໒(⌒o⌒)७ﾉ  –carboxyls

p.s. i asked the parental units about this for extra clarification and explaining that i had to know bc it is the name of my favorite band’s new album was not one of my proudest moments (￣◇￣;)