shadow is such a raw song, in a way it didnt only show yoongi's battle with himself but his fear of letting his shadow consume him and make his true self unattainable that truly touched me, the loneliness that comes with being at the highest position and the strength of the fall

also the end of his shadow speaking to him, it wasnt his own realization for me,I interpreted as his shadow whispering this constantly to him as if he couldnt get rid of him it's not a natural bonding like the one your soul should have with the shadow but a glued one

Where the shadow seems stronger and more let loose l. In the map of the soul series an equilibrium between all three make you attain the point of ego and believing in yourself as an artist. But shadow sounded haunting as if you didnt want it so near you. It was perfect

"we’re one body and we’ll crash. we’re you and we’re me, do you get it?" Although this sentence in the jungian physiology is right it still seems like "crashing" means I'll pull you under with me when I have you under my wings and it's essentially the shadow also speaking out

the fear that yoongi speaks about in the song it's a good ending to go over to black swan where the body quite literally crashed with its shadows pulling it under "i cry out a silent cry sea where all light sinks into silence, It again seizes my ankle that lost the path"

another thing I just really appreciated is the sequence of "I wanna be a rapstar i wanna be the top I wanna be the king" being repeated over and over again even in the last chorus where it starts to feel haunting and uneasy because of the distortion and the high "cry"

it feels like even with the motivation of him wanting to reach success even with him repeating this over and over again trying to convince himself it's worth all of this the shadow still takes over in the end and that's when the frantic shadow starts and the beat changes

heres the part for anyone interested the high cry and shadow repeating it after him

I also wanted to add how much I like the way yoongi uses contradictions to make his point. People usually focus on the positive side of things when speaking about flying, being at the top or succeeding but here he says "people say in this bright light its splendor+

but my shadow rather grows even bigger, swallows me, and becomes a monster" or he goes "The moment that I face myself at the lowest it happens to be that I’m high up in the blue, cloudless sky" these are contrasting that usually dont work together where people see light

he sees darkness and where he feels the worst it's supposed to be "at his best or highest" and the things consuming these constradictional fears is the monster that hes scared to become consumed by exactly this shadow that makes him have these thoughts

and he fights with the shadow, he fights with his own thoughts too asking "isnt this what you wanted what you asked for?" It feels extremely suffocating and like "falling" which is funny because he explains how his success only goes higher, it's ironic but sets the point well

throughout the song I literally felt how the doubt fears and thoughts truly overtake your mind and at first you do ask yourself is this my true self speaking until in the end the shadow reveals itself fully by the change of beat and the change of yoongis voice and form of speech

and one last thing I'll add because it really complements the aspects I said before with the lyrics feeling resentful and hurtful, it feels like the shadow is reproachful for not being happy with what yoongi has, he says yg constructed this whole persona around him to let him get

the taste of the success and now hes not "satisfied" and suffering under it the shadow says "stop whining and do one or the other. you’re saying I haven’t taught you that?" And yoongi replies "No one told me how lonely it is here you’re asking if I really didn’t know?"

yoongi is talking directly to his shadow and his harsh and overtaking shadow retorts with the fact that he was supposed to know and prepare as if it was his own fault. Throughout the song you FEEL the shadow also becoming stronger even through the lyrics when the beginning

starts with yoongi just speaking about himself and what he fears in a monologue and through the second verse the shadow intervening and questioning him ending it then with him appearing out of the "cave" of the mind like mentioned before

and to end it truly shadow is a realization but also a travel through soul not yet understanding herself. The shadow is something that is intricately part of you you wont get rid of it easily and the most important thing is the separation of the three bases of the soul

the ending of shadow feels like a release of breath but also like a warning in a sense that even though the shadow is part of you an equilibrium has to be found. I think it feels like an epiphany when the shadow tells yoongi that hes truly part of him in the end and forever