Just as earthquakes knock people off their feet, Blackpink member Jisoo Kim shakes the Kpop community with the release of earthquake in her new album AMORTAGE.
The name AMORTAGE is a combination of the Spanish word “amor”, meaning love, and “montage,” which is a sequence of films. This name is especially fitting as AMORTAGE is Jisoo’s first multi-song project. This album about romance was released on Valentine’s Day by Blissoo and Interscope Records.
Previously, Jisoo had released two songs: FLOWER (꽃) and All Eyes on Me, which were both about romance and heartbreak. FLOWER is about a girl finally liberated from her toxic relationship, yet is still prone to reminiscing on her previous experiences. All Eyes on Me is about a girl going through heartbreak. Both of Jisoo’s previous songs explored the darker side of love.
The first song in the album, earthquake, describes the feelings of butterflies in her stomach when she meets someone she loves. Jisoo describes her nervousness as containing the magnitude of an earthquake. In the lyrics “my heart races faster, My whole body is shaking, I can’t stand,” her music video shows a machine measuring her heart beat speed as her surroundings shake from the earthquake. As this is happening, the continual beat in the background speeds up, like her heart beating faster. This beat continues throughout the song and stays loud and strong. When she starts singing, the camera zooms into her and makes the room feel small compared to her. Later in the music video, Jisoo drives a car down a one way tunnel, breaking through all of the questions that appear in her path. These questions appear in the form of stone slabs, blocking her path but she doesn’t even slow down. This shows that her love has strength to break through any adversary and that she won’t turn back, as she can’t drive back through the tunnel.
The second track,Your Love,describes the feeling of initial attraction where Jisoo longs to see the other person that she loves. The song starts out with Jisoo’s airy voice singing “stars in my eyes.” Stars have been intrinsically tied to romance, and the phrase “constellations for you” shows that Jisoo gazes up at her love just as one gazes up at the stars. Jisoo describes her love as new but also a familiar sort of comfort, singing “your love feels like the rain, feels like a song I used to know” Jisoo characterizes this stage of love as a combination of new but also comforting. To ensure that the listeners feel this sense of familiarity,, she uses a similar beat as IVE’s ELEVEN song, and mixes this with a repeated sound that resembles a snapping.
TEARS, the third song of the album, describes Jisoo going through a heartbreak. She continues the motif of using an earthquake to characterize love. In the fourth verse of the song, Jisoo sings that “[her] skin vibrates with you,” similar to the shaking of an earthquake. This song sees Jisoo finally let go of her delusion of love. She sings “the love story we created together, now goodbye, The kiss we shared is now goodbye, It feels like it’s going to tear, but it’s really goodbye.” Yet throughout the song, there is a continual echo of a strong beat. The background includes the strong beat in earthquake and the occasional snapping in Your Love. The continuation signifies that Jisoo can’t fully let go of her feelings.
In the final song of the album Hugs & Kisses, Jisoo rejects the love that she is receiving in her relationship. She feels exhausted at the way she has been treated. She sings “ I’m tired of you using me like a safety net,” in a weary tone. She continues in the next line by saying “I’m not buying your excuses, don’t even waste your breath,” showing that she will never forgive. In this song, Jisoo’s vocals grow much louder than the background music in comparison to other songs on the album, signifying that Jisoo is more confident in her rejection of love.
AMORTAGE is a video process of the stages of love. With the help of visuals, vocals, and background music, this album provides a new, fuller understanding of how Jisoo experiences love.
