I had this piece of writing stored on my computer for so long. When did this song come out again? Okay, I checked and it was realeased as the intro for their second mini album Antifragile in October 2022. Let’s see what my one-year-younger me thought about it:
Hypnotising. Even though the beat itself is not so intriguing (to me at least), their voices and the way they say their verses are quite… bewitching. That sounds like the right word. Witches putting a spell on you and convincing you or themselves with confidence booster lines. The implementation of three languages is smart and done well, since it only adds to the repetition of words and thus the hypnosis of the listener. The first thing that popped into my head while listening to “The Hydra” were subliminals, especially, considering the short length of the song. If you know, you know. I remember stumbing upon subliminals on YouTube, but that is worth an own blog post.
Meaning. What do I get from the lyrics? The lyrical I seems to say: no matter what you do, you won’t be able to hurt me – “I will rise over and over again”. With the mention of fire in the lyrics one could also think of a phoenix here – a mythical creature that resurrects. There is also a line in the song portraying the image of falling and dancing at the same time, suggesting emotional indestructibility, which is supported by the calmness or swing of disinterest in the members’ voices while singing. If you have seen the Netflix series Girl from Nowhere, I’m sure you would agree that Nanno suits this particular line. (I still need to watch the second season of that show!)
The Hydra. So, what does the title of the song mean? I looked it up and I’m sure you have heard of the mythological creature yourself. The Hydra is a water monster with multiple heads. According to Greek myhtology, cutting of a head only leads to more of them growing, with the middle head of Hydra even being indestructible, hence antifragile. A perfect representation of what image they want to portray.
Writing. As my problem is so often with the production of songs, the credits only list the people who worked together and do not state who wrote which specific verse. Produced by 13, the lyrics are written by Score and Megatone from 13 (Hype being mentioned here as well). Their names are plastered throughout the whole album credits. The producer crew “13” is mentioned seldom despite their remarkable contribution to the music scene (or Google search just did not want me to find any articles on them). Here are some websites with a little more input regarding their discography and team members.
To end this with my favourite lines from the song: “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship”. These words originate from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Woman (1868). I still remember that around the time of the release of the song “The Hydra” the newly released Korean drama adaption of that novel was the talk of the town. Which reminds me that I did not even get to finish the Kdrama… I definitely need to change that.
Anyhow, hope you liked this. Stay healthy in those cold times!
Yours,
Tanniyan