Can't We Just Leave The Monster Alive?
Updated: 2 days ago
⋆ Genre: Tropical House
⋆ Producing Credits: Wonderkid, Shin Kung
⋆ Writing/Composing Credits: Wonderkid, Shin Kung, Melanie Joy Fontana, Michel "Lindgren" Schulz, ADORA, "Hitman" Bang, Jeon Soo Kyung
ABOUT/MEANING: “Can’t We Just Leave the Monster Alive?” uses the logic of a video game to express the reluctance to leave behind the freedom and imagination of youth. Normally, defeating the monster is necessary to clear a level and progress to the next stage. Instead, the boys question why they have to fight it at all. If they are happy exploring their current world together, why not leave the monster alone and remain there a little longer?
Beneath the playful metaphor lies a growing awareness of what progression means. Clearing the level becomes explicitly connected to growing up, while the monsters, mazes and obstacles they are expected to overcome form part of the predetermined path carrying them towards the next stage. Rather than following that path, the boys imagine abandoning the game's objectives altogether: throwing away their weapons and stats, exchanging the roles of hero and monster, searching for hidden Easter eggs and treating a dungeon as somewhere to take a vacation. They are not simply postponing the end of the game, but questioning why they have to play according to its rules in the first place.
Within The Dream Chapter: MAGIC, the song introduces an important tension between fantasy and growth. Earlier experiences of adolescence have opened an exciting world of new possibilities, but the boys are beginning to realise that moving forward also requires leaving things behind. Their question reveals a distinctly adolescent contradiction: they are excited by the possibilities of growing up, yet increasingly reluctant to surrender the freedom and security they already have. Even being a “fatal error” within the prescribed system seems preferable if it allows them to stop time and remain in this moment together - but eventually, they will have to decide whether they are willing to move forward.
DISCOGRAPHY CONNECTION: Like “New Rules,” the song questions why the boys should follow a predetermined path simply because it is considered the correct way forward. Here, that idea is expressed through video-game logic: instead of defeating the final boss, increasing their stats and clearing the stage as expected, they throw away their weapons, exchange their assigned roles and explore the game on their own terms. The desire to create their own rules has become intertwined with a growing reluctance to progress towards the next stage.
LYRICS - ENGLISH TRANSLATION (translations by @translatingTXT)
The tangled bush, the maze of darkness
Passing through them, I encountered a forest
This repeating moment
The ending that appeared before my eyes
Oh, please stop for a moment
This given ending can be pushed back
I want to go back
Now for the final boss
I push my fearful heart behind me
I want to enjoy this world a bit more, this moment
Now, riding this dragon
Fly away
Find that hidden easter egg
Yeah baby I’ll find that
Alright, if I could stay here
Forever in this time and space
I’d take a vacation in this dungeon
Now throw away all weapons
Just jump into the festival
It will be alright, alright, alright
(Alright)
It will be alright, alright, alright
(Alright)
It will be alright, alright, alright
If I throw away all the weapons
If I give up the stats
Can we just leave the monster alive?
You can become the hero
And I’ll become the monster now
Let's break away from our boring roles and become each other
Even if I'm cut with a sword, I don't feel anything
Here, it’s just thrilling
I won’t hurt you
Now if you don’t like it
We can just reset
Shall we hide in this game?
Alright, if I could stay here
Forever in this time and space
I’d take a vacation in this dungeon
This place we ran away to
Forever, just stay
It will be alright, alright, alright
(Alright)
It will be alright, alright, alright
(Alright)
It will be alright, alright, alright
Do I have to beat this stage? Grow up?
In order to do well
I want to live as a boy forever
Oh the dark maze
The tangled twisted bushes
Oh, the monster in the forest
I like them
Alright even if you call me a bug in a malfunctioning error
The fixed path is boring
This place we ran away to
Forever, just stay
It will be alright, alright, alright
(Alright)
It will be alright, alright, alright
(Alright)
It will be alright, alright, alright
It’s a fatal error
But it’s peaceful (Alright)
Just stop time for a moment
Oh I want to stay (Alright)
(Alright)
It will be alright, alright, alright
Comments