"Crashing" by ILLENIUM ft. Bahari, Sunday, May 30, 2021

Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is the disco of the day. These days, pop charts are filled with DJs and features; however, in the age of disco, the featured singers often went uncredited. Today, though, in the age of powerful pop singers, a feature for a DJ can be mutually beneficial. It can either boost an up-and-coming DJ or boost and up-and-coming singer. Today's song is not one of the most popular DJs or features. The song hit number 20 on the US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in 2019. It was featured on the second To All the Boys Netflix film. ILLENIUM and Bahari are not household names, but there is something intoxicating about this smooth, repetitive pop jam, problematic lyrics and all.

IT'S LIKE CHAMPAGNE/ FEEL IT POURING IN MY VEINS. When I came to Korea, I found a very conservative environment with the other missionary teachers. Just like when I chose "the most conservative (accredited) Adventist university," I had taken a leap of faith in coming to Korea. It was God's calling for my life at that point I believed. In Korea, I was a bit of a liberal with my love of rock music, Christopher Nolan movies, and Thomas Hardy. I believed that it was important to understand the people of the world by understanding their culture. The group of missionaries whom I worked with were more about personal holiness and shielding yourself from temptations. If they were significantly older, I would call it an age divide, but they were around my age. I had noticed Adventist youth and young adults getting more radical in their devotion, attending events like GYC (Generation of Youth for Christ) and listening to a new wave of Adventist speakers who recycled the old legalistic messages of Adventism with an end-times urgency, specific for millennials. I had avoided people like this before coming to Korea, but it was the reality when I came to my small town in Gangwon-do. 

FEELING OUT OF CONTROL WITH YOU CHEMICALS. I remember one conversation with my friend at the time, Abram. It was a conversation after a Sabbath school (like Sunday school, only on Saturday). The lesson study had been about a verse, possibly Titus 2:11-12. Andrew said, "The problem with most people today is they aren't sober-minded. They may not drink, but they are so caught up in their daily life that they can't listen to God." He went on to talk about all the ways that the church, and specifically other church members were caught up in the trivial things that distract us from God, whether it was smart phone notifications, noraebangs, church social events, shopping--often necessary things distract us from our higher calling, spreading the Gospel. Conversations like this reminded me that being a Christian, being a real Christian that is, is hard work. Sabbath afternoon conversations with a wiser, older spiritual brother eventually wouldn't cut it a year and a half later, but if I could only commit myself to a sober, Christ-like existence, if only I could be more perfect, I would be fulfilled. But perfect was never perfect enough.

Read “Crashing” by ILLENIUM on Genius