RM’s Still Life: Music Video, English Lyrics, Meaning +2023

Image source: YouTube user HYBE Labels

RM can’t be stopped when it comes to releasing his debut solo album, Indigo. Following the release of the project and its lead single “Wild Flower” on December 2nd, the BTS leader is already bringing fans another music video. This time for the track “Still Life,” which features vocals from the group’s frequent collaborator Anderson .Paak and a message that one is always moving forward while leaving one’s everlasting mark on the world.

RM’s “still life” meaning

RM shared a visit to an art museum that inspired him to write “Still Life” before performing the song for Tiny Desk (Home) concert series by NPR. “I saw a title called ‘Still Life’. In fact, many paintings were titled Still Life. And I felt really strange because it was like the 19th century painting by Monet or Van Gough… so the flower as the model of the painting is dead a century ago but it’s still alive in the painting by the painters themselves .” He continued, “They gave flowers eternal birth or life by painting them. So when I see ‘Still Life’ like a canvas, because my life is like a canvas, I’m showing my life everywhere to the whole world… .but ‘Still Life’ sticks to the canvas, but it’s alive and eternal, but it’s still moving forward. So it’s about a still life that’s still moving forward.”

RM’s “Still Life” music video

The music video “Still Life” shows RM traveling on a train to an unknown destination. The train often freezes in place, but RM never stops moving, leaving still life versions of himself that dissolve into fragments as he grooves through the train and delivers his lyrics. This reflects the main theme and inspiration of the song, as RM and .Paak provide the lines (translated via the YouTube subtitles): “I’m still life, but I’m movin’ / Just live now, goin’ forward / The unstopping still -life’ in the chorus of the song.

RM’s “Still Life” lyrics in English

INTRODUCTION
i am still life
i am still life
i am still life
i am still life

VERSE 1
I’m still alive but I’m moving
Just live now, move forward, yes
The endless still life
My flower blooms once more

Don’t give me a name because I don’t have a title
My life constantly on display
It’s still life, still life

The past is gone, the future is unknown
Catching your breath at a crossroads
Do you want to be free from this canvas frame
The shadows that yesterday and tomorrow cast on me

Undeterred, I just live errtime
24/7 yeah baby I’m on time
I just live in the moment, every second and every minute
I’m risking everything, what do you know about me, huh?

CHOIR
i am still life
You can’t lock me in the frame, I’m moving
i am still life
Life is better than death, I’ll prove it

I’m still alive but I’m moving
Just live now, move forward, yes
The endless still life
My flower blooms once more

I’m still alive but I’m moving
Just live now, move forward, yes
The endless still life
Yo I never stop let’s get it now

VERSE 2
Errday is my day 1, brotha
Baby I buy time with money
Don’t listen to the haters, it hurts your ears
It’s always the fools who risk their lives for the internet

Trendsetter? I’m a friend better
Tired of the go-and-getter
Turns out things didn’t go the way you wanted them to
I’m livin’ good, unlike what you wished, huh

94 lives on Hannam Blvd
91 look at my royal road
You don’t have to go to Gangnam Blvd anymore
You better move out, your rent is overdue

What a bad flex, look at your chain
I’d rather do it like “Look at my spot”
Just live in the moment like that pesky weed
Like a flower but I never stay