“Fake Love” (2018) is about the cost of pretending. For someone they loved, the singer pretended to be happy when sad, strong when weak — and slowly lost himself. Now he can't remember who he was, and the love he built on that mask feels fake.
It was BTS's first song to enter the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100, and its dramatic, emo-rock sound showed a darker side of the band.
The key word is 척 (cheok, pretending): “기쁜 척” — pretending to be happy. Along with 가짜 (fake) and 진짜 (real), it's a handful of words that carry the whole story.