Everyone’s Dancing To LE SSERAFIM’s “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s Wife” But What In The World Does The Title Mean?
On May 1, LE SSERAFIM released their debut studio album Unforgiven. Among the 13 songs of the album was “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife,” an upbeat club song that had everyone dancing on social media.
From the addictive intro with the lyrics, “I’m a mess mess mess,” and a catchy chorus with the repeated lyrics, “Get it like boom boom boom,” the song is very danceable, and the choreography is catchy—which is why everyone was dancing to this song on social media.
Winter of aespa did the “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife” challenge with Chaewon, with the iconic punching choreography.
@le_sserafim ❄️Boom boom boom🐯 with #aespa #WINTER #LE_SSERAFIM #르세라핌 #KIMCHAEWON #김채원 #UNFORGIVEN #이브_프시케_그리고_푸른수염의아내 #Eve_Psyche_and_The_Bluebeardswife @aespa official
Queens Yunjin and Somi also danced to the beginning part of the song, which Yunjin wrote the lyrics for!
@le_sserafim 💛Boom boom boom🐕 with #SOMI #LE_SSERAFIM #르세라핌 #HUHYUNJIN #허윤진 #UNFORGIVEN #이브_프시케_그리고_푸른수염의아내 #Eve_Psyche_and_The_Bluebeardswife @JEON SOMI
ATEEZ‘s Yunho and Mingi joined the trend with Kazuha, too.
@le_sserafim 🏴☠️Boom boom boom💣 with #ATEEZ #에이티즈 #윤호 #민기 @ATEEZ_Official #LE_SSERAFIM #르세라핌 #KAZUHA #카즈하 #UNFORGIVEN #이브_프시케_그리고_푸른수염의아내 #Eve_Psyche_and_The_Bluebeardswife
Hundreds of thousands joined in on the “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife” trend, as seen through the 101,000 videos that used the song on Tiktok alone. Celebrities and non-celebrities all had a try dancing to this song, former IZ*ONE member Hitomi included.
@hondahitomi_1006 Boom boom boom🤜🏻💥🤛🏻#Eve_Psyche_and_The_Bluebeardswife #이브_프시케_그리고_푸른수염의아내 #LE_SSERAFIM #르세라핌 #本田仁美 #혼다히토미
Everyone is dancing to this song, including HYBE staff members, but what does the long title even mean? The names listed in the title are not arbitrary—they represent a reoccurring theme of LE SSERAFIM’s music and message.
Since their debut, LE SSERAFIM has been singing about being fearless and being “unforgivingly” yourself. Their messages are always empowering, and “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife” is no exception. The lyrics talk about being “the only one that sets [their] rules” and never holding back when doing what they want to do. They emphasize that they are not dolls that always have to smile and that the more someone tells them not to do something, the more they want to.
A noticeable line repeated in the chorus is: “I wish for what’s forbidden.” This is an important line that explains why the title is what it is. The three names listed in the title, Eve, Psyche, and Bluebeard’s wife, all had the same thing in common: their curiosity caused them to want what was forbidden.
First, Eve is the first woman mentioned in the Bible as the wife of Adam—God’s first human creation. In the Book of Genesis, God commanded Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil before creating Eve, but it is clear that she was aware of the command; when a serpent persuaded Eve to eat from the tree, lying that it would make her be able to know good and evil like God, Eve took the bait. She also gave a fruit to Adam, and they both disobeyed God’s commandment. Their disobedience caused them to be expelled from the Garden of Eden.
The music video for “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife” even featured a 1791 painting by American painter Benjamin West titled “The Expulsion of Adam and Eve From Paradise.”
The painting is later graffitied with the words, “I won’t hide myself,” as the girls dance in front of it.
Next, Psyche is a princess from Greek mythology known for her incomparable beauty. Her beauty rivaled Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, also known as Venus. Out of jealousy, Venus sent Cupid (also known as Eros) to shoot Psyche with an arrow so that she would fall in love with something hideous. When Cupid tried to shoot Psyche, however, he accidentally shot himself and fell deeply in love with Psyche.
When Psyche couldn’t find a husband for many years, Psyche’s parents asked Apollo what could be done; Apollo told them Psyche must go to the top of the mountain wearing funeral clothes, where she would meet her future husband, a horrible serpent. While at the mountain, a breeze drifted Psyche to a nearby meadow, where she fell asleep. She awoke to a new home and a new mysterious husband, whom she could not see because he only visited her at night when it was dark. She fell in love with him without knowing his face; eventually, she could no longer resist her curiosity and temptation to see how her husband looked, so she shone a candle on his face. She realized it was Cupid, and just as she recognized him, he fled, injured from the hot wax from Psyche’s candle.
Lastly, Bluebeard’s wife is from the French folklore, “Bluebeard.” Although there are different variations of the story, the main plot was this: Bluebeard was a wealthy but unattractive nobleman who had been married six times before and now wanted to marry one of his neighbor’s daughters. None of the daughters wanted to marry him because of his ugly blue beard, but after attending Bluebeard’s luxurious party, the youngest daughter decided to marry him after seeing his wealth. One day, Bluebeard told her he must leave for a business trip and left her with all the keys to his palace. He told her she could open any room in the palace and enjoy all his riches—except she must never open one forbidden room and that if she opened it, she would face his wrath.
Bluebeard’s wife’s curiosity got the best of her, and she immediately opened the forbidden door. Behind the door, she discovered the murdered bodies of Bluebeard’s previous six wives. In shock, she dropped the key in the bloody room and tried to remove the blood stain from the key but failed. When Bluebeard returned home, he discovered the blood stain and her disobedience and told her she would face a fate like his six ex-wives. Thankfully, Bluebeard’s wife was able to stall her death, and her siblings came to her rescue.
These three characters fit with the theme of LE SSERAFIM’s song and the message of doing what one wants despite “falling” as a result of it. The lyrics in the bridge, “Girl wanna have fun,” and the repeated “Boom boom boom“s show their lighthearted and fun twist on the “curiosity” stories of Eve, Psyche, and Bluebeard’s wife—they dance to their fearlessness of being a “mess” as they do whatever they wish to do even if it may be taboo.
LE SSERAFIM released an English version of the song that fans didn’t know about until later.
Watch the music video for “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife” here.
