Annyeong Kpoppers!
2012 has been such an amazing year so far and hopefully it would stay amazing! I am looking forward to a fruitful and awesome year ahead. I always think of the new year as a year of Treasures.
Speaking of Treasures. The Five Treasure Island boys are back! That’s right! FT. Island is back with their 4th Mini Album – Grown Up. Yes, I believe the boys have grown up. And I love Lee Hongki‘s new haircut, he looks so cute! I foresee the Primadonnas fangirling over this already!
Credits: http://blog.ningin.com/2012/01/26/prize-votes-ft-island-grown-up-album/
So of course I am here to give a review of the title song Music Video titled Severely. The music has that unique FT. Island sound ranging from lead guitar solos, piano melodies, and of course the ever-so-powerful vocals. This song truly reminds me of the reason I love Kpop. It isn’t simply all about pop genre but also about the other genres like K-Rock which I would safely classify this song under.
Now to evaluate the scenes in this Music Video. I noticed that there has been a trend of mind-boggling storylines in music videos and some of them work while others don’t really work for the songs. However, I should say Severely‘s drama in the MV is quite awesome. It kind of reminds me of 2AM‘s You Wouldn’t Answer My Calls.
It opens with a scene of our handsome protagonist sitting in a church, with a photo frame in front of him. Details are really almost everything when you try to understand an MV that you do not understand peanuts of. So here, the important detail is the gears that keep popping in and out at the start of the shot. These gears are turning in a certain direction and do take that in mind.
Back to our handsome hero who is now starting cry as he holds the photo frame in his hands. The girl in the photo smiles so prettily and you would already know what this scene would actually mean. She probably died before this current scene. As he caresses the photo, he started to cry harder. I’m guessing guilt and regret has bottled up in him.
Now we see the gears again but it has stopped and as he walks out of the church, the gears start moving again. Take note that the gears are moving in a different direction from earlier.
Now that Hongki walks out of the church, he bumps into a girl but he could not look up to match her eyes as he was busy crying earlier on. I would be embarassed if I bumped into someone when my face is bloated after bawling my eyes out.
Now he finally looks at her and realises that it was the same girl in the photo. He probably could not control himself so he hugged her and she pushed him away. She probably does not recognise Hongki so she walked away giving that “crazy guy” look that she shot at him. Apart from being on the floor after being pushed, Hongki is now looking confused.
The scene then changes to the girl practicing a ballet dance in her practice room. Her movements were so graceful, I am so Jelly… But anyways, Hongki is here too and watching her from outside the practice room. There is a news stand outside the practice room and a bunch of newspapers caught Hongki eyes. The newspapers were dated 17th January 2012.
I am thinking that the girl is either ignorant or the drivers portrayed in this MV are simply reckless. I’m not saying all Korean drivers are reckless. NOT AT ALL. I’m just saying the drivers in this MV are reckless. No stereotyping at all. The night scene shows the girl trying to run across the street when the green man was already blinking and counting down from 8. Hongki appears from behind to grab her just in time before a car zooms past like a true saviour. It would be pretty obvious that Hongki was following her ever since he met her. But atleast after being saved, she shows gratitude by thanking him. They then walk together in a distance before parting with a greeting.
The next scene is also important in a sense. She crosses out the date 17th and you could see that 24th is circled. Something was definitely scheduled on the 24th. Hongki and the girl now spends time with each other at the cafe and a poster on the cafe’s wall caught Hongki‘s attention. After she pours her coffee, he quickly drops a sugar cube in her cup. Then, to shift the awkwardness, he drinks the coffee which ends up scalding his tongue because it obviously was too hot.
Then later on the two of them walks out and she realises he was carrying an umbrella on a bright warm day. She probably thought he was weird or something but he simply smiled and could not answer the question. Then he takes a look at the time and opens the umbrella. Not a few seconds after pulling her closer so that they were under the umbrella, the rain starts falling. On a random note, I like the colour of the umbrella ㅋㅋ.
Later in the night, he was holding onto an article which I do not understand a word at all so pardon me for not knowing what the article is actually saying. But with Hongki‘s awesome acting and facial expressions, I could safely say he was at the spot that is in the article as well. Then some black and white shots flashed through, which would probably suggest it was a flashback.
Two days later, the two of them start becoming closer and they actually went to shop together. Hongki seemed attracted by a watch but he placed it back on the shelf and walked away. The girl must have bought it for him, seeing that he likes it. Then they go to her practice room again and this time Hongki is not outside but inside watching her closely with her knowledge.
As she pauses and gives a smile at him, the photo frame appeared again and it probably reminded Hongki of whatever mishap that might have happened. He was obviously very disturbed and he went away to calm himself down. She took this chance to slip the watch that he bought for him earlier on into his coat. But while reaching into the pocket of the coat, she realised there was a piece of paper. It was the article that he carried around.
I’m guessing the article had her name on it and that probably said something about his shady character. She then confronted him and asked him if he was a stalker. But Hongki then asks her a different question.
“Could you not go to the event?”
She was enraged by this and told him to leave which he obediently did.
Finally it was the day. 24 January 2012 as printed in the posters and it was definitely the event that she was preparing for so long. The same event that he had warned her not to go to. She was also still thinking of what Hongki told her. Tapping on my limited Hangul understanding, it would probably mean something like “If you go, you’ll die.” If I’m wrong here, do correct me. ^^;
Being stubborn as she already is, she puts on her earpiece and walks out. At the same time, a drunk driver gets into his car and gets ready to drive. Hongki on the other hand is running around to find that particular spot. Then he sees that she was nearby and the car was already swerving here and there.
It was not her fault this time as she waited for the green man to come on before stepping towards the road. Hongki rushes to her and screams her name but apparently she doesn’t hear it. Either she was ignoring him or she was hard on hearing. Let me take this opportunity to warn all you Kpoppers to not blast music in your ear when you are out alone. You sense of hearing is important and things like this might happen to you too!
Back to the MV.
Hongki decided to play Superman and rushes forward. He stands in front of the car so that it does not hit her instead. One thing I loved in this split second shot, the determination in his unwavering eyes. He did not even blink when he stood there.
Of course, with the speed and the impact, he would only be thrown to the ground. Then she realises that realises that something had happened behind her. When she turns around, she sees that Hongki was on the ground with blood all over his face. The watch that she bought for him then dropped out of his pocket and she rushed to wake him up.
I honestly dislike such endings but they pulled it off pretty well, if you asked me. Hongki‘s acting skills are awesome.
Now if you guys are still unable to comprehend, here’s a little explanation that might make it better. The gears that you see from the starting of the MV were actually gears of time. Somehow, Hongki’s love for her allowed him to rewind time and go back to change the outcome of the presence. That was how he knew what to do at which time and what would happen when. Like when he brought the umbrella on a sunny day because he knew it would rain.
She was probably supposed to die in the accident at the end and he tried to change this outcome. This magical clock would definitely be the one that he had picked up from the shelves but he put it back because he did not want to even have another chance to it.
Three take-aways from this MV.
1. Never blast music in your ears when you are walking alone and ALWAYS look before you cross the roads.
2. NEVER drink and drive. It’s not just your life at stake. It’s everyone else’s as well.
3. LOVE CONQUERS ALL!
Now guys, enjoy the MV again!
If you have not already seen this amazing MV, you should now! The teaser did not really give much idea upon what the MV was going to look like but the title suggests action. Which is exactly what you see in the mv itself!
