The Kaleidoscopic Filmmaking in Korean Music Videos

Written by: Kyle Iu When listening to music, there comes a synthetic development that coordinates visual processes. The Korean music video industry has risen to become a key component alongside hit Kpop songs. Multiple social platforms, such as Youtube and Instagram, have helped globally promote artists’ music through visually intriguing music videos. Kpop music videos have embraced a large global spectrum that has a “flamboyant mixing of classical and kitschy, old and new, foreign and local elements” (Kim 2018, 96) that allow artists to travel across cultural borders. Suk-Young Kim identifies this trend as a “kaleidoscope” and suggests that this is the “K” in Kpop rather than “Korean”. However, most of these music videos lack the efficacy of liveness and realistic performance. “Twinkle” by TaeTiSeo (a branch group from Girls Generation) and “Who You?” by G-Dragon (a popular member of BigBang) are Youtube MV’s that were analyzed by Suk-Young Kim to have attained the “liveness” that no other Kpop music videos possess. Consequently, I argue that IU’s MV in her music video “Palette” shares three key characteristics: the expression of personal items, mundane clothing, and intertextuality of previous songs. By choosing to analyze these three components, I attempt to represent IU’s conscious efforts of “liveness”.

Throughout the music video, IU displays several items that she owns personally. Similar to G-Dragon’s “Who You?” MV, he exposes a vast array of personal items such as his car, skateboard, and even his toilet. What was supposed to be private is now openly displayed to the fans. IU’s items have now become assets that symbolizes her validation of her identity by claiming ownership of herself with regaining confidence. By attaining this, she portrays realism in her music video. IU also binds scenes of her personal items with the lyrics “I like this/ I am truly fine”. In doing so, she creates a declarative statement of individualism and contentment.

In several scenes, it is clear you can see the words “Dlwlrma,” which is actually IU’s Instagram username. This is her major social media platform that she uses to connect with her fans. The constant usage of Instagram forums in her music video establishes that this is her speaking to her fans. From the first lyric, she says “This is a secret” (Korean translation) and explains how she displays an internal conversation with her audience. By connecting with her fanbase, she produces a conceptual live interaction with her fans that simulates her real-self on online social platforms.

In some scenes, IU is shown to be wearing what would be considered as “mundane clothing”. This consists of a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans. As she dances freely in her casual clothing, she characterizes a joyful side to her non-expressive facial expressions. Suk-Young Kim also describes G-Dragon to be wearing mundane clothing in an attempt to “accentuate in contrast to his outlandish stage costumes” (Kim 2018, 118). Both IU and G-Dragon illustrate a sort of realism to their MV’s by simply wearing what they would prefer to wear at home. IU is also shown to be wearing her outfit from her MV “Good Day”. This is a throwback to her breakout single in 2011. IU is expressing intertextuality by contrasting her cute and immature past with her mature and content present self. This also demonstrates a distinction between her appearance in public versus in private.

Palette is ultimately an important representation of how Korean artists can express all personal sides to their audience, revealing the good, the bad, the exciting, and the boring aspects in their heads. Validating her identity through personal items, mundane clothing, and intertextual references, it is clearly shown that IU is confirming realism in her daily life. Additionally, Palette is an MV that fully manifests what it is to truly exhibit “liveness” in modern Korean music videos.

Bibliography:

Kim, Suk-Young. K-pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018.