This my whole analysis on %% and it's a very long read. I wanted to make this post so I wouldn't forget how I analyzed the music video. I'm not comfortable sharing my Google account so I made this here. Even though my memory fails me over time, I can read this again. It took me a long time to finish this since I was in Korea fangirling and touring around, so I didn't have much time to make this as much as I wanted to. The one I made in my Twitter thread didn't satisfy me either so I went to make this after that. 

%% MV: Click

%% Storytelling Teaser: Click

I'm so sick MV: Click

The theory video I made for I'm so sick: Click

The analysis blog post I made for I'm so sick: Click

Please take out with credits if you're going to use this for something else.

 

%% (Eung Eung, 응응) Analysis

So my premise for the music video of %% (Eung Eung, 응응) is that Apink wanted a partner that is similar to them—in this case to create a partner that is just like them, like a copycat of themselves.

Similar to I'm so sick (1도 없어), the members all acted like they are one character. The only difference between the two music videos is that there is no main character in Eung Eung like Naeun in I'm so sick. 

But first I am going to lay out everything with some explanations along the way, and then put my analysis in with its shared elements with I'm so sick.

The music video of %% starts with an off-centered pink moon and streetlights that are slightly to the right.

The pink factory also has two pairs of lights across to each other in the beginning. The members appear in a glitch within the factory, with Bomi aligning to the center of the door.

The song starts with a drop that mixes with the rest.

We see the members holding a specific body part. These body parts are the things they need to offer to create the perfect partner.

Hayoung is holding a decorated eye.

Naeun is holding a white mannequin hand.

Bomi is holding a glittery ear. 

Chorong is holding the red lips.

Eunji is holding a packet of pink blood.

Namjoo is holding a pair of white sneakers—a symbol for the feet.

The members appear in pairs—Chorong and Eunji, Namjoo and Hayoung, and Bomi and Naeun. There is a reason why the members are paired up this way.

The lips are red because of their thin skin which make the blood vessels a bit more visible. This is why Chorong (lips) is hugging Eunji (blood).

In some parts of the music video, Hayoung (eye) is seated above Namjoo (feet) like how the eyes are located way above the feet in the anatomy of a human body.

Bomi (ear) and Naeun (hand) are paired side by side because the parts they are holding are located on the sides of the body.

Two differently colored lottery balls (pink and yellow) with 응 are turned at the same time by Bomi and Naeun to become %.

Bomi winds two similar white die with 응 to become % as the chorus ends. The two die were on Bomi's table.

After the first chorus, the members put the body parts in their respective places which serve as their offerings.

Hayoung inserts the eye in the garden window.

Chorong places the lips on the altar which has a candle stand with seven lit candles on it.

Naeun puts the hand in the square window.

Bomi inserts the ear in a circle hole.

Namjoo drops the pair of sneakers inside the circle tube.

In the second chorus, the members hold a different set of items that are related to the body parts assigned to them which they also offer in order to achieve the traits of the perfect partner they want.

Eunji (blood) is holding a metal heart-shaped lock to have a partner that is only for her.

Hayoung (eye) is holding a liquid eye vitamin in order to be seen better by the partner they want to make and not just her looks on the outside. The liquid eye vitamin has the same color as one of Hayoung's dresses to emphasize being seen clearly by their ideal partner, like how the garden window pops out in the room as if her partner must look at her only and no one else. The flowers in the garden window share the same color of the dress and the vitamin.

Namjoo (feet) is holding a pocket watch that allows her partner to have all the time to be with her.

Chorong (lips) is holding a pink jar with honey inside for a sweet voice or a voice with nothing but praise for her that comes from her partner. Also, honey is also recognized as a food that does not spoil. So this comes to say as an "endless praise" or "eternal love" for her from the partner.

Bomi (ear) is holding a gun that allows her to get through her partner, or alternatively build holes to the ears in order to hear better. She shoots four bullets which punches four holes on the target. The recorder extends, enclosing Bomi in the middle.

Naeun (hand) is holding a croissant. A croissant is made with cold cuts of butters and other cold ingredients, and is folded in this state several times before it is placed in the oven. Although it is not really the case, there is this belief made by old people where they say "cold hands" are needed to make a croissant so the ingredients will not melt while the bread is being made. So to counter the melting, people make croissants in a fast pace instead. Funnily, Naeun's dress is the same color as butter.

With all the ingredients in, Chorong and Eunji push the cart with the pink liquid to the right.

The members all gather in a table, Chorong and Eunji comes in with the pink liquid again. 

Eunji picks up the heart from the liquid and places it on the suit where the heart is located. Two %s appears as the hearts disappears. The suit rises without a face and body parts.

The suit lines up in the middle of the doors, just like Bomi in the beginning of the music video.

The members disappear in a glitch. The moon is now at the center and the streelights are now distanced properly from the factory. But the two pairs of lights in the pink factory are now gone.

Now that everything is laid out, I'm going back to my premise: Apink wanted to create a partner that is just like them.

In the first verse, Naeun's lines went like this.

겉으로는 마치 아이스크림과 같아 난

I'm like an ice cream on the outside

알록달록 예쁘지만 좀 차가와, yeah

I'm colorful and pretty but a little cold, yeah

The croissant was probably chosen among the other breads to match its cold aspect with that of Naeun being cold like an ice cream. 

Eunji was the only member not seen offering her body part in the music video—the packet of pink blood.

The liquid already has Eunji's blood before the other body parts were dropped in it. That is why there was a scene where there is a drop of pink liquid in the beginning.

Eunji's room was also made of crystal-like walls.

Take note that the members frequently wore a lot of shiny jewels. They also wore glittery or shiny sequenced outfits throughout the music video. The eye, ice cream, and gun were also decorated with gems.

So my take on this is that the blood symbolizes what they are—pretty and colorful like jewels—like the term, 'it's in their blood'. The bubbles from the teaser which looked like cells shares the shape of the jewels.

They were making their own partner in their own image and likeness. 

This can be supported by the fact that Apink's 2019 Season Greetings is entitled Eternal Jewels where they each have their birthstones assigned to them. The story of the music video may have been planned alongside the theme for this year's season greetings.

Also, Eunji is the only one who wears a shiny outfit when they met up at the table which matches her shiny room.

The two items in the music video that were made of glitter are the ear and the heart.

Apink also wore a lot of stars in the music video. Stars are usually viewed as shiny like jewels or can be simply used like the expression, "the star of the show".

After the scene of Eunji holding a heart-shaped lock was shown, Hayoung's scene holding the pink vitamin was flashed. It can be seen that Hayoung is wearing a heart key ring which can be key to the heart lock Eunji has. It could be implying that the key to their heart is the something that they want to see—all of the clues seems to pointing at themselves.

Only Namjoo did not leave her area in the music video. It's quite ironic for Namjoo since she wanted the guy to come with her everywhere, but she only stayed in one place.

Hayoung then joined Namjoo in the garden. The garden is both their ideal place or state, since Hayoung also placed the eye in the garden window.

Namjoo did not want to leave the beautiful garden, nor did Hayoung want to see anything else aside from the garden. They prayed for their ideal partner to come into fruition with some sense of wishing for it to be for eternity (because of the presence of the circle as a symbol). 

The only flower in the music video glitched into Chorong, hinting that they are a part of the garden.

The girls wanted a partner that fits their standards, and that standard was themselves. Bomi said that she was ‘picture perfect’ and was waiting for a ‘perfect frame’—a mold for herself.

완벽한 그림인 걸 that’s who I am

It’s perfect picture, that’s who I am

걸맞는 액잘 기다려 정말

I’m waiting for a perfect frame, really

In some parts of the choreography, they were enclosed in a frame that aligns with the side of the pink factory. This was hinting that they don't want someone that does not fit their standards or someone that was 'out of the box'. It couldn't be just anyone, as emphasized in Naeun's lines in the chorus.

아무나 안돼 %%

It can't be just anyone %% (Eung Eung)

Look at how Bomi and Naeun were present within the square window, how the garden window was also square, how Naeun's window was also square, and how the backgrouond of the scene with the suit was also square.

They wanted the guy to be perfect, just like them. That's why %% came in a pair. During the lottery, Bomi and Naeun drew a yellow % ball—their partner. But the other % ball was pink—Apink's color.

It wasn't similar enough that they wanted it to be identical like the two white % die, which were also in squares. The liquid container is also a square.

The yellow % ball was also turned by Bomi who was assinged with the ear. Because she's the one that can hear %% (Eung Eung) whenever their partner answers when she asks 'will you answer me?' like in her line during the chorus since 응응 (Eung Eung) in Korean slang means 'I got it' or 'I understand'. Another take on this could be 응 is turned into % where the line in the middle represents a sleeping person (응) waking up (%).

대답해 줄래 ? %%

Will you answer me? %% (Eung Eung)

Aside from the ear, Bomi's table has two headsets and a gun. The color of the headset is pink because it is Apink's color. That way, their ideal partner will only listen to what she says. 

The lips has the most power compared to the other body parts since it can speak words. That's why Chorong is involved in the tranation process for the creation of the heart. She has actual control or 'say' on what they should put in the pink liquid and she can dictate what she wants in her ideal partner. 

Chorong and Eunji's clothes were blue when they placed the items in the pink liquid because the blood when it does not have oxygen or when it's coming towards the heart, rhethorically speaking, becomes blue (this isn't true in science because the blood is always red, though it does become darker; this kind of description is usually used in the arts). The picture below shows Chorong and Eunji acting as the bar for % with the round lights.

Chorong has the altar with a candle holder that has seven lit candles. They already offered six body parts, but they needed one more which is life.

The gun was shown in the tranation table from the teaser which gives it as much importance as the heart.

 

Bomi was the one who killed their partner. She shot 4 bullets and created 4 holes on the target.

Bomi and the suit also lined up the center of the door which further explains their connection with each other. 

By the end of the music video, the four lights outside of the factory were gone. Light is usually symbolic of memories, and the number 4 (사, sa) sounds like death in Korean.

When the suit rose up in the ending, it didn't have a face or any body part. They didn't just choose any guy for this. It can't be just anyone, remember? They chose the guy (the one they killed from I'm so sick) and revived him to fit with their standards. But when they did, he wasn't the same anymore since he didn't have a body nor the memories that they had before.

The members' clothes when they all gathered together seems to be the opposite of what they wore or what they represent while in their individual rooms. Chorong wears a dark navy blue color as opposed to her pinkish peach dress, Bomi wears a bright blue top opposite to Apink's pink color, Eunji wears a shiny dress like the walls in her room, Naeun wears a bright red top which represent the opposite of coldness, Namjoo wears a flowery dress like her garden, and Hayoung wears a duller pink compared to her dress in her solo room. This gives a notion that Apink had to give up a part of themselves to form their dream partner.

After all, the ideal partner that they wanted could only come in a dream. The moon in the beginning and at the end indicates that all of it were just a dream. The moon can also represent cycles (phases), lunacy, craziness, or stupidity. Naeun's lines in the chorus also proved this.

나타나 줘 내가 잠든 사이

Please come out while I'm sleeping

The feeling of loneliness from being alone creeps at night that even though they were used to it, they still long for someone. And it repeats like a cycle, since it has already happened to them many times as they said in verse one and bridge.

새까맣게 밤이 되면 가슴이 쿵쿵쿵

When the dark night comes, my heart is pounding

Melancholy 싫지 않은 기분이 Cool cool cool

Melancholy—the feeling I don’t hate, cool cool cool

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몇 번을 해봐도 너무나 힘들었지

Even if I tried many times, it was so hard

전부 다 똑같아 다신 안 해 했었지

Everything was the same, I said I won’t do it again

하지만 외로워 또 기대고 싶어

But I’m lonely, I want to lean on you again

Not to mention it would be crazy to have someone that is just like them in every aspect. Take this lottery ball that symbolizes the guy as the color being yellow—the color of insanity or madness.

Bomi shot two bullets through number 5 and two bullets through number 2. Number 5 sounds like 无 (wu) in Chinese which means nothing, while number 2 could mean present (in past, present, and future), a relationship since it takes two people for couple to exist, or "I" since number 2 in Korean is 이 (i) which when literally converted to its romanized form spells "I". The whole target bore a total of 4 holes, a notion of death. The fact that number 4 was intact could be a implying that the partner is not really dead, but is alive (or in this case, revived but in a new form).

 

The symbol for % is seen throughout the music video. 

The three lines on the factory's entrance matches the line of the bars for the % sign with the lights inside. The members also serve as a horizontal line for the lights outside the factory.

The individual rooms also had lines each—either by light coming from the window or an arrangement of flowers in Namjoo's case. Often times, these lines matches the items assigned to the members.

On other occasions, the members also act as the bar for the % sign.

Shared Elements with I'm so sick (1도 없어)

There were recurring elements with %% and I'm so sick. The first one being Naeun as the one who narrates the story in the storytelling teaser of Eung Eung. She was probably the one who did this because she was the main character in I'm so sick.

Bomi is in the music room for both music videos.

Though not that obvious, water was used not just as a symbol for death and destruction in I'm so sick but was also used as a symbol for life and growth. Hayoung poured water onto a plant in the beginning of the music video as means of growing into what she's supposed to be after the break-up. In %%, water or the pink liquid takes a huge part in creating their ideal partner because it's where they drop the offerings and where the heart was created. But at the creation of their ideal partner, the essence of what they had was gone as they revived his perfect version—his body, their memories—just like in I'm so sick because they killed their partner and tried to erase their memories.

The two die also make an appearance again in %% with % written on them. In I'm so sick, the two die with 2 and 3 on them were burning. Numbers 2 and 3 also made an appearance in Eung Eung as the ball in between the two % balls was 32. Numbers 2 and 3 appeared several times for I'm so sick's music video and teasers.

Number 2 could mean their relationship while number 3 could mean past, present, and future. Adding these together we get 5 that sounds like 无 (wu) in Chinese, which means nothing (as pointed out by someone as it could be tied to the Korean title of I'm so sick, 1도 없어, which literally means nothing at all). Numbers 5 and 3 were also punched in pairs on the target in Eung Eung. Number 4 wasn't hit in the target. In Chorong's room, there were also four candle stands with five lit candles each.

Also as mentioned before, shiny jewels were present throughout the music video of Eung Eung, either donned by the members or attached to their symbolic items. It's also noted that jewels were found in the chest Hayoung had opened in I'm so sick. While in Eung Eung, Eunji was in the shiny room with heart lock and Hayoung was wearing a heart ring.

That's it. It took me a while to finish this but I had fun. The plot of the music video was outright strange and eerie. I'll add to this post if I see more. Knowing Apink had so much work put in this makes me so proud. If you enjoyed the music video and this blog post, better stream %%!

 

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Photo scanned by tfohayoung.

 

This blog post by Myeon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.