And now to shake things up a little bit…A pretty, sad, song with a WTF video. I wrote the Recap separately from the rest of the review so pardon any flow mishaps.

 

Recap:

*Little change this time. I watched up to the shoving and then realized that something seemed off. Little did I know. I kind of wanted to comment as I watched for the first time so…*

Our lead is sitting at his desk? Drafting table? Working on some new designs, we pan over to a girl sitting on the bed looking somewhat bored. (By the way, who is she? I mean I am seeing a lot of comments that she is the chick from voodoo but she looks like Ilhoon to me so I feel like she is the chick from BTS Boy in Luv.) She gets up and walks around a little before coming to look at what Leo is working on and they are seriously cute together and playful while playing a little game of keep away with his design. At least until Leo shoves her to the floor. Which…this is not being played off as a first time thing, guys. The way this girl acts after that is definitely the way someone who has been shoved around by her boyfriend frequently acts. This worries me immediately. He does look like he regrets it, though.

That is a really pretty dress. I want that dress. And those are pills…crap.

Now, what the hell is in that box that brought out the beast in our little lion? (This girl is weirdly understanding about his little episodes, huh)

And now we are back to the cute and don’t they look precious all curled up together. She is really pretty. And he looks a little disturbed. Also there is a lot of flashing thoughts in this MV that I am only now noticing. I have a sense of foreboding creeping into my veins now. Aw, with the hand on her face. You will not distract me from the bad feeling…and there we go again.

(Seriously, this girl looks like Ilhoon, are they related somehow?)

Leo begins to have a fit, which she appears used to, and she hugs him to calm him down. He looks…off.

Now he is sewing and, okay, yeah these are flash backs, definitely. Is her hair darker or is this a different girl?

Different girl. Definitely different girl. Uh oh. Bad feeling back.

Oh no, she left him. On some sort of occasion, too. He had the flowers and the present and was looking all fine in his suit. Is this the box new chick was looking at? Why does he still have that out? This is not looking good.

Why is everything tinged yellow? He looks so distraught. And here comes the rage. Wait, did Ilhoon leave him too? Is that what is happening here? Man, don’t go trashing the place. Seriously, a lot of girls would pay good money for those dresses.

Oh, good Ilhoon was just in the other room. Wait no, not good. This does not feel good. Why?

So, she is really trying to comfort Leo here, she definitely knows that something is up with him. Leo is sewing again. He finished the dress. And now drugs? Oh man. This isn’t going to be one of those MV’s, right? Like the one with the like five different groups singing and the suicidal girl? What was that called again? Please no.

Oh god damnit he looks three miles south of mentally sound right now and the yellow tint is back. Please stop looking at the dress like that, man. And that is blood. Oh man.

Leo…why are you snuggling that dress and what the hell are you holding?

Oh, other room was the bathroom and…. That’s a hand. I was wrong, this is an “Inconvenient Truth” MV, isn’t it? Did he kill her?

Please let those be rose petals, please let those be…and that is a heart. A heart in a jar.

Jesus, he has a whole trophy case?!?! Is he a serial killer?

Wait…wait, no. Okay, it’s like a memorial to her. Pictures and letters and stuff…and her heart.

More yellow tinge???? Isn’t it over yet?

…

…

…

He turned her into a mannequin for her own dress.

…

…

 A+ dead chick makeup, team. Also, we didn’t need the change of clothing and hair style to denote the fact the Leo has gone cuckoo for coco puffs and just wacked his GF and stuffed her.

NO! Okay, no! You cannot just make him a terrifying GF stuffer and then end on his pretty face and soft singing. That is not okay.

…

WTF just happened? I need to watch this again.

MV:

Okay, so after watching this about twenty times (with and without subs) I have come to the conclusion that I do, in fact, like this MV. It felt a little out of left field initially but I can actually get how they matched it to the lyrics. It is really quite pretty to look at as well. The muted palate and the black and white flashbacks provide just enough definition to the different scenes without losing subtlety, which is definitely necessary here for the viewer to see the hairsbreadth line between the past and present that is driving Leo to the edge. The act was solid, particularly on the girl’s side, though Leo could have used a little more contrast between his happy and sad modes. The scene where they were playing around just before the shove was the best acted for him and it really showcased the difference between him in the now and him stuck in the past. There could have been more of that in there instead of how it sort of stagnated on his brooding. Of course, there is only so much time in an MV so really exploring that dichotomy was never going to happen in full.

I’m not entirely sure why they chose this concept but it does work for the song when you dig deeper into it. The thing of it is, I feel like they may have chosen to pander to Vixx’s darker image and Leo stoic nature rather than trying to push him outside of his boundaries. Based on the pre-shoving scene I’d say he could have handled a less dark MV without issue. I say this because the MV was planned around him. This isn’t one of those situations where they have a concept and fit in an actor for the MV, Leo was the actor and the singer from step one. He was always part of the equation.

Don’t get me wrong; Leo (and all of Vixx) does darker concepts really well. They are one of the very few groups that manage to really pull it off so I can understand directors playing with that in MVs. I can also understand the power of a WTF moment, like murderous GF-stuffer Leo, for making a video stand out but, I think that it wasn’t really…necessary. I personally think that taking a different route for his mental breakdown (Like say, her accepting him and loving him, and taking care of him despite of how messed up he feels inside. Which she does, obviously, and he lets her. The murder was sort of just there.)

In all honesty, it felt like they had a solid MV, chopped off the last minute and said “You know what would be awesome? GF-stuffing! Stylists, we are going to need some grey-toned powder and some contouring brushes. Oh and let’s pull a Hyde on Leo again.” It made for a bang and could fit the lyrics, in its own special way, but ultimately I would have been more shocked if it didn’t end in someone dying.

This is starting to become a trend in Kpop, not a constant one but one that pops up out of nowhere on occasion so that we suddenly have people dying all over the place. Most of the time the song is equally as sad as the MV, though. This time the contrast was a bit jarring even if it did work well in the end. I think that it made more sense once I watched a subbed version on the MV so that the lyrics synced to what I was seeing. Simply reading the lyrics and then watching the MV confused me more than anything else.

Song:

This is such a pretty song. I love Lyn’s voice so much and Leo’s voice really complemented hers. I do have to say, though, her voice definitely stood out to me more. Not that he doesn’t sound great, he does, it’s just that Lyn sounds so fantastic in this that she overshadows him a bit. It really only works, though, because they both have such nice voices; someone with less vocal strength would be crushed in this song.

This song really gives my OST feelings. Like one of those really strong ones that make you burst out into tears when the end credits of the movie comes on? Yeah, those kinds. Also, I feel like if it was is should be for something animated (I don’t know why but it sounds like one of those songs in a Disney movie or a musical that would have the main characters just sort of singing out all their feelings and then they all pretend it never happened). I mean all this in the best possible way. Seriously, this song is fantastic!

The Lyrics are really pretty, too. And sad. So sad. But in a hopeful way and it’s just a really gorgeous love song that breaks your heart and that glues it back together. When I watched a lyrics video for the first time I had such a broken sort of smile because it leaves you in this sort of devastated/happy fog and I just can’t with this song. I’m done. It’s perfect. Something just got knocked off of my top twenty list again. (I should really re-evaluate that, maybe on here)

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I liked it. Loved the song and enjoyed the MV despite my issues with it. It is really interesting to me how they made the song hold two meanings, one darker and the other more hopeful. I have it on two playlists that I use for writing Hope Springs Eternal and Darker Times and it works for both, which I like in a song.

What do you think?