First off, can I just say: ASDFGHJKL. I first saw the teaser, and literally, was drawn in so much that I couldn't wait for the MV and just kept watching the teaser on loop for like three days or so. And when the MV came out, I nearly passed out because I couldn't breathe (I am not exaggerating here)!
Now, onto the real review!
The MV starts out with a slightly haunting instrumental and Yongguk running through a deserted area with the bones of some massive creature sticking out of the ground. Because the instrumental was different from the one in the teaser, I thought that maybe they'd just teased us with an instrumental that wasn't from "1004." And when Yongguk was running in such an exasperated manner, I thought the song would be a downbeat, depressing ballad of some sort. And to be honest, those bones sticking out of the ground were just plain creepy to me, but held no sort of significance to me at first.
Then, the MV moved onto Daehyun in the living room with all of the antique-like objects, all prim and shiny. And that's when the actual instrumental started.
Oh my lord, that instrumental is absolutely beautiful! Immediately after hearing it (in the teaser and in the MV), I knew this would probably be literally my favorite song of the year (ask Krispy and Nikki, I already wanted B.A.P. to win best song, album, and artist of the year because of that instrumental, which is saying something). I hadn't even heard the vocals or raps yet, and I already knew I would love it. There was a great balance between the slower, gentler parts of the song and the intense, passionate parts, enhancing the song and bringing the appeal up. I think a wide range of people will find at least one part of this song they like.
Back to the actual MV, the slow motion affect really played well into this song. It matched the theme of the song, as well as the scenes each member was in, giving the overall MV a melancholic, sentimental mood. Himchan and Daehyun seem to be in the same room, but at different times. Yongguk is obviously in that gray desert with the bones protruding from the ground. Youngjae is in a mirror maze; Zelo's at an old amusement park; and Jongup's in front of a stone wall with an angel's wings engraved upon it.
Daehyun opened up the vocals to the piece, and his voice is so soft and gentle that it was as if he was afraid to sing the line too harshly. Yongguk then says a quick line in his husky voice, and that jumpstarts the passionate electric guitar. During this part in the instrumental, Jongup and Zelo break into a quick dance sequence which is just breathtaking! They're moves are so sharp and clean, they just make me crave for a dance version. The only down side to that one dance break was the Zelo, because of his long legs, looked as if he was slacking in terms of the dance moves when he really wasn't. The reason is because, since Jongup is relatively shorter than Zelo, it gives the allusion of Zelo not bending his legs enough or jumping high enough. That's where the choreographer should've worked out the uneven kinks. Otherwise, amazing dance intro! Continuing quickly with the choreography here, I think the choreographer really heard the music not only with his/her ears but with his/her heart because the dance to this piece (from what little I've seen) just seems to fit the song so well, and helps with the breathtaking quality of the MV. The members execute each move well (but again, because Zelo is so much taller, I think the choreographer should've warned him to make his jumps higher or bend his knees more), and they know exactly when to go all out, and when to tone it down. All of them were fairly in sync. But of course, there's always that one funny dance move in every music video, and I think that was during one of Yongguk's intense raps where basically every body was thrusting their hips in an awkward fashion. Let's just say, that wasn't one of my favorite dance moves.
Now I'll just go through the MV sort of out of order and a bit more broadly here and there. There was so much quiet, hidden passion emitting from the MV that I was so speechless at first. I had no idea how I was going to express everything through a review, but I'll try to be as precise as possible! The vocals and raps were so beautiful, both gentle and passionate, evenly balanced throughout the song. Every lyric, every line was so enchanting, so hauntingly perfect, it was like I was under a trance while listening. You could feel the passion each member expressed and the song was so powerful, so touching that I nearly cried just listening to it (let's not talk about how I sobbed like a baby after focusing more on the MV rather than the vocals and raps).
Everything in this MV is basically chocked full of symbolism. In each scenario, the love that once existed for each member has disappeared, and their desperately trying to find it, look for it, grasp it, but they can't. Below is just my interpretation. Some people might have different interpretations and find a different story within the MV, but this is how I analyzed it.
For Daehyun, he looks around at all of the trinkets in the living room, hoping for a sign of his love, a souvenir to help him find and retrieve his love again. Although you may think that the silver piece he holds towards the end and the knocked over merry go round toy may be the most important items, it is actual the sand dial (timer... thing) that holds the most significance in his scene, because the silver piece appears in Yongguk's scene, and the merry go round is in Zelo's scene. However, that also shows a form of connection between these three members. The sand dial has stopped flowing, and no matter how much Daehyun stares at it, turns and flips it, he knows that his love has stopped, and that the sand in the dial just pours around without a meaning, without any certain time being kept. This also cross the bridge between Daehyun and Yongguk and Zelo. The time has stopped for Yongguk and Zelo; they can't turn back the time, and they can't move forward to try to find the love they've lost. Basically, their romances have all come to a stop in time.
In Yongguk's scene, he's in an empty desert, accompanied by the protruding bones in the ground and his shovel. And he constantly digs around, creating dirt crater after dirt crater. He basically keeps digging, despite his exhaustion, looking for a remnant of his love. Frustratedly, he continues until he finds the silver figurine in the dirt. Yet, when he finds it, he doesn't rejoice. He collapses in the dirt, staring up at the sky, with a very resigned look on his face. It's as if, although he's found a symbol of their love, he's also found the confirmation that, yes, it's all over. This scene is very bittersweet, as it shows that he has strived to find such a valued piece, but knows that it will only bring him heartbreak.
Himchan is in the same room as Daehyun, though filmed at different times, and Himchan focuses on the film roll. He plays it and watches it throughout the MV, and the film is a reminder of his love for the girl, their romance. Their story plays out on the film roll and he watches it, at first happy to be reminded of the times, but then becomes bitter, hurt, and desperate to leave it behind. After watching half way through the film, he looks for something in the room, opening drawers and such. We don't find out till later that it's a gun. Towards the end, he holds the gun towards the mirror, but his reflection has his gun pointed at his head. This symbolizes that he wants to kill the part of him that was once happy, and the part of him that was happy is his reflection. His reflection holds a gun to his own head, and this shows that when he kills his happiness, it will kill him (his soul). There are tears in his eyes because he knows that once he kills that part of himself, it'll be gone forever, and he'll walk around as basically a body without a soul, without a spirit. His hesitance shows that he still values the memories, and that he knows he'll just basically become an empty shell afterwards. But in that last moment, there's a "do or die" feeling running through him, and he can't bear to hold those memories because he feels as if they're now hurting him more than they're doing any good for him, and he shoots, killing his happiness and his soul.
Youngjae is in a mirror maze, looking for the girl who holds his love. But when he thinks he's found her, he just slams into a mirror, facing himself, and it's an endless search all over again. The mirror maze is probably the most symbolic part of this MV. It shows that, no matter where he thinks he'll find love again, it'll never be the real love he craves that he lost. Every time he thinks he loves someone, it'll disappear and never prove to be the same as the love he had for the first girl, the angel that's left him. And when he finally punches the mirror, piercing his own skin, it's like a thrust into reality, and he knows that he can't continue on. He gives up on trying to find another love, but knows that he won't even be able to experience his first love again.
Jongup stands in front of a wall with angel wing engravings. On the other side is light, which represents his angel. And he's trying to find a way through the walls. The wings represent the angel that he'll find (his love) behind the wall. He eventually has to smash through the wall, and break the wing engraving just to see her. This represents him having to tear down his love for her in order to simply catch a glimpse of her. The second twist here is that, once he breaks through, he'll see the light, but it'll fade, representing how, once he sees her again, she'll leave him and disappear, rendering his work useless. The hole he creates in the wall is her escape from his life completely.
Zelo is in an amusement park, specifically in font of the merry go round. Though this scene doesn't have as many hidden messages, it still relates to the central theme of lost love. The merry go round reminds him the most of his love, and he tries to relive it by starting up the merry go round. There are flashbacks of him with the girl, and shows that this was probably one of the last and most memorable places he saw her. When the merry go round refuses to start, his heart breaks because he knows he can't grasp his love again and that his romance is now as dead as the merry go round.
That is basically my interpretation of each scene (though I had to try and condense them all because this is just getting way too long). All of them had such heart breaking stories that were expressed. Perhaps one of the most deep and meaningful MVs I've ever watched, I was literally swamped in the symbolism. And I loved all of it. Although it was so heart wrenching and pain staking, B.A.P. was successful in expressing the passion and loss through their acting, singing, rapping, and dancing. "1004 (Angel)" is a huge step away from B.A.P.'s previous work, but it's just as amazing and definitely worth it to check it out.
Well, this is definitely getting way too long, but it's basically a summary (only a summary o-o) of my interpretations and opinions of the MV, song, and brief dance clips. Again, this is all just my own opinions and interpretations, and I'm not forcing anyone to accept them. If you guys want to add to what I've already said, please feel free to comment down below! Hope you all loved the MV and song just as much as I did! Thanks for reading my review and I'll see you guys in my next post!
-Cherry
awesome interpretation
ReplyDeleteenjoyed reading it~