WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT NCT U FIRST MV

Two months after the teasers, NCT U’s first MV was released. As I said on my previous post, the MV is basically an updated version of Teaser #2’s backstage happening on the main stage, except for the substitution of Hansol by Doyoung. We also see some marble walls and colorful lights.

The video starts with a scene of the five boys in what looks like a foyer. A forest adorns the corridor in front of them, taking us back to Ten’s scenario and the dreams of living life into the wild. It’s one of the only scenes where they appear together besides the choreography ones, which makes me think the video is not on a chronological order and that this is, instead, a scene from the ending, where they’re already free from their boxes and reunited in a dream.

In Teaser #2, Taeyong was wearing a leather jacket that could be seen as his entrance in the celebrity life he will have by debuting. Here, he dresses himself in stars, a materialization of his dreams.

The ice can also represent a longing to be eternalized, frozen in time, like the celebrities on his suspenders. But before entering the eternal, it’s necessary to burn and scar the world first.

An interesting fact is that Taeyong and Mark helped writing the lyrics (something new to debuts under SM):

In this cold world, I’m closing my eyes

Laying down in bed, covering my ears

Yesterday is today, today is yesterday

I’m only filled with late self-guilt

*Sidenote: The celebrities as clothing patterns were used again in this live, where he’s wearing a jacket full of celebrities’ faces and Doyoung wears a Marilyn Monroe sweater. In this one, Jaehyun wears the suspenders instead.

Following up, we see Doyoung and his mirrored box. Between so many reflections, which one could possibly be the real one? Between so many ways to see oneself, how to know if what we’re seeing is not a dream, or worse, someone else’s dream? Through Doyoung’s perspective of substituting Hansol, the mirror box makes us think: does he sees himself as a substitution too?

I’m a mess, I don’t even know myself,

my future is colored darkly

I’m struggling, coloring this night even blacker

The celebrity world represents a constant look to one’s image and its reflections. It’s not a coincidence that one of the biggest tabloids in the UK is called The Mirror. When third parts follow your every step, it’s hard to separate yourself from their visions about you.

The last one to appear is Mark, in what is the best part of the song. His 3-sided box reminds us of a shrine, where he’s the relic (coincidentally or not, he’s wearing a rosary on his neck). This image once again parallels with the idea of fame, where celebrities are worshipped as passionately as religious figures.

Besides that, even if his walls appear more solid and opaque than the others’, he’s the one who can most easily escape, by descending from his altar as soon as his consciousness allows him.

In the lyrics, he describes the feeling of being in a limbo, not sure of what’s happening, and struggling with the reality/dream dichotomy:

I’m still going somewhere

To an unknown place, to an unknown hall

I’m spending most of my time

In a place that’s uncomfortable even

after several nights, like an explorer

Uh, and that’s a long ass ride

Mindlessly going around until I close my eyes

I’m doubting this moment, between dreams and reality

I have something else to check,

just like you right now, uh

This whole narrative is also mixed with individual shots in black and white or double exposures with various elements, creating yet another layer of meaning. Even if more than one member appeared with a specific element, I did my analysis according to the element that fit the most with their respective boxes:

Mark and the road: As he says, “it’s a long ass ride” and the nocturnal image of a road describes this exploration and restlessness about what awaits him in the future.

Doyoung and the glitch: This scene appears only in his individual teaser, and translates in image the misplacement Doyoung feels. He’s off the air. In the MV, he also appears with the shards of glass, suggesting he broke his own mirror and his perception of himself.

The continuity between the scenes is there, but in a much more subtle way. It’s perceptible that the boys are in rooms of the same house, and it’s implied that they meet at some point, since the initial scene and the choreography ones show them together.

Like a lucid dream, they can see themselves and comprehend what happens, even if everything is too unstable. The warning to open your eyes is still there. The truth is being revealed, may it be the waking up from dreams, or the group’s debut.

Taeyong and the fire: the opposite of all the ice we found in the beginning of the MV. Can also be a suggestion of breaking the lights, which contain heat, and heat is an attribute of fire. Debuting, Taeyong is taking his first steps into scarring the world and leaving his mark.

watch the mv here