The Crunchy Music Video for Onew's 'Tough Love'

One thing that draws me to kpop as a genre is the slickness and spectacle of artistic vision that often comes through in the meticulous design of its performances and music videos and promotional materials more broadly. The teams of creative people - graphic designers, choreographers, stylists, photographers, etc - are right on the pulse of very flashy, experimental, and tightly coordinated style to a sort of mechanised degree that tends to go far beyond Western artist expectations, at least on average. The industry is markedly exacting, and while there is much to be said about the rigorous and exploitative industry and its disastrous effects on its talent, there is also, when it comes to its wider employees, an expansive and interesting focus on the art direction of it all.

Take the music video for Onew's 'Tough Love', released on the 9th of March. The style of it shifts in some really fun, tactile ways throughout. We see shots of Onew in staccato, playful stop motion. He's in a cave. Then we see a shot of him dragging his big rock up the slope of the cave, embellished with hand-drawn creepy crawly animations - Tim Burton style.

Later, as the journey continues, Onew runs through collages of photos that bloom like stars in spacey blue tones. There's a humour to this. Star Trek-esque landscapes go by.

And finally, he's outside, gripping a ball. The big rock he was dragging along has worn away into this perfect white ball, and he may finally rest. He drops his ball and it falls off a cliff. Such as balls do. The cycle begins again. The ball cycle.

There's a joyous energy to the song - it's very much a "you can do it" upbeat anthem, and so the hardship of this rock-dragging concept is a bit tongue-in-cheek, a bit cartoony. Onew smiles with mad cheerfulness. He has his ball, and you could have your ball too.

I love the rapid, changing visuals and how they fit together overall. The entire video feels collage-y. We get a change in aspect ratio, and we see Onew leap through split-screens and fireworks. Life is okay, the song tells us. Stuff just happens, says the video.

So true.