Much to the delight of us overseas K-Pop fans, agencies and idols are becoming more adventurous with their music videos. This means that we’re seeing a lot of videos being filmed overseas in places like Canada, LA and even London!
London
CN Blue started off the “London music video” trend with their video for I’m Sorry. This music video shows the boys getting upset within the streets of London and singing on a rooftop, with the telltale signs of the Houses of Parliament and the famous red buses.
Next, we have the famous Super Junior sub-unit Donghae and Eunhyuk who somehow managed to secretly film their music video for Still You in central London. This video puts London and it’s citizens in a much better light than CN Blue‘s did. The locals are shown and warm, friendly and welcoming and the director has made good use of the landmarks, getting beautiful shots of them.
Hyolyn follows short after. Not only did she film her music video for Lonely in London, but she also did her solo album photo book and cover here. Although it does looks really pretty, the music video has nothing much to it. Hyolyn look extremely stylish whilst running around London streets.
Lastly, the most recent London based K-Pop music video was G-Dragon‘s Crooked! With all of the filming done in Shoreditch, fans had no trouble finding him once news got out about his activities here. Some even having the chance to be in the video itself! The edgy look of Shoreditch streets allows G-Dragon to almost get away with being a complete rebel, until he cracks at the end. We don’t see any landmarks or stereotypical London scenes, which is a nice change.
Europe
Moving on to K-Pop videos shot in Europe, there aren’t many.
Vixx kicked off the Europe leg of their global showcase in Stockholm, Sweden. Given this is an extremely beautiful place, it looks like they couldn’t resist the temptation to film their music video for Only U there. It’s a very simple music video, but it shows Stockholm off at it’s best.
So it looks like there’s a lot of K-Pop music videos filmed in Europe, right? This is nothing compared to the US. The group who can take most of the blame for this is Big Bang, having filmed three music videos in the states. As K-Pop videos do generally have an expensive look, a popular location in the US to film is Las Vegas. This allows the idols to look sexy in their designer clothes, champagne and shiny cars.
Las Vegas
Big Bang‘s Tonight was quite cleverly filmed in Las Vegas. The video shows the usual storyline of a break up, people getting upset etc. The boys are seen driving expensive cars, wearing crazy clothes and we can’t forget – Daesung‘s bed scene. It’s a complicated video to follow, but it’s different and gained Big Bang a lot of success for their album.
Another video filmed in Las Vegas was Sistar‘s Alone. In my opinion, they could have done the same sort of thing in Korea. I feel that they travelled all the way to Las Vegas but didn’t put it to any good use as there’s so much footage done in a studio.
Lastly, there’s B.A.P‘s Hurricane. A slightly crazier video with no real storyline. The members are seen dancing around in hotels, streets, etc meaning that unlike Sistar‘s video, it’s putting the location to good use.
New York
The next two videos were filmed at around the same area and time period for Big Bang‘s Alive comeback.
Blue is based on a rooftop and loosely tells a story of a break up, then letting the girl go. The whole video has a slight blue tint onto it to match the title of the song. This is a meaningful video which goes well with the song.
On the other hand, Bad Boy is more about the members showing off their skills and fashion. It doesn’t have much of a story but at the same time it’s still good to watch.
California
Infinite had managed to work their way into California and film their Destiny music video in the Universal Studios! This is a location which was used for films such as Spiderman and Tranformers, so the budget for this video must have been pretty big. The video is upbeat and exciting, to match the song with some impressive choreography going on too!
Los Angeles
After stopping off here for their world tour, 2NE1 decided to film their music video for Happy in LA. This is an extremely bright and colourful video which showcases Jeremy Scott‘s clothes (as well as a cameo from him at the end). The video matches the theme of being happy, but not so much the sad song about a breakup. It also features some artwork from Korean artist Mina Kwon who is known for working closely with Pharrell, G-Dragon and Taeyang.
Hawaii
Sistar‘s bubbly song Loving U was filmed in Hawaii, to show off the girls enjoying what the place has to offer. It includes them playing on the beach, in the ocean, swimming, dancing etc. The video itself is very sunny and happy, which allows us to see the girls just letting go and having fun.
Canada
A slightly darker video, Akdong Musician (AKMU)’s Melted was shot in Canada. Although it doesn’t feature AKMU themselves, the video really compliments the song and gives a meaningful storyline that deals with society and how we treat each other. The song looks at the adult world and wonders why it must be so cold, which is exactly what the video shows from the boy’s point of view.
Which one was your favourite? Let us know in the comments below!
