This week MV Monday looks at the return of solo artist John Park with his single album U. John teamed up with the head of South Korean production team Joombas Music Group, Hyuk Shin, also responsible for Justin Bieber’s One Less Lonely Girl, to combine his soulful sound with a British Pop vibe.
U takes the catchiness of Baby, and the soulfulness of Alcohol, to capture a dramatic, soulful, and catchy track with vibes of strong western vocalists such as those from Coldplay, OneRepublic, and John Newman.
The track is about an obsessive love, that may not necessarily be reciprocated, and the mv certainly portrays this.
Actors in the U mv include popular Korea’s Next Top Model contestant Bang Tae Eun. The visual includes a strong narrative that supports the theme within the vocals.
Bang Tae Eun secretly watches the girl he loves, going as far as secretly entering her bedroom and recording her as she sleeps. We quickly learn he has rendered the girl unconscious to kidnap her, his intentions after that never realised. All the while John is present in the same room.
The mv narrative can be viewed in two ways. John could represent the conscience of Bang Tae Eun, watching his actions, ever present, and judging, a constant guilt that leads him to his own conclusion.
Alternatively Bang Tae Eun could be a projection of John, living out his thought, discovering where they’d lead.
Both work, though I prefer the first, particularly as Bang acknowledges the presence of John shortly before submitting to his self punishment.
John doesn’t plan to promote U on music shows, so that he can keep the idea of the obsessive love being unheard, or ignored.
Instead videos such as his MelOn Playlist from 1theK in which John explains the songs he loves, and is inspired by, serve to promote his comeback.
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