We’ve finally reached the last month of the year, there’s been so much choice in excellent songs coming from the K-pop music industry in 2015! To start off December, we’ll be looking at 15&’s Park Jimin with her single ‘Hopeless Love’ which was released earlier on in April!
If you haven’t already, give the song a listen!
Thoughts on the Song
You know when you only listen to the first few seconds of a song but you instantly like it? That’s the case when I came across this song, I’m not usually a fan of slow paced music but this was a real gem to find. For those who aren’t familiar with the one half of the JYP duo 15&, she found success and recognition through K-pop Star Season 1 as the winner!
Park Jimin’s vocal performance in the song is enough to induce a spine-tingling sensation as she croons over the unfortunate situation of her feelings not being reciprocated. The backing music is soothing and calm in contrast with her strong voice filled to the brim with utter and desperate yearning.
‘Your eyes that are looking at me aren’t the same as mine’.
‘It’s so hard for me because I love you so much’.
‘It hurts to hear that we’re just friends’.
‘I stand out of the line I’ll never cross’.
‘Though it hurts I just can’t turn away’.
‘This hopeless love only hurts’.
The title of the song most certainly matches with the mood and lyrics, it is in essence a tragic one sided love. It is implied that Jimin has strong feelings for this person yet despite the fact that he might not return them, she’ll bite her tongue and suppress her emotions however much this may hurt her. Even if she cannot be with him, she would rather be his friend than not have him in her life. It’s a hopeless love, indeed.
Thoughts on the Music Video
I would say that the style for this MV is quite simplistic, it gives the song an extra boost of background information. The music video paints the picture of Jimin finding herself in a position where she’s fallen for a close friend. The emptiness of the surroundings around the JYP artist could be symbolic of how alone she feels even if she’s in the company of others. However, it seems that the love story was not meant to be with the introduction of a second girl – presumably part of the friendship group.
It’s made apparent that she has quickly become the third wheel of the group, watching on in angst as her person she loves dearly falling for another person that is also important to her. Yet despite the internal turmoil raging within her, she still manages to put on a brave face as she carries on as normal, as if the events going on right in front of her eyes doesn’t ease her heart breaking any less. At the closing sequence, it’s seen that the ribbon that was attached to her wrist had been removed and looked as if she was conflicted between letting down or holding on, which could highlight her mixed feelings. It’s left unknown whether she let go of her one sided love or if she found she cannot bring herself to stop loving the person.
