B.A.P is back with their 6th single album ‘Rose’ which has already reached an impressive sixth place on the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart!
With the release of their title track MV ‘Wake Me Up’ we get to see all the members together for the first time since Bang Yong Guk took time off for their “Skydive” promotions.
‘Wake Me Up’ has a very consistent “4/4 boy band” beat, but that doesn’t stop the song from maintaining a unique, and rather dark presence that only B.A.P can achieve without feeling like they’ve gone too far. The whole song has a constant heavy drum mix as its main focus, with the group’s signature clean, clear vocals and hard-hitting rap breaks. The synthesized “ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh” vocals in the second half of the song are hard to keep off of your tongue. The song has a very dark, intense feeling to it that’s nearly unnerving, but the seraphic vocals balance it out and give it an ethereal sound with the rock components keeping it down to Earth.
The music video is one of the most truly symbolic music videos the K-Pop scene has experienced in a long time, not just for how interesting the camera angles are or what imagery they used, but for the complex messages the video has about interpersonal and societal movement.
Right away you can tell that each member correlates to one of the characters who are defining different emotional burdens. The characters try to deal with their problems and be as “normal” as possible, trying to hide their differences, which is something almost every human being is taught to do – the actors portraying these characters aren’t Korean, but come from varied backgrounds, which is extremely important to the portrayal of every society teaching us to hide our emotions. They all go to extreme measures to rid themselves of their struggling, but ultimately they each have an utter break down in their moments of self-reflection.
After each of these scenes plays out, there is a man holding a sign that says “EMOTION REVOLUTION” with the middle of revolution spelled backwards and in red paint to highlight “LOVE.” He’s trying to start a movement of expressing your emotions and no one will listen to him, he ends up breaking apart the car behind him that has the same message painted all over it, signifying an emotional collapse (with stunning acting) because he’s the only person fighting for change.
The members have subtly been broadcasting messages but here we see each of them clearly trying to join in and start the revolution. Once they’re all seen on the TV screens in the desolate area where the man with the sign is, each of the damaged characters from the earlier scenes get a rose – symbolizing resolution. People are finally listening to each other and have a riot of emotional freedom. The video ends with each member getting a rose, and it’s noteworthy that Yong Guk, who wasn’t able to participate in ‘Skydive’ because he was diagnosed with Panic Disorder, is the last one to get his rose of emotional freedom. The video is strikingly poignant and definitely worth watching.
What did you think of the song and music video? Let us know about it below!
