Analyzing TXT's 0X1=LOVESONG Japanese ver. M/V (2 Viewers)

Juniverse · 12 November 2021

Hi fellow MOAs

Today (tonight lol) I'm gonna break down and analyze TXT's mv for the Japanese version of Lovesong.

Content warnings are mentions of depression, psychiatric disorders, and abusive homes.

The first thing I want to get into is the color palette. The video starts out with an extremely dark tone as Taehyun begins to listen to music. The color is like, sephia? But if someone turned up the saturation or contrast. It feeds into the sort of empty feeling of the start of the video.

Everything switches as the video cuts to Yeonjun, falling through the air. The color palette here is also important. It is much brighter than Taehyun's situation, and is pretty reminiscent of their Blue Hour mv. It cuts to Yeonjun again, this time showing him as he was in the other Lovesong mv, again with a darker palette. A user on Reddit suggested he may be dealing with a form of maladaptive daydreaming. Maladaptive daydreaming is, by definition, a psychiatric condition involving intense daydreaming that distracts a person from their real life. This could be supported by the colors. The intense rush of bright colors followed quickly by the burst of dark colors, could be perceived as falling back into reality. I would like to note, that the colors are familiar to the Blue Hour mv, which was all about escaping. While we don't know what is causing Yeonjun's condition, it's easy to infer based on his music video storyline, in which he is a possibly depressed young adult living in a neglectful/abusive home.

The next scene reveals Beomgyu. He appears to be injured, and the cold palette gives off a dark vibe. He appears to have the same injuries he sustained in the Loser=Lover music video. Next is Kai, and the scene is in the same tone as Beomgyu's part. I honestly can't make any inferences about the plastic bottles nor the bathtub in which he is laying. The next scene is Yeonjun, followed by Soobin standing between two large buildings. I don't know what could really be inferred here, but it might be important to note this could be seen as someone with no way out, or perhaps he is being held back from something.

The next shot is Taehyun, in the same odd, over-saturated sephia classroom. He is wearing what appear to be handmade wings. I feel like this is representing his need to escape, or to be free from whatever his current situation is. Also, I noticed the classroom is completely torn apart. Make of that what you will.

Now, the members are all together, and they seem to be in the same classroom that Taehyun was just in. Despite being in the same location, the palette has completely changed, it's dark and cold like Yeonjun and Beomgyu's individual scenes. They're covered in blood, but I don't think it represents something physical. I think it gives off more of an emotional concept. Something in the boys' lives is gone. Perhaps they are leaving their youth behind and realizing the world isn't always fun and sometimes people are stuck in situations that they aren't happy in/are unable to control.

Some more individual shots are revealed. Scenes show them all falling through the air at some point. The whole vibe this music video is giving off is how the boys are coping/trying to escape from their life situations. We have Yeonjun and Beomgyu with bad home lives. Taehyun's situation isn't clear but it's obvious he's trying hard to leave behind...something. Kai seems to be right in the middle of all this, but unable to control anything (?) and Soobin, I can't tell. Maybe he is meant to represent another way in which humans cope. Or perhaps to show a different side than what the rest of the members are currently going through.

Now we're at the last parts of the music video. We have some pretty meteors (which I learned are in direct reference to the Japanese movie Your Name) and the members seem to be enthralled. The palette is lighter, almost hopeful. As if the members may finally be saved. Then, something changes and the boys are more hopeless than ever. The video shows them in various agonized states, interposed with more group shots. The colors of the video are slowly darkening. More falling shots. Kai seems to be trying to touch the meteors. They are still falling, and the clips are getting shorter and more frequently cut with the boys screaming. The video ends with a student's uniform lying on the floor of the broken classroom.

I'm going to sum this up with something I noticed. In the original Lovesong mv, whenever the boys are together, the video's palette becomes brighter and happier. But when they are performing together in this one, the colors of the video get darker. And, except for the shots of them performing together, they are completely alone, unlike in the Korean version's music video. This could represent the fact that they are growing up, they are realizing they can't stay children forever. Life is requiring them to be alone, and they can't even find solace within one another.

@Moa I hope you enjoyed this meaningless word vomit

@badcrookshanks you aren't in the taglist but maybe you will enjoy this