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K-pop music videos inspired by movies
K-pop is widely known around the globe not only for its distinctive experimental sounds and crazy choreographies but also, maybe even more, for its incredible music videos.
Every K-pop fan remembers the first time they saw a K-pop video, how entertaining it was, and how it felt ultimately brand new compared to the usual Western music videos.
My first K-pop video was Ring Ding Dong by Shinee, and I can still vividly remember how amazed I was by everything, the song, the dance moves, and, as said, the cinematography. Even though, compared to nowadays music videos, it cannot stand in comparison.
K-pop music videos inspired by movies
Music videos, and music in general, as with every other art form, take inspiration from other media, music, books, or movies.
In this article, I wanted to create a list of 7 K-pop music videos inspired by movies, for both cinema and K-pop fans, in the hopes of sparking some interest in K-pop music for the first and second ones, to give them some good movie recommendations.
Do you want to know what videos are included in this list? Keep reading this article. For more information on your favorite K-Dramas and K-pop groups, look at the other articles on Daebak.Co!
#PURPLE KISS Sweet Juice
Sweet Juice was released this year as part of their album Cabin Fever, PURPLE KISS's fifth mini album.
The song Sweet Juice refers over and over again to tasting a "sweet juice" that they could not stop thinking about until they fell into madness, a concept encompassed further by the music video, inspired by Kubrick's masterpiece The Shining.
The Shining, based on the book of the same name by American novelist Stephen King, tells the story of Jack Torrence, a writer who has lost inspiration, and his family, his wife Wendy and his son Danny, who has some telepathic abilities, called, in fact, "shining."
The trio visits the cozy Overlook Hotel intending to help Jack find his artistic inspiration amidst tranquility.
What started as a family vacation soon became a nightmare as Jack was tormented by the Hotel's ghosts and lost his attachment to reality.
In the music video, the members find themselves stuck in a hotel, which reminds us of the Overlook Hotel. They start having strange visions too, as they find written "rilas" on a door, an anagram for the Spanish "salir," which means get out, and they also see two strange identical twins, as Danny did in the movie.
Despite every warning, PURPLE KISS embraces this sweet temptation, and we cannot agree more as the song quickly becomes addictive after the first listen.
#BTS BLACK SWAN
The song BLACK SWAN, released in 2020 as part of the album Map of the Soul:7, has two music videos, but we will focus on the one starring BTS.
The song talks about BTS' fear of losing passion for their music. In both music videos, we can see them comparing themselves to the protagonist of Darren Aronofsky's homonymous movie, Nina, who goes insane to perfect her art.
Black Swan revolves around the New York City Ballet's production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, for which a ballerina must play both the pure White Swan and the dark and sensual Black Swan.
Nina is chosen to take the role, but her rival, Lily, seems a better fit to play the Black Swan. It triggers Nina's old insecurities and undiscovered desires and will cause her to descend into a spiral of madness.
For the entirety of the music video, BTS appears in a dark and dimly lit theater, apart from standing in front of countless mirrors in a room reminiscent of a practice space for dancers.
BTS also starts to grow black, shiny feathers, exactly like Nina at the end of the movie.
Nina's tragic ending in the movie is ambiguous. Viewers cannot fully understand whether what they see is part of her crazed mind or the truth. BTS's ending in the video stays in a similar position as it is unclear if they have also fallen into madness or found a way to keep their shadows in control.
#TWICE What is Love?
TWICE's What is Love? was released in 2018 as part of their album of the same name and, as the title suggests, is a song about dreaming of love as magical and perfect as the one we find in books and movies.
Since there are many different depictions of love, and many types of love, through the music video TWICE refers to many other movies, The Princess Diaries, Ghost, Romeo + Juliet, Pulp Fiction, La Boum, Léon: The Professional, Love Letter and LaLaLand.
The movies are very different, but TWICE managed to interpret them perfectly, showing the viewers their versions of their most iconic scenes.
At first, we see them sitting on their couch, zapping through the channels. The first movie to appear on screen is The Princess Diary, here interpreted by Nayeon, followed right after by Jeongyeon and Sana retelling the iconic ceramic scene from Ghost.
Not long after, Sana and Tzuyu dance like Pulp fiction's protagonists, still adding their "What is Love?" dance moves. Jeongyeon returns with Tzuyu as Romeo and as Itsuki from Love Letter together with Jihyo.
Momo and Tzuyu dance under the sunset as Mia and Sebastian from LaLaLand and Tzuyu and Dahyun replay the unforgettable scene from La Boum.
Finally, Dahyun and Chaeyoung reinterpret some scenes from Léon: The Professional, and as everything finds its perfect happy ending, the video ends.
What is Love? It offers viewers a catchy and unforgettable song and a great music video enriched by the members' funny and cute interpretations.
#Taeyeon What Do I Call You?
What Do I Call You? is a song by Taeyeon released in 2020 as part of her fourth album of the same name.
Taeyeon started her career in 2007 as a member of one of the most popular girl's groups in K-pop history, Girls' Generation, and debuted as a solo artist in 2015 with her EP I.
In the song, Taeyeon repeatedly asks herself how she should refer to her ex-lover since calling them by their name after affectionately calling them darling, love, etc., seems awkward and inappropriate.
Though the love is over, the memories of our significant other often remain to haunt us; what if we could erase all traces of them from our lives?
That's how the song connects to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a 2004 science-fiction romance movie directed by Michel Gondry.
The plot is quite simple but revolutionary. After a fight, Joel discovers that his girlfriend, Clementine, has decided to get her memories of him erased by the New York City firm Lacuna. Shocked and heartbroken, he chooses to do the same thing.
In the music video, we see Taeyeon as, similarly to Joel, she decides to undergo the procedure and, in the meantime, remembers her past moments with her lover.
In the end, she seems to find some peace, but it is unsure if she forgot everything or decided to keep her memories.
#TXT Run Away
TXT's Run Away was released in 2019 as part of their album The Dream Chapter: Magic.
The entire Korean title (9와 4분의 3 승강장에서 너를 기다려) roughly translates to I will wait for you on platform 9 ¾, the song quite openly refers to Harry Potter, not only in its title but throughout the music video as well, since TXT members seem to have discovered magic powers and magical places hidden in their, seemingly, ordinary school.
The song's lyrics talk about wanting to escape reality and its difficulties by literally running away with your friends, which is also, for those familiar with Harry Potter, a theme akin to the famous saga, since for Harry, Hogwarts is, despite its trials, a magnificent way to escape from his miserable life with the Dursleys.
Harry Potter is also referred to through one of the dance moves in the choreography when they are standing in line at min. 2.36 circa, they mimic a clock going back and forth, which could remind us of Harry and Hermione's travels during Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
The song is upbeat, despite the lyrics' deepness and sadness. The music video, set nowadays, keeps this ambivalence in its colorful photography quite in contrast with the evident distress in the members' eyes.
The music video ends with them finding a secret door hidden at the bottom of their school's pool, which leads them to a private island.
#GOT7 Lullaby
Lullaby released in 2018 as part of Present: YOU, the third GOT7 studio album released under JYP.
This song has been recorded in four different languages: Korean, English, Chinese, and Spanish.
The lyrics compare a girl's voice to a sweet lullaby that GOT7 never wants to stop listening to; everything she says is magical and calming to them.
The music video, likewise, follows the theme of dreaming and the dream world, in general, to recall in the viewers the magical power of this lullaby and, in doing so, quotes some iconic movie scenes. Among the movies are references to Interstellar, Harry Potter and Valerian, and the City of a Thousand Planets.
While JB is in the library, he takes a book that transports him to an alternate dimension – much like the world of Interstellar.
Harry Potter, instead, is referred to through the scene in which Jinyoung rides the unforgettable flying Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
BamBam, in the scene where he lays on a bed and suddenly finds himself in a forest, is probably quoting the movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
YoungJae is surrounded by moving toys, which can easily refer to ToyStory.
While the other movie references are pretty straightforward, the others are relatively obscure, so if you find others, let us know!
#Jimin Like Crazy
Released a few days ago as part of Jimin's solo debut album FACE, the song, Like Crazy, is openly inspired by the 2011 movie of the same name.
The track directly refers to the movie not only through its title but also through its lyrics, which openly refer to a struggling relationship that drives Jimin insane, something that he wishes to cherish but that seems to slip through his fingers every time.
The song also, as Jimin explained in his interviews (Suchwita and Jimmy Fallon), depicts a moment of his life during the pandemic, one where he often preferred to drink and forget rather than think about what was going on, which also corresponds with the moment Jimin discovered this movie and found comfort in it.
The movie Like Crazy talks about the ups and downs of the romantic relationship between Anna, an exchange English student attending college in Los Angeles, and Jacob, an American student she meets there.
If you want to know more about FACE and Jimin's solo comeback, check out this article!
And last but not least… one honorable mention.
#SUNMI Tail
Tail was released as a single in 2021, including the B-side track "What the Flower."
The lyrics not only refer to the Korean idiom "wag one's tail" in the sense of trying to seduce someone and using the metaphor of wagging your tail to express very ferine and strong feelings for someone.
Sunmi also described it as a "super sensitive cat woman villainess who wants love with all her heart, expressing her deepest instinctive feelings," a concept brought further into life by the music video, in which Sunmi plays DC's iconic villainess Catwoman.
Through the music video, we can easily recognize scenes from Catwoman's movies, such as the scene where she is pushed from a window and transformed into Catwoman, someone completely different from her past submissive self, who seduces and kills the man who betrayed her.
There are so many incredible K-pop music videos out there that finding all the ones inspired by movies is practically impossible. Which are your favorite ones, or which should I have included?
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