Unicorn Jukebox

Hey y’all!

I want to try something a little different this week since I was really busy last week and don’t really have a recap for you. I wanted to try reviewing a music video that came out, and talk about all of the different aspects it contains such as fashion, song, overall story/aesthetic, camera work, and choreography.

Before we get into the breakdown of the music video lets go through a little background on NCT Dream. NCT Dream is a sub unit of NCT (Neo-Culture Technology) which is a rotating member boy group under SM Entertainment. This is the third music video that they have release ahead of their comeback as NCT 2018.

Overall Aesthetic/Story line: If this was your first time viewing anything by NCT Dream the overall aesthetic wouldn’t really shock you. BUT this is a crazy concept switch from what they have done in the past. Their previous aesthetic was much more young boys with a bubble gum pop influence, and this is anything but. I’m glad that they decided to purposely put in shots of them laughing or doing cute things to show that they’re not getting rid of that side of their image, but rather expanding to show more sides of them. Dream doesn’t really go for an actual story line throughout the video, and instead focuses more on aesthetic. As far as locations, and costuming is concerned there is a heavy hip hop influence through out the look of the video. The overall image is a bunch of kids playing around in the streets, something very commonly associated with hip hop’s roots. And to drive the point home further Mark wears a shirt with Beyonce on it, and someone else (sorry didn’t see who) is wearing one with Kanye.

Song: The song itself is really not my favorite. Dream has a lot of really talented vocalists and I feel that they really missed an opportunity to showcase them with choosing to shout sing the chorus. But, I must say I did not realize how great of a voice Haechan has, and I’m glad that at least one person got a chance to shine vocally. The first time I heard this song I thought they didn’t give Mark a verse, and was completely shocked by that, but no worries he gets one toward the end. As much as I don’t really care for the song (it’s probably my least favorite of the tracks NCT 2018 has released so far) it does get stuck in your head fairly easily, which I guess is the point.

Fashion: I really like the fashion choices in this video. NCT is known for wearing things that on paper you wouldn’t think go together, but some how they pull them off. The clothes definitely show off a 90s hip hop aesthetic. I really loved all of the neon colors that when paired with the lighting design really popped through out the video. I think the use of the neon colors helped keep alive the boyish image that Dream is so known for.

Camera Work: The camera work wasn’t too crazy or anything like that, but it did a couple of things that added to the video. I liked that it would alternate between long ‘professional’ shots to more dietetic ones that made it feel like it was being shot by one of the members in the video. Towards the end of the video the camera got more involved with the song, shifting a bit every time go was shouted and added onto the frenziness that was created in all of the changing scenery and lighting building the song up to the conclusion.

Choreography: Unfortuantely there wasn’t too much of the choreography shown in this video to make too much of a judgement, which is really sad. Dream are incredibly good dancers, and although this music video was good I would have loved to see more of them dancing. That being said what was shown was great and definitely centered around a more hip hop feel, like everything else in this video.