mv
analysis of 'come bacK home'
Literature
analysis
Jack
chen
2NE1’s music video for their single “Come Back Home” paints an interesting narrative, and highlights a potential problem in the relationship between people and technology in modern and futuristic societies. This music video is unique amongst other K-pop music videos. According to Maliangkay, “most K-pop acts are characterized by the great synchronicity of their dance routines” (2013: 30). However, this music video doesn’t incorporate any dancing whatsoever, and instead relies more on acting and animation to create a thoughtful storyline. Their live performance doesn’t rely heavily on dancing either, with very simple movements being used. In the music video, all four members of 2NE1 are living in a cyberpunk society set not too far in the future. Life in the real world is shown to be bland, dull, and overall unpleasant. Most of the population has migrated to the virtual world. All the members of 2NE1 have different storylines and perspectives which are shown to slowly intertwine due to this virtual world, and this becomes a crucial part of the overall plot. The music video is rich in symbolism, using it to embellish different parts of the storyline and add to the creativity of the narrative. I argue that the English lyrics and creative visual elements in the music video more than make up for the lack of flashy and attractive dance moves in connecting with their audiences.
To begin, I will first explain the meaning of the lyrics. The gist of the lyrics is that someone is leaving another person, and this person wants them to “come back home” (2NE1 2014) and return to their side. This English lyric is repeated at the beginning of every iteration of the chorus. Such English lyrics in this song, and K-pop in general, are “[interjected] for their sound and symbolic rather than literal meaning” (Maliangkay 2013: 33). They are used for several objectives, the main one being that they allow the performers to be able to connect with audiences from a variety of different cultures (Ibid, 34). However, not everyone thinks in this way. Scholar Phil Benson states that there lies a problem in using English in foreign popular music, as there is an “inauthenticity of English in the context of East Asian popular music” (2013: 29). But even though there is inauthenticity, this doesn’t mean that such lyrics have a negative impact on the quality of the song. Rather, the effect is the opposite. Scholars Dal Yong Jin and Woongjae Ryoo explain how the Korean music industry has achieved a lot of domestic and global success, with a large part of this success being due to several K-pop singers and groups who utilize English lyrics in their songs (2014: 125).
The symbolism and plot in the music video work extremely well in bringing the entire piece together. There is no dancing whatsoever, as the members are seemingly acting more of a mini-drama than a music video. In the storyline, the four members each lead different lifestyles, and they each have something missing from their lives that they want back. This desire for the missing part of their life to “come back home” (2NE1 2014) drives them to join CL’s rebellion against the higher-level power which has made everyone conform and join the virtual world. Certain symbols are very prominent throughout the music video. For example, the virtual world itself can be a symbol of humanity’s desire to get away from the stress, worry, and boredom from living in the real world, made desolate by the current government. CL and the rest of 2NE1 are shown to be rebelling against this symbol, wanting to get their old lives back where people were passionate and happy in a much more joyous real world. Another prominent symbol is CL spray painting the walls in the virtual world. This symbolizes CL rebelling against the virtual world by trying to bring color (or individuality) back into everyone’s conforming lifestyles. A third interesting symbol is the oddly attractive yet impractical food shown in a gala held for the social elite in the virtual world. Food like giant fish heads and whole octopi are served to these elite people. This food symbolizes the virtual world itself. Like the food, the virtual world may seem visually appealing and appear as if it can be useful to people, but in actuality it doesn’t have any real use or benefit, and is just for show. When 2NE1 completely destroy the gala in rebellion, it shows that they have overthrown the higher-level power, and are on their way to regaining the color and excitement that had left home in their lives.
2NE1’s music video for “Come Back Home” is quite unique from other K-pop music videos. Instead of telling a straightforward story through their lyrics, they use the creative narrative of the music video to affect how consumers might interpret their song. I chose this music video because of its artistic image and the impact it left on me after I watched it. Even though I couldn’t fully understand the music video at first, re-watching it over and over led me to better understand the storyline and the lyrics, and how these two are interrelated. Creating a music video with such a narrative allows it to stand out amongst other K-pop music videos, and impact audiences through the use of creative symbolism and a concise but well-told story arc, which are attributes that many K-pop music videos don’t fully utilize. The English lyrics sang at the beginning of every chorus creates a catchy hook, and it also sends the song’s main message very clearly to consumers, not just domestically but globally as well. While some people may consider the use of English lyrics in K-pop songs to be inauthentic, I believe that this inauthenticity doesn’t negatively affect the success of the song; rather, I believe such lyrics would be able to attract larger audiences around the world. Overall, the music video and song lyrics of “Come Back Home” contribute to creating an appealing and attractive musical piece that doesn’t need flashy dance moves to impact audiences.
Benson, Phil. “English and Identity in East Asian Popular Music.” Popular Music 32, no. 1 (2013): 23 – 33.
Jin, Dal Young and Woongjae Ryoo. “Critical Interpretation of Hybrid K-pop: The Global – Local Paradigm of English Mixing in Lyrics.” Popular Music and Society 37, no. 2. (2012): 113 – 31.
Maliangkay, Roald. “Defining Qualities: The Socio-Political Significance of K-pop Collections.” Korean Histories 4, no. 1 (2013): 27 – 38.
“2NE1 – COME BACK HOME M/V.” YouTube video, 4:23. Posted by “2NE1,” March 2, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLbfv-AAyvQ.
2NE1 was a very influential K-pop girl group while they were active. They pushed musical boundaries with songs like “Fire” which incorporated both hip-hop and reggae rhythms, and they also maintained a more traditional Korean image with nostalgic ballad songs like “Lonely”. I argue that 2NE1 is a notable example of Korean-ness and otherness in K-pop, and I will analyze them with the hybridity, mobility, otherness, and nostalgia discourses mentioned in scholar Lee Hee-Eun’s paper.
Many of 2NE1’s songs incorporate hybridity, mobility, and otherness. A great example is “Clap Your Hands”, which creates a very hip-hop/electronic dance feel. Lee writes that “Korean rappers have adopted rap music in less authentic and more hybridized ways” (2006: 138). In this song, it’s clear that the musical style was adopted from Western hip-hop, and there aren’t many authentic Korean elements in both the song and the music video. The different backdrops in the MV are fitting examples of the “cultural and geographical mobility” (Ibid, 139) that Lee writes about. The MV transitions from a Western, ghetto street location to an Asian martial arts dojo to a tropical rainforest. The street and rainforest locations are not typically a part of “traditional Korean-ness” (Ibid, 142). Lee explains that many Korean MVs are about distancing oneself from this idea (and thus becoming an other), and 2NE1 exemplifies this distancing in songs like “Clap Your Hands” and “Fire”, with their Westernized backdrops and musical styles.
Nostalgia plays a big role in some of 2NE1’s slower songs. Lee writes, “visual representations… appealed with a nostalgic feeling that flowed through both lyrics and music” (2006: 138). This can be seen in a song like “Lonely”, where many of the shots in the MV are slow-motion tracking shots of each member individually walking by certain nostalgic backdrops, like a smoky highway intersection by the water. They repeat lyrics like “I’m so lonely” (2NE1 2011) while a soft, finger-picked guitar plays in the background. The combination of visual elements, lyrics, and instrumentation in this song create a warm, nostalgic feeling.
In many of their songs, 2NE1 exemplify these discourses that Lee writes about in her paper, and this makes them a great example of both Korean-ness and otherness in K-pop.
Lee, Hee-Eun. “Seeking the ‘Others’ Within Us: Discourses of Korean-ness in Korean Popular Music.” In Medi@sia: Global Media/tion in and out of Context, edited by Todd Joseph Miles Holden and Timothy J. Scrase. 128 – 46. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006.
“2NE1 – LONELY M/V.” YouTube video, 3:30. Posted by “2NE1,” May 11, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n4V3lGEyG4.