Pairing Books With KPOP Music Videos (& Theories)

Love Bomb is one of my favourite kpop songs so I HAD to do this one. I think it perfectly matches Opposite of Always and you’ll see why. Love Bomb is all about powerful, impatient love – like a bomb – that doesn’t want to go off. First I thought this song was all about unrequited love because the girls of Fromis_9 want the love bomb to go off throughout the song – not to mention that despite being a bubbly song; their singing and the underlying tone of this song is also so sad which makes me want to ugly cry in the best way. So then I realised, this video and this song could also be about that moment – THAT never-ending moment before you finally get the person you love, that love you desperately need. That YEARNING y’ know.

Being a groundhog day style of storytelling, Opposite of Always is about Jack and Kate. They meet at a party and fall in love hard but then Kate dies and Jack is taking all the back to the beginning and needs to find a way to prevent her death so they can finally be together. The never-ending loop Jack begins to live in while he loves Kate so desperately before she even knows about him, just stuck out to me as a similar feeling to Love Bomb.

As you may know, I recently read, reviewed and interviewed the author of Cinderella Is Dead and really enjoyed it! When thinking about this post, I stumbled across an old fav – the super-catchy song called Dumb Dumb by Red Velvet. There are already many theories for this music video but the main one that reminded me of Cinderella is Dead is that this video is all about the system that creates the members and makes it so that they are all the same. The members of the girl group must try to stop the replicating process and embrace themselves as individuals that can stand out and don’t need to be like everybody else. The video is all about breaking the pattern of this system to embrace who you are and be yourself.

Cinderella is Dead seems to embrace the same idea as we follow Sophia who is trying to take down the patriarchy in her village that is forcing girls to go to an annual Cinderella ball and be chosen by men to have an ‘ideal life’.

These Violent Delights isn’t out just yet but I still couldn’t help but including it in this post because I love that it fits the ideas from Blueming. I recently interviewed the author of this book, Chloe Gong, so if you’re interested in that, I’d recommend that you check it out!

Blueming (by IU – a kpop QUEEN), is technically based on the IU universe but the meaning and the video of this song just matched These Violent Delights so well too. In this video, IU is texting her love interest (lyrics talking about grey and blue) and the video is about the anticipation of the next interaction with her crush and the annoyance that they still can’t meet and they still can’t be together yet – no matter what they do. This screamed to me: starcrossed lovers.

In These Violent Delights, we meet Juliette and Roma, a Romeo & Juliet retelling set in 1920’s Shanghai where their respective families are in a violent gang blood feud, yet they must interact and work together to solve a mystery that could be dangerous for both families and all the people of Shanghai. I think it fits the song so well because IU and Roma/Juliette are both frustrated with the stars that they can’t be together because of their families, reputation and the deadly monster at large. This song is also just a freaking bop that makes me happy even if it has a slight bittersweet feel for most of it. Does it have a happy ending? Is their love finally allowed to Bloom? You’ll have to find out.

This music video theory is slightly sinister to match the book despite the song being so cheery and upbeat. One of the major theories for More & More by TWICE before the song even came out (so based on the teasers) was that this was a Garden of Eden concept. The girls from the group are in a beautiful ethereal garden for most of the video and venture further into the world – but one of the members is dressed all in black, there is a mysterious deadly snake that makes a cameo and the illusion effects bring up the idea that this might not be as perfect and ideal as it seems. Are they really in paradise or have they been fooled into staying in a deadly that feeds on their addiction? Cause all they seem to want is more and more.

Oasis fits this concept perfectly as we meet Alif and her friends. They go on a trip to visit Alif’s father’s archeological site where mysterious things have recently been happening. During the trip, they somehow find themselves lost in the desert but thankfully find an oasis. This oasis seems perfect, almost like a mirage and full of everything they need to survive until people can find them. However, while surviving there as a group, they begin to question what they’re experiencing and whether it’s real and if they can even leave this oasis as they are pitted against each other and struggle to find answers. This is definitely an underrated read – if it sounds like a perfect thriller for you too, I have a review and an author interview for you to read too 🙂