As a Korean speaker, I love the MV to Big Bang's 'Fxxk It' for its wits.
For anyone who hasn't seen the music video, or don't really remember it, I have attached the music video here for your convenience...
If you don't feel like watching it now, don't worry, I have made appropriate gifs to go with my explanations about why I love Big Bang's 'Fxxk It' so much.
Hopefully this will make you view the music video in a slightly different light next time you feel like watching it.
Because, in this blog, I shall share with you what you're missing out on as non Korean speakers.
So here we go..!
The music video was shot in the streets of 성동구, the Seong-Dong District in Seoul, which is why it has such a distinct regular Korean feel to it, while still being crazy.
But first things first! Before we get into the details of the music video, I want to take a short moment to appreciate the genius title and chorus for this song.
In Korean, the song is called:
에라 모르겠다
It's pronounced:
Ae-ra Mo-reu-gae-da
And sounds similar to:
And I wonna get down
에라 모르겠다 means "Ah whatever", or "I don't don't care anymore", or, as the English title suggests: "FxxK it". It isn't a swear word though, and the Korean is not nearly as harsh as the English title suggests.
It's more the idea of having had enough of a situation, so you tell yourself: "Ah whatever, I don't care anymore".
For example, you don't want to work on an essay anymore so you say: "whatever" and send it away as it is.
That's the real meaning of 에라 모르겠다.
Since the Korean title is so similar to an English phrase, and actively uses that similarity in the lyrics, I've always loved the chorus:
"에라 모르겠다 - I Love Yall
에라 모르겠다 - I Love Yall
에라 모르겠다 - I Love Yall
Girl, I wonna get down"
Okay, with that fun fact out of the way, let's take a look at the Korean Easter eggs in the music video. By that I mean the many Korean signs and posters that serve as the background in the music video. And there are quite a few of them.
First up is a sign that G-Dragon appears behind, and later drags around.
사춘기
Pronounced: Sa-Chun-Gi
Meaning: puberty
It seems to suggest that this is a song that people going through puberty can relate to, which I would say is very true.
It is also one of G-Dragon's lines in the song:
"마치 사춘기"
Like going through puberty
And we are just getting started.
Next up we have the shop in front of which G-Dragon raps his verse.
But it's just some store that sells shoes, you may say. What's so great about that?
지용사
Pronounced: Ji-Yong-Sa
Meaning: Ji-Yong's shop
Ji Yong is G-Dragon's real name (G-Dragon is just 'Ji Yong' translated directly into English).
G-Dragon is not just rapping in front of some random shoe shop.
The shop carries his name.
From then on I stared paying more attention to the Korean names in the background of this MV for more fun Easter eggs.
Have you ever wondered why they dance in front of an excavator towards the end of the music video?
It seems really random, doesn't it?
The sort of thing that you dismiss because it's Big Bang and they always do weird stuff.
Well actually it's not entirely random.
There's a reason for this, and that reason is...
Taeyang's solo shot where he is in front of this sign - and no, I'm not moving on - this is the reason for that excavator.
태양자원