Wow, I can't believe you've already made it this far into IU's career. I remember on first seeing this being struck by how IU in the country house is dressed to resemble her friend Sulli. I later learned she used Sulli's stylist.
IU's shows are always meticulously planned down to the last detail. She opened the concert with "Eight" because it was scheduled to start at sunset, referencing "the orange sun" and also the name "the golden hour."
The small detail that made some people think that the running girl is not herself is because of the missing mole on her cheek. It is a vital signature of her in every fan art, or even official cartoon versions of her, just like the one in the airplane.
I didn't catch that! Yeah it always astounds me the layers of detail and meaning that go into K-pop videos and there's always another layer to peel back.
He did a really good job of separating and breaking down his thoughts on the video and the editing was extremely well done, definitely got my analytical gears turning that's for sure!
Yeah it feels like she runs through a gamut of feelings right at the end, I'm not sure if I'm as certain as DKDKTV that the last one is anger, that's the one that eludes me the most, but it's a great track with fantastic acting and creative direction in the MV too.
if you curious with iu's concert when Goo Hara died, you can watch dear name songs that she sang encore at love poem concert, its heart breaking moment. (sorry for my bad english)
Thanks for including my favourite acoustic version in this deep dive. The animated girl in white was definitely not IU (She might be sulli) but the girl on the airplane was definitely IU because of her face mole. IU loves to play with numbers and shows her opinion through metaphors. Once on a chat show she explained during the age of 28 sorrow and painful thoughts were on her mind like a symbol of ♾️. So she wrote this song.
Something to note, IU is known for giving 'diplomatic' official explanations of her songs. Songs that are as plain as the nose on your face get a tepid interpretation for public consumption. I count four, perhaps five, songs that appear to be on the topic of her friend Sulli dating back more than ten years. She's acknowledged two of them.
I didn’t expect you to react to the music video interpretation. DKDK TV has also interpreted songs like “Above the Time” and “BBIBBI.” If you find it difficult to read subtitles, DKDK TV is a good choice, but personally, I prefer interpretations from the perspective of a Korean living in Korea. Since it’s made by a Korean living in Korea, I find it more relatable. Personally, I often watch 김일오 15KIM (roma: Kim Il-O 15KIM) because I think his expressions are better. In the last “Eight” opening performance video, I was disappointed that the orange sky background wasn’t captured well, but there is a fan cam that captures it well, and I loved it.
I can understand the struggle of being faced with a "canned explanation" without even being too sure if it's correct... Surely in art it's better to rely on your own impressions first. But at the same time the context of a work always helps to add meaning and emotion. When Eight was released, I was a relatively new fan of IU (Hotel del Luna came out in 2019), and the only information I had about the song was that the lyrics were sad (said by IU herself to a fan during IUTV). As soon as I listened to it, but especially as soon as I watched the video, I was overcome by a deep sadness. I wasn't sure of the meaning, but the last thing I thought was that it was about a brake up. I've since listened to many explanations and interviews, and honestly I find myself very much in the theory you watched, and I don't find it in conflict with any explanation given by IU. What this song continued to convey to me was a deep sense of unease... But after the performance at The Golden Hour concert it began to take on a much more positive meaning, as if the "28 years old discomfort" (whatever that is) had finally been overcome ❤️.
I forgot: even before DKDKTV's explanation, when the video came out, practically every UAENA was commenting everywhere with the same interpretation (always with a lot of respect), so I think that at that moment we were all somehow fully experiencing the sadness of the facts, and maybe this video made the need to talk about it "explode" a little, even if in the end it might not have been IU's primary intention.
There's one thing that you should keep in mind when attempting to validate DKDKTV's interpretation of the MV...IU would never be able to mention that the song is about them because that would open the door for all the haters to say she's trying to profit off of their deaths and just causing a whole bunch of unwanted controversy around the song when it should just be left alone. And their explained video has gotten a lot of attention as being a must watch follow up to the MV. So much that IU has definitely seen it, and the fact that she has never commented about it at all pretty much just goes to show that she can neither confirm nor deny whether it's correct or not because that would defeat the purpose of not saying it was about them in the first place. Of course we could be wrong and the truth could just be that she never mentioned it being about them because it's not. But it really just makes too much sense to be too far off of her intention. And I think the general consensus with mostly all Uaena is that this theory is about 90% correct.
Watching interpretations of other people is fine, but I think some actually believe it 100% like if some reactors have different POV about the meaning of the song, some riot lol I think when it comes to IU's songs especially if she wrote the lyrics, she'll give a general idea about the song on why she wrote it and what message she wants to convey. She respects different interpretations of her songs, she said something to that effect before during Chat-shire era. IU's songs in my opinion is just open for many interpretations since she loves metaphors and word plays so it's always interesting reading and watching how others think of the song hahaha During her single/album release is one of the most fun thing as a uaena, fans have so many interpretations on visuals, sounds, teasers, MVs and the lyrics, so many easter eggs.
IU and BTS are my favorite SK artists and you should check out BTS, you would love them and they have so many contents. Also check out IU’s palette show for V, Suga, and J-Hope clips, they are great! These two artists are the biggest celebrities in SK and I have so much respect for them.
