The Kulture Study: ARTMS 'Virtual Angel' MV 

The concept behind the video is that you can't stare at angels for a long time, hence the flashing.

the whole mv is giving neon genesis evangelion

I guess from the few videos ive watched of people trying to explain the MVs, the most popular theory is that those cultist are lured to do something dangerous by the virtual angels with their sweet talks (the moments i saw you, in my frozen heart new flowers begin to bloom) and false sense of security (ill be there for you when your wings break). But in the end, when they eventually DID do dangerous things, their virtual angel didnt do anything and they ended up in a bad situation. Might be a social criticism about parasocial relationship, and how fans do dangerous (borderline/straight illegal) things out of their love for their idols

Digipedi sure went crazy with the editing 😂

i love when JJ and Digipeedi works with the LOONA girls, is peak cinema always

Despite the original music video being non epilepsy friendly, liked how the editors used the fast cuts to indicate that it’s hard to look at angels. The Human Eye version was great for both epilepsy prone fans and we also get a clearer vision of the ARTMS followers and their transformation to becoming ARTMS. The storytelling for both the original and the Human Eye ver was so intriguing, and I can’t wait to see how the story continues on in ARTMS’ first comeback!!

Theory: The girls are sacrifices/they sacrificed themselves for their "virtual angels" after becoming devoted followers. The videos of the angels are already playing in the beginning so they already existed but it's almost as if they are speaking to the girls through the screen with sweet words. When the girls are hooked on the content (using the VR glasses) the screen says "Be not afraid", which biblical angels would say when they revealed their true and often horrifying form. The girls are finding joy, power and excitement in their spiritual awakening until the screen also says "Save me saviour", which is like asking the girls to do something in order to save their angels (might be connected to Birth since they wish to escape their "mother"). The human girls perform a ritual where their physical bodies are left behind but their spiritual energy is used to create ARTMS. The divine being splits into 5 parts, which is the members. They have been liberated. Why the girl with the cam-corder? She's the witness and keeps a literal virtual record of the events (also, note the red new moon in one of her shots, which is creepy and very Loona coded). She is a friend of the group, although not as wild and outspoken. She also loves the angels but probably joined the group later and is slowly warming up to her new friends. She is the only one that remains and once she turns off the camera we can't see the members in their human form anymore, only the crosses in the sky (which could be two things: 1 crosses remain because we have removed the tool that shows their humanoid presence, or 2 the crosses symbolises the sacrifices the girls made to free ARTMS). Was it their intention to use the girls to break free? Is that why the girl with the cam-corder looks disappointed, since their angels disappeared as soon as it was done? Maybe, it's also possible they meant no harm and the human girls are in some sort of heaven but considering the dark vibes I find that unlikely. It's also possible that the rather unfazed cam girl was the true devote from the beginning, luring the girls into their sacrifice with watching from the sidelines.

They only put the epilepsy warning up after hundreds of top comments about it. Haseul sounds so good this comeback, and you have to check out the whole album ASAP, it's right up there with [xx], easily album of the year here

Super creepy (and brilliant) that those fallen angel shots weren't included in the original MV, only the Human Eye version. I respect digipedi so much and love when they work with the girls, there's always so much to dissect and so many ways to interrupt LOONA's story. I'm excited to see how ARTMS' own lore develops from here!

Weird culty vibes sums it up pretty nicely!!

Vivi could be the camera girl especially after loosembles girls night mv

The thing about this mv is that if you watch it the first time, it's like a cute angelic song with an intriguing story but the more you watch and listen to it the more creepy it is. Not the same creepy feelings like while watching Birth but a more subtle but growing creepiness that take place when you began to understand a glimpse of the story. They really are revolutionning the industry. And even if I couldn't watch the angel's version on the first time, I'm still glad they released it to make the statements.

So unique and fresh. Between them and tripleS, the art coming out of modhaus is truly special.

I definitely interpret the music video as being a sort of continuation of birth, and also having a subtheme about parasocial relationships. The artms cult wants to become the idols, and so they summon the creepy artemis god figure and become possessed(?) by these sort of eldritch angel idols and it kills them all. I am reminded of a few lines from the birth mv: "Close your eyes and swear to yourself Love me, it’s a gift" "Close my eyes and swear to myself Hate me, it’s a blessing"

AHH I was waiting for your reaction on this!! To me, while the MV was definitely giving sapphic cult magical girl realness, it also seemed like a subtle cautionary tale for fans about the dangers of idol culture. The MV shows a strong divide between ARTMS, the actual divine angels, and their followers who are so obsessed with them that they would do anything to emulate them and follow in their footsteps. However, they are not real angels, and by confusing the boundaries between real and spiritual/"virtual" with the whole VR headset thing, they ultimately fall to their demise. It's pretty on the nose given how ARTMS are literal Kpop "idols." As fans, we must remember that we are not idols and we should be careful with not getting too obsessed and hurting ourselves in the process. Also, the "human eye" version thing is funny asf and also lore compliant bc it implies that the regular MV is so difficult for us to watch because it is quite literally built for angel eyes (ARTMS). Wishful thinking, but I hope you can create another video doing into a deep dive into the editing of this vid bc I'd sure love to watch that!

I feel a little sorry for the people that can't watch it without feeling bad. For me though, it's easily one of the best music videos I've ever seen.

I think Haunting, Ethereal and Cult-y summarizes the entire ARTMS concept

What I loved about this song and MV is that to me it sends a different message about the relationship between idols and audience. It's not the usual critique like "you're stupid for acting like these people are your friends" that a lot of media does, it's kinda "yeah, we can't be friends, but I'm happy to be here for you as an idol" and it has no judgement of the audience. It has a creepy aspect with "I'll be there for you when your wings break" and then the girl had fallen from the rooftop(?), and that's a reality of the characters we consume, we say they "saved us" but it can't be physically of course. Still, to me it feels creepy and hopeful at the same time and that's so beautiful to meeeee ❤ I also love how they depicted their audience as cool alt girls ❤

The reason why they edited it that way is because some people think angels have a lot of eyes and they see everyone and everything at once so they always know if you're lying or not. That's why the other version is called human eye version because humans can't see everything all at once☺

Their album has been doing really well in the US. To me they came out of nowhere lol. It's very reminiscent of American 80s music, and mostly because of Stranger Things, that aesthetic/sound is very popular with young Americans at the moment. It's a very odd time to live in as an adult when the things from your childhood are popular with youth today.

The flashing comments on how idols can be in our own personal realities without actual physically being here and the girls turning into ARTMS then ARTMS splitting represents a relationship in which we “create” our idols and how those idols in turn reflect our own egos. I think having the girl with the camcorder search for ARTMS helps add to the mythos we create around idols akin to like legends like big foot or something

The laser eyes are shooting at BBC building

Its funny how you point out the warning at the beginning, because it wasnt there on release... Ourii's complaints got through to Modhaus...and they fairly quickly added the warning. They knew how the editing was and apparently it was much worse before it was suggested to be toned down before release. The Human Eye version was either planned or Digipedi very quickly re-edited the MV (or had it ready cause they knew the backlash the original was gojng to cause). Once I got used to it, I prefer the original though.

The thing I didn't like about the warning was that you'd need the CC turned on and it was like the first 3 seconds. So if you turn on CC on the 4 second mark, you would have missed the warning.

I think they are indeed a cult, blinded by their beliefs to be an angel and fly but ended up dying like how cults sadly end. I also think the girl was just a friend who is a pushover. They probably told her to film them from the inside cause it looks cool. Therefore, she could represent people who just watch and let such blinded beliefs exist as they are spectators. The ominous ending could either be about her guilt of the 5 lost friends in the sky, or that THEY DID become ARTMS when they died. Pretty dark, right? Were they blinded or awakened?

Did no one notice that the scenes with the girl on the ground could be a call back to Hyeju’s Egoist MV as well as the girl on the rooftop at the end also being a callback to the scene of Heejin and Hyeju at the end of Egoist as well?

the fact this song was produced by the same (or almost the same) team that produced Girls Never Die by tripleS. I realized I love it when Jaden Jeong collaborates with Vendors now. And I don't really "stan" these groups but I always can't wait to hear what they release. It's always so fascinating to hear and watch

I've missed the listening party at LOONA o'clock with you man. We don't get the full album review on RU-vid but at least we have this

i think the concept of the group is partly based on the cult of artemis (the greek goddess) but tied into the loonaverse? but honestly it feels loose with the lore and more heavy on symbolism, i think addressing the idol-fan relationship as this kinda cultish unrealistic bittersweet love is the most powerful part of it

I've watched so many Virtual Angel reaction videos. I love seeing people react to HaSeul's vocals in the last chorus.

Song Of The Year, MV Of The Year, Debut Of The Year

the editing team ate that

No skip, constantly on repeat album... and I got into KPop after the whole Loona stuff went down, so I don't even know their music as Loona.

ARTMS is one of the best group of the kpop industry, I love ❤❤

first time i was shocked ..... then i just totally loved it 😻 angels hurt to look at.... such beauty

21:02 - Those numbers are just a mistake in the subtitle file. There's 2 lines of subs being displayed at once (instead of the usual 1) with some messed up timecode info between them. Note how it's got 00:02:04 at the start of the number line and it shows up at 2:04 in the MV.

You need to check out on ‘birth’ too. That one is a masterpiece for me, like super dark and aesthetic!!

Im so happy with this debut and MV, the members themselves even said that the motivation of this whole project was NOT to just make w good song it was to make ART

What i am annoyed about some Orbits on X is they think Human Eye is hurriedly edited after people complaining about the original but ARTMS members said several times on occasions that the 2 vers are already planned

I’ve been waiting for this!! :D The aesthetics of this are just incredible, I love watching the mv and breaking my eyes! Perhaps too much flashing, but I do appreciate the bold choice! Luckily im addicted to this song and frying my eyeballs

i'm so obsessed with this song !!

💙🤍 Thank you PD for your reaction to this perfection of a song and MV 🤍💙

ahhh I was waiting for this one, virtual angel is such an experience

everytime i hear a good synth heavy kpop song i'm like "ah yes form of therapy will LOVE this"

I was just listening to their album when I saw the notificaton and clicked so fast haha

i can't get over how good this song and mv is

I feel like its more of like ARTMS protecting the girl with the camera. It's more like a story: The girl with the camera getting is bullied by the girls with wings, then by continuously following and recording them, she discovers the rituals that the girls do in order to reach the ARTMS angels.But towards the end, the one person actually ending up with the power/guidance of the ARTMS angels was the girl with the camera instead, and the girls with wings got punished for what they tried/did (punished for doing all these rituals to force the artms angels to intervene instead of naturally letting the angels act when needed). Also i wanna mention, the girls with wings DID end up successfully becoming one as angels through the ritual, but eventually failed since it was a wrongful way of doing so. This is why they got 'punished' (with death).

Thank you for this PD!

I’m loving the consistent uploads PD I am glad you’re doing better

ARTMS !!! They did a phenomenal job !!! 🔥🔥🔥

Have genuinely enjoyed every post bbc release but this might be my absolute favorite. What a joy to enjoy music from all 12 now!

Although the song is overshadowed by the crazy mv you can still tell the song is BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL after watching the mv i runned to spotify and saved the song and now its my most played song this month and will probably be of the year as well, such an amazing song, a great debut, so happy for Artms and the girls

ARTMS !! They are TOP-NOTCH !! 🔥🔥🔥

Love this comeback and all the hints and glimpses. Thanks for your reaction!

I really like that artms did something completely different with their music video and didn’t stick to the normal kpop look.

ARTMS !! They are awesome !!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

I just knew that PD was going to love the mv ♥♥♥

One of the top masterpieces for 2024. This year has been great for kpop

Fellow Orbits will get a 2nd mini album from CHUU as well. “Strawberry crush” will be released on June 25, 2024.

the full album is also definitely one of the best girl group releases ever. make sure to listen! ARTMS blew us away

Great MV !! Awesome song !!! 🔥

OMG YES I WAS WAITING FOR THISSSS

I think Car is symbolic "world" in LOONAVESE so in the start of mv the girls hits the car that cam's girl in its like they break in to her world to spread their believer to cam's girl so after that she become a new believer of ARTMS / fast forward to the sacrifices event because they are Virtual Angel so in Human eyes ver. they can't see what's really happen in Angel ver. or What's really happen is Human eyes ver. its depend on what we, like a real religion that base everything on believe

The way I see it, The girl with the camera is fighting her inner demons/angels who have artms as their idol, those angel-demons are bad and good sometimes and influenced by their idol Artms they finally leave the world of the camera girl, that's why they are fallen down.

it's so beautiful gosh

i was waiting for this yassssss

pd being so gagged during haseul's part at the last chorus exactlyyyyy

pd seeing it as a "magical school girl concept" when all i can think about is how subtly creepy all the cult imagery is lol

I was waiting for your reaction to ARTMS ❤❤

Digipedi really went with "what is feels like staring at an actual, biblically-accurate angel" concept with the MV

Been orbit since odd eye circle. Stan Loona Stan artms Stan loossemble Stan chuu Stan yves

I enjoyed it !!!

ARTMS is really getting inspired by Grimes and Evangelion and I freaking love it.

yayy finally!!

You can't look to a angel 👁🪽👁👄

My Theory - It's the timeline of orbits - (the winged cultists) and how Loona transformed into ARTMS from debut 2018 to present. The girl that was bullied was Jaden. The horned guy was the CEO of BBC, VR headsets are like how orbits know about the internal issues within BBC, laser eyes - orbits wanted to burn bbc building and so many more

Thanks for the react bro, you need listen "Wooah - pom pom pom " its a masterpiece

like its magnetic.

WOW !! 🤯🤯

The school girl with the camcorder reminds me of the NewJeans "Ditto" MV.

I liked it !!!

WOAH !! 🤯🤯

NO KIDDING I WAS MELTING FOR THE GINGER GIRL, IT WAS KIM LIP OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

ARTMS !! 🤯🤯🔥🔥

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I just realized this video is the cowboy bebop episode with the stack of TVs cult.

i hope you react to 3 previous singles and videos to artms, :P

FINALLY

한국의.오빛 입니다 ARTMS 사랑해줘서 감사합니다🎉

If you blink really fast you can watch it normally I think

I think the video is about how this cult summons ARTMS from virtual reality to the real world. the messages in the tv said things like 'don't be afraid', 'savior', and 'save me'. And the girl knew all along they will be sacrificed in order to make ARTMS come to real life, still don't get why the cam coder girl was attacked in the car when the rest in the MV saw all of them gettin along so well, but i think at the end story is just to recognize all orbits who supported them boycotting BBC to save them.

21:03 all those numbers are timestamp of the lyrics. The first line should be appeared earlier. Below is the correct cc. (Timestamp is for this video.) 20:53 빙점 속에 감춰왔던건 (What was hidden in the freezing point) 20:56 얼어있던 널 향한 내 맘 (we're my feelings for you) But was this intentional by JJ and/or digipedi? idk 🤷‍♂️ Anyway amazing video and now I'm into ARTMS. And thanks for this deep dive reaction video as always!

when they first released the MV, they didn't put up the warning so my eyes were hurting a lot. LOL

PLEASE DO ONE PACT

everything i could think about while watching the mv is neon genesis evangelion! idk but this must really be a nice and perfect soundtrack for NGE lol.

I like to imagine the girl with the camera is the only one who actually saw ARTMS and their true intentions, for the girls with wings, due to their blind fanaticism, it all was a religious experience, but the girl recording saw their deaths as what they really were, a tool for the virtual angels' selfish and probably destructive intentions

the shot were theyre all seemingly fallen is more tied to the fact that artms r virtual angels and they cant do anything they cant guard their followers cuz theyre virtual, and I think the 5 girls sacrificed their bodies to become vessels so artms can go from virtual to real i hope that made sense

Where can we watch your reaction to Birth?

React to Zombie by everglow please.

Hey are you going to be uploading the WOOAH - Blush reaction to youtube? Also are you going to be reacting to their new release POM POM POM and uploading it here as well? Been waiting for the WOOAH reactions as you usually always do and just doesnt seem to be coming