Video Editor Reacts to LAY '莲 (Lit)' MV 

The story in the ‘Lit’ MV, Lay said is based on his favorite Chinese historical figure. In the MV he is portraying a Chinese general who has been trapped by the Han soldiers while trying to rescue his wife. The General is a real historical figure named Xiang Yu, who fought in the battle of Gaixia. In the beginning of the MV you hear a Peking opera singer performing ‘The Song of Gaixia’ which is a song that Xiang Yu composed for his wife, Lady Yu, who eventually took her own life. (Fun fact: Lay’s song ‘Jade’ which is a song also on this album is supposed to be about Lady Yu and Xiang Yu’s love story) Everything about this song and MV is a poetic, cinematic masterpiece. For example: the word Lotus in Chinese sounds like Lit in English (Another play on words, just like the Chinese pronunciation of Jade sounds like Yu or you in English. Lay cleverly used this in his song Jade). Lay used the Lotus (Lit) as a metaphor for now matter how people try to bring him down, he will stay strong and survive through anything the world throws at him, like a lotus flower. The lotus is a famous symbol in Chinese culture and it often represents how something good and pure can grow and triumph despite what you think are unforgiving conditions. Lay has said that the idea for ‘Lit’ comes from the fact that his haters have been calling him ‘White lotus’ which refers to someone who acts innocent and uses it for his own gain, playing the victim all the time. So when he wrote the song, he took all that negativity, embraced it and turned it into something positive. So, in other words, he is saying: “You thought you can bring me down,but you’re wrong. I’m not a fake ‘White lotus’, I’m a true lotus who is LIT. I am more powerful than you know and I will rise above all your negativity and show you how I grow even stronger and more beautiful, no matter how much mud and dirt I have to go trough”. The dragon is a very powerful symbol in Chinese culture and it is even said that if you are Chinese you are a descendant of the dragon. Chinese dragons symbolize vitality, strength and good luck. In one interview, Lay talked about how he has two dragons inside him, a good dragon and a bad dragon. He said he always chooses to listen to the good dragon. The good dragon is the one protecting him and helping him through all his hardships and difficult times. In conclusion, the main theme of ‘Lit’ is about fighting his inner self and learning to ignore and overcome the people who are trying to knock him down. Lay is a singer, rapper, dancer, songwriter, composer, producer, actor, director, editor, designer, instrumentalist, etc.- genius- and with every single release, he outdoes himself. And ‘Lit’ is the prime example of that. If you put attention to the credits, you see the MV was produced by ZhangYixing Studios, named after Lay because he’s the owner. As the credits show, he is involved and has his hands in almost every aspect of the production. He is the one that co wrote and composed the song, producing the beat himself. He is his own beat maker. He’s also the executive producer, he came up with the storyline, he helped choreograph and direct the MV, etc. But he does that with all his solo work. He does it all, a true perfectionist, there’s almost nothing that he’s involved in that he doesn’t have 100% control of. He prides himself in the fact that all aspects of his music are created by him. This MV took more than 6 months to make, and more $1.2 million to produce. All done by Lay. Cr. Milinda Wilson on YT. We as his fans are really proud of him♥️ Thank you for reacting to him♥️ we exo-l’s would love to see more of exo on your channel in the future!

This is literally my fav MV of 2020 and I didn't even know Lay before May 31st. Gosh I've been waiting for this reaction for ages. Thankies

I don’t like to compare actually. Lay’s LIT feels more like a movie soundtrack you put on when you want to feel like a badass walking down the street and Daechwita is more of a song you put on when you’re angry and want to punch something. Although both songs use traditional instruments (of respectively Korea and China) and trap beats, their styles and the type of flow are both very different and the message either song conveys isn’t comparable either even though on the surface they both seem like flex songs with Agust D and Lay both referring to themselves as kings. Daechwita is a song that by itself, doesn’t have many layers. It sounds epic and agressive. Yoongi himself said not to read that much into the lyrics and that the song was written more focussing on how it sounds rather than conveying a specific message. (i know there are many theories still, Army don’t kill me please) however the MV highlights some inner struggle between two personas Agust D may feel like he’s portraying and the emptiness that comes with being at the top. Elevating the song to one with meaning. LIT is phonetically similar to the manderin word 莲 a cultural symbol of life and death _or_ Lotus, which stands symbol for growth. Lay compares himself to the Lotus, this flower that grows and blossoms out of the mud stating that hardships and struggles haven’t and won’t break him down but rather that he will push through and create something, *become* something, beautiful no matter what happens or what people say and do. The mv for Lit is just pure 🔥. We see at the beginning what we think is the end of Lay. The world finally getting the best of him, then he comes back to whoop all of their asses👌🏼 We see the Lotus flower and *THE DRAGON* Let’s not forget the dragon. The symbol of a KING. Lay being acknowledged by the dragon at the end is almost as if the heavens are acknowledging him as the king he is👏🏼 And the style of dance Lay uses in the video, Krump, is a very expressive kind of dance. It is used very well here in the mv. When he’s dancing it feels like he’s fighting. More so than in the actual fight sequence in the MV (that’s just my opinion though) Anyways. I liked both. Do go check out the full album. It’s good really good. There’s a nice variety of tracks where Lay shows off both his singing and his rap skills. Soul is one of my favourites. It’s a haunting kind of song. In the best way possible. You calling my name and H20 are both smooth r&bish tracks and Changsha is just pure sass. Anyways among the twelve songs I’m pretty sure there’s something for everyone. 😉 Oki. I’m really done now. Love your videos. Bye.

SM don't deserve any credit for the song or mv at all. Lay and his team deserved its all. What SM did is just put their logo there and take a big % of the profit from this song -_-

every mv of lay’s is just a piece of art tbh

I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned this but Lay actually paid for the whole thing himself, like he is so dedicated to his work. We Stan a KING

This mv is just full of symbolism. He made it for his antis, as on the other comment, it's similar to Lotus and the antis used to call him Lotus.

First off, Lit was conceptualized in Jan. 2019. Was filmed back in Dec 2019, months earlier than Daechwita. Just coz you've seen Daechwita earlier & you understand its plot easier than Lit that is full of deeper symbolisms & ancient Chinese stories doesn't make the other song better. However, that was your taste in song speaking. I think we can all agree that concept, production, music, choreography & overall editing, Lit wins hands down. This reaction would have been wholly satisfying if you had refrained from comparison. We all know judging by the music & production alone, Lit IS THE BEST MV out there so far in 2020. And fyi, Lay created the whole MV concept & wrote its script alone, apart from co-creating + co-arranging & producing the song. He co-choreographed it as well. Value & overall MV production, there's no comparison at all.

EXOL ARE HERE FOR LAY

To more apreciate the mv you should understand the meaning of it, actualky haters made *Lay* very angry and this is a war declaration, the interpretation to this mv is that this is a message to the haters that hurts him a lot ,he is surrounded by haters (and is alone) he is a lit (white lotus: the haters call him lit "in Chinese culture it mean someone who is pure in appearance, but opposite inside) he is the king (the king of music in China), music is his arena (so the fight has to be there) , the dragon (those who support and love his work) will fight for him and protect him, his music or his mission is not to fight the hatters but to promote Chinese culture Thx for the reaction and sorry for my English

YEEEES OMG FINALLY

YES LIT GETTING THE RECOGNITION IT DESERVES

The MV from August D it doesn't even come close to Lay's, not only his but many MVs don't come close to this masterpiece

"they spent cinematic masterpiece money" u mean to say HE spent cinematic masterpiece money,, he funded the entire thing out of his own pocket and the production took around 6 months HAHAHAHHAA they also shot in the biggest film studio in china (or the world idk) so yea, its bound to be a cinematic masterpiece

*EXO *"Obsession"** next plllllz faithful to their concept * EXO* will fight their clones *X-EXO* in this mv

If you understand the historical meaning that lay is portraying in this song then I think you will come to appreciate the narrative and story of Lit a lot more! The graphics you mentioned at 7:45 is actually phrases from a famous ancient Chinese poem depicting the trials of Xiang Yu who is a legendary warrior who met a tragic end hence why the opening shot starts off with a military epic. Lay has always been fascinated and a huge fan of Xiang Yu so here, he is actually playing the role of Xiang Yu in the opening and exploring his journey. There is also a famous quote in China that goes along the lines of “the lotus blooms beautifully even from the deepest and thicket mud” symbolising adversity and perseverance. Lay is also reclaiming the term as white lotus has been used as an insult by antis to him who claim he is beautiful on the outside but rotten inside. the actual word for lotus is pronounced lian in mandarin and lay has always been fond of using word play in his lyrics, using lit instead. Don’t think I need to get into how dragons are revered in Chinese culture hahah but I think this music video is a wonderful and beautiful depiction and love for Chinese history and culture, lay has always expressed his interest in making more people aware of Chinese culture and its great that he does so in such creative and impactful ways - his entire album which lit is featured in also themed this way so the songs on there are culturally inspired. And in China, there is a stereotype of Chinese artists singing in English or using English lyrics because they view them as sell outs or “traitors” but lay has consistently used English in his songs as you can see and continues to do so to beautifully meld tradition and modernity in music. I’ve probably gone on for too long but I just really love this mv, easily my fav of 2020 so far without a doubt. And lay’s Chinese name is Zhang yixing so if you look at the credits, you will see that he is very involved with the entire creative process! Lay is an icon in China and the scale of this mv is reflective of that :’)

9:17 and about that black thing.. well this sense has different meanings behind that; first of all the black inks are the thing that history is written with. So lay himself is history. The one who is writting that. The second thing is that ink is a symbol of blood. Also moon symbolizes the yin and blood in moon is dark. It is also referring to xiang yu's lover's suicide and all the soliders death. And the third thing is that at the first of mv we had a lotus in ink so if lay is the lit that is why he is blacking himself in ink. And lotus has this thing. It grows in mud but still is pure, so.. I guess I explained all.

OBSESSION NEXT PLZ HSJSJSJSJSJXJ THIS MV REALLY IS LIT SJCJKSKCKCKC

Finally some EXO content ive been waiting for

The powder is actually a practical effect - when you watch the behind the scenes video it’s actually quite impressive how Lay uses the powder.

This MV was made in 2019, it's just Lay comeback is late and it took 6 months just to made this video and we can't just compare if Daechwita was release earlier than LIT and I think if LIT was release earlier we don't care that very much because we know lay is underrated as soloist.

This music vid is based on the Battle of Gaixon, the emperor was betrayed by his soldiers. Lay is basically the emperor. Also this mv was made WAAAAAY before Yoongi's, so u shouldn't compare especially since the level of Lit is way crazier than Daechwita

that singing in the beginning is traditional Chinese opera

OMG YESSSS I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SINCE I FOUND YOUR CHANNEL it will be very gratifying to hear your opinion

Your conclusion not at all satisfying Lit has much deeper meaning and story is about Lay itself.

You asked about the scene where Lay smears "black" stuff on his face. Even after watching like more than a dozen reactions (not even kidding), I haven't heard too many people get curious about it. I'd like to put out my theory: The black stuff is ink (We're off to a great start, folks.) Obviously used for writing official documents in the imperial study. While the ancient Chinese did use a lot of techniques to develop their ink (usually stored as "inkstones"), I think Lay is using the ink to allude to the muddy waters where lotuses often grow. So, it's very much like the scene where he's floating in dark murky water. Now, he's smearing this ink on his face while he says, "I am the king." Now, this smearing is obviously NOT traditional "kingly" behaviour. But I think it's meant to show what kind of "king" Lay is. He doesn't care if he makes a mess. He isn't ashamed of what his haters (btw, this song is actually a love gift to them) deem to be his "weaknesses". He wears them PROUDLY. He isn't going to erase his "mistakes" or change himself so people will like him more. He's taunting his critics as if saying that even his "weaknesses" will only make him stronger. That even if they smear him and try to destroy his reputation, they will only serve to bring him higher. I mean, that's it. That's my theory.

WHO DISLIKED THE VIDEO?? IT HASN'T PREMIERED YET LMAOO They've must've been so excited and cried with joy and accidentally clicked the wrong button 😌✌🏽

Hands down lay world domination 😌✊️

Lit IS NOT Daechwita Chinese/SM Version. Both song/MV are completely different. Why do you have to compare?

always appreciative of the amount of time you spend analyzing all the details (storylines, lyrics, choreography, etc) of these videos. sometimes reactors react to kpop videos just for the views and it can get kinda annoying. your dance therapy is healing, too lol please react to Lay’s group EXO and their mv OBSESSION 🙏🏼

that music video is a whole movie, masterpiece tingzzz

Your reaction was literally perfect until the moment you compared the mv's.

the fact that you never reacted to exo is kinda bizarre to me.

14:15 well if you know about chinese history you will get the story behind each sense and the whole storyline and lay is exactly doing that. He wants others people get curious and dig into chinese history so they could get the whole concept.

You can't compare this masterpiece with Daechwita at all. From production to editing, everything Basically in Lit, Lay is shading his haters. People called him lotus, and he is trying to be pure. He used that into his MV and even album cover. Previously his haters called him Sheep and he has a song name Sheep and album name also sheep. Basically, Lay being cool. He doesn't care about at all. Moreover, this MV is full of lots of symbolism. Character in Lit MV is based on Lay's favourite historical figure named Xiang Yu which was a general. Traditional song you have mentioned at the beginning is Chinese traditional opera and this song has more of traditional music elements. I suggest you give this song to a music theorist and explain because musically this song is very interesting. (If you scroll down the comment section, you can find a good explanation about storyline and other related stories about this MV)

Well actually if you want to get the mv better you should read about Xiang yu the chinese rebel leader and his death in war and his lover. The first acient chinese song of the mv is a famous tragic song about this leader and his lover who also lay portrait himself as him. In this MV lay mostly wants to mix chinese history with his uniqe way of producing music, so more people around the world could get familiar with chinese history. All those masks and other elements like the eye in middle of the palm are mostly related to the meaning behind of some cultural chinese thing in their history rather than illu or sth.

Tbh I don't understand why are you comparing lay's lit to sugar's daechitwa, and saying there's no story behind it!!! You clearly don't understand what's going on the MV and if you actually somehow bothered your self a little bit and read the comments under the MV you would understand even if you didn't understand the story behind the MV 🌚

Lay is lit🔥 hands down Lit is the best MV I have ever seen in my life and the way Lay co directed the mv I can't believe he is a singer,choreographer,producer,beat maker,actor,rapper,director,composer etc indeed Lay is man of many talents👑

Lay directed, choreographed, produced this piece by himself and his team. He is also the ceo of his own company

Can you react next to JACKSON - 100 WAYS??? I really love the storyline💓💓

I have a feeling people tend to look down on heavily produced MV's because they equate money = privilege and assume yixing is privileged when they first discover him and it makes me sad because they are far from wrong. I am not his fan because of political reasons, but no one can deny he is a really kind dude. I commend him because he's been following his dreams in music since he was as little as 9 years old came from a pretty modest background. Now he's one of China's top philanthropists and expressing himself well. He's always been the type to appreciate his staff, dancers, the producers and the team he works with and very humble. He not only highlighted his self worth but the talent of many hardworking CGI artists and video editors and paid them with his own money from his pocket(not with some company) well for it as they should because they really deserve it! He specifically asked for Rigend because he seriously appreciated their work and wanted nothing more than to work with them because he knew how great they are for so many years now and stayed with them since the beginning of his solo career. Seriously, Rigend has evolved and grown so much and Yixing just loves them and even wanted to have Dexter handle the CGI which is just phenomenal.

I honestly loved how you explained the dragon at the end me likey

You didn't point out the awesome 'camera rumble' when the dragon puts his hands on the palace. That shit gave me chills. Can't say I agree with the conclusion. I actually discovered both of these songs the same day. I have listened to Lit about 50x more than Daechwita at this point. I didn't feel like the story for Daechwita was any more interesting, and the song itself (lyric-wise) was kind of meh. This one had a better synchronization between the camera and action. As you mentioned the camera jostling in time with the powerful dance movements. It draws you in. Anyways, this is the first I've seen of your channel. Very interesting breakdown. Look forward to more content!

Lit is a cultural reset. Not just because the video is absolutely amazing, but he's playing as Xiang-Yu, talking about his reincarnation and his hometown using chinese culture in every single point. I think the world isn't ready to this kind of artist. He is just too good.

I think the ink on Lay's face is a metaphor for the dirt, and Lay himself, is that lotus flower.

MY ✨ALL TIME FAVORITE REACTOR✨

Finally your reaction to Lit! You know I wouldn’t steer you wrong when I asked for this reaction months ago! I rarely ask, so thank you. I love Lay but I loved that he got to share his Chinese culture more. Beautifully filmed and produced! I love your comments on different aspects of the filming and how scenes connect.

thank you for making this vid, hope you have a good day! i could watch this all day :D

jeez, i can’t believe it took me this long to finally watch this _gorgeous_ mv. that dragon really puts all of the cgi tigers and other animals in kpop mvs to shame, haha. anyways, thanks for the fun and insightful videos, as always. ⭐️

JORDAN: CHICKEN NUGGETS ADVERTISEMENT: CHICKEN WINGS ME: NOW I WANT BOTH

YES. I’ve been waiting for this! Thank you

Yes finally! Thank you 💓

I literally learned chinese because of Lay. Yup🙂🖤

MVs to react ideas: Seventeen - Fear & HIT Exo - Obsession & Ko Ko Bop Itzy - Dalla Dalla Love ur videos so much 🥺💓

YESSSSSS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS ONE!!!!

I was waiting for this!!!

Let's not compare, but appreciate both! There is also a really good mash-up of both 👏 🤯

Everything that has Yixing's touch on it is ART. Just beautiful.

I'VE BEEN WAITINGGG FOR THISSSS!!!!!!

I've been waitingggg

Late to this video, but I think sound wise, August D’s main focus was the music with his speed rap and swag and it was amazing (I definitely vibe with it) compared to LIT which sounded like Lay was stating a statement and standing his ground with his krump and lyrics that have a very very much deeper meaning. (I vibe with it too, and I play two songs one after the other) Then, music video and production wise, August D definitely doesn’t even compare and one easy example would be the use of dummies compared to Lay’s many hired actors/extras to add that heavy emphasis, again, on how big of a statement he’s trying to tell the world. Lay’s MV is pure art with the clear importance of portraying Chinese Culture to the whole world.

DON’T MAKE US COMPARE TWO ICONIC SONGS BY TWO KINGS 😤 They are both masterpieces in their own way, and I refuse to choose one (not that I could😂) also, please no body start a comparison fight in the comments. Let’s spread the love😌😁💜

I've been waiting for this! Yes!

So excited for more reactions❤😆

There is a behind the scene/how they made it video for this song!

I NEVER KLICKED SO FAST

That fact that this guy rh questioning everything in in this video and give a logical explanation for it and tho i watched it for like a hundred times now and didn’t notice anything he mentioned cause i was too busy screaming about topless lay+black haired lay+ AND LAY IN A FREAKIN emperor suit. Lmao. Also the song is just SO CRAZY I can’t get over it.

I’ve only jus found your channel after looking for diff lay edits on RU-vid. Your analysis and interpretation goes waaay beyond the music video editing aspect and I really loved that!!! Ty for this

Finally some well-deserved appreciation for this masterpiece of a music video 🙌 your channel is dope dude

❗️❗️Which do you like better, LAY - LIT or AGUST D - DAECHWITA❓❓

LOVE YOUR REACTIONS JORDAN!! YOU DESERVE MORE SUBSCRIBERS!

Really love how you organise the screen, authentic and satisfying. Amazing

Love your reaction.

LAY LIT.LAY LIT LAY LIT PERIODDDTT

Yeahh finally my requestt , good to see you react to this song! 🔥

Love your reaction!!!❤️

Well,, you saw that hazma hand and black dragon,, the black dragon is actually a gold or yellow dragon and it's a god which is from like an ancient time and that dragon protected the people. It's turned black because of a black magic or black energy that's surrounded him. I thinks it was because of that dragon lost something precious maybe and he's mad and turned evil and kill everyone,, possibly I think it was like this,, if I'm wrong,, I am really sorry 🙏

i need an entire tv drama based on this mv. like i need MORE

Love how you're giving hints at us, Jordan!

Yessss, i have beeN waiting for this reaction for soo soo long and now that it finally came, i seriously got so excited. I LOVED watching you explain the scenes and the meaning behind it and also how the camera angles work. Thank you for taking your time to react to this MV!

I'm so proud of Lay! He's not only amazing member of EXO but amazing solo artist as well TT

"Lit IS NOT Daechwita Chinese/SM Version. Both song/MV are completely different." Copied from another comment. This statement disregards a lot of work that's gone into Lit! It's also very much a Lay production rather than an SM production! It's not fair to say you prefer the story in Daechwita if you don't know the story behind Lit. The two MVs also shouldn't really be compared because they hold cultural significance, and how can we compare something like that? I know it's just based on a reaction, but it seems like he searches some things up while going about his analysis like the meaning of the lotus flower in China. I understand the story of Lit is more subtle but just disagreed with the conclusion of the two he made without a full understanding. Love these pro video editing reactions tho! I've learned a lot from these videos :)

13:06 they really put a powder almost all over his body and flashes those red lights while he's dancing. And believe me or not but they film this during a very very cold night. And for the choreo it is also from one of the main choreographer of EXO. KASPER. I see that you didn't watch till the end but he puts all the credits for all the details of these MV. Watch the behind the scenes of these film and you'll see that how much efforts did he puts for this MV!!!

I've been waiting for this long time and It is so worth it!!!

I see lots of obsession recommendation and i think if ever you'll react to it you should try watching the teaser first! :D

Omg yesssss

I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

I was waiting for this reaction😊😊

A few recommendations: GFRIEND-Apple Dreamcatcher-Scream or Deja Vu EXO-Obsession GOT7-Not By The Moon CLC-BLACK DRESS •‿•

I'd better be the first one to comment HAHAHAAH

Thank you for explaining everything to us.. And you almost got it right.. Lit is a song of him rising above his haters because before all his haters used to call him a Lotus someone who pretends to be innocent and is fake.. Yet he took the same word and made it into something amazing by focusing on the good sides of a Lotus flower just like Lay💯♥️Lay is a super talented dancer and music producer, he makes all his solo albums🙌

goosebumps!!!! i really learned a lot! nice reaction :)

React to EXO "MONSTER" and "KOKOBOP. Also EXO TEMPO

Obsession by EXO next pls♡ The music video is surely a whirlwind of visuals that showcases the EXO members facing off in different battles against X-EXO with their corresponding superpowers. As X-EXO members continue to haunt and pursue the EXO members, they are the personification of obsession and nightmares that the EXO members want to free themselves from. However, X-EXO throughout the music video shows that they are evenly matched against them and a force not to be taken lightly. There is a double-meaning to this as well as X-EXO can be seen as the inner thoughts of one person who is going through internal conflict of trying to figure out who they truly are and are fighting through dark moments that life tends to throw at people. Thank You!♡

Yassss!!!! I’ve been waiting for this reaction!!!

FINALLY IVE BEEN WAITING

Dammit Jordan, how fast can you work

You should react to EXO - OBSESSION

Thank you for reacting to the best MV of 2020! I love how I enjoy your reactions and at the same time, learning so much! 💓

Thank u for this reaction i love it