So after day/weeks of enduring endless teasing from Kwon Jiyong, the man himself has finally released his newest album, Coup d'ETat
Unlike the previous music video, Kim Jaejoong's Mine, which slaps you in the face with its many significant symbolisms, this music video from G-Dragon requires you to take a shovel and some patience to unravel the meanings behind the video.
So sit back, grab a cup of tea or something and watch me /try/ to explain this dark and ~creepy~ video.
(Just a disclaimer: The following paragraphs are merely my thoughts and opinions on the video. I'm not the director nor GD so i wouldn't know the real meanings behind this masterpiece of a video. So sit back, put your pitchforks and fire torches down and relax.)
First of all, this song is definitely one of a kind (hehehuehuehehe). It's not your usual skrillex dubstep techno music but more of a "makes you feel like holding a baseball bat and destroy everything in sight". Basically it's something you would hear upon entering a haunted house.
The title itself gives us a clue upon the message GD is trying to convey.
coup d'état (/ˌkuːdeɪˈtɑː/; plural: coups d'état), also known as a coup, a putsch, or an overthrow, is the sudden deposition of a government. (credits to Wikipedia)
In the beginning of the video, you can see a little (adorable, if i might add) boy in a standing position, staring at a boulder-structure (or probably his tombstone). This could represent a younger GD, all innocent and adorable, staring at his own death.
Moving on to the next scene where GD is seen in a room, similar to a dressing room with the lightbulb mirrors, going through cruel tortures such as the electric chair. It is no doubt and apparent enough that idols had to go through tortures (be it physically or mentally) throughout their career. In this case, the fame and glamour is the one physically torturing G-Dragon.
And here we see GD blindfolded and having bullets being fired at him. Instead of running away or dodging the bullets like a normal sane person would do, he calmly stood there, letting the bullets come at him. This isn't a question about his sanity but more of showing that he has become too immune to critics and haters constantly firing at him (and missing) that he simply chooses to close his eyes to them and continue doing what he does.
Around the 2 minute mark, the video unfolds to the next scene where you can see reporters being blindfolded and shoving their mikes desperately, trying to get any news they could lay their hands on with GD looking /gorgeously/ fierce and sitting in the middle. With their sight being covered, they could only rely on their hearing, thus not being able to clearly see the "news" they are trying to gather. In this case, they could only rely on the words they hear and not truly see him.
Moving on to the next scene that crept everyone out, the video shows his infamous Heartbreaker era, a.k.a the start of all scandals.
Instead of the usual white mask you see, it starts to cry black tears, tainting the clean and white surface of the mask.
And then you see GD taking out the white mask he had been wearing, revealing a black-painted GD. As we all would know, black is the mother of all negative emotions.
Conclusion: GD is no longer the pure, innocent GD you knew back during the Heartbreaker era. He's getting rid of the image you knew back then and revealing to you a new born (probably not new) Kwon Jiyong whether you like it or not. (refer back to his "death" in the beginning)
Which brings us to the ending.
GD is shedding off his skin, his past images and throwing it all behind, revealing a new skin and a fresher image.
So after throwing away his old image, in the same scene, we can see him throwing rocks at the huge wall, trying to break it down. Of course, after getting a new image, the next logical thing to do is to rise from the "dead" and show himself to the world, no? (which includes giving everyone around the world a possibly heart attack from his new "scary" album, as some would perceive as)
At last, a new and drop dead gorgeous Kwon Jiyong can be seen standing in front of his once tombstone, revealing to the world his new and refreshing image instead of the old and wrinkly self we had seen in the beginning of the video.
And to end it all off,
"the revolution will not be televised; the revolution is in your mind; the revolution is here"
translation: the old G-Dragon is dead and here arise a new G-Dragon ready to rock your world and there's nothing you can do about it.
Putting aside all the deep symbolisms shit and all, writing this so-called review has made me think, just how much torture and pain did he went through to have produce such a wonderful masterpiece?
Of course no one would ever know and it was a rhetorical question. But it's just something to ponder about.
Now would you excuse me, i shall continue shamelessly abuse the replay button and listen to this amazing song for the next few weeks until i get bored of it.
Labels: review