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SUPERKIND (Eugene, Geon, SaeJin, Daemon, SiO, Seung, JDV) has officially released their highly-anticipated music video for 'Moody', and fans all over the world are ecstatic and intrigued, to say the least. This is not just any comeback, but one that introduces two new members to the SUPERKIND-verse, namely JDV and A.I member Seung. To be more precise and true to the group's concept, JDV is a PRID member (the term for the human members in the physical world), and Seung is a NUKE member (the term for the virtual members in the story worlds). Together, PRID and NUKE set off on a journey to find the mysterious "S" - thus creating the anagram SUPERKIND (S + PRID + NUKE), which is the name of the group.
In SUPERKIND's previous comeback, we were ushered into SaeJin's story world with 'Watch Out' and this time, it is Seung's turn with 'Moody'. It is said that SUPERKIND plans to have 5 NUKE members in total, which means 3 more virtual members are yet to be announced, who will presumably come with their own story worlds with each comeback.
The world-building for this comeback has been in the works for months in the form of chapters released on Twitter. Chapter 1 is named "TWO-FACED", Chapter 2 is "TAKE ME THERE" and Chapter 3 is "THE PERFECT CIRCLE" - all of which are explicitly referenced in the lyrics to 'Moody'. Naturally, therefore, the key to understanding this comeback, the music video for 'Moody' and all the symbolism ingrained therein, lies in these chapters but before we explore their depths, let's look into the song itself.
'Moody' Lyrics Explained
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'Moody' can be described as a pop EDM song laced with elements of alt-rock and underlined by a haunting yet addictive melody. This allows the song to tread the fine line between transient dreaminess and gothic darkness, as represented cinematically by the music video. The production and arrangement are extremely well-done, and the electronic elements add a unique texture to the song, amplifying its quality. Our vocalists and rappers get ample time to shine and the distinct vocal color of each member is particularly highlighted. Most importantly, the lyrics leave no questions unanswered as to the message SUPERKIND is trying to convey.
The song starts off with a sense of submission. When life breaks one down, leaving them with no direction, there is an intense urge to turn to the dark side. All they've ever known is blurred red ("In a room dyed redder") and there's no one to pull them out of the abyss. That moment of weakness and vulnerability is when their inner darkness takes over, repressing their true self ("That's how I make you mine").
In terms of Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the Id comes out to play, dismissing the Ego. Now, this Id is the unconscious - the primitive and instinctual part of the self that is constantly pushed down by the rationale ("Pull me in the cage"), but once it emerges, chaos ensues. If we personify the Id and apply this to the song, it is easier to understand how the lyrics are addressed to the self. The word 'moody' is emphasized to reflect an imbalance in emotions, the tiniest chink in the armor for the darkness to exploit and dominate our protagonists ("Your face approaches and you swallow me whole again").
Now, as much as this new "you" is different from your true self, it is also a coping mechanism that shields you or at least, gives you the illusion of protection. So, you keep reaching out for it to hold your hand and deliver you from your pain, no matter how much it hurts those around you ("I want you, I resent you"). What was once hidden inside you ("You hid me") is now hiding you ("I hid you"), turning the tables and taking away your agency and sense of control.
Before you know it, you start to believe in this artificial respite, convinced that this is the real you ("I love all of you / Every shade of you"). This persona is malevolent and manipulative, but you're too dependent on it for survival, especially when it claims to be on your side ("I'll do anything / Give you everything"). So, you let it take over, and soon, there's no turning back.
By tackling these realistic concerns of mental health, SUPERKIND makes the song universally resonant, despite the lore hinting at a more supernatural meaning.
The Lore
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The extensive lore about the universe of this comeback is told through Twitter threads featuring interactive polls that decide the course of action. As such, it is created with the help of PLAYERS, which is what makes it even more special. Ultimately, through the lore, teaser photos were released as rewards to PLAYERS. Now there are several important points that you need to know about the lore to understand 'Moody' better. We will compile some of them below!
Note: From this point onwards, we will use the names of the members as they appear in the lore, i.e, JuChan for JDV, SuKyoung for SiO, DaeYun for Daemon, GiSung for Eugene, Geon for Geon and Seung for Seung.
1. All the PRID members of SUPERKIND go to Kiseung High School - a prestigious institution known for its heritage of 120 years and legacy of excellence. However, the school feels suffocating to most and is often described as "hellish". The representative flower of the school is the "Ajuga", which symbolizes "shady love". Kiseung High School has been run by GiSung's family for 100 years, and his admission to the school has stirred up controversy.
2. To escape from the prison-like constraints of the school, the members sneak away to a secret room behind a grandfather clock in the lobby that opens with a key that hangs around GiSung's neck. This key was gifted to him as a child, but he perceives it more as a leash or a noose, serving as proof of the fact that his grandmother wants him to continue the "family business".
3. All the PRID members except GiSung (who is forced to attend Kiseung High) have a specific purpose for studying there. Geon is a national athlete, but after falling into a slump, his future became uncertain. That is when the principal of Kiseung High School scouted him in exchange for working as GiSung's bodyguard. The thought of someone needing him is what drives him but he doesn't know who he should be protecting GiSung from. Nevertheless, he's happy because GiSung treats him like a friend and he can train again.
JuChan's older brother Lee SeungChan was a student at Kiseung High School and quite a famous one at that. Everyone thinks that he is now studying abroad, but in reality, he is undergoing medical treatment for a mysterious illness. He is plagued by fear and even screams in his sleep. His friends mention that SeungChan used to appear soulless in school. JuChan suspects that someone in Kiseung High is behind this and is determined to find out the truth.
DaeYun is a novelist and wants to write mystery novels inspired by Kiseung High School. So, he investigates the numerous missing person cases that happened in the school where top students disappeared out of nowhere after showing similar symptoms of fear. He is also the first person to approach JuChan to help him because he believed in him. JuChan calls himself the Watson to DaeYun's Sherlock.
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SuKyoung investigates the strange happenings at school and has come across some CCTV footage where the chandelier in the school lobby in front of the grandfather clock seems to be swinging on its own. SuKyoung also feels a certain "fear" and claims to be able to hear a "whistle" (which can be assumed to be the whistle that starts the song off), so he's afraid that he's changing too.
4. Seung joins Kiseung High School as a transfer student. He is a good friend and close to all the members. However, he is rebellious and full of secrets but preferred by the Principal and so never gets a scolding. GiSung is especially attached to Seung.
5. The Principal of Kiseung High School recommends a book called "The Legendary Korean Monster", which details the story of a monster who steals souls by seduction. His appearance is strikingly similar to Seung. The book further reveals that the monster was enamoured by the beauty of a boy born in the leap month of February 1481. The monster possessed his body and so, took on his beautiful appearance. This made it much easier for him to suck out human souls and turn them into beads, which he ate like candy to sustain himself while the "soulless" suffered from sickness and eventually passed away.
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The monster's only weakness is his time limit, which he can be liberated from by his chosen human servant. The story of this monster is known far and wide, and a song about it has been passed down for generations. One significant lyric, which appears engraved in stone in front of Kiseung High only at night goes as follows: "Life that costs blood is like death even if you live. It's not a beautiful flower, it's a monster that never dies". This is a cautionary tale, to remind people that even though this monster boasts otherworldly beauty, it has attained that beauty by taking lives and so, is nothing but a heinous monster that we must be wary of.
Now, this is not a part of the official lore, but we theorize that Seung was the boy whose body was possessed by the monster, which explains its visual resemblance to him as well as the candy that Seung is often seen nibbling on. As the monster did not suck out Seung's soul, he is simply stuck in time - neither dead nor alive.
6. The Principal is unbelievably mean to GiSung, despite him being her grandchild, and calls him a "disgrace". She is also not fond of SuKyoung, who she refers to as a "burden" and JuChan, who she is just disappointed by in general. However, she is exceptionally nice to DaeYun because he is a model student, and Geon, who seems to be an informant of sorts to her. Geon helps her keep an eye on the students and the Principal, in turn, has guaranteed his future.
7. Kiseung High School has something called "Appraisal Day" where students with bad grades are humiliated in front of everyone and must write a letter of apology. JuChan became a victim of this humiliation after his grades dropped and Seung ranked first.
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8. Following Appraisal Day, the students started acting out of the ordinary. Behind a veil of normalcy, everything was ominously bizarre, with the PRID members feasting on some uncanny food shaped like a human mouth holding a purple-red flower on a bed of colorful beads. It is implied that GiSung seems to know that something is terribly wrong but the other members get carried away more and more. The next day onwards, none of them show up to school, and the disappearance is covered up, as always until a notice appears torn up on the bulletin board, hinting at a change in the state of affairs - a variable that disrupted the plan.
9. The lore concludes with a picture of the PRID members, where everyone except for GiSung has a blindfold on - the same one that was used to shame JuChan on Appraisal Day. They stand in a circle with GiSung in the center. The meaning behind it all? Keep reading to find out!
The M/V Deep Dive
The music video for 'Moody' begins with a quote from "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - "The storm has passed. I have to go back and lock myself in my cage". This is a book that is presented as GiSung's favorite in the lore and at the very start of the M/V, it is implied that someone was reading the quote to GiSung when he was a child. Fast forward to the end and it is revealed that this "someone" was Seung, who is also the one who gave him the key. Now, a quick study of the text "The Sorrows of Young Werther" reveals the deeply melancholic and self-destructive tone of this quote, which is a major foreshadowing of what's to come.
We cut to a scene of vile physical abuse that is presumably directed at GiSung from his grandmother, who is also seen holding up a stick at him in the lore. In succession, we see the other PRID members facing their own inner torment alone while Seung appears calm and composed. In front of others, however, all is well, except for GiSung, who consistently appears forlorn. When Seung appears in front of them in class as a transfer student, GiSung reacts with a stern face - almost as if it is history repeating itself and the scene from his childhood is being recreated right in front of his eyes.
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Suddenly, something shifts in GiSung and this change is represented in the music video by him tearing out his key necklace and using it to open up the secret room behind the grandfather clock. It is only inside this room that they are truly happy, truly themselves - even Seung and especially GiSung. Take note of how Seung is shown simultaneously inside the room and also locked out of the same, almost as if he is forbidden in this sacred space that the boys have created for themselves.
Outside of this room, the members are suffering in silence, trapped by their own fears. JuChan is transformed into a puppet, controlled by the unknown forces who turned his brother insane; Geon is a victim of his own self, unable to pull himself out of his slump - symbolized by his reflection turning on him; SuKyoung is haunted by delusions from the fear of "changing" and DaeYun is under extreme pressure of academic success, which is why he is choked by a hand that seems to come out of his book. Still, they must appear "normal" to carry out their own individual plans, represented by the masks they put on. With these masks on, they become hostile to one another, almost as if in a daze.
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Soon, we find out that SuKyoung's fears were not just rooted in fallacy because Seung targets him next, sucking out his soul and creating a red bead out of it. Ultimately, GiSung is left all alone in their secret room, with no one but Seung for company while he dreams of the good old days with his friends. Suddenly awakened, he realizes the trance that he has been in and swallows the key in an act of defiance and rejection, shocking Seung.
Here, we can interpret that as a child, GiSung was chosen as the monster's human servant. The "family business" we referenced earlier must be the wicked tradition of members of the Gil family serving the monster and bringing him unsuspecting humans to feed on, which explains the random disappearances. GiSung is controlled by the key, which signifies their contract. So, when he swallows the key, he sacrifices himself to break the contract and cut off the monster's time limit, putting an end to the vicious cycle. Now, we see the monster for what it is - as depicted in the book with long purple hair. Its beauty depletes and its lifeforce is drained.
Meawhile, GiSung puts SuKyoung's soul bead back in him, bringing his friends back to life one by one. Elsewhere, the monster is defeated and a tear rolls down his cheek. Now, as theorists, we know there's always more to the story than meets the eye. This tear, we believe, is that of the young's boy's who was possessed by the monster. Now that the evil has been vanquished, Seung - the real Seung who was hanging in the balance between life and death, has returned, with a second chance at life. In the ending scene, we see Seung joining the rest of the boys for a group photo. Without a doubt, we'd like to think that this is the real Seung, reuniting with his friends, this time to live the life that he was robbed of. So, if you were curious - yes, this story has a happy ending!
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Another excellent point we'd like to highlight is the importance of the Goethe quote. In the beginning, we see Seung (as the monster) reciting it to GiSung when he was a kid. What the monster expected was for GiSung to submit to him entirely as his servant and lock up his own morality deep inside. Being young, he was gullible to these messages, especially when it came with the promise of belonging at a time in his life when he was the loneliest. However, as he came of age and experienced the limitless joys of friendship, GiSung realized that what truly needs to be locked in is the monster controlling him. So, in essence, what the monster wanted to ingrain in GiSung was in turn, enacted against him in the most fulfilling and cathartic plot twist ever. Now, this is what we call brilliant storytelling.
Finally, huge kudos are due to the amazing members, who brought such a fantastic saga to us, breathing life into their characters and weaving an epic tale of friendship that transcends all. Besides being incredible performers, these young geniuses are commendable actors and complete artists, and we cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next!
What did you think of SUPERKIND's 'Moody'? Tell us your interpretations in the comments section down below!
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