K-pop has become very popular lately. At first, most people only knew the group BTS, but over time, other performers became well-known. One group that has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years is (G)I-DLE. Its members performed such famous songs as Tomboy, Queencard and Nxde. Today we will spend more time on the latter and analyze its meaning.
Clip aesthetics
The entire video and some of the images in it refer to Marilyn Monroe: a woman who was remembered primarily as incredibly beautiful and sexy, while forgetting that she also had a good mind and talent. Just knowing about this already helps to find the key to the solution. Based on it, you can understand that we will talk about the fact that society, when looking at a woman, first of all pays attention to her sexuality (if not only to her).
Characters
Those who follow the group’s work know that (G)I-DLE’s videos often have characters who can sometimes even move from video to video. The video for the song Nxde was no exception. Let’s look at the characters, as they, as well as the aesthetics of the video, will help us understand the meaning of the song in more detail.
1. “Yeppie.” A girl whose costume and first appearance in the video clearly references the image of Marilyn Monroe from the film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” It was not in vain that I used the word “image”, since “Yeppie” in the video is really just a mask that the heroine tried on.
In her own words, she “speaks in a stupid manner,” but “has a sexy figure.” At the same time, the girl, apparently, is not stupid, since she makes it clear that she is perfectly aware of the mask of a dumb sexy beauty that she has put on herself.
The attitude towards her as some kind of “mere object” for lust is reflected in the very word “Yeppie” that she uses. It means “handsome” in Korean slang, but it is not used to refer to people. Most often, “yeppies” are called, for example, cats or dogs.
2. Lorelai. The opposite of “Yeppie”. Lorelai also understands that she is sexy, but she doesn’t use it to take advantage of men. She does not hide her intelligence, she is interested in philosophy, but at the same time she behaves quite cheekily, thereby leading people to negative emotions. Lorelai’s character shows how society, expecting to see the next image of a sexy beauty, is faced with the fact that a girl is not obliged to use her body as a way to attract attention.
Although these two heroines are the opposite of each other, they both demonstrate that they are treated as objects or things. And if “Yeppie” agrees to this, then Lorelai plays with such expectations in every possible way and destroys them.
What is the point anyway?
Throughout the song, the members demonstrate how society treats girls’ bodies. And in the end, as if to sum it up, they say that the perception of the female body as an object of desire is a “rude” point of view that only limits people’s worldview.
The participants say that the body is just a body, and in confirmation they end the song with the words: “I was born naked. And you are just a pervert.”
However, of course, everything does not come down only to how female sexuality is perceived in society. The word “nude” is not used by the participants in its generally accepted meaning. But the best explanation of the meaning of the song is the words of the participants themselves. Shuhua commented: “For people, the word ‘nude’ has a spicy meaning. But the term itself has nothing to do with sexuality. We chose this word to show who we really are.”
What else did the participants say?
Only two members commented on the meaning of the song: Shuhua and Miyeon. I have already cited the words of the first above, but the second girl comments in more detail.
Miyeon said, “The track is called ‘Nxde’, but the nude concept we tried to express means naked self. It means that when you’re confused or faced with an important choice, you need to listen to your real, honest side.” She also commented on the last line of their song (“And you’re just a pervert”): “We added that to the lyrics, so We believe that depending on your point of view, everything can change dramatically. So we wanted to tell these people that ultimately you are the pervert for seeing things this way.”
