Kpopalypse Nugu Alert Episode 77 – 10 to 4, Variantia, Wuno, Nangsong
It’s time for the return of the longest running nugu series in k-pop history – Kpopalypse Nugu Alert! Let’s take a look at some more nugus!
This episode sees a return of one of everyone’s favourite Nugu Alret categories, and that’s “green screen” videos! Green screen use is actually a lot less common in k-pop music videos than you might think – those weirdly surreal looking sets are made from real physical objects, most of the time. However plunge into the depths of ultra-nugu territory and things change – as budgets are constrained, green screens are used more and more. Never mind carefully crafted box videos, there’s some times when even the Paradise Diner or Yongma Land are too expensive to rent out. At the most extreme end of k-pop video poverty, there’s literally no limit to where green screens can be used. Let’s take a look at some examples of that extreme end right now!
Usual Kpopalypse Nugu Alert criteria are in effect for this post!
Less than 20,000 views on official channelsExtreme nugu mode activated! Kpopalypse Nugu Alert is not one of those places that puts B and C-list artists in the nugu category to farm clicks from existing fanbases, let’s make it less than 2000 views for this post!- Someone out there has heard of these people, but you and your friends sure haven’t
- Relevant to Kpopalypse
Let’s do it!
10 to 4 – Communication
The song here is nothing that special, but 10 to 4 certainly at least get full marks for top-tier visual ideas. The video for “Communication” has some girl with a shiny blue shirt and Dahyun-tier cheekbones stepping into her computer screen and chasing love hearts in various computer game style settings. It comes off like a cute paper mache version of “Tron” and you’ll wish you were right there with her playing these games too. It’s a bit sad however that they had to simulate the 1990s desktop keyboard, mouse and monitor that she’s using. I guess times really are tough in k-pop nugu land when you can’t stretch the video budget to even afford retro PC peripherals on Craigslist. Give them a few clicks and shares so they can get a Pentium Pro for their next video.
Youtube views at the time of writing: 1013
Notable attribute: at least the printer at 0:40 is real
Nugu Alert rating: extreme
Variantia – What’s the Matter Human?
When a music video starts off with a green-screened breakdancing tiger before the singing even starts, you know you’re in for a rare treat. It feels like they could do just about anything else here and it would have been alright because there’s also a breakdancing tiger, and it’s just as well too because they pretty much do do “anything else”, spewing out all sorts of completely unrelated random stuff out there. The imagery is so odd and comes at the viewer so thick and fast that it took me quite a while to work out if this song was even pro-LGBT or anti-LGBT just due to the confusion brought about by sensory overload, although I did eventually figure it out when the not-very-subtle “love is love” CGI hearts started raining down. The song itself is equally dizzying, especially when that keyboard solo comes in at 1:09 and dominates the mix for no real reason. It’s all pretty crazy and while I don’t believe the wacky MAGA-tier conspiracy theories about LGBT trying to brainwash people, if they were going to attempt something like that, locking people in a room and playing this sensory-overload video over and over at them might actually work.
Youtube views at the time of writing: 707
Notable attribute: the frog and elephant balanced on the wing of the plane get wiped out at 1:59 when the plane descends into the clouds, RIP
Nugu Alert rating: extreme
Wuno – Chameleon
Rappers have a unique challenge when recording videos in that they have to seem ‘cool’ and ‘hip-hop’ and simply not showering like Bobby from iKon sometimes isn’t enough to cut it. One of the more effective ways to look ‘cool’ is to go to lots of different places and rap in front of them so you appear well-travelled and street savvy, but what if you don’t have the budget to get to those places, or the locals who are there don’t really think you’re all that? Enter the power of green screen to allow rappers to fake it until they make it and apply that all important rap credibility. Wuno here visits quite a few interesting places, like a generically non-offensively graffitied street, and a subway station so clean as to rival the one in ILY:1’s video. I didn’t mind the song as the beat actually isn’t too shabby here (for once) so let’s hope that the people in charge of hip-hop are impressed enough by his green-screen geo-relocation efforts to let him into the cool kids club soon.
Youtube views at the time of writing: 311
Notable attribute: if those are really his album covers at 1:04 he could use the help of a graphic designer, why not hit him up?
Nugu Alert rating: extreme
Nangsong – Walk
It’s recently been revealed that the weather where I live in Australia has now become the entire world’s weather, and you’re all going to be finding yourselves in an apocalyptic hellscape of fires, floods and general life-asphyxiating insanity just like where I live. As a result, scenes of nature walks and pastoral vistas appropriate for k-pop coffee shop ballads may start getting harder and harder to come by. Fortunately we can now green screen such things in by reusing previous footage taken from before our planet became the burned out lifeless husk that it is today, so there’s no need to worry about corporations destroying the remaining 1% of the planet to get the raw materials needed to make your precious k-pop photobooks. We may all be dead soon but at least we got to breathe our last few breaths watching a pleasant nature-themed video where a massively oversized fawn headbutts a tree.
Youtube views at the time of writing: 254
Notable attribute: best synchronised swimming in a k-pop video in recent memory at 2:12 showing Seoul Magic Club how it’s done
Nugu Alert rating: extreme
That’s all for Kpopalypse Nugu Alert for this episode! The series will return!
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