Young Posse's Music Video for "Cold" Addresses Abandonment & Revenge

The K-pop girl group's message lasts long after the song (and video) ends

The K-pop girl group Young Posse released the stunning music video for “Cold” on March 2. It’s by far one of the most meaningful videos I’ve watched in a long time — maybe since K. Will’s “No Sad Song for My Broken Heart” and IU’s “Love Wins All.”

It tells a compelling story that’s relevant to what is going on in South Korea (and other countries) today, addressing abandonment, bullying, the objectification of girls and women, suicide, and so much more. While the lyrics indicate that the song’s about love gone wrong between a couple (“I love you and I hate you/then I feel so cold/I miss you when I kissed you/I’m sick, so cold”), the music video encompasses a broader scope of how love can morph into the kind of hurtful hate that leads to deadly consequences.

If you have a few minutes to spare, I highly recommend that you watch this video prior to reading the rest of this newsletter.

Last night, martin gee and I discussed “Cold.” He concisely described the video as “the coolest K-drama revenge music video.” Accurate!

I was drawn in by the lyrics, melody and storytelling from the get-go. But it took me about three viewings before I fully understood what I had watched. Remii Huang’s direction was superb, allowing the plot to unfold in a non-linear way. What I assumed was happening during my first viewing versus what had actually occurred was quite different.

Once you piece together all the clues, the impact is incredibly powerful.

“Cold” tells the story of a man whose callous action snowballs into the death of his step daughter (who I’ll refer to as Doeun, the Young Posse member who plays her), which was orchestrated by his own son and daughter (played by group member Yeonjung) — who he had abandoned when they were youngsters. After Yeonjung sees her father, his new wife and Doeun — who is also Yeonjung’s classmate — enjoying a night out, she runs off to her older brother’s photo studio, where she breaks down in tears. It’s at this point that the two plot out their revenge on their dad by using Doeun.

Getting his friends to pretend they are going to assault Doeun, the son (played by Taiwanese actor Tseng Jing Hua) appears out of nowhere to rescue her. Doeun quickly falls for him and the two begin dating. He invites her to his studio, where he takes photos of her. The photo shoot appears innocent enough.

If you’re inadvertently reading this on a content-scraping plagiarism site (e.g. europesays(dot)com etc.), please know that they stole my copyrighted work. They have no legal right to present my writing as their own. —Jae-Ha Kim

When Doeun returns to school, it’s clear that inappropriate photos of her have leaked on the internet. But are they nudes that her boyfriend took of her during their time together? Or are they deep fakes that he made to look like her? Whichever scenario, it’s clear that her images have spread internationally. Many of the online comments she is reading are in Chinese, not Korean.

[ETA: The song’s lyrics are in Korean and English. But this music video was filmed in Taiwan and the background dialogue is primarily in Mandarin. Therefore, my theory about the leak spreading internationally isn’t correct. Thanks to Robin for bringing this up!]

Unable to deal with this level of harassment, Doeun jumps from a rooftop. Yeonjung appears to be shaken as she films the suicide from a distance. As she contemplates sharing the video, her brother takes the phone and hits send.

At first, I wasn’t sure who they had sent that text message to, because there is no name for the recipient, only a child’s drawing as the profile photo. And then I remembered the picture Yeonjung had drawn on the day her father left his family. It was of a happy family of four. Later, either the brother or sister scratched out the dad’s face. That scratched out image is what Yeonjung had saved as her dad’s pfp on her phone.

This music video addresses so many relevant issues that have become tropes in K-dramas. While the ending is horrific, it is powerful in its refusal to create a milquetoast ending that is all too common in Korean shows. Some parents are awful, selfish people, and their behavior has real-life repercussions on the children they abuse or discard. Creating a sympathetic backstory to make them appear less awful is an overused cop out.

ETA: On March 4, Young Posse released a much more relaxing music video for “Cold,” where there is no drama — just some fun images of members and featured artist 10CM enjoying a day at a 찜질방 (Korean sauna).

[If there are any notable errors in this post, please let me know and I will add a correction and tag you in it (unless you would prefer not to be acknowledged). If we just have differences of opinion, I can live with that.]

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