Today, on the 14th of June 2022, Rocky from ASTRO dropped his self-produced track video for ‘S#1.’, his solo song on ASTRO’s latest comeback album “Drive to the Starry Road”. This unexpected track video was only announced earlier today via his Instagram story, and the video was released at 2:25pm (KST) which is a reference to the idol’s birthdate on the 25th of February. The amount of meaning and intention behind even the time that the track video was released is indicative of the level of thought put into the entire production.
— ASTRO 아스트로 (@offclASTRO) June 14, 2022 Before diving into analysis of the track video, I shall briefly explain the meaning behind the song ‘S#1.’ itself. ‘S#1.’ or ‘Scene Number One’ is inspired by a film, Rocky explained at the latest ASTRO Comeback Showcase, specifically a Korean film called “내 머리 속의 지우개” (English title “A Moment to Remember”) which features a female lead diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This scenario, wherein the memory of a significant other slips away and they start to forget their partner little by little is a very emotive situation, and Rocky portrays this loss through the lyrics of ‘S#1.’. From this point, when I refer to ‘Rocky’ in the context of the song’s lyrics or track video, I refer to the fictional character he is playing in the song’s story. The first section of ‘S#1.’ is filled with hope and youthful energy, the fictional character ‘Rocky’ is playing recounts the story of how he first met the character of the ‘girlfriend’, the fateful first eye contact which blossomed into the kind of love where the lyrics state he is “so happy.” This corresponds to the mood of the first half of the track video. Importantly, the track video is not a step by step recreation of the lyrics starting from when the couple meet in a linear fashion, but rather a snapshot of various casual moments in their lives with the ‘girlfriend’s’ memory being shown to start to fade through a clever use of filmography which I shall explain further later. The main part where the lyrics of the song and the filmography of the track video overlap is the repeated motif of the word ‘hi’ and the ‘boyfriend’ character’s invitation for the ‘girlfriend’ to “go on a walk with me.” Indeed, the track video is entirely set outside while the couple are on various walks on various days in their relationship, as shown by the changes of clothes and scenery. The format of the video is also reminiscent of movies; it reminds the viewer of an establishing montage of home videos played at the beginning of a film to introduce the two main characters. The first half of the video is the ‘boyfriend’ being filmed by the character of the ‘girlfriend’. The camera is slightly wobbly and fuzzy, the vibes are warm and homely and there is a sense of comfort and casual companionship in this purposefully amateur home film. The turning point of the video, where it begins to become apparent that the ‘girlfriend’ behind the camera is beginning to fade, happens at the 1:33 minute mark. The ‘boyfriend’ character spots a bench and gestures to the ‘girlfriend’ to film him while he sits down. The mood of this whole clip feels different to previous scenes, ‘Rocky’ is gazing at the camera with more concern in his eyes and even when he gestures that he is going to sit down on the bench he looks like he is explaining this concept in more detail and more carefully than would usually be necessary. As he sits on the bench, the camera angle falters. The character of the ‘girlfriend’ loses focus of him and starts to shakily point the camera at the sky and trees and in the corner of the frame you can see the ‘boyfriend’ tilt his head to notice what is going on, which is followed by his panicked run back to her where you only see his feet while the camera angle falls to the ground and is dropped. The video then buffers and glitches slightly before cutting to a clip of him lying gazing at the ‘girlfriend’ – and then the crucial point, he takes the camera. At this point the first section of the track video has ended, and the ‘girlfriend’ is no longer the person filming. The character ‘Rocky’ takes charge of the camera and films himself; he looks more sombre as he sets up the camera in various locations. However, as solemn as he looks while setting up the camera, when the camera is set up he smiles and waves and tries to look happy for the benefit of the ‘girlfriend’ character, showing the amount of love the ‘boyfriend’ character feels. In the second half of the track video is where the repeated motif of the lyric ‘hi’ accompanied by a wave takes on more meaning. Where it began as a cute wave to the camera, the repeated waves to the camera in the second half have a more sober tone as these waves are intended to remind the ‘girlfriend’ of who he is, so that she doesn’t forget. There is a glimmer of hope at 2:28 when the ‘girlfriend’ picks up the camera from where he has set it to record himself, and she begins to record him herself. There is a reminder of the turning point scene where the ‘girlfriend’ began to point the camera at the sky, because she once again does this – but this time in a more controlled fashion. The ‘boyfriend’ points at the moon and the ‘girlfriend’ films where he points, and then as she brings the camera back down to record him, you can see a look of palpable relief in his eyes that she returned to look at him and didn’t forget, and he gestures to her and smiles At 2:54 we finally hear her voice. She states “now I’m gonna forget you too, meet someone other than me.” The pain in her voice is clear, and is mirrored by the ‘boyfriend’ who is sitting alone on the beach with his head in his hands. After this point, the video clips become hazy memories, there is a different filter applied over top of the clips to give them a dreamy quality, which is indicative that the relationship has ended and all that remains are these memories, and even those are not stable in the ‘girlfriend’s’ mind. Towards the end of the video, the camera buffers a few more times as if being fast forwarded, which is perhaps reflective of the premature and tragic ending of the happy relationship. The final scene is the character ‘Rocky’ is playing walking away from the camera which is placed on the sand, and this is a poignant end displaying that he has to move forward, as is the nature of life. To conclude, ‘S#1.’ is a song with a great deal of meaning, and the track video so carefully produced by Rocky helps to illustrate and bring to life many of the subtle intricacies of the story he is telling. This is a beautiful and detailed piece of art, and I would highly encourage watching it and also checking out his other compositions and work, as they are always of high quality.
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