Hwon is the last member to have joined the group this year, August, and he rules the “Kingdom of Storm”. Before he joined KINGDOM, ChiWoo was part of the group as the king that rules the “Kingdom of the Cloud”, but he departed for personal reasons in May 2022. As their concept is royalty, let’s have a look at their photo teasers for each album, dedicated to a particular king, to see how they represent their kingdom!
KINGDOM 1ST MINI ALBUM ‘History Of Kingdom : Part I. Arthur’
Arthur was the first king to be revealed in the “History of Kingdom” series of albums. Even though he’s the king of rain, he represents Arthur Pendragon, the illegitimate son of King Uther Pendragon who became King when he pulled the legendary sword Excalibur from a stone. In the teaser pictures for this debut album, each member can be seen wearing fierce outfits and holding a sword, that represents Excalibur like the name of their title track. Their outfits are pretty much the same, and no one overshadows someone else, even Arthur, in the middle of the group picture. In the MV ‘Excalibur’, they are also holding their sword, and Arthur is the first member to appear, following the sentence “The rain will wash you away”, a reference to his kingdom. We can also hear “King Arthur”, announcing his arrival. Thanks to this concept, the group had a great impact, especially with international fans. King Arthur’s legend origin is quite unknown. British claim it’s theirs, French too. However, as Louis embodies France’s King, Arthur here represents England. Each member has a kingdom based on natural elements, and as Arthur is the King of rain, water can be seen a lot in the MV, as they’re dancing in it. They adopted a more ethereal look with these white outfits, far from the knight ones at the beginning. They also represent the knightly fellowship of the Round Table and help Arthur become King. Dancing with swords certainly helped the group gain popularity and its particular concept! Here is what looked like King Arthur :
KINGDOM 2ND MINI ALBUM ‘History Of Kingdom : Part Ⅱ. Chiwoo’
From fierce British knights, KINGDOM shifted to elegant tribal soldiers from China. Indeed, ChiWoo represents the mythical tribal emperor Chiyou of China. Their outfits are once again made in order not to overshadow anyone. Each member wears red and gold outfits like the kings they are! The outfits are richly decorated, and have a lot of details, contrasting with the more simple ones below. From high royalty, we turned into elegant scholars, inspired by China’s traditional outfits. In the MV ‘Karma’, ChiWoo seats on his throne, and the members are dancing with traditional fans, and traditional music can be heard as well, to remember China. Even their hair adopts the traditional style. Regarding ChiWoo’s inspiration, emperor Chiyou was also the god of war and was one of the three legendary founding fathers of China. During Arthur’s era, we could assume the other members were part of the Round Table. Here, they might come from the Nine Li Tribe, as Chiyou was their leader. During this era, KINGDOM received the Asia Artist Awards’ “Focus Award”. Here is what looked like Emperor Chiyou :
KINGDOM 3RD MINI ALBUM ‘History Of Kingdom : Part Ⅲ. Ivan’
Ivan is the new king to be introduced during this third mini-album. KINGDOM’s outfits during this era are a combination of fierce simple outfits and royalty embroideries. Ivan’s inspiration actually comes from Russia, as he represents Ivan the Terrible, the Tsar of Russia! Ivan the Terrible was really important for Russia’s history as he centralized the Russian state, but he’s mostly infamously known for his involvement in the Livonian War. As the King of Snow, those white outfits represent well the coldness of Russia, and the picture below enlightens it even more. Actually, that is the first time you can see the member wearing crowns. However, we can see that in the above that Ivan is the only one not wearing one, but below, he’s the only one having a crown, a way to centralize his character for this album. In the MV ‘Black Crown’, snow surrounds the group, and we can read an inscription in Russian at the beginning. In fact, to announce a particular king’s era, at the beginning of each MV you can read a sentence in the language of the king, English for ‘Excalibur’, Chinese for ‘Karma’. They also wear a lot of fur on their clothes, typical of Russia. Here is what looked like Tsar Ivan :
KINGDOM 4TH MINI ALBUM ‘History Of Kingdom : Part Ⅳ. Dann’
In this mini-album, we are transported into the homeland of KINGDOM’s members. Dann is our King, and he embodies Dangun, the Founder of Korea. The singers are all wearing traditional Korean clothes, with a lot of colors and textures. Their hats are particularly eye-catching with all the fabrics and details on them. Once again, the King of this ear isn’t really put forward, something that is not really surprising thinking that Korean didn’t have crowns before looking like western ones. In the MV of ‘Ascension’, we follow the group, exhibiting Korean traditional items and forms of art, but also facing war. They’re wearing hanbok, with royal embroideries like dragons. While they used fans during ChiWoo’s era, they’re now using gasa, long sleeves to dance with and create movements. They’re evolving in Korean palaces and villages, showing the beauty of the country. This MV is a little bit different from the others that used CGI to represent the members’ kingdoms. Dangun was the son of the son of Heaven’s rulers, and a bear turned into a woman after succeeding in a special task: staying one hundred days in a cave to avoid sunlight and only eat mugwort and garlic, alongside a tiger. The tiger failed, but as the bear succeded, its wish to become a human was granted. Here is what Dangun looked like :
KINGDOM 5TH MINI ALBUM ‘History Of Kingdom : Part Ⅴ. Louis’
And finally, it’s Louis’ turn to be king. KINGDOM made his comeback just one week ago, and the famous Louis XVI from France is the King of this era. The members are wearing outfits that French people used during their time at court, reminding us of the french aristocracy. Louis is seated on his throne, surrounded by his members, at a table. During that time, France was known for its exacerbation and fanciness, and both the setting and the members show that well. Surprisingly, the MV of ‘Long Live The King’ started with a car, an anachronism pretty important that maybe shows that anyone can be a king, no matter the period. They’re seen dancing in their aristocratic outfits, attending a ball in a french castle. Moreover, at the beginning of the clip, instead of showing a sentence in french, Louis talks in English, and moments from their previous eras are shown. Louis XVI is famously known for good and bad reasons. First, his wife was the beautiful Marie-Antoinette, secondly, he was the last King before the French Revolution. He was executed by guillotine with his wife and following this event, the monarchy was abolished in 1792. KINGDOM received inspiration from the rococo aesthetic of France just before the revolution. Here is what King Louis XIV looked like :
Between the past and the present
ChiWoo (above) was a member of KINGDOM, and to remember his place in the group, here are the photo teasers, representing his evolution during Arthur, Ivan, Dann, and of course, his era. He was the maknae of the group, and since his departure, Hwon (below) joined the group. ‘Long Live The King’ marks his debut in KINGDOM, and fans can’t wait to see more of him! MuJin is the next member to have his own era, as Jinmu, the first emperor of Japan! Which one is your favorite concept? Do you also like legends, like KINGDOM? Let us know in the comment!
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