Performed intermediality and beyond in the BTS music video ‘Idol’: K-Pop idol identities in contemporary Hallyu

Abstract

The recent music video ‘Idol’ (published 24 August 2018) by South Korean boy band BTS exhibits extensively Korean elements, compared to previous visual presentations of BTS music. This may be because the song ‘Idol’ attempts to explicitly delineate BTS’s identity not only as a musician in general but also as a K-Pop artist, in particular, in the context of Hallyu (the Korean Wave). The music video ‘Idol’ is an effort to visually deal with these twofold difficulties that BTS confronts as a boy band, branded also as an idol group from South Korea. To this end, throughout the music video, intermediality – the interconnectedness of various media practices – is extensively performed to open up the third way to communicate what is yet to be difficult to convey otherwise: BTS’s identity as a K-Pop artist in relation to Hallyu. Intermediality is further stretched to the extent that the nature, to be relevant, the identity of one medium is questioned and its figuration is transformed into another medium. This article examines ways in which intermediality as manifested and performed in the music video ‘Idol’ contributes to this goal by analysing various arts and media demonstrated in a combination of architecture, writings, photographs, drawings, paintings, music and dance.

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