(Part 2) The Best K-Pop Videos of 2026 So Far

A ranking and review of the top 50!

View the Substack version of this piece, featuring links to all of these videos, here!

Read about No. 50-26 here!

#25: ITZY, “Motto” 
This ITZY era sends a few related messages, one being that they have solid individual and collective identities. In the album’s trailer, they each climb on a separate chunk of the same ladder until the pieces magnetically reconnect and tilt horizontally, so they can start to walk the same path. They keep moving forward even when that path turns into a wheel, similar to the wheel on the castle they stand on the roof of together in the “Motto” video. Also in the trailer, they each take their own underground tunnel to get to the same secret exit. And in the “Motto” video, snippets are replayed of their individual “What’s my motto” testimonials that were released prior to the album. The symbolism of being a tight-knit unit and of keeping their individual identities are the same. … A second main message of the Motto era is that ITZY’s story is still in the works. Everything about “Motto” and the trailer constantly changes: settings (like the rotating, circular stage they “perform the play” in for part of the time), backgrounds (painted skies change colors), the pacing (with some scenes at stop-motion-like half-speed), the format (with some scenes resembling hand-made collages), and even the ways their appearances make statements (they have messages stamped and studded onto their hair)! The dance scenes on an uneven floor and balconies that topple over also reinforce the work-in-progress status. 

In addition to teasing more to come, ITZY show pride in their past eras, starting “Motto” by moving boxes with dioramas of past eras’ video settings. Read more about the corresponding album here!

#24: CHUU, “XO, My Cyberlove”
This music video has appeal for fans of by-the-books love stories, but watching until the end reveals a very CHUU twist! She is giddy around her crush throughout their low-key dates, although some underlying nerves pop up now and then. For example, her love interest uses a bow and arrow to strike at an apple on CHUU’s head, during a date inside a dark, abandoned house! And they skip and hold hands while dancing together at night, perhaps more comfortable doing so when it seems more discreet. These scenes do not project a sense of danger as much as a sense of concern. Time is flying by, and their blissful days prove to indeed be too good to last and too precious to share with the public. 

CHUU ends the video alone, left to revisit the scenes of their dates by herself, before she starts digging in the dirt. This is presumably to dig up the furry toy friend that she buried after the friendship in the “Howl” video ended. She seeks her old toy companion for the lonely days ahead, before her lover returns with the passing of the seasons. In the context of this album overall, this is explained by the theory that this era is an ode to a snowman! Her application of the term “cyberlove” refers not so much to a love in cyberspace as a love that can be like the internet: preserved for eternity. CHUU is tired of relationships that come and go — that “melt away” every year — and has an apt yet against-the-grain way of showing it!

#23: DxS, “Blue” 
SEUNGKWAN made comments on a comeback live-stream about “Dream Serenade” that touched on this project’s overall message: “Could putting an end to love not be a failure, but a way to complete something? Could this emotion be explained as maturity?” That is exactly what makes Serenade and its corresponding videos a different kind of breakup story, one in which the happiest possible ending is one that feels unfinished, one in which a heavy silence is actually appreciated more than a light air of contentment could be, and one in which love burrows itself the deepest not in the grandest gestures as much as the humdrum of daily life. After all, mundane days are when that love is the most top-of-mind, so it makes sense for it to be harder to extract love from those types of memories. … The only thing that can be certain to remain in future chapters are the intangibles, like a heavy silence upon facing a harsh truth (the subject of the song “Silence”), or a wistfulness triggered by one’s habits. Examples of the latter are in the “Epilogue Version” of “Blue,” in which the little things carry the greatest meaning: flowers in a vase, which are a notable difference from the wilted ones in the preview video, representing an ending becoming a beginning again; the fact that a second toothbrush remains in the bathroom; DK leaving the windshield wipers on despite clear skies, as if he is reliving a memory of a rainy night with a loved one and cannot bear to disrupt any detail from that night that is making the memory clearer…

What is largely unseen is also what matters most in the “Cinema Version” of “Blue.” The female main character acts on her protective and nurturing instincts long after her ex stops reciprocating. In the final scene, every little detail adds to the devastation: how long it takes him to look like he too is crying as she walks away from him; how she walks back in the direction they came, as if to honor the memory of their time together, whereas he walks in the direction they did not walk together…

Serenade prompts pondering about what is worth preserving regarding relationship memories, and the answers are found in the ordinary. Read more about the corresponding album here!

#22 & #21: HANRORO, “GAME OVER ?” & “1111”
This set of singles addresses understandable insecurities in the most unusual ways! HANRORO plays the same character in both music videos, although it sometimes appears that she is playing more than one. In “1111,”she is sometimes a participant and sometimes an observer. The floor is strewn with vegetables, and people take their anger out on them! HANRORO decides to turn this thing she hates into something she loves, gingerly picking up, bandaging, and painting the destroyed vegetables! “I'm taking a step away from the things I love / And shrinking endlessly among the things I hate,” she worries, which is why she decides if she can’t find sunshine, she’ll be the sunshine. This explains her choice to wear a bright yellow dress in dark settings and the decision to turn the vegetables into fuel for a party-streamer-filled bazooka! 

She is determined to share her realization that fates are not foregone conclusions, with force if necessary! So in “GAME OVER ?,” she takes people to an alternate world and aims the party blaster at them with a smile! Her biggest target: a man who overhears colleagues bad-mouthing him at the office and then starts interpreting every stare as a judgemental one. His co-workers view him as a loser, so he assumes everyone else does, too. HANRORO tries to get him to ditch this mentality, saying she doesn’t even know “if winning is really a good thing”! She views what matters as not whether someone meets a societal definition of “winning,” but whether or not someone feels like a winner, and she does her best to make him feel worthy of taking up space, not “shrinking among the things [he] hate[s].”

LOVE&HATE is intentionally written with no space between the words; HANRORO aspires to make it look easy to flip what is hated into what is loved in “1111” and who is a “true loser” into who is a “true winner” in “GAME OVER ?” 

#20 & #19: NMIXX, “Crescendo” & “Heavy Serenade” 
Much has been and will continue to be said about how out-of-left-field NMIXX’s musical image is, but there is an element to it that has been under-discussed and under-appreciated: NMIXX treat platonic love with the same big musical swings that artists typically reserve for romantic love. In other words, they treat love for friends as not inferior to love for a significant other. In fact, they suggest that love for friends can be an even stronger force, and therefore a force even more worthy of multifaceted odes and gestures. … The most summative lyrics in Heavy Serenade are in “Different Girl”: “You're like… The main character in fiction… A little strange”! NMIXX have nothing but praise for that “strangeness,” and their musical world-building is all about people with real main-character energy despite existence in a fictional realm. … In addition to wings, glass is a go-to metaphor. They sing about being “broken” by love and then remade “into a one-of-a-kind bouquet,” like the bouquets they make in the “Heavy Serenade” music video during their “[g]lassy serenade.” They revisit that theme in “Superior”: “The more wе break, the more we’ll shine like glass.” Not to mention the breaking glass in the “Crescendo” video, which makes it possible for a fellow member to join one who was previously stuck behind glass alone. Glass is an apt metaphor for the kind of powerful, underestimated love about which NMIXX sing. It has a ubiquitous and sturdy presence, but it is also fragile and handled with care. Plus, it provides windows to the world and to one another.

Other elements of this era’s videos speak volumes less via specific symbols and more via behaviors. The members show how they enrich each other’s lives through a “pinky promise”-involving dance move in “Heavy Serenade” and through joining a member by a tree swing in a space that no longer appears blurry once she has their company in “Crescendo.” Furthermore, “Heavy Serenade” screams “Let me show you something!” They put flowers in each other’s hair, show each other what crafts they are making, recommend vinyl records to each other, show each other what party supplies they are considering bringing, and much more. Wanting to show people parts of one’s world is one of the most taken-for-granted and special forms of showing affection. Read more about this era here! 

#18 & #17: YOUNHA, “Karma” & “Skybound” 
YOUNHA’s version of “Karma” is like a live-action adaptation of Dareharu’s original animated video, with a recreation of the setting, props, and even the main character’s outfit! But she intersperses her scenes in that recreated setting with ones in which schoolgirls sneakily use the school’s printer and print out pictures for decorating their lockers. The song is about the pointlessness of living with a mask on, and YOUNHA’s story shows the delight that can come from rule-bending (misusing the school’s printer) in the name of self-expression! This might be why she seems to be rewarded more than the original video’s main character is. Both YOUNHA and the cartoon character get a birthday cake, but the latter gets her face smashed in it! And there is a television set in both videos, but it only airs a program with a maintained “star of the show” status for YOUNHA.

In KARDI’s original “Skybound” video, a schoolgirl sees a translucent figure out the window, follows and mimics the dancing figure’s moves, and eventually leads a group of students in their own dance. They no longer need the mysterious instructor. In fact, doing the dance in their own way becomes more rewarding, and the school turns into a rainbow-lit club! In YOUNHA’s “Skybound” video, schoolmates also enjoy each other’s company and bond over shared experiences, but with shared albums instead of shared choreography. Her version ends with the main character energetically running down the street with her headphones around her neck. These are the same headphones she wears in the first of the videos in YOUNHA’s series. She has gone from tuning out the world to feeling content and happy enough in it to not need them anymore. Read more about the corresponding album here!

#16: QWER, “CEREMONY”
CEREMONY dives headfirst into the “Isekai” sub-genre of fantasy manga and anime. The term refers to stories about going to an alternative world, and in the case of this J-rock-inspired Korean band, that is one where up is down and down is up. They are the ones winning the marathon by stopping to buy bracelets from a young entrepreneur! They are the groomsmen, developing facial hair and giant muscles, despite being dressed as brides! The groom is dressed as a bride too, and he enjoys a fancy tea cup and pearl-adorned front-door decor. “ISEKAI WORLD” is filled with countless other opposites from reality. Here, their small pet rock is a giant, sentient being; an abandoned truck is their mode of dimension-crossing transportation; a summoning circle is not to conjure up ghosts but their wildest dreams! Most importantly, a “special occasion” is an ordinary one, so it makes sense why they treat the world as their wedding venue and dress accordingly! 

Although this group has sung about an “upside-down” world before (most overtly in “FAKE IDOL,” which has a music video in which haters become fans and insults are taken as compliments), they have excitingly expanded the bounds of their world of whimsy! Read more about the corresponding album here! 

#15: LUCY, “All Ages”
In the Childhood era’s corresponding “PLAY” music video, the members of LUCY revived an inner child, in the process recalling how easy it used to be to find joy in something as seemingly insignificant as a birthday party. The Childish-era “All Ages” video aspires to revive that same feeling. LUCY turn back the clock to a time when naivete was a privileged virtue, and they reassure themselves the pure-sightedness they’ve been missing can be regained easily. All it takes is a dimension-hopping train ride to childhood! The 4D and 2D versions of LUCY become more alike over time, with the scene inside the train appearing 4D while the world outside the train windows is 2D and then vice versa. Their animated and 4D selves both take train rides to a realm of carefree nostalgia, and the intrinsically linked nature of those versions of themselves is made more apparent thanks to those train rides having so much in common. For example, sunflowers suddenly sprout on a “real-life” member’s face after animated ones grow outside of his train window! And while the members free-fall into a meadow as their cartoon selves, they hit the ground as their “real-life” selves. The ending proves the ultimate “cheat code” for how to keep the door open between fantastical and “real” worlds: playing music, something cartoon LUCY do with “real-life” LUCY’s instruments. Read about the corresponding album here! 

#14: Billlie, “ZAP” 
“ZAP” is one of 2026’s best demonstrations of how color and lighting choices can effectively elevate a music video’s message. The changing roles and hues of the lights and colors throughout the video are attention-holding for casual viewers but carry greater significance for hardcore fans of Billlie’s fictional universe. In that universe, key symbolic colors include red (like a wall, the light that reveals their silhouettes, rings of clouds, and more) and purple (like the stormy skies). Variations of red and purple are also notable, like the lightening of red lights into a shade of orange, and colors that dilute and mix for the spotlights that weave around them in imperceptible patterns as they dance. The arguably best representation of a color choice’s symbolic value is also representative of the saga’s ceaseless alterations: the bursts of red that hit the members throughout the video. The substance can be interpreted as blood or paint. Either interpretation leads to the same conclusion about life’s meaning coming from “stains,” elaborated on in this essay. 

Other elements of “ZAP” that keep it captivating include a mysterious creature’s eye close-up, the visual effect created by the ways lights glint off of sequins, and location switches that range from liminal space to the literal edge of a cliff.

#13: dodree, “Just Like a Dream” 
This duo offers an inspired presentation of South Korean culture’s timelessness and transcendence. The name combines “free” and “dodeuri,” a term for a traditional Korean rhythmic pattern, and their music generously borrows from both modern and traditional instrumental, aesthetic, and even architectural influences. dodree’s audio and visual presence is not just memorable but educational; their debut involves a partnership with the National Museum of Korea, and a museum ad’s butterfly symbolism is shared with the “Just Like a Dream” music video. In the latter, a smaller butterfly fits into a perfectly-shaped space within a larger butterfly, which perfectly represents the theme of breaking out of a familiar mold before returning to it transformed!

“Just Like a Dream” demonstrates a smart strategy of mixing the conventional and the unexpected in ways that stoke ongoing curiosity in many other ways. After an initial viewing to just take in the pleasant color palette and note the duo’s convincing chemistry, repeat viewings are in order to catch cryptic connotations. For example, tree branches appear bent in a shape that brings to mind butterfly wings. Also, a dance scene in front of a moon shows the moon’s surface rippling as if covered with water or a mere mirage. Coincidental or not, the many meanings one can derive from the details show how an appeal can be both culturally specific and very broad. Adding to that broad appeal is the fact the video makes time for aesthetic-focused, narrative-focused, and dance-focused scenes; dodree bridge audiences who vary in terms of both preferences and generations.  

#12: dodree, “HAWWAH” 
Once again, this duo bridges classic and contemporary styles in ways that earn an aesthetic A-plus! Traditional garments and architecture share space with more modern surroundings and outfit staples (like little white dresses). The symbolism is timeless, including flowers, ceramics, and pearls, and fluid format changes have evergreen appeal. These changes include ones between dance-focused and pose-focused scenes, which allow viewers to both take in the beautiful settings and the dancing skills; as well as border changes, like one clever connector of past to present involving a house window’s border morphing into the outlines of a car window. It makes someone who looked like she was gazing out of a mansion window on the set of a historical K-drama suddenly look like she’s just someone staring out a car window during a nighttime drive in 2026. Besides all of the timeline-merging, dodree draw gazes with bright lights, which illuminate both themselves and a cherry blossom tree at night; and with scenes that zoom through a series of doors and columns, making viewers feel like they are on a high-speed train ride. The final flourish is when colorful scarves fly in circles before coalescing and turning into a 2D logo, as if dodree’s presence is being made to last like a tattoo. That ending puts a period on dodree’s desire to have an impact that is ephemerality’s antithesis. 

#11: YENA, “Catch Catch”
A Looney Tunes streak runs through the “Catch Catch” music video, from the old-school fonts to the cartoonish hijinks to YENA’s bunny alter ego! It is best enjoyed without trying to read too much into anything; YENA is just having a blast causing havoc and staying confident that she’ll win over everyone eventually! As she calls herself “half teddy bear,” knowingly mentions making a scene (“lips pouting… you’ve noticed by now, right?”), and instructs her crush to “Pull that love arrow,” she taunts a fancy restaurant’s customers. The antics get more and more absurd, from using a shoe as a working phone to suddenly developing super-strength and physically fighting people! Her targets are as indiscriminate as her faux-innocent reactions are guaranteed! The “golly gee!” demeanor continues as she winks and smiles her way through setting, outfit, and scenario changes. Those include making faces at the players losing a Dance Dance Revolution-style arcade game and giving an “Oopsie!” expression to the camera after trying to wipe “crumbs” off of a customer that are actually his tattoo! Her persistence makes it seem like she knows she is pushing buttons and is truly curious how much further she can go! Read about the corresponding album here!

#10: ATEEZ, “Adrenaline” 
GOLDEN HOUR : Part.4 is a quintessentially ATEEZ era, because it comes across like a blurred memory, one with a prominent and indisputable presence but a presence that still has mystery and intrigue. Their journey is nebulous by nature, spanning worlds from “A to Z” on a “utopia”-to- “dystopia” spectrum. … Likewise, watching the “Adrenaline” music video surely prompts diverse reactions. For instance, a faction of fans might agree that the fistfight scenes are meant to look choreographed, but there can be varied conclusions as to why it appears that way. Some might conclude it makes a general statement about not being caught off-guard no matter what life throws ATEEZ’s way, while others will see those scenes as speaking to ATEEZ’s resolve to keep on proving they’re no rookies and have been training their whole lives for their big moment. The degree to which ATEEZ’s storytelling is personal is an open discussion.

Another moment to read deeper into in the “Adrenaline” video is when ATEEZ dance in the desert for a few people. This contrasts with the scenes when they dance with dancers, and many more of them. Given the return to a debut-era story setting (the desert), it is reasonable to infer they are demonstrating their urge to re-audition, to re-prove they deserve their fame. Then again, it could be just a broader statement about starting over.

Lastly, it is worth analyzing the scene transitions occurring via opening and closing elevator doors in “Adrenaline.” Elevators are a very suitable symbol for famous musicians: an ascent happening as swiftly as a descent and/or vice versa, a surreal lifestyle and mundane moments coexisting, the constant entrances and exits to unfamiliar locations… The final unfamiliar destination in “Adrenaline” is a building level that is empty except for the same red, floating cube from the cover of GOLDEN HOUR : Part.3 ‘In Your Fantasy Edition’. The cube moves closer to the camera before changing forms and bursting. Whether it has permanently dissipated through destroying its old form or has turned into something else and popped into a new location remains unanswered. Read more about the corresponding album here! 

#9: Stray Kids, “RUN IT” 
While swiftly, sonically bringing to life the ground-shaking ambitions they so dynamically rap and sing about, Stray Kids’ behavior shows they have the intuition and talent to match them. With the smallest of gestures, they trigger major changes. Relatively slight movements repeatedly cause a scene’s main character to turn into a different member, and just a couple of dance moves prompt the camera to back up, come closer, or otherwise swerve. The games they play with the audience through both the frequent point-of-view alterations and the rapid rate of the action rhyme with previous Stray Kids videos, but a key distinction this time is an animalistic emphasis. At first, dance scenes in which the members and backup dancers move on their hands and knees take place outdoors, like they are animals in their natural habitat. But later, hands-and-knees choreography takes place inside, in a location that doubles as their canvas. The intention of their movements is now more than basic instincts; it is to create art, as their movements spread paint all over the floor. The shift makes an underhanded statement about the porous barrier between animal and artist, the creature and the creative. Getting in touch with their “inner animal” and “inner artist” mirror each other, and blink-and-miss-it details — like a flash of glowing tiger eyes, and a looping formation of birds suspended in the sky — compound the characterization of basic instincts and artistic streaks being one and the same to them. 

#8: Lee Young Ji, “Robot”
Lee Young Ji cosplays as a human and an ice hockey referee. Her silver, chrome heart is protected and disguised by a fuzzy, red covering, making it look like a generic heart-themed key chain. This explains why a hockey player simply pockets it like it is no big deal! The classic “locking eyes and falling for each other” moment has another twist when her crush’s stare and touch cause her to rust! Nevertheless, Lee Young Ji resumes refereeing duties, and this is just one of many examples of the “Robot” music video’s humor coming from what goes unacknowledged. The players do not bat an eye over their referee being a Tin Woman! Just as inexplicable is what happens when Lee Young Ji visits her friend’s auto shop for assistance, only to find out she is magnetic in addition to metallic! A wall of car repair tools surges towards the Tin Woman, yet viewers never see how or when those tools are removed. The tools are off by the time the video returns to the hockey rink setting, where yet another inexplicable twist occurs. After Lee Young Ji’s crush crashes, her chrome heart falls out of his pocket. It starts to glow, re-enters Lee Young Ji, and turns her into a cartoon character for a moment, as its warm light fills her and she transforms back into looking like a human! Her crush’s teammates skate over to them and cheer on their flirtations, looking as unaffected by their referee’s transformation as they did by her prior rusty appearance!

No character in “Robot” is the logical-thinking one, and she applies robot-related terminology to both her crush (“You’re like the final glitch in my system;” “Don’t wanna wake up / From your rainbow error”) and to herself (singing about crushing making her feel “naked” and exposed, as well as like a malfunctioning machine)! She leans into the comedic potential in the phrases “Wear your heart on your sleeves” and “We were made for each other,” highlighting how absurd people act when lovestruck! “Robot” shows how love is a funny thing, and it takes full advantage of a silly premise and the suspended disbelief for which the music video format allows. 

#7: EXO, “Crown” 
EXO’s cinematic world-building is worth appreciating both in a big-picture way and at a more granular level. First of all, the suspense and special effects remain second-to-none. Second of all, the REVERXE videos appeal to different preferences, with a plot that unfolds at a slower pace in “I’m Home,” a faster pace in the album trailer, and at the fastest pace in “Crown”! In fact, many actions in “Crown” happen so quickly it is hard to tell who is doing what to whom, keeping “friend” and “foe” statuses unclear. The settings also have uncertainty, especially when the camera zooms in on a crown’s interior grooves, which appear to form the outlines of people (a breadcrumb for the long-time theorists about EXO’s potential shrunken-down, lab-rat status, at least in one dimension). Another visual choice that is both material for theorists to read into and just plain interesting: scenes that turn out to have unfolded within SUHO’s eyes, the camera zooming out to reveal his knight costume. Like those scenarios, the characters’ interpersonal dynamics are interesting for those both familiar and unfamiliar with the EXO multiverse. In this era, the most interesting links are between SUHO and KAI, the former appearing as the victim in the latter’s dream in the album trailer but appearing as the victor in “Crown.” Other indicators of their fates being connected include SUHO using a bow and arrow and KAI being hit by one in “Crown,” and SUHO getting the last close-up in the trailer while KAI gets it in “I’m Home.” Rebirths also make it reasonable to assume that KAI and SUHO have particular prominence at this point in the story: SUHO eventually wears the sought-after “Crown,” and KAI stands tall wearing a cape after being hit by arrows.

There is plenty to decipher between and among the others’ dynamics, too, which are complicated by the ways one character’s superpowers can work against another’s. For example, D.O.’s stone exterior breaks itself in “Crown,” allowing a symbolic rebirth, whereas in the “Obsession” era, SUHO’s stone exterior symbolizes something closer to an identity crisis (it breaks to reveal a TV in place of a face). Another example: CHANYEOL thrives with his fire powers in “Crown” and in previous videos, while BAEKHYUN’s skin burns and cracks in “Obsession,” and LAY’s does in “Crown.”

Part of the endurance of EXO’s popularity comes from its similarities with a good TV show or movie. Fans have gotten to know and understand the characters well but are guaranteed to see new plot twists every time, both hidden and evident ones, and the scene-setting in the “episodes” changes but stays familiar enough to warrant canon admission. Read about the corresponding album here! 

#6: BLACKPINK, “GO” 
The single “GO” and its music video are where most of this comeback’s appeal ought to lie; they are a testament to BLACKPINK’s interest in trying new things. The song builds off of the experimental openness the group showed through a rave-ready number, 2025’s “JUMP.” “GO” has its own adrenaline shots in the form of beat drops, its EDM chorus suits the sensation of a furiously fast force, and the disjointed bridge suits the strange state of calm after a storm. It is like BLACKPINK are forcing themselves to slow down and take in their surroundings while they still have time to appreciate them. The commentary on fame extends to the video, which no longer has the “nowhere to go but up” premise of “JUMP.” It turns out, there is somewhere else they can still go: inwards! The camerawork shows that inverted journey, justifying its disorientation! The rowers move in a loop, staying on the grind with no time off, always pushing against the current to stay current. Add in the fact that the members put in equal effort to create an “X” shape with their props, and the “It takes a village” message is apparent.

The important contribution of each participant is also represented through things like JISOO’s butterfly wings and LISA’s mask (a possible nod to her solo album’s alter-ego premise). This mask is in a traditional Korean style, in line with the other traditional Korean imagery. The literal Korean symbols include one representing a wish for longevity (Sujamun), one for achieving that longevity (Hoemun), and one that explains one of the reasons why and how longevity is achieved (Unmun, which represents good fortune). “GO” also features the Hangeul characters for “go” and a taegeuk symbol, which is on South Korea’s flag. 

“GO” is about how going back to a beginning is not the same as regressing. In fact, some of the most beneficial and personally transformative journeys are those that do not progress like and resemble standard journeys at all. BLACKPINK do not simply go back to their roots; they return as changed people, making those roots shine in new lights.

“GO” is a celebration of success at both individual and group-wide levels as much as it is an admission that sustaining that success takes conscious, continuous effort. It is a statement of defiance towards those who assume they understand BLACKPINK’s story and overly simplify it. It is not “from the bottom to the top;” like anyone’s full life story, it has been winding and spinning in many directions. It also speaks to their refusal to choose between solo identities and the one they share as four. After all, “GO” swaps out the old “BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA” catch phrase for a possible new one: “BLACKPINK’LL MAKE YA GO,” an indication of their pride and ongoing interest in being the one and only BLACKPINK. 

#5: DPR IAN, “THE SHOW”
DPR IAN remains allergic to genre and format constraints, making this song somehow sound like just one song, two in one, and three in one! … Further avant-garde entertainment comes from a music video that refuses to sacrifice comedic moments for dramatic ones or vice versa. The backup dancers in elaborate period costumes exaggerate different reactions, as if they are reading from different scripts. “THE SHOW” makes a more layered statement than just “Everyone’s in their own worlds,” though. It fits into DPR IAN’s ongoing musical universe and is particularly worth a closer look when reassessing the “Welcome to the Show” video.

A brief refresher: DPR IAN’s musical world involves several alter egos, the main ones being MITO, Mr. Insanity, and at least one to-be-revealed hybrid of sorts. MITO stars in “Welcome to the Show,” and a “hybrid” appears to star in “THE SHOW.” First of all, IAN’s appearance is different in “THE SHOW.” He has bright red hair and a glam-rock ensemble, departures from both the uber-bright Mr. Insanity and the dark and disheveled look of MITO. Second of all, the chronology is different. In “Welcome to the Show,” MITO enters an empty auditorium (through white doors) at the beginning and makes his way towards the spotlit stage, eventually performing there. In “THE SHOW,” IAN enters an empty auditorium (through dark doors) after his performance, at the end of the music video, in a dark suit that contrasts with the red velvet worn by MITO. Furthermore, “Welcome to the Show” features a series of flashbacks in quick succession, and it begins with a framed picture of what happens in the video. In other words, there is already a framed memory of what he is about to do. He says, “I feel like I’ve been here before. Everything feels familiar…” “THE SHOW” also unfolds like it could be past-to-present or present-to-past. Besides entering the auditorium after “showtime,” the title screen doesn’t pop up until the middle of the video, and the “ending credits” play soon after the title.

There is also a shade of Mr. Insanity here, because like the chapters in which that alter ego is the star, “THE SHOW” inverts concepts like “climax” and “rising action.” One possibility is that this is the start of a new show, one coming out of the metaphorical ashes of the old ones. Perhaps IAN is going back to where the story started. Another possibility is that everything preceding “THE SHOW” video was a mere dress rehearsal — some “rising action.”  Now is when the real show actually begins! Then again, “THE SHOW” is characterized as a home base, like a place for resolution. As he says at the start of “THE SHOW” video, “There is a place where I often go not to disappear, but to search deep below. When the past returns to burn my soul... What I go through… Most will never know. But I don’t really mind. As long as you make it back… To the show.” It is worth flagging the “make it back” framing, because in “Famous Last Words,” IAN narrates a letter to Mr. Insanity: “[T]ime is running out… But don’t worry. I’ll find a way to come back. I always do.”

IAN, Mr. Insanity, MITO, a new hybrid… whoever is in “THE SHOW,” the bottom line is that the venue for it carries a magnetic mystique, always drawing him back into it. Many more paragraphs could be spent unpacking this, but the point is that DPR IAN raises questions about the performative nature of life that are striking in their strangeness and subversion. Read more about this single here!

#4: BARUN & Woo Yerin, “grown”
The “grown” music video weaves whimsical yarns between the “real world” and one of stop-motion animation. The animated protagonist — who has a connection to “reality” from the get-go, as a physical doll — dives into and out of settings made of paper and fabric squares matching those on the “real life” desk. The animated character befriends a turtle resembling her “real life” pet and a sea otter resembling the one whose face appears in the dregs of her “real life” coffee cup! Adorable attention to detail allows Woo Yerin’s optimism to strike an extra-memorable and inspiring chord. As she sings about taking baby steps towards the dreams that feel “scattered,” tiny claymation feet walk on fabric-scrap pathways, complete with bits of rope resembling snakes in the desert and bubble wrap that moves like ocean waves. She sings, “[L]et us… reach out our hands... stretch them as far as they can go / Even if we can never truly grasp it…,” and a tiny claymation hand does indeed reach for a rainbow! And she sings about opening doors for herself that once felt closed as the animated girl has a literal door open for her with a hand-drawn key. 

Woo Yerin is rewarded for indulging her imagination when the animated girl brings an aspect of her world back into Woo Yerin’s. After blue-green lights around the animated girl turn rainbow-colored, Woo Yerin’s dark bedroom becomes the site of a colorful light show. The lights form fun shapes on her walls as she smiles and spins around the room with the doll version of the animated girl. Like the video’s opening shots of a sunny arts-and-crafts room (complete with foreshadowing figurines and a not-yet-spilled drink in a cheerful cup), the bedroom scene is emblematic of blissful harmony between interior and exterior worlds. This harmony is made possible thanks to Woo Yerin’s hand-made proof that daydreams are worth cherishing — even after becoming “grown.”

#3: YEL, “Narcissist” 
“Narcissist” is an insightful admission that none are immune from the toxic compulsion to go from dominated to dominating when given the chance.

The music video goes back and forth between live-action and animated scenes. In the live-action ones, a ballerina performs with a statuesque expression; the sole instance in which her composure slips is when a single tear slides down one cheek. 

The sketch-like animated scenes feature two main characters, one with a purely round head and one with a round head that is pointy on top. The pointy-headed one welcomes the round-headed one over for dinner, during which the latter feels like something is off (despite not specifically noticing the former twists the wind-up piece in the latter’s back). He even tries to bolt at one point, but the fake-smile-flashing host coaxes him back to the table and insists he should relax. Still sensing something is wrong here, the guest attacks the host before the host can do more harm to him, and he stabs and kills him (which appears as a pixelated, censored image only!). He gets short-term satisfaction from burying his would-be killer, tossing him in a shallow grave in which he looks like a torn teddy bear. “Who’s the toy now?,” he must be thinking! But the joke is still on him: He returns to the scene where it happened, bloodied back (from where the wind-up piece came off) unmissable, and stares into a full-length mirror. His head suddenly molds to form a point on top. He puts on the deceased’s crown, and the mirror shatters. The video ends with him walking down the street with someone new — a new victim, perhaps? — who has a square box for a head but otherwise an identical appearance — just like how this bait-turned-killer initially resembled his potential killer in all ways but head shape. He becomes his foe, forced to reckon with the many things he and the one he loathed the most have in common. YEL sings about this frightening realization: “What you wanted and what I wanted were the same things in the end.” Once terror of who she proves to be easily capable of becoming sinks in, her later lyrics sound like denial: “There was no way what you wanted and what I wanted were the same.” “From the very beginning, the crown was too much for you” and “I was not the one who made it this way” further sound like desperate attempts to keep her distance from the one she considers evil. That person might just be herself, as represented by her dance moves that mimic the killer’s (for example, she crawls on the ground in a way that mirrors the crawling the cartoon character does when reaching for his wind-up piece).

“Narcissist” initially makes viewers wholly root for the round-headed party guest, but his violent retaliation complicates that support. It would be easier to have never gotten emotionally invested in either character, not just to avoid moral and emotional tension, but to keep a blind eye pertaining to how much one’s self resembles both the antagonist and protagonist. The ballerina demonstrates this desire to — but eventual futility of trying to — block out all feelings, and it makes for a performance as arresting as the vocal one.

#2: ENHYPEN, “Knife”
In under three minutes, “Knife” pulls off the astonishing feat of touching on nearly all of ENHYPEN’s big-picture narrative themes. ENHYPEN’s ongoing music video universe suits the symbolism of knives and covers the following, just to name a few: deception and tricks of the light; how what is used dangerously, recklessly, or even sadistically can be the same tool used for banal or practical reasons (like using a knife to break a window so the fugitives can flee, treating a knife like a mere baton, cutting hair, and slicing food); and how stoking chaos for no particular reason is an easy option. The “Knife” video also indirectly addresses the theme of sustenance, of what fuels ENHYPEN’s in-love vampire outlaw characters. What makes them feel truly alive and human is attention, period. This is clear through the show they put on for a swarm of phones and cameras, and through the fact they keep acting brazen even after appearing cognizant of being surveilled. Some of their recklessness appears to be because they are being watched; their cockiness feels earned each time they get away again from the authorities and other onlookers! They hide in plain sight, as if taunting, “Come and catch us!” while knowing mortals cannot! This is unnecessarily emphasized through each additional smirk at the camera; the decision to move their dance routine to a building with a glass, see-through floor; and their maintenance of some mystery that comes from controlling the narrative (for example, JAY covers someone’s eyes while in a barbershop, affecting how much a spectator sees of the vampires’ antics).

More examples of the cavalierness through which they approach living on the edge: SUNGHOON casually kicks a construction worker’s fallen tool back up towards him as he stays suspended from the side of a building; dangerous mayhem doesn’t phase JAKE while he sits at a cafe and watches scenes in slow motion; and some members keep on dancing even after JAY throws knives through the adjoining apartment wall!

Yet another layer of meaning comes from the text that appears during the music video, including a stock market ticker that represents the commodification of their ultimate life source, blood; the VAMPIRE NOW media outlet’s live-stream link, representing both the group’s “still on the lam” status and the public’s “still invested” one; and “WANTED” posters promising monetary rewards, representing the overall gamification of a dangerous situation. Read a more thorough dissection of ENHYPEN’s knife symbolism and related album themes here!

#1: LE SSERAFIM, “CELEBRATION”
LE SSERAFIM go to the house of Frankenstein’s monster, who will be referred to as “Frank”! They have a big party planned and try to entice him to attend, walking like zombies, whipping up a bloody punch bowl, and cutting cake with a chainsaw! These monster clichés do the opposite of win him over, and he flees his house, making some pursue him on foot and others via whatever wheels they can get their hands on, from a bike to an engine-powered shopping cart! Frank keeps running, but so do the LE SSERAFIM members, all the way to the ends of the Earth, from a tundra to a desert! 

Frank uses a trampoline to bounce into outer space, but even there, he cannot escape LE SSERAFIM! However, in outer space, the LE SSERAFIM members show cracks in their faces, bringing to mind the cracked facial appearance Frank reveals when he first enters his house and takes off his human mask. After showing their “cracked” selves, and while around fellow supernatural misfits, Frank is handed his party invite (aka his “Creature Ticket”) and finally accepts it! He quickly ends up having a blast, even becoming the core of LE SSERAFIM’s choreographed star formation! This is by LE SSERAFIM’s design; they never want to just make outcasts like Frank feel included, but irreplaceable. They make him their choreography’s centerpiece, aggressively insisting he has an invaluable presence until he believes them!

LE SSERAFIM initially try to win over Frank in the wrong ways. They try to act like they understand him by accommodating stereotypes, as if monsters are all the same and that the gestures that are persuasive to Frank are the same as those that persuade vampires, ghosts, and the like. What actually convinces Frank to attend the party is LE SSERAFIM’s honesty, when they do not try to relate to him based on assumptions, but show how they know they can relate to him based on intuition. Rather than disingenuously try to say “We’re just like you!,” they show how they actually are, by letting their own facial cracks emerge. Furthermore, they make him the guest of honor, showing there are no hard feelings over his previous aversion. They are able to be there for him because they are able to let go, which brings back to mind what KIM CHAEWON tells KAZUHA: “I don’t even know what this is, but let’s just deal with it”! They don’t know what’s holding Frank back, but that doesn’t stop them from refraining judgement and trying to find out.

The “CELEBRATION” ends with a final twist. The camera shows the party from a street view, so viewers just see shadows of people dancing in one room of Frank’s house. Perhaps Frank has just imagined the party being larger-than-life, and the whole time, it has just been a small gathering where he has stayed “right at home”! Perhaps LE SSERAFIM have brought to life a grand spectacle in their shared imagination, after getting on a shared wavelength. Once a strong sense of like-mindedness is established, experiences suddenly appear more expansive and exciting. 

In the EASY era, LE SSERAFIM took inspiration from “Good Bones,” a poem by Maggie Smith about doing what one can with what one has, in the hopes that the foundation one lays one day at a time will inspire future generations. For the ‘PUREFLOW’, Pt. 1 era, LE SSERAFIM take inspiration from a literary source that is less different from that poem than one initially assumes: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Their album intro (and trailer voiceover) changes the Frankenstein quote “For I am fearless, and therefore powerful” to “For we are not fearless, and therefore powerful” (emphases added). The version of empowerment that LE SSERAFIM endorse is the kind that comes from seeing letting go, keeping calm, and carrying on as harder goals than they sound. Who they admire most are not those to which keeping calm comes easily, but those to which it does not. They see true fearlessness as coming from living not absent fears, but free of them, so they empower Frank through the loyalty that makes him feel freer and less alone. Read more about this LE SSERAFIM era here! 

Keep up with all of the “Best of 2026 So Far” lists here!