JBJ are in full bloom with “My Flower” from their sophomore album True Colors! True to the name of the album, the title track is a vibrant visual overload as they paint the town red (and other colours)!
JBJ, short for Just Be Joyful, is a fan project group consisting of six members who previously participated in Mnet‘s Produce 101 Season 2. For those of you who watched the first season of the survival show, they are comparable to IBI.
This comeback track is in complete contrast to their previous “Fantasy”. Whereas “Fantasy” had an alluring concept with dark colours, powerful beats, and smokey eye makeup, “My Flower” takes on a fun and fresh theme with each member representing a colour to make a whole spectrum.
Stylistically, the song falls into the pop genre with elements of future bounce. While the strong bass beats act to ground the track, the tinkling piano riffs especially during the more toned-down bridge section create tiny bursts of musical colour to match with the concept. The chorus is arguably when the song really comes alive, with the quirky call and answer of Taehyun’s falsetto and Hyunbin’s deeper voice, and of course, the catchy instrumental break shows off their moves.
Considering the song’s lighthearted vibes, it makes sense that the lyrics would take on a similar tone. The members express cute helplessness towards their crush, portraying the classic trope of innocent puppy love:
Why are you my flower? (Why Why)
Why am I a bad dancer
Only in front of you? (Baby)
Your sweet voice is in the wind
Hug me I’m going crazy
Me like yuh
Each member embodies a different colour in the music video — Donghan gets blue, Hyunbin purple, Kenta red, Longguo pink, Sanggyun orange, and Taehyun yellow, as shown by their outfits, props, and even the set. While this sounds very tacky in theory, it translates quite well. For one, their outfits aren’t solid blocks of colour; instead, only one or two pieces of clothing are of the members’ representative colours. There are a mixture of prints, textures, and shades that help to tone down the effects of the colour coordination and make it more subtle. In fact, this is actually great inspiration for anybody who wants to add some colour into their wardrobe!
The plain white backdrop in many of the shots also effectively prevents any garish clashing, and makes the individual members stand out even more. There’s not much rhyme or reason to the music video: it is essentially an amalgamation of the members doing something fun with their colours — painting the white set, eating popcorn in a locker room, and even having a paint fight altogether at the end. However, the randomness of the scenes (and the members) reveals their true colours as they fool around; it’s like a behind-the-scenes glimpse of their best beagle moments. The best part is that nothing looks forced, and the members genuinely seem like they are having the time of their lives.
It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of having a cheerful and lighthearted concept coming across as cutesy, and while the members do have many adorable moments, these don’t overpower the overall energetic theme. Although there’s nothing special about the music video with respect to plot, it is actually very fitting to have it stripped down to highlight the members and their playful side. I really appreciate how the group did a complete 180 from “Fantasy” to try out a new style and show that they can take on different concepts and still rock it. It’s all about being fun, fresh, and vibrant this comeback, and JBJ has pulled it off very successfully with perfect timing for the spring season!
(Youtube, Lyrics via iLyricsBuzz, Images via Fave Entertainment)
