After their debut this summer with “Tag Me”, Weeekly came back with title track “Zig Zag” off of their new EP We Can. The new girl group from Play M Entertainment — home to A Pink — continues with their youthful theme in their first comeback. “Zig Zag” is a refreshingly cheerful and relatable MV, perfect for a girl group that is young in age and career.
In general, the MV for “Zig Zag” comes across as a fun coming-of-age story. It begins with individual shots of each member — much like an introduction reel at the beginning of TV shows. Their names, along with the label “Weeekly School”, pop up in the corner as the members appear on screen for their respective lines. It is reminiscent of an introduction reel at the beginning of children’s TV shows, but is also a clever tactic for a rookie group making their first comeback. The MV concludes with end credits and even features a short blooper reel.
The song itself is largely about the uncertainty and roller-coaster ride of teenage emotions that come with trying to figure yourself out. However, the MV is fun and quirky and makes great use of the school setting to depict the dilemma of teenage angst. Though many K-pop MVs have school settings, it works especially well for Weeekly, considering the theme of the song.
In a literal sense, the school setting is where our leading lady Jihan is trying to find her own passion amidst the variety of opportunities that she has. She walks into a hallway at her new school and opens her locker to find several pamphlets that invite her to join different extracurricular activities. All of her fellow Weeekly members are a part of different clubs: Soojin is in the fencing club, Jiyoon is in a band, Monday is in the photography club, Soeun is part of the baking club, Jaehee is a member of the broadcasting club, and Zoa is a part of the table tennis club. Jihan explores her options, gradually becoming more and more overwhelmed as each of the Weeekly members try to convince her to join their own club.
On a more figurative level, Jihan and her dilemma are a representation of the fickle emotions and thoughts often attributed to being a teenager. As Weeekly says:
Zig Zag
Like this, like that
I don’t even know myself
Every day is a rollercoaster
Everybody goes through a time where our thoughts and feelings about ourselves and the world around us change quickly, and everything can seem a little bit out of control. Jihan is the embodiment of this phase as she feels frustrated and confused in the process of figuring out who she is. What seems right one day seems wrong the next, but Weeekly says that this uncertainty is a universal experience that we are all bound to undergo at one point in our lives.
Despite the other members trying to lure her into their own clubs, Jihan eventually finds her own calling in the form of a locker that has light spilling out of it. She steps inside to join the other members where they ogle a giant, illuminated, floating die. Other than being part of their choreography, the die indicates the possibilities that Jihan faces. She does not know where she will end up, but the most obvious and important course of action is to roll the die and take the first step towards exploring who she is. The MV does not show us where Jihan ends up eventually, but “Zig Zag” is not about the conclusion. It is about the sometimes dizzying process it takes to get there.
There are also clever touches throughout the MV that add to the emphasis on youth and the Gen Z-ness of the members. For example, in Monday’s photography club the photos that she develops are not photos, but phones. It is a quirky nod to a generation accustomed to smartphones and phone photography.
Overall, “Zig Zag” is an enjoyable and relatable MV about the dilemmas of youth. Indeed, Weeekly take full advantage of their youth and carve out an identity for themselves surrounding the universal theme of growing up. Though it works well for them now, whether they will continue to run with this concept in the future remains to be seen.
(YouTube. Lyrics via Kgasa. Images via Play M Entertainment)
