Music Talkscrolls #1: Last Night (SEVENTEEN’s JxW)
Today we talk about what happened last night. Have you seen him in your dreams?
The K-pop sensation Seventeen came out with a new unit recently named JxW on June 17, with members Jeonghan and Wonwoo. Along with this new group is a whole album with the first song released titled Last Night. Last Night revolves around the theme of their album “THIS MAN”, which talks about how everyone has been dreaming about a man, whom they have never met before.
The backstory of “This Man”
This started from 2006 when a patient undergoing therapy drew the face of a man that kept appearing in her dreams. According to thisman.org (yes, they have a website dedicated to this), another patient had actually found the photo familiar, stating that he has also seen this man in his dreams, and even in real life.
The psychiatrist in charge of both patients then decides to send the portrait to multiple people, and a lot of them actually admitted to having seen him in their dreams. This man, no pun intended, was then referred to as THIS MAN (refer to photo above). Honestly, this photo scares me a little. I do hope I don’t dream of him.
thisman.org also states that people all over the globe, across countries have actually dreamt about this man, and they function as a website for these people to connect.
Hopping on this bandwagon, the producers created an album revolving around this topic. And like every other album, you really have to give it to Bumzu and Woozi for this wonderful setlist.
Unpacking Last Night
Last Night begins with a wonderful tune, played on guitar by Park Juwon. The tune is light, uplifting, unlike the dark and gloomy scene displayed in the MV. Multiple people collapse on the floor, before Jeonghan starts the song. Unlike Wonwoo that has a slightly lower tone, Jeonghan’s voice is slightly higher in pitch and matches the uplifting start. To me, Jeonghan’s voice has always sounded happier on the surface level, but there is always a tint of sorrow when he does gentle songs like this. Wonwoo then takes over with “Nox and Nox!”, and although not implied directly, many fans seem to think that the “nox” they are referring to is the latin word for “night”, which makes sense when looking at the song in general. Wonwoo’s low tones make this song a lot more flavourful, and provides a stark contrast with Jeonghan’s vocals. To me, unlike Jeonghan’s voice, Wonwoo’s vocals project a very obvious sorrow, perhaps due to his method of singing, coarse-like and it feels like he’s been through 10 heartbreaks. It is unlike when he is rapping, where his voice makes a more direct hit to listeners.
The song distribution where both of them take turns to sing make it sound like they’re actually singing to each other, which is something I find highly interesting given the backstory of this song, and the characters they represent.
Theories and Representations
It is very common for k-pop songs to have an underlying theme they want to convey, and when it comes to self-producing idols, this is all the more not rare. However, it is difficult to portray the right emotions if one cannot act. Perhaps Jeonghan’s acting classes did pay off, and Wonwoo has been known for his talent in acting throughout the years, even though he has not been in any official roles.
Multiple fans have stepped up to decipher this MV, some claiming that Jeonghan is the man that keeps appearing. Wonwoo has stated in their live with Na Yeongseok PD-nim that the whole story revolves around how the 2 of them can manipulate using dreams, but Jeonghan has forgotten his purpose, and Wonwoo had to wake him up from his own dream to end the whole fiasco. However, it does not stop multiple interpretations, afterall, it is up to the ears of the listeners on how they would like to see this as.
Personally, I had a similar theory to what Wonwoo has said. At first glance, it was as though Jeonghan was Sandman, putting people to sleep and covering blankets over their bodies. With all the white clothed people collapsing into sand, it does show that he has gone overboard and implies the loss of control. However, compared to Wonwoo being a person with the ability to manipulate dreams, per say, I saw it as him being the psychiatrist to Jeonghan. Afterall, if Jeonghan was to wake up from his dreams, then everyone manipulated to sleep had to be in Jeonghan’s mind the entire time.
Jeonghan begins to lose track of himself. In 0:52, his watch loses time and disintegrates into a sand like structure before he wakes up in a room covered with white cloth. The room is white, everything is white, and he is all alone. This watch plays its part as a foreshadow.
There is also a scene (2:09) where Wonwoo stands in the middle of a group of sleeping people on beds. They aren’t hospital beds, but the repetition of similar beds with people with different sleeping styles might hint at Wonwoo trying to search for something in these dreams.
Jeonghan soon finds himself confused (2:30), perhaps a sign that his mind is fighting with the devil in him, perhaps to wake him up. The people covered with white cloth are starting to walk away from him. Wonwoo manages to find Jeonghan at the end of the MV and wake him up. Perhaps it was a treatment, perhaps it was hypnosis, but the story ends with Jeonghan falling asleep in his dream, and possibly waking up in real life.
Before we conclude the MV, we have to take into account the montage uploaded 3 weeks prior. It’s a split of Wonwoo and Jeonghan’s face. If we take into account the original story of this man, then the man multiple people were seeing was not one person in this MV, but 2 — Jeonghan and Wonwoo. It is understandable, since Wonwoo has to go through every person Jeonghan puts to sleep, and wake them up.
The MV ends off with Wonwoo looking into the camera and Jeonghan waking up, but Wonwoo is still standing at a junction, whereas Jeonghan appears to be in the real world. We can tell this because his watch is ticking, and his clothes are no longer of the gloomy, dark kind. His environment is a lot brighter, unlike Wonwoo’s, who seems to still be stuck in the dark, where he sees the poster of the montage. Could Wonwoo be stuck in a never ending loop? Or is he saving patient by patient? We would never know.
The link to the MV will be here if you have yet to listen.
Enjoy listening to Seventeen JxW’s newest album, and subscribe if you would like to read more about me deciphering music! It would really be of great help if you could subscribe <3