I Got 7 Reasons to Love “Breath”

1. The song is just…so good
2. The vibe
3. Youngjae
4. Modeling in motion
5. Minimal
6. Main character energy
7. Can’t stop watching

I like this video because it’s so…minimal? Simple? I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like, usually K-pop M/Vs are crazy with lots of special effects, different angles, zooming in and out, pouring rain, something on fire, someone jumping out of a plane, etc. But I feel like the director of this video was just like “Okay, just walk around and look handsome.” And on paper, I’d be like “That’s not gonna work,” but this video…works! To me, the way it’s shot reminds me of a commercial for a high-end fashion brand, except it’s not boring. Like if you did this same video with 7 guys I didn’t know, I would just think “Oh cool” and then press the skip button. And honestly, I think people other than Ahgases would feel the same way about this video. But because I’m an Ahgase, I’m already familiar with and interested in the members. So instead of looking at this video on a surface level as a passerby, I am looking at it on a deeper level through the lens of a rabid fangirl.

And they know this. They know that my focus is going to be mainly on the members. So that’s why they’re able to get away with skipping all the bells and whistles I’ve come to expect in M/Vs. There weren’t any wild camera angles, intricate background sets or crazy special effects. There was just Got7, and they know that that’s enough to keep my attention. And that’s what I meant when I said main character energy. It’s the fact that the members themselves are so charismatic, charming, talented, etc. that my attention is monopolized by them, to the point where nothing else in the video matters.

Now, I know this isn’t new. I’m no K-pop expert, but my guess is that it’s not unusual for a more established group to have videos like this. I think the thing that surprised me was that there was no choreo. I only keep up with a few groups religiously, but I’ve seen my fair share of K-pop videos. I can’t think of any off the top of my head that didn’t have at least one choreo scene. And that’s because a lot of artists promote their comebacks through dance challenges. So when the video ended I was like…”Wait…what about the dance? Did I miss it?” And then when I realized there was no choreo scene, all I could do was laugh. It was so smart. So many videos try so hard to get the viewer’s attention so that they can sell albums and merch. But they just leaned back and said “We don’t need to try that hard, because Got7 is just that good.” And they’re RIGHT, but to so blatantly acknowledge that is hilarious to me.

But then I found out that they dropped “Last Piece” like a week later and I’m like “Ah, there we go.”

If you watch “Last Piece”, it uses some of the same background sets as “Breath” (like the one pictured above). However, it’s closer to what I expect from your typical K-pop video: fancy outfits, lighting effects, AMAZING CHOREO, zooming in and out, etc. Now, I wasn’t a fan yet when these videos dropped, so I missed out on the cool effect this probably had for fans at the time. Also, I think because of MAMA and other Got7 content I watched when I started getting into them, I discovered “Last Piece” first. I don’t think I heard “Breath” until like…months later? I don’t know, to be honest, I was skipping all up and down Got7 content. So instead of getting to know them album by album, I just slowly accumulated random singles without any sense of what album they belonged to. What makes it even crazier, is that one of my favorite Got7 videos has a segment where they choose songs off the album. I just never got around to listening to the other songs until much later.

Anyway, if you were an Ahgase at the time, I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts. There’s still so much I don’t know about Got7 and K-pop in general, so I’m always eager to hear other perspectives. Personally…I am really, really, really curious to see how “Breath” did in that first week before “Last Piece” dropped. As of this post, “Breath” is up by 3 million views, but I wonder if that’s just because it had a one week head start? Anyway, let me go watch this video for the 10,000th time…for research, of course.

EDIT: Okay, I’ve read the comments for the video and I’ve learned new things. I don’t know if all of them are true – because again, I wasn’t there – but this is what I saw.

So, apparently this was a pre-release track. When I saw “pre-release” I was like, “Oh, now that makes a whole bunch of sense!” I should’ve known. Again, I’m no expert, but in my experience pre-releases are like an appetizer before the main course (title track and album, in this case) comes out. So if “Breath” was the appetizer, of course it didn’t have all the trimmings. And since “Last Piece” was a title track, of course it did. And I DID manage to think of a video without choreo, and that was Misamo’s “Marshmallow” which was ALSO a pre-release. The difference was that “Marshmallow” never got any official choreo. Also, that M/V did at least have a story/plot, whereas I feel like “Breath” kind of didn’t. I’m not knocking it for that. If anything, that just makes it even more impressive.

But then as I got deeper into the comments, people were saying it was a “pre-release title track”. And I’m like…”Huh?” As I told you, I’m no expert. So to me “pre-release track” and “title track” have always been two separate things in my head. And because I see title tracks as part of the main course, I expect them to go all out and I expect them to have mass appeal. And as I said earlier, “Breath” was quite laid back so I didn’t expect it to appeal to the masses. I’m only going to say this once, so listen carefully: I have never been happier to be wrong. Apparently, “Breath” broke a lot of previous Got7 comeback records AND was getting attention from people outside the fandom who are probably now in it thanks to this song! Like I said, I don’t know if any of that is actually true, but if it is then I am so glad!

Is this the song that made you an Ahgase? Let me know!