KiiiKiii & Meta-Concepting

KiiiKiii has released their new EP 'Delulu Pack' with their title track '404 (New Era)' on Monday 26th of January, with a heavy deephouse, vogue-like influence, marking a new return to one of the most iconic music genres in the 2000s. Known for their Pinterest-esque concept, KiiiKiii also is one of the few groups who embrace the definition of "meta-concept" to the fullest.

About '404 (New Era)'

The title track '404 (New Era)' is a literal embodiment of their "new era", as the first comeback often marks a new beginning in a K-pop artist' journey. It is KiiiKiii's first comeback as a group with such a baffling debut period with their EP 'Uncut Gem', so it is not far from saying that people are curious as the direction this rookie group takes.

404* is a very paletteable choice, while almost being super balanced. The hook right at the beginning manages to invite people in for a very colourful journey. If you're looking for life-changing song to vogue to, 404 might not(?) be the right choice; however, it is impactful enough to keep you repeating 404-ing while driving, playing Mario Kart or shopping at H&M.

Voguehouse is everything but new - many would remember Chung-Ha's entrepeneuring discography that introduced Kpop to voguing & waacking, XG's heartracing track 'GALA' or ever SM's latest addition Hearts2hearts 'FOCUS'. Very few Kpop groups manage to bring something new to the industry, as Kpop itself is not pop music sang in Korea, but a Frankenstein-ish music genre where so many sub-genres from the West are being borrowed, studied, modified and assembled to fit the performance standards of the industry. Figuratively, KiiiKiii is not here to reinvent the wheel. It is obvious, however, that their entire identity is to reinvent the language of marketing, in a same way to the newly beloved summer queen, Zara Larson.

The Concept of Trying out

A background in Marketing makes me questioned any decision at all in life, hence I view this whole comeback as 'meta-concept'™️, where the decision of concept is largely dependent on the product's premise, position and meaning within the relationship between the provider & the customer, in other words, meta-concept is a baby of meta-marketing.

This appears in KiiiKiii's case as their concept for KiiiKiii 키키 '404 (New Era)' MV. The entire video surrounds the theme of New Year Wish, portraying KiiiKiii in different personas to pull off as different versions of themselves for these New Year wishes. The entire thing is a total manifesto throughout the video, and at some point when the members break out of the imaginative world they envisioned - shown by them being in-and-out of filming sets, they are back to the actual world and be free of what they are, running on actual concrete streets and grasslands, only for that scene to end up being a part of a filming set.

Throughout the entire thing, it is very clear that KiiiKiii embraces different cinematic theme of breaking the fourth wall with the audience, by portraying that they are very aware how they are constructed to be on set, filming in different outfits, environments and embodiying different silver personas; simutaneously they are not shy to try out those alternatives, since they are still a new group and they don't know what is true to them.

Delulu, 404, UNDERDOGS, 멍냥, Dizzy and etc.

Retrospectively, this aligns with the group's progress and position in the Kpop scene: they are starting a new year with their footsteps in so many genres, brand imageries and territories, but they don't know it yet. A strong base with so many experiments.

❶ 'Delulu' & ❷ 404 (New Era) start the EP with divahouse, voguehouse with a heavy disco vibe, while ❸ UNDERDOGS takes the listener from 8-bit pop to DnB. ❹ MUNGNYANG combined the three prior tracks to create their own IVE's XOXZ; ❺ Dizzy is the bedroom-pop candidate that finished up the wild rollercoaster ride - a sunset drive in the city with your friends.

This EP is nothing but sonically coherent, but it is clear that they are footstepping in sounds as far from each other as they can be without being too dislocating. It is a smooth listen that gives me enough adrenaline to know that I have discovered something worthy of trying out - as a first comeback should encourage.

KiiiKiii & Their game of Meta-Concept

By their standards, KiiiKiii has done this before - their debut EP 'Uncut Gem' feature their very first fourthwall-breaking single 'DEBUT SONG', a more traumatisingly addictive experience I compare to NMIXX's 'O.O'. Under all of those meta-layers, the creative team definitely knows what they are doing with KiiiKiii when weaving the chronically-online concept into the storytelling of KiiiKiii's artistic journey - KiiiKiii knows who they are at any point of their career, what the discussions are around them online & how they are screaming out "YES WE ARE VERY AWARE OF IT" enery. Just like how Zara Larson turned her Symphony dolphin meme into her new album's aesthetics.

All of that to say, I am very excited to see what they are having for the entirety of Kpop in their trajectory.

Credits

Creative Director ~ Jeong Hewon @byheyone Styling Director ~ haanasa @haanasah