Red Velvet's recent comeback with their album "The Velvet" showed a marked change in their usual upbeat, poppy style. A popular Korean blogger made a post analyzing the music video for the title song, "One Of These Nights," claiming that the video is a tribute to the Sewol Ferry incident in April 2014.
The blogger first claimed that the boats from the teaser images are similar to the yellow ones that were folded in memory of the victims.
In the image on the back of the physical album, only Yeri's face is blurred out. The blogger claims this is because Yeri is currently the same age as the majority of the victims of the tragedy, who were high schoolers.
At the beginning of the music video, all the members are seen putting on makeup, seemingly in preparation for a trip. However, their facial expressions are dark, foreshadowing the tragedy to come.
Next, Wendy is seen standing in the hallway of a boat, due to the type of lights, the "No Smoking" sign, and the narrowness of the hallway. Posted on the bulletin board is a sheet of paper that says "AIS On 15-16." According to the blogger, an emergency signal (called an AIS signal for short) was sent by the Sewol on April 15-16.
The blogger asserts that each of the girls, except for Joy, represents a type of person who died during the incident. Joy symbolizes the survivors, and is the only one who makes it out alive. In her teaser image, she is wearing a yellow dress, symbolizing hope, as she climbs out a window.
In addition, the following scene shows all the members sitting at a table when the lights suddenly go out, leaving only Joy illuminated.
Seulgi discovers the truth first and attempts to leave, but it is too late. She opens a window and sees Wendy, already drenched with water. Meanwhile, Yeri is sound asleep by herself in a boat that is slowly filling up with water.
As Seulgi stands in a room by herself, she resigns herself to her fate and opens a door where shes Wendy, Yeri, and Irene dressed in white, signifying their death.
Later, a porthole bursts and water floods into a room where Irene is. She is then seen lying on the ground with floating furniture. In this scene, the floor is slanted, indicating the slant of the boat as it was sinking.
Other symbolism includes Wendy crawling under a table (which victims were said to have done), Joy being the only member wearing a black dress (to symbolize respect for the deceased), and the final scene, in which one member walks through a hallway where the lights slowly go out.
SM Entertainment has not made an official statement regarding whether or not the music video is a tribute to the incident, but the video does seem to have a massive amount of symbolism hidden within, captivating viewers and sparking discussion on the meaning behind it.
