Without Tumblr, I am pretty out of the loop when it comes to kpop nowadays. So when I found out that VIXX had had a comeback, I immediately went to investigate. I mean, who wouldn’t? These men are extremely talented and their music is sooooo good!

And thus, here I am late to the party, but no less eager to share Chained Up, and my thoughts on it, with you~

Story:

After watching the MV, I just feel sorry for the members. Once again they are stuck in strange rooms because of a woman who seems to control them, this time with strange choker necklace things (I’m going with she may be a “witch”…).

So, at the beginning the members are looking for her, but she seems a little afraid… the way she is always hiding from them. And of course, then we see them stuck in their little individual rooms, why does HongBin always seem to have a sucky time, he’s lying in a pool of water, that can’t be fun. Anyway, we then see them, near the end, breaking free of those rooms and being in the beautiful outdoors, searching. However, even though they are free, the woman still seems to have power over them, because of the “choker necklace things”.

Therefore, I think this MV/Song is about how love can trap you, and even though you may be free of the other person, they can still have power over you in some way, even if you don’t want them to.

Oh. Okay. I looked at the lyrics (which you can see here) and the song is basically about how, even though the relationship is not equal and the other person is in control and doesn’t exactly treat you right, you still can’t help but stay with them and want to be with them. It’s more that they don’t want to be free of them, but they have chained themselves up. And she wasn’t really hiding, per se, she was just being cold towards them. I get it now.

Visuals:

I thought this video was very pleasing to look at. The splashes of colour were great among the rather drab or depressing rooms some of the members found themselves in. Then of course there was a huge mix of colour when it came to Hakyeon’s lightstrobe room and Hyuk’s lit up stairs place, and of course Jaehwan’s beautiful flower box.

The gold chains that Taekwoon was in were so beautiful. How can someone look so stunning when we can’t even see all of their face?! Taekwoon has been blonde for a while, but he definitely suits it and I think it’s a bit more blonde (right?).

Talking of hair… Hakyeon’s isn’t normally like that right? I mean I know he has been sporting a bowl cut for a very long time, but this one seems a little different? It may be me and I could be very late to this as I have not kept up with appearance changes (nor his drama) *sorry* even so, he manages to pull it off, so that’s the main thing haha~

And talking of Hakyeon, this is going to sound really weird, but I really liked his room. And while getting the screenshots for this post, I happened to pause at this point and I just had to include it! I love the shadow and how his hand is positioned. It just looks so beautiful and elegant. Anyway, feel free to judge me haha ^^” Fangirl mode is on.

I felt that even though there are rooms involved and the dancing takes place in a room, it didn’t feel like a simple box video. With the added fact that they were outside in the beginning and end made it better as well and being in the rooms was part of the message/plot.

The scenes outside at the end were so pretty. I legit thought HongBin was a Disney prince haha ^^”

Overall the lighting choices were great and the outfits were great. I will say I preferred the outfits at the beginning of the video and at the end. They were in sort of mix between casual and formal and I thought they looked great ♥

Vocals:

To start this section off, I just want to say, “HongBin, you need to calm down.” It’s a new theme for HongBin to both surprise and delight me with his low manly voice but my heart can’t handle it haha ^^” Talking of low voices, we can’t not talk about Ravi,

I feel that Hakyeon’s (N) voice is a little more mature in this one (I’m not sure how to put it or if anyone thinks the same), but I do enjoy it and as the concepts of their songs are more “masculine” I think that is fitting. But he still has that nice sweetness to his voice.

Putting Taekwoon (Leo) as the chorus is always going to be a win in my book. His voice is so angelic and wonderful! And I think it is a good way to go into Jaehwan’s (Ken) chorus part because they have a similar sound and it breaks up the song nicely and makes going into HongBin’s deep husky section more impactful.

Hyuk has really grown I think and mixing his voice and Ravi’s was great, I always love having a rapper and a vocalist share the same section of a song.

The end was wonderful to listen to!  Hakyeon was more prominent here and his vocals mixed and alongside Taekwoon’s and JaeHwan’s was sooo good!

Not to mention that the beat, mixed with the nananana’s of the chorus makes me incredibly happy and ready to dance is perfect. VIXX never disappoint on the vocal front and they are getting better and better with each comeback ♥

Dance:

Those body roll though. I mean, are Jellyfish ent. trying to give us all heart-attacks?! Especially when you add that with the suit jackets with nothing underneath! Gaping necklines ♥.♥ Of course, I’m not complaining though haha ^^”

VIXX are one of those groups who, of course work so hard, but it seems when they do perform that they are naturally in sync with each other. I like to take this as them being very close and coordinated ^^

Oh and of course it would be a VIXX choreography if someone wasn’t being thrown at some point. I thought it was Hyuk last time (I may be wrong), and this time it is HongBin. I did like how he was carried/thrown over Ravi and then Ravi came out and rapped. Another part I liked with Ravi, was when he was rapping and the other members were on the floor and they followed his hand movement. Yay for synchronisation!

Star Ratings:

• Understandable Storyline: 3.75/5☆
• Video Production: 4.5/5☆
• Vocals: 5/5☆
• Dance: 4.5/5☆ 
• Overall Package: 8.5/10☆

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Thank you for reading~