OnlyOneOf "Instinct Part 1"Indivisual explanation by Yun- Eng ver.

Hi! I'm Yun. I've written this article in Japanese, but I did it again for English users. I put the link in Japanese in the end of this article.

This article is about the top of the Art-pOp, OnlyOneOf's "Instinct Part1" before "Instinct Part 2" released! And information is mostly taken from official  Youtube description, also I added some. Please please take your time to read this article, everyone who watched "libidO":)

What is "libidO"?

"libidO" was released as the title song of "Instinct Part 1" from OnlyOneOf 8,April 2021.

[MV] OnlyOneOf (온리원오브) 'libidO' ーfrom official Youtube

This is the all track lists.(with Eng sub)

1.꼼데가르송을 입은 소년 (CD Only)　ーThe Boy Wearing COMME des                                                                             GARÇONS
2. libidO　
3. 느낄 수 없다면 만지면돼 (CD Only)  －Touch me if you can't feel*
4. instinct
5. 고난주간 (CD Only)　　　　　　　  ーHard week*
6. byredO
7. tear Of gOd
8. 너라고 불렀지만 사실은 나 (CD Only)ーI called it you, but it was actually me

*original English title by Yun.

Then, we will look at this album from one by one in detail.

About this album

*Boldfaced text is from official Youtube' description. 

OnlyOneOf’s [Instinct Part. 1] is a cinematic album that tells a storyline, just like watching a movie.

They expect us to listen to this through whole the album. Okay, let's go to watch the movie!

1.The Boy Wearing COMME des GARÇONS

The kind of love that The Boy Wearing COMME des GARÇONS feels is just like having a fever during the summer. The emotion of love of the boy, who is yet to become a grown-up, is quite impulsive and fickle. With the piano playing like the ripples across the heart, OnlyOneOf’s cinematic album begins.

COMME des GARÇONS... it means "like a boy" in French. 

From a word "wearing", this title also indicates the fashioned bland "COMME des GARÇONS" founded by Rei Kawakubo in Japan. According to Wikipedia, the concept of the fashioned bland is...

"Specifically, I used the subdued color like white, beige, brown, gray, navy blue and black. On the other hand, cloth was not like that. They had a shape that could have gaudy and unbalanced...so two-faced." "Two-faced is the essence for this bland. We expressed two-faced factors, such as unchanging thing and changing thing by one by one....."  

from Wikipedia ーtranslated by Yun

The idea of two-faced like unchanging and changing... About this idea, Freud has took it as important especially in his theory. I will add some later. And this boy wearing COMME des GARÇONS could be a symbolic existence of that idea.

2.libidO

HERE!! Come on libidO!!!

The title track “libidO” shares the boy’s impulsive mind through the expressions of S.Freud. The mind’s energy “libidO” is considered as a feeling that shouldn’t be openly talked about in real life and should be concealed, so its existence is often denied. However, the more the boy tries to suppress “libidO”, the stronger it gets and the more impact it has on his subconscious behavior.

As written here, "libidO" is based on the Freud's theory, "libido".

But take it carefully, libido doesn't stand for only sexual desire. Many people still think it as like that. Libido is the mind's energy that gushed out from unconscious area (where we aren't aware).

About this libido, I'll keep it explaining until the last song of this album. The last song, maybe many people wonder what it means. 

3.Touch me if you can't feel

This song hasn't any explanation officially because it is only for CD sound, but there is one about "libidO" constantly. I'll show you that here. 

OnlyOneOf has been experimenting its musical spectrum and solidifying its depth with each album. Now, the group’s own musical colors are even more clarified. The group’s unique style of decadence and contemporary sound are conjoined just like DNA binding to create the new sound that is “libidO”.

4.instinct

I think this title is a little bit straight. Let's look at explanation below.

The subconsciousness of “libidO” naturally flows to “Instinct”. The gratifying sound of guitar strokes makes the boy’s heart beat faster. The boy lets himself go all out on falling in love faster and faster by instinct. Fans who have been showing their love to OnlyOneOf since the group’s debut will enjoy finding out that this song’s “the lip balm you gave me” part has a connection to “savanna”, the group’s debut song.

Instinct is in the area of unconsciousness. Freud advocated that the feeling which is repressed by consciousness goes down to the unconscious area. Eventually, it goes up to the consciousness, which means come out.

In addition, it turned out that it is related to "savanna", their debut song.  Check it on Youtube if you want to know more. I put the link below.

[MV] OnlyOneOf (온리원오브) - "savanna" ーfrom official Youtube

5.Hard week (originally translated title by Yun)

I'm afraid I can't write anything here because there was no explanation even officially. Sorry!

6.byredO

“byredO” and “libidO” stand against each other just like mirrors. Love can be a blessing while also be so cruel. Just like how even a pleasant scent can become too strong when sprayed too much, love also becomes bitter as obsession grows stronger. OnlyOneOf’s signature genre art pop, which was presented through “picassO” and “dOra maar”, evolves further with “byredO”.

Finally, the idea of two-faced is now expressed here. What is more, about this title "byredO", actually there is a famous bland "Byredo". This bland is for perfume, rooted in the coinage  "By Redolence" from Shakespeare. It means that the scent reminds me of something. I DEFINITELY recommend you all to listen to this song. So stylish yet sensual. 

7.tear Of gOd

“tear of gOd” tells a story of the boy, who has indulged himself in impulse, having a conversation with god. Through this music, all members expressed the boy making an effort to reach the voice of god by singing in female singers’ vocal range. The voice of god is presented through the melody created by a synthesizer.

That is my guess, but I could say that this god mentioned here is not a god that we usually call. It is "the god" in our mind.

Sometimes, "Super ego" is formed strongly in the process unconscious drive goes to ourselves. …That might be a little bit difficult, so I'll make it easy to understand for you all. Songs like a "libidO", it expressed the desire to others from oneself. However, the desire goes to oneself. In that process, the desire  became Super ego, it begins to control oneself. Super ego is like conscience. This Super ego (conscience) is just "the god" in oneself. Shortly, this song stands for the interaction between a person and the god in oneself.  To add  more information, there is another version of MV, "Guilty Pleasure"(I put the link here. Go and watch this, too). It expresses conflict and the pleasure with feeling of guilt. 

8.I called it you, but it was actually me

Through the last track of the album, the boy’s narrative of impulse ends with his confession in a low-lying voice:

“I called it you but it was actually me.”

Before, I mentioned that the mind's energy "libido" comes out from the area of unconsciousness. Giving more detail, libido has a feature : regression. This song is about regression of libido. Overall, once libido came out from "oneself" to "you", then it returns to "oneself". This is the end of the story "Instinct Part1". A movie is over.

In the end...

Thank you for taking your time to read this article till last. I hope you enjoy and get more interested in OnlyOneOf. I really wanted to know this group and new genre of music-art pOp for many people. Hope having their comeback part 2 with you!

If you have any question, correction, or comment, please contact me by inquiry of creator or my Twitter account below. 

Twitter: ゆん(Yun)  @Yun_o_o_o

This article is originally translated by Yun from another article written in Japanese. 

Quotation: [MV] OnlyOneOf (온리원오브) 'libidO' https://youtu.be/lMW1PICg-Ss 

コム・デ・ギャルソン(COMME des GARÇONS) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B3%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%83%87%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AE%E3%83%A3%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3 

#OnlyOneOf #オンオブ #libidO #Instinct_Part1 #Kpop #ゆん