The guests were mannequins: seven things you missed in EVAN's 'Death of Me' music video

'Death of Me', the title track of 'DEATH OF ME', the first mini album BELIFT LAB solo artist EVAN released on September 7, was picked last week as the stage winner of Mnet M Countdown's 'Monthly M COUNTDOWN PICK' for September. It's EVAN's first mini album, out a little over two months after the June debut single 'RIDE OR DIE'. The music video moves between five spaces within one song, and when you pull the sound apart instrument by instrument, the places where the scene changes and the places where the instruments change overlap quite often. Timestamps follow the official music video.

0:00 · The guests are mannequins

The first space is a stage with a round light fixture spread out like a sun, in a theater restaurant hung with a crystal chandelier. Look closely at the guests seated at candlelit tables: they're faceless white mannequins. For these 14 seconds, all you hear is a heavy bass and synths; the voice and drums come in together at 0:14.

0:10 · A white shirt in a white room

At 0:10 the scene suddenly switches to a white studio, where EVAN stands alone in a white shirt. At 0:56, the same room is ringed by black speakers as tall as a person.

0:34 · A gray T-shirt in a dark corridor

The third space is the corridor of an old building under fluorescent light. EVAN wears a gray T-shirt reading 'EXCURSION'. In this first verse the bass lies thick underneath, and the synths step back.

1:02 · The drums stop for one second

The drums that came in at 0:14 barely rest until the end, but they stop twice, for exactly one second each: at 1:02 and 2:10, both right before the move into the chorus. At the second spot, 2:10, a microphone covered in sparkling beads drifts across the screen, blurred. When the chorus starts, the bass takes a step back and the synths come forward.

1:12 · A black cloth over crystal, a glittering mask

In the first chorus at 1:12, a black cloth billows over a pile of clear crystal shards, and at 1:14 a figure appears wrapped head to toe in black, the face covered in glittering beads.

1:44 · A flooded floor

The second verse is danced in a dark hall with water pooled on the floor. Every step sends water splashing. As in the first verse, the bass lies thick again in this stretch.

2:14 · A stage of rising sparks, and a black flag

The last chorus takes place under steel lighting trusses, with a crew in black wearing balaclavas. Columns of sparks shoot up in a row from the stage floor. The main photo is this scene. Then at 3:00 a black flag billows over the crystal pile, and at 3:04 the flag stands planted at its top. The song cuts off at 3:02, and after two seconds of total silence it moves to the title screen. The music video was directed by XIMIN OH of NOISYROOM, and as of October 2 it had been played more than 13 million times. Apple Music