WE MEET, WE LEAVE, WE MEET AGAIN: 7 things you missed in I.O.I's 'Suddenly' music video

'Suddenly' ('갑자기'), the title track of I.O.I's 3rd mini album 'I.O.I : LOOP', released May 19, was still at number 7 on the Bugs weekly chart for the last week of September, four and a half months later. The album notes describe the record as capturing the moment feelings that had stood still for ten years connect again. The title track is synth-pop about longing and memories, with JEON SOMI among its lyricists. Rewatching the music video, we found seven places where the song and the picture lock together. Times follow the official music video (3:30).

0:04 · A hand over a surprised mouth

Before the song even starts, the music video opens on two people facing each other. At 0:04, one covers their mouth with a hand, startled. It shows the title, "suddenly," with a face before the sound does. The voice comes in at 0:09 with '어쩌면 잘된 일이야' ("maybe it turned out for the best").

0:07 · Three faces between red curtains

At 0:07, a red velvet curtain parts slightly, and three people poke their faces through the gap, stacked one above the other. The first part of the music video moves between hallways and rooms hung with red curtains, with members appearing one at a time or in twos and threes.

0:40 · The first "suddenly," and a phone call

At 0:40, as the first chorus begins with '자려고 누웠는데 갑자기' ("I lay down to sleep, and suddenly"), a member holding a silver phone to an ear appears on screen. The lyric about someone suddenly coming to mind just before sleep overlaps with the scene of a call. In the whole lyric, '갑자기' ("suddenly") appears five times: twice in each chorus, and once more at the very end.

1:11 · "Trying to forget" becomes "I thought I'd forgotten"

The last line of the chorus changes the second time. At 1:11 the first chorus ends with '잊으려 누웠는데' ("I lay down to forget"), and at 2:20 the second ends with '잊은 줄 알았는데' ("I thought I'd forgotten"). Someone trying to forget becomes someone who thought they had, and remembers again.

2:04 · Doodles on a white wall

At 2:04, two people draw smiley faces and stars on a white brick wall with colored markers. Then at 2:10, a small silhouette dances inside a round pool of light on a pitch-black screen.

2:23 · 15 seconds without drums, and ten in a row

From 2:23, '아무리 애써도 괜찮은 척해 봐도' ("no matter how hard I try, no matter how I pretend I'm fine"), until 2:37, the drums almost drop out for about 15 seconds, 10 to 40dB quieter than in the previous chorus. Decibels (dB) measure loudness, and just 10dB less sounds about half as loud to the ear. In this stretch, with only bass and voice left, at 2:28 the screen shows ten people standing side by side in a row. The lyric at 2:30 is '우리 추억들' ("our memories"). The lead photo is this scene.

2:38 · 34 seconds of "la la la," then 'WE MEET AGAIN'

At 2:38 the drums come back, and the 'Lalala' outro runs for 34 seconds, until 3:10. It's the very stretch the album notes describe as richly filling the latter part of the song, and the picture shows everyone dancing together in a living room. From 3:04, the ten stand in front of a wall in white T-shirts and jeans, and at 3:10 comes the last lyric, '너 뭔데 갑자기' ("what are you, all of a sudden"). At 3:13 the bass drops out, and at 3:16 the words 'WE MEET / WE LEAVE / WE MEET AGAIN' appear over the picture. Apple Music

Other members' names show up across the album, too. JEON SOMI took part in writing and composing 'IOI (Where My Girls At)', YOO YEONJUNG 'IF I', and CHUNG HA '그때 우리 지금' ("us then, now"). '그때 우리 지금' was introduced as an answer song to the group's earlier single 'Downpour' ('소나기'), and the last track, '웃으며 안녕' ("goodbye with a smile"), keeps voices recorded in 2016 just as they were.