RYO's question marks, and NCTzen's yellow star 20 minutes later: NCT WISH's 'I SPY'

This is the music video for 'I SPY', the title track of the fourth mini album NCT WISH released at 6 p.m. on October 12. The Bugs album notes describe the song as hybrid dance pop with synths layered over a thick 808 bass (an electronic bass sound that rings low and long), highlight its 'varied changes from section to section,' and say the lyrics carry 'a wish to invite someone into my world.' We split the audio into its separate parts to measure them and matched the picture to it in 0.2-second steps. Before each chorus, wherever the backing drops out entirely, the picture changes too. Times follow the official music video (3:16).

0:00 · The 'spy' that breaks the 'welcome' screen

The video opens on a screen made up to look like an old personal homepage. Under the pixel lettering 'WiSHLAND!!!' sits the Japanese 'いらっしゃいませ' (welcome), with a red 'welcome :D', a member photo in a star-shaped frame and an 'ENTER' button floating alongside. The first 'I' rings out from 0:00.8 in voice alone, with no backing. When the beat comes in with 'spy' at 0:01.7, the screen shatters into pixel fragments the next moment, and from 0:02.4 cartoonish avatars fly around a white 3D space. It looks like an invitation to step into the 'my world' the album notes talk about.

0:32 · From 'block out', three seconds of just the voice

Right before the first chorus, on '그림자도 부러워서 난 / 태양을 가려봐' (I'm jealous of even the shadow, so I / block out the sun), the backing drops out all at once at 0:32.2, just before '가려봐' (block out). For the 3.2 seconds up to 'Ya ya ya, I'm', only the voice is left, apart from one short hit at 0:34.5. Meanwhile, the screen shows a sticker-covered pink carpet flying above the clouds. A member lies on the carpet, and at 0:34.6 a member holding the edge of the carpet up overhead is caught in close-up. At 0:35.5, the moment the backing comes back with the chorus, the picture also switches to the members dancing in a white hallway.

1:05 · 'RYO 오후 6:01' and 'NCTzen 오후 6:21'

While the first line of the second verse, '요즘에 맘에 드는 건 뭐야' (what are you into these days), is sung, the same words appear typed on screen at 1:05.6 with typos mixed in, as '요짐에 맘에 드는게' and '모ㅇㅑ ??'. At 1:08.8 a messenger window pops up. The sender is 'RYO', as in member RYO, and the time reads 오후 6:01 (6:01 p.m.). The message goes out one word per line, '지금 / 무슨 / 생각 / 중인 거 / 야' (what are you thinking about right now), and the question marks grow from '??' to '???' to '?????'. At 1:13.5, below it, 'NCTzen', the fandom's name, answers at 오후 6:21, 20 minutes later. No words, just a single yellow star. In the very next shot, at 1:14, yellow stars sit in both of a member's pupils.

1:17 · The backing goes empty on 'could it be me' and 'it's my world'

Before the second chorus, the backing drops out twice. The first time is for 1.1 seconds from 1:17.8, while '누가 있을까 / 혹시 나일까' (who could be in there / could it be me) is sung. In that gap, the shot of a member on top of a globe, with telescope and magnifying glass icons floating around, switches to a close-up, and the member winks. The second time is for 2.3 seconds from 1:26.3, timed to '방향을' (the direction) in '그 방향을 따라가면 나의 세계야' (follow that direction and it's my world). At 1:28 a yellow star with pixel-like jagged edges shows up on the floor, and at 1:29.2 star-shaped light falls over a dark patch of grass. When the backing returns at 1:29.6, the second chorus is danced inside that starlight.

1:56 · Twelve seconds without drums, and 'WE'RE UPGRADING.'

During the bridge, '너를 알아 갈수록 / 내 세계가 커져가' (the more I get to know you / the bigger my world grows), the drums drop out. They fade from 1:56.5 and don't come back until 2:09.2, so it's about 12 seconds. On screen, at 1:58.6 the picture breaks into pixels again, just like the opening scene, and at 2:06.2 a clear heart holding a green circuit board and chip rises above an open palm. When the drums return and '(I spy-I-I-I-I with my little eye)' starts repeating, the screen turns into a program for making presentation slides. Under 'Basic human needs' come '1. Water' and '2. Oxygen', with a member photo in the number 3 spot, and 'GET IN. WE'RE UPGRADING.' and 'I will not breathe until the update is complete.' go by as well. A green circle that looks like a loading icon, which had been moving around the slides, is left alone in the middle of a black screen at 2:15.6, then at 2:16.4 becomes a huge ring of light around the members. Track 3 on the album is titled 'UPGRADE', too.

2:22 · 'UPGRADE COMPLETE', and a last chorus that opens without drums

Just before the chorus, on ‘Cause I’m, the backing drops out all at once again at 2:22.7, and the camera looks straight down on a star shape: one member in the middle, the others lying around with their legs drawn in toward the center. This shot soon becomes the picture inside an old vine-wrapped monitor, with 'UPGRADE COMPLETE' appearing beneath it. At 2:24.4 the bass comes back and the last chorus begins, but the drums stay almost entirely out. The members inside the monitor approach from far away, then faces in white outfits follow, one member at a time. The drums only return at 2:36.3, on 'I-I-I spy, I spy', and at that same moment the picture moves to a white steel-frame stage up in the sky.

3:04 · 'IS' and 'PY' written in two pupils

In the last chorus, 'I-I-I spy, I spy' doesn't follow '내 세상으로 와' (come into my world). Instead, 'I spy-I-I-I-I / With my little eye', sung twice at the very beginning, is sung four times. At 3:04.4 the six members crowd their faces right up to the front of the monitor and peer out at us (our lead photo). The song ends around 3:05, and the last 10 seconds are silent. At 3:08 two cartoon eyes appear on a white screen, and the green letters inside the gray pixel pupils read 'IS' on the left and 'PY' on the right. Put them together and you get 'I SPY', and at 3:09.6 a logo with the same name follows. Apple Music

The Bugs credits list 1월 8일 (January 8th; it's the lyricist's name) for the lyrics, David Wilson, Alna Hofmeyr and Louise Lindberg for the music, and dwilly for the arrangement. The six earlier title tracks are collected in our NCT WISH 101.