For 1.7 whispered seconds, the backing disappears: PARK WOO JIN's 'STAMINA'

This is the music video for 'STAMINA', the title track of 'SOLSTICE', the second EP PARK WOO JIN released at 6 p.m. on October 13. The Bugs album notes describe the song as tech house (a dance style that blends techno's hard-edged sound with house music's repeating rhythm), where a driving beat, a roughly processed bass and sharp synths keep pushing the energy up without a break. The video opens on what looks like an ad for a drink called 'STAMINA'. We pulled the vocals, drums and bass apart, measured how loud each one was every 0.1 seconds, and stepped through the picture one frame at a time at the same moments: wherever the backing drops out or comes back, the scene changes at almost the same instant. The sound in the music video is the same recording as the official audio. Times follow the official music video (2:39).

0:00 · A bass that waits until the beat is asked for

For the first seven seconds of the video, there's only a voice, with no backing at all. The very first lines are 'Beat killa / No love just silence'. Beside PARK WOO JIN, standing on a rooftop with a can in hand, 'Charge Up Your' rises at 0:04 and a huge red 'STAMINA' at 0:05, so the shot looks like a frame from a commercial. Only after 'Gimme that beat right now / You got me' is sung does the bass come in, at 0:07.3. Right after the picture moves from an outdoor billboard into a dark ramen shop, the drums join at 0:07.7.

0:35 · '눈치 보지 말고 뛰어' (don't mind anyone, just run), then an old man bursts out

At 0:16, an old man in a striped patient's gown sits in a wheelchair by the window, head bowed. The end credits list these people as 'Senior Home Resident', meaning residents of a care home. On the line before the first chorus, '눈치 보지 말고 뛰어' (don't mind anyone, just run), the drums and bass drop out from 0:35.5, leaving only the voice. Meanwhile, the faces of three residents go by one after another, mouths hanging open. At 0:37.2, as the backing returns, the old man in the striped gown bursts out in front of everyone, and at 0:38 leaps through a sliding door. From 0:41, the old man dances alone on a rooftop ringed by railings. The credits list a separate 'Senior Dancer' role.

0:53 · The archery hall, and the arrow's eye

While the first line of the second verse, '내 인생은 언제나 challenge' (my life is always a challenge), is being sung, the picture moves to a kyudo hall (a practice hall for Japanese archery) at 0:53.6, and at that same moment the drums and bass come back in. At 0:57.4, where you hear '뒤는 없어' (there's no going back), an arrow is stuck in the top edge of the white circle at the very center of the target. At 1:36.8, as the second chorus winds down, the camera flies over a lawn toward the target from what looks like a viewpoint mounted behind an arrow, and at 1:37.3 the arrow sticks in the edge of the white circle again. Right after that, at 1:37.8, the bass drops out and the bridge begins.

1:06 · 1.7 seconds of whispering

From 1:06.8 to 1:08.5, the drums and bass drop out together. During these 1.7 seconds, four shots alternate on screen in which PARK WOO JIN cups a hand to the ear of the skateboarding boy, then the archer, and whispers. The lyric here is '말뿐인 너네들과 다른 내 패션' (my fashion, unlike you all, who are only talk). When we measure the pitch of the vocal part, not a single note registers during these 1.7 seconds. That means a sound made with breath alone, without the vocal cords vibrating: something close to a whisper. In the rap just before and after, a pitch registers almost the whole way through. When the backing comes back at 1:08.6 with '3 6 9', the picture looks down from above on the boy sitting on the ground and the dancers lying alongside.

1:23 · 'STAMINA' ramps, and drums that arrive late

In the first chorus, the drums and bass came in together at 0:37.2, but the second chorus is different. The bass returns at 1:23.5, while the drums only brush past once, briefly, at 1:24 and don't properly come in until 1:27. In the meantime, the screen opens onto a skate park with big 'STAMINA' letters on its ramps and on the sides of its steps. At 1:26.9, a skater kicks up the tail of the board in front of the stairs and sails over a camera set low to the ground, and the drums return at exactly that moment, 1:27.0. At 1:28, the boy in the white T-shirt leaps up over the stairs.

1:38 · A night shopping street without bass, and circle signs

From 1:37.8, where the bridge begins with '알잖아' (you know), until 1:54.5, the bass stays out for nearly 17 seconds. The stage moves to a shopping street at night, its shutters pulled down. In front of a blue table, sumo wrestlers in yukata and women pro wrestlers in flashy outfits go at each other, and the credits list 'Sumo wrestler' and 'Joshi Pro wrestler' along with names. At 1:51.1, on '몸을 맡겨 리듬 위' (let your body ride on the rhythm), even the drums drop out, and after 'Hold up' the drums and bass come back at 1:54.7. In the shot just before, PARK WOO JIN holds a sign with a circle (○) drawn on it. At 2:08.4, at a table with a 'Park Woo Jin' name card, PARK WOO JIN and two people in silver outfits wearing 'STAMINA' sashes raise circle signs together.

2:24 · One can, and 12.8 seconds of silence

On the last line, 'Burning burning / 이게 내 stamina' (this is my stamina), the drums and bass drop out at 2:24, and only the final 'stamina' is left, in the voice alone. Meanwhile, a single 'STAMINA' can stands on the wet street. The song ends at 2:26, but the video keeps going for another 12.8 seconds. Without a single sound, a shop door opens and PARK WOO JIN and the two people in silver walk out one after another, while the end credits appear over the picture. The 'Robot Dance Performance' line lists Morikun and Yashiro Madoka, so the two people in silver who turn up throughout the video appear to be the ones behind the robot dance. Apple Music

The Bugs credits list TAG (ONE PACT), LUKE, LEESEUNGHOON (이승훈) and ByHVN for the music and LUKE, LEESEUNGHOON and ByHVN for the arrangement, with eleven names on the lyrics, PARK WOO JIN's among them. According to the end credits, H_bonavent directed and edited the music video, and Romantic garbage produced it. The six songs that have carried PARK WOO JIN's name in their credits so far are collected in our PARK WOO JIN starter guide.