Picking a red apple in the 23 seconds the song stops: NAM WOO HYUN's 'DEVIL'

This is the music video for 'DEVIL', the title track of '2X8', the second full-length album NAM WOO HYUN released on October 14. It's an album for ten years since the solo debut, and the Bugs credits list NAM WOO HYUN as the lyricist of 'DEVIL', with the music and arrangement by NAM WOO HYUN and Kim Jae-jong (김재종). We split the sound into four parts, vocals, drums, bass and everything else, and compared it with the official audio on YouTube (3:20): the music video slips 23 seconds that aren't in the audio in between the bridge and the final chorus. Times follow the official music video (4:00). The song in the video is the same recording as the audio, so subtract 6.5 seconds from the early part when you listen to the audio.

0:02 · The only red thing in black and white

The video opens on a big tree on a black-and-white hill, with a table set beneath it. At 0:02 an apple with one bite taken out of it fills the screen, and in the first black-and-white scenes this red apple is the only thing in color. At 0:40 a black butterfly lands on a fingertip, and the apple on the plate beside it is red too. The song starts with a guitar at 0:07, and the drums and bass come in at 0:20 with the first line, '붉은 조명 아래 번진 네 Shadow' (your Shadow, spreading under the red light).

0:48 · Grabbing hands, a car in the fog

While '천천히 망가져도 좋아 / 네 거짓말은 달콤하니까' (I don't mind slowly falling apart / because your lies are sweet) is sung (0:45–0:52), the drums hit only once every two or three seconds. On screen, masked dancers grab hold of NAM WOO HYUN and close in, with a withered tree and a pile of old TVs behind them. On '출구 없는 미로 같아' (it's like a maze with no way out), a single black car stands in the fog. At 0:57 the drums come in properly with 'Devil', and at 1:02 the group dance begins on a stage where white sheets flap like wings.

2:40 · The black wings of 'the moment I bit into it'

At 2:40, as the first line of the bridge, '네가 준 구원을 베어 문 순간' (the moment I bit into the salvation you gave me), arrives, NAM WOO HYUN is crouched on a lit floor with black feathered wings spread out. They look like the very wings from the chorus line '검은 날개 아래 날 숨겨놔' (hide me under your black wings). Then, through '끝없는 갈증이 목을 조여 와 / 돌아갈 곳은 이미 무너져' (an endless thirst tightens around my throat / the place to go back to has already fallen apart) (2:43–2:50), only doors stand in a room filled with water, and at 2:46 a butterfly flies between them.

2:57 · 23 seconds that aren't in the audio

When 'Oh, Just let me go tonight' (2:51–2:55) ends and the screen washes white at 2:57, the song stops. In the audio it goes straight into the final chorus here, but the music video slips 23 seconds into this spot. Only faint sound effects are heard, and the picture shifts to bright colors: blue sky and green leaves. At 2:58 a hand reaches for the sun, and at 3:04 NAM WOO HYUN raises a hand against the sunlight in front of a white door. That's our main photo. At 3:16 a hand picks a red apple from a branch.

3:18 · Half a second of silence, then a changed final chorus

From 3:18.5 the sound cuts out completely for half a second, and at 3:20.5 the voice and drums burst in together to start the final chorus. This chorus has different lyrics, too. Where the first two choruses had '검은 날개 아래 날 숨겨놔 / 위태롭게' (hide me under your black wings / precariously), it now goes '가장 외로운 순간마다 / 날 부르네' (in my loneliest moments / you call me). In that moment black wings spread out against the light, and at 3:22 the red apple falls into the water.

3:44 · An ending where the drums and bass drop out first

While the last line, 'Falling for the devil' (3:43–3:47), is sung, the drums and bass drop out first. On screen, dancers are tangled together in front of a tree decoration with branches spread like antlers, and at 3:52 a tree with black wings spreads out over the light. The 'DEVIL' logo appears at 3:56. Apple Music

The album holds sixteen songs. The release news is in our October 15 news briefing, and songs from ten solo years are in our NAM WOO HYUN starter guide.