Singing and Snapping with iPhone, What Do You Think About NewJeans' Music Video?

'Shot on iPhone 14 Pro.'

This is the first phrase that appears as soon as the music video of 'ETA', one of the triple title songs of the group NewJeans, begins. As suggested by this phrase, the entire music video of 'ETA' was shot using Apple's new iPhone 14 Pro. This marks the first collaboration between a K-pop idol group and Apple. Despite being a blatant product advertisement, the innovative video direction has garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews. This is likely because the main consumer demographic, the 1020 generation, is accustomed to collaborations between product advertisements and content.

▲ A scene from NewJeans' new song music video 'ETA'. There are numerous scenes where members use the iPhone 14 Pro based on the scenario that they witness a friend's boyfriend cheating. Capture from the 'ETA' music video.

The history of collaboration between product advertisements and music videos is long. The start is often traced back to the 'Anymotion' music video, born out of a collaboration between Samsung Electronics and the top star of the time, Lee Hyori, in 2005. This video, which is still celebrated, perfectly blends the quality of a short film, a solid plot about a girl dreaming of becoming a singer, and a trendy song. Advertisements adopting the format of music videos continued to thrive. In 2015, the group iKON presented an advertisement in the form of a music video while serving as models for the outdoor brand NEPA. Last year, NewJeans also released a music video 'Zero' as models for Coca-Cola, and IVE unveiled 'I Want' as models for Pepsi. However, these were all separate productions of music and music videos for product promotion, thus limited by being 'content for advertising'.

Since last year, however, a new trend has been observed where artists present their official song's music video entirely as a product advertisement. In NewJeans' 'ETA' music video, scenes where members are shooting and making calls with the iPhone 14 Pro frequently appear. However, each scene reflects the lyrics of 'ETA', where they tell a friend about their friend's partner cheating on them. Scenes include discovering the friend's partner and photographing the scene, and calling and video calling the friend to explain the situation. The advertisement has become a device to maximize the direction, rather than a factor that harms the identity of the new song. Prior to NewJeans, rapper Jay Park also collaborated with Apple on his music video for 'All The Way Up' last August. This video, featuring vibrant illustrations, was largely created using an iPad and Apple Pencil.

▲ Music video of the song 'All The Way Up' released by rapper Jay Park last August. The vibrant illustrations designed using Apple devices are impressive. Capture from the 'All The Way Up' music video.

The current main consumers of cultural content, the 1020 generation, have been frequently exposed to blended advertising and content through YouTube compared to previous generations. Hence, it is projected that the creation of music videos incorporating advertisements will become more active. Jung Deok-Hyun, a pop culture critic, said, "In the past, when the realms of cultural content and advertisements were strictly separated, there was a strong perception that the essence of the content was damaged as soon as advertisements appeared in the content," and added, "In contrast, for the 1020 generation who are often exposed to a mix of paid advertisements, mid-roll advertisements, and content through YouTube, it is not difficult to enjoy such a mix." by Choi Eun-seo