Music video: Inflation and oil prices are through the roof, but Key still got that “Gasoline”

Key has always been one of the more interesting members of SHINee to me. Aside from Jonghyun, he was the one member who very early on seemed to have a clear sense of who they were and how they wanted to present themselves. Even through all of the crazy and questionable styling choices we’ve seen SHINee go through, there was always a constant when it came to Key. And yet, musically, he just doesn’t seem to have a style or point of view at all. And now 4 years on from Key’s debut solo album, we get the follow-up Gasoline, led by the song of the same title, and I STILL don’t really know who Key is musically. And this unfortunately carries through into the music video. Whilst Key’s fashion sense is most certainly the centrepiece of this video, the video as a whole doesn’t really give Key a point of view in any sense.

The video for “Gasoline” looks great. But it’s pretty much just moments from Kai’s “Mmmh”, and both versions of BoA’s “Better” smashed together; so very little of it felt *Looks into the camera* UNIQUE. It’s a reminder that SM Entertainment are primarily in the business of selling their brand through their artists, not the other way around. So of course SM are going to use things from other videos they’ve produced, because it helps them establish a visual identity.

But the visual identity for Key with his Gasoline album is a bit of a problem for me, because there’s no through-line with any of the creative direction. The music video and performances for “Gasoline” say one thing, but his album cover (and a very cool album cover it is) says another, with the music then saying something else. I feel like based on the album cover, the music video for “Gasoline” shoulda been in the vein of SHINee’s “Married to the Music”. It’s strange to me. Even by K-pop standards where teasers for songs and albums have one aesthetic, and then the actual song and album itself has another. Key even acknowledges that the look for the song “Gasoline” and the performances is completely different from that of the album, but...that’s it. Nothing is made of it.

But my most present thought the whole time I watching Key’s video for “Gasoline” was ‘I wish Jo Kwon was still in the K-pop game’, because this type of song and music video is something I could see him doing. I think it’s great that there’s always been a level of fluidity when it comes to how men in K-pop look. But it should never be viewed as acceptance or a co-opting of queerness in K-pop. As highly entertaining as it was to watch Jo Kwon dance to Wonder Girls, Sistar and Brown Eyed Girls, it was always played up as him being a clown. And even he knew that variety shows were the only spaces he could really show this side of himself, because he would never be able to fully channel his inner poussé as a pop star and maintain a career doing so. Sure, he got to pop on a heel for “Animal”, but that was just one song, for which there was no music video, and it was one of the last promoted solo songs we heard from him. Fans had long suspected that there was a likelihood that Jo Kwoncé Seouls-Carter was...*Limps wrist* Ya know; which could have played a part as to why Jo Kwon chose to step out of the idol limelight and not return to it. Sure, there’s Holland - an out and proud K-pop star. But he’s not signed to any of the big three (SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment), and he’s not getting the exposure that big K-pop stars and idols generally get. And then he also got punched in the face by a homophobe a few months ago, so there’s that.

HENNYWAY.

I feel that SM are using this solo release from Key to provide something for SHINee fans whilst Taemin is carrying out his mandatory military service. And it’s unfortunate that the SM A&R team aren’t even trying to build a sound for Key. Because if they tried to convey his sense of fashion and his personality through music, it could be something cooler than what we’re getting. But we know SM be having their favourites within groups. And that when it comes to SHINee, all the chips are on Taemin.

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