Yellow Ribbon become Hope
Although the clues were placed right in front of our eyes, many K-netizens have only just placed the pieces together, realizing the special reason why Block B‘s Zico has been making his songs 4 minutes and 16 seconds long.
On February 22nd, a popular online community page on an SNS outlet uploaded a post titled, “Do you know why Zico’s songs are always 4 minutes and 16 seconds long?” with several screen captures of tweets made by Block B’s Zico.
Two of the three tweets made by the artist were regarding his two solo tracks “Tough Cookie” and “Well Done,” and the third tweet was a short message remembering the Sewol Ferry tragedy that occurred in April 2014.
The first tweet, which was posted on November 3, 2014, reads, “The completed version of ‘Tough Cookie’ has a running time of 4 minutes and 16 seconds,” as seen below.
Many netizens just speculated that the artist was teasing his fans with the length of the song to build more anticipation. Others even thought that it was because many would say a 4:16 long track would be considered a fairly long song.
However, in the following month on December 31st, Zico tweeted a photo of a yellow ribbon, the official support campaign symbol for the Sewol tragedy, with a caption that read, “Even if sewol(time) passes, let us not forget that one Sewol. Don’t forget, never forget. 4.16.”
By this second tweet, many fans were still unaware of the connection between the length of the song and the date of the Sewol Ferry accident. Many netizens figured that Zico was only looking back and remembering the most heartbreaking incident of 2014 since he posted this tweet on the last day of the year.
The third and most recent Twitter update by the idol star was a message regarding the length of his newest single, which reads, “My new single ‘Well Done’ has a running time of 4 minutes and 16 seconds,” an uncanny resemblance to the first tweet.
By now fans have realized that there was a special meaning behind the 4:16 running time and researched a connection to the Sewol Ferry tragedy, in which they found out that one of the female victims (name left anonymous; surname Yoo) from the incident was a strong fan of Block B.
According to an interview back in May 2014 with the father of the 17 year old victim from Danwon High School, Yoo was an avid fan of Block B and was also an active member and administrator of the group’s fan club.
Yoo’s father stated in the interview, “She was really looking forward to attending Block B’s concert after coming back home from the high school science [Sewol Ferry] trip because we promised to let her go as a birthday gift…”
Mr. Yoo further commented that the news of his daughter’s passing during the tragedy was somehow reported to the Block B members. He then stated that his daughter’s favorite member, speculated to be Zico, paid a visit on the day of Yoo’s funeral with a handwritten letter to her.
“He [Zico] stayed for about an hour and a half. He and I talked and cried together for the whole time before he left. He said that he lost a very valuable and precious fan and shed a lot of tears… he cried a lot,” said Mr. Yoo.
Yoo’s father also told the interviewer that when Block B’s concert was postponed due to the tragedy and was rescheduled for several weeks later, he and his wife were invited to attend the concert as special guests. Yoo’s father and mother attended the concert with a framed photo of their daughter in their arms and enjoyed the show.
“My daughter was able to watch her favorite oppas at the concert she’s been dying to go to,” stated Mr. Yoo, “By the end of the concert, in the photo we had of our daughter, she looked like she was smiling.”
Upon hearing this heartbreaking, yet passionate story, many netizens have begun praising Zico for his hardworking efforts in trying to remember his most important fans and all the victims of the tragic Sewol Ferry incident by leaving comments such as, “Zico is so cool!” “This makes me like him so much more!” and “What a top class citizen… he should be proud of what he’s done. This makes his songs a lot more meaningful.”
A few other fans even posted several accounts that they experienced at the said concert, saying, “I went to that concert and Zico even called out into the audience saying, ‘Are you watching, Yoo (name ommited)? Are you enjoying the show? I hope this next song will be able to reach out to you…’ It was so sweet!”
