#xlov meta

[longhairedwumuti]

everybody wake up new lore dropped!!! but actually though, this is from the director's insta, and it validates so much of what we saw in the video, which really speaks to the clearness of their storytelling! and that poem OOOOH i wanna print it and hang it on the wall.

what i wanna talk about tho is the gods of beauty, imagination, reason, and life. i think rui is beauty, haru is imagination, hyun is reason (the sword), and wumuti is life. i could flip haru and rui--the field of stars at the beginning of the second verse could represent endless choice, and the eyes could be like. the eye of the beholder, beauty as tied to perception, or they could be 'windows to the soul'/looking out, representing Imagination--as well as the multiple shots of haru looking up (looking to the impossible). and that shot near the end of rui tenderly fixing han sohee's hair points to Beauty.

I'm partial to haru being imagination, because haru and hyun are playing chess at the beginning and haru is the one to push the pawn to the end of the board--imagination and reason playing chess? imagination being the thing that brings han sohee to the end of the world in the first place!

also, the sorrow of the fading self! the destruction inherent in transformation and the necessity to keep moving forward regardless! the way that Reason, in my mind, holds that sorrow and that necessity--the one that holds the sword, the one that gives us the tools to carve the new self, to bring about the new future. and hyun as reason, giving han sohee that sword.

also, wumuti as LIFE augh i just! i love it so much life as the one to first pick the pawn up off the floor in the first place. life not necessarily as a player of chess, but as one who sees the entire board. life as the one to cradle and bless that transformation as it occurs, and even as the pawn goes on, life keeps the heart of the pawn. and it's not sinister, but it's not innocent either--it's a reminder that all of these things--the sorrow, the pain, the transformation, the imagination, the moving forward--are held in the arms of life. that we have to serve Life, not death. that we have to keep moving forward. that all of these things, the good and the bad, are essential to our journey to becoming ourselves.

[hyperfixon]

Been wondering what makes XLOV stand out to me, what makes them feel like home, apart from my being queer and loving the representation. There's something more that draws me. I realised that it's because XLOV as a group was formed out of love and trust, not convenience. Wumuti picked the members, his closest friends. That's intentionality. He promised Rui that he'd make him shine, and kept his promise. That's loyalty.

In an industry where groups are treated like products, tailored to trends and controlled by companies, XLOV stand out. Wumuti didn’t just recruit members, he called in people he believed in, and it shows in the way they treat each other.

I've been here long enough to know groups that clearly didn’t like each other, where members were abusive (cough n.ssign cough), groups where members have outright said that they wouldn't be friends outside of the group due to personality differences (my beloved E'LAST), and I've also seen groups like Stray Kids where they were deliberately chosen, and Seventeen where they deliberately chose to stay together. There's a visible difference in the dynamics, the chemistry, the amount of respect, even through all the media training and idol polish.

You can see this in XLOV, in the way that Rui gets technical parts in his choreography. Yes, it supports their genderless concept, but it's not necessary to highlight his skill. They do it anyway, because they want to show what makes him shine. Haru's dance break in 1&Only, and the fact that they followed his suggestion for the skirt choreography in BIZNESS? That's creative respect. And the way they praise Hyun's skin tone even though it’s outside of Korea's beauty standards? You get the point.

TLDR: XLOV are a family and I love them.

[longhairedwumuti]

just love the rich web of interpretations around the line 'i'm riding on the wall of prejudice'--

'riding on the wall of prejudice', the original lyrics, brings to mind riding a wave or a bull--a constant balancing act (wumuti's balancing act on the podium coming to mind)--you have to stay up there, you can't come down or rest or stop performing or there are consequences

'i'm writing on the wall'--graffiti, making a mark, speaking/writing your true identity (tying into 'paint the color you need')

'i'm (the) writing on the wall of prejudice'--writing on the wall as a sign of doom for those who see it, xlov as the harbingers of doom for prejudice and gender conformity ('ate the town and burned it')

the school setting of the mv also brings to mind pink floyd's 'another brick in the wall'--the wall as a cage, the wall as a balance beam, 'just another brick in the wall'--the wall being made of the conformists with the blurred faces in the mv, but xlov aren't the bricks, they're the writing on the wall