Written by McCayla McClard
Korean Hip-hop and R&B new comer, SunBurnKids, made a memorable debut with their first album Elephant In The Room. The 19 year-old singer released a visually stunning, and vulnerable music video to accompany the 3rd track on the 11 song album, titled Red Cheek Boys.
The video begins with SunBurnKids masterfully painting in a studio surrounded by beautiful faceless ballerinas, while he uses his paint brush as a conductors baton while we hear an announcement that the story of the red cheek boy will begin now. We then meet 2 narrators, one of which tells us this is, “ In memory of a boy who didn’t realize his guilt while dancing with a girl in ballet,” while SunBurnKids skillfully continues conducting with the ballerinas in the background. The 2nd narrator then announces that this story is about a 12 year-old red cheeked boy and we’re then moved into a new scene with SunBurnKids playing piano in a jazz bar type scene with ballerina’s silhouette dancing in the back ground.
From the beginning of this music video you can tell the arts are deeply rooted in the story SunBurnKids is trying to portray. Even as the words begin to paint the picture, you’ve already gotten a sense, visually, how the story will go. Audibly, the lyrics tell the story of these, “red cheek boys.” From the start we are given a sense that these red cheek boys are trouble, lyrics insinuating that saying, “red cheek boys are always looking around for something. Like ‘what’s fun today?’” and hitting us with “I don’t want you hanging around them,” right as a off screen hand pulls SunBurnKids off screen and were thrown into a black and white world with a young boy being thrown to the ground.
This new world depicts a young boy being hassled by another group of young boys, some even younger than he is. While the music instrumentally keeps a funky fun tone the lyrics continues to unfold the story of these boys telling the young boy to cause trouble with them. Illuding to the peer pressure culture most kids endure growing up.
Were soon met with, what is assumed to be, the younger boy older and is SunBurnKids. The lyrics continue to let us in deeper on what being a, “red cheek boy,” is. The lyrics ask, “what are these children’s red cheeks saying? Is it something shameful, or is it just an anger,” leaving the audience to ponder what SunBurnKids is asking us. Could it be that red cheek boys is just another term to confide a class of people, of children, to a box based on how they look or are perceived by the public? May the question is just meant to get you thinking. Art is subjective after all.
The next section of the video SunBurnKids tells us how he’s done what he can to fulfill himself and what he wants, but he’s still scared of the judgement and threats from the red cheek boys. We are pushed back into the room with ballerinas as the beginning of the song rings again, repeating the sentiment that the red cheek boys are always looking for something. This reminds the audience about the narrators in the beginning telling us how this is in memory of that little boy dancing with ballerinas. The audience can safely assume the peer pressure the young boy fell into was the red cheek boys making fun of him and harassing him for dancing instead of running with them.
The rest of the music video offers similar visual aids to show the confusion and emotional vulnerability of SunBurnKids, who we can draw the conclusion is the young boy spoke about in the beginning. We see him looking through a box saying, “Don’t Look Inside,” showing him in the middle of the beautiful ballerinas, and visuals of him on set in a cool car only to melt upon “wrecking.” The ballerinas then turn into something of a nightmare, surrounding him on a singular mattress until he hits a rewind button in a panic, visually rewinding us to SunBurnKids hiding in a wardrobe while a grown man screams as a child’s bed.
The end of the music video is depicting with line art drawings. One in which a child is seen crying in their bed surrounded by ballerinas, a picture perfect family portrait hanging behind them, and the other family members soundly sleeping with a smile on their faces in another bed. Another shows the same child, with the same family portrait, and same ballerina’s but now in the kitchen and the child still crying. Next we see the child peering in to their, assumed, siblings room, while their sibling ins happily praying in their room the other child is crying on the other side of the door. Lastly, we see a portrait of the child’s crying face that then fades into SunBurnKids face, signaling the end of the video.
Red Cheek Boys visually and lyrically is a beautifully done piece of work. The lyrics depict a confusion, sadness, and anger a lot of kids and adults can relate to in regards to their upbringing. You can help but get a feeling of suppression throughout the music video because every time you think the young boy/SunBurnKids will finally get a chance to dance we’re sucked back into to the rough world of the red cheek boys.
We hope SunBurnKids continues to speak their truth and continues to produce works of art like this music video! For anyone who hasn’t given this artist a chance it’s time to!
