Drift happens. As a project matures, it tends to gather momentum and move in its own direction. Most of the time this is a good thing, as it’s difficult to visualize the fullest extent of a project before it’s underway.

Batfort has experienced drift. Mostly this is a good thing—there’s now less of me talking about politics, which I have no business talking about. But one of the things that has lagged over the past year is the focus on aesthetics.

I had originally envisioned Batfort with a “dark 80s” theme, kind of a neo-noir-Victorian aesthetic heavily influenced by Blade Runner and Awake in the Night Land. Something that would stand in heavy contrast to the bright color blocking and pastels that dominate the aesthetic scene right now.

As I got caught up in the day-to-day of blog posts and the excitement of analytics, I forgot about the aesthetic experience.

Until now.

For whatever reason I decided it was time to check out “Move” by Taemin.

Boy was that a mistake.

I slept on this release last year. For all I admire SM Entertainment, I haven’t checked out every single one of their groups. First on the list is SHINee—except I couldn’t bear to after Jonghyun killed himself last year.

But let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about “Move.”

1. This is the first k-pop song I’ve heard that’s actually sexy. The bassline is addictive. The distortion of the synths is the kind that makes me want to weave the sound into a magic carpet and float off into the night. Taemin’ voice is silky smooth. Of course, it could be…
2. The choreography. It’s perfect—for Taemin, for the song. Subtle and sensual. Normally the unfinished-ness and lack of energy through his arms of would bother me, but it’s such a part of Taemin’s style and it suits the song so well that I can deal with it.
3. The aesthetic of the music video is like…dystopian 80s-inflected perfection.
4. There are some k-pop singles that are so good that I wish an album had been written around them. “Move” is one of those. K-pop albums are mostly random grab bags with no cohesion. I feel like making this a single and not one in a series of related songs missed a chance to explore this musical idea and feeling to its fullest.

If Taemin and his A&R reps at SM Entertainment didn’t fully explore this idea, perhaps it’s up to me. Not that I’ll be making music videos anytime soon.

But I do want to be more deliberate about what I focus on in this blog, and Taemin has reminded me of the original intent. Well, and the pitchfork mob that is currently chasing after Brett Kavanaugh.

The future is coming, and it’s going to be dark.