On January 23, IU returned with “Love Wins All” starring V. The MV attracted widespread attention as netizens praised the chemistry between the two stars.
However, besides many compliments for IU and V's new song, there are also many controversial topics surrounding it. Typically, recently, a HYBE stylist raised criticism related to the story built by IU in the new MV.
After this famous stylist's opinions were shared, it sparked a huge controversy and had many notable details:
Recently, IU released her most anticipated song earlier this year "Love wins all". Because this is the first time fans have seen V and IU co-star, they have high expectations for the MV. Not to disappoint fans, the two delivered attractive and emotional scenes. While netizens loved the sci-fi love story presented in the MV, some looked further and criticized the concept of the music video.
Nara Kim is a model, stylist and artist who describes herself as “bis3xual openly que3r” who highlighted the issue she saw after watching the MV. For those fans who don't know, Nara Kim is a famous stylist with the brand Styled by Cheri Nara. She has styled many K-Pop artists over the years. In particular, she is the main stylist of LE SSERAFIM since 2022.
After “Love Wins All” was released, Nara shared a post with a hashtag related to the music video and confirmed that she was mentioning it in a story. The stylist affirmed that she did not want to "be distorted as a normal, non-disabled person". She wrote: "I don’t want to be distorted as a straight and non-disabled person with normalcy through the camera. I’m satisfied with myself. #lovewins #lovewinsall".
She was referring to the magic camera in the “Love Wins All” MV that allowed IU and V to see themselves without injury, including the fact that V was blind and IU was said to be deaf. Nara expanded on her point in a side story, mentioning that the original title was “Love Wins,” a phrase used by the LGBTQIA+ community, which was later changed. She said that the video depicts two characters with disabilities who appear happier without them, and that if the title had remained the same would have represented a heteroѕєχual relationship in the phrase.
She continued: "The reason why I mentioned this is that The song was initially titled “Love Wins.” кσяєαn queers, who thought queer’s slogan had been stolen, were furious. There is still controversy after the title of the song was changed and the music video was released. The two main charactersIU and V) in the music video appear as blind and deaf people who are chased by “discrimination and oppression”. Different situation from reality shows through camcorder (it means love filter, the director says) and the two appear to be happier (without disability)in this."
She continues, saying that she feels the music video used disabilities and minorities as props in a story about overcoming adversity while having two rich, non-disabled celebrities play these roles. Nara finishes by saying that the world is what needs to be overcome and asks that minorities stop being used as inspirational material.
She ended: "I mean, a music video featuring two rich, non-disabled world stars (known as cisgender hetero) uses disabilities, minorities as props to say about overcoming, ending up with a very normal ending of wearing a wedding dress and a tuxedo. What needs to be overcome is the world, not disability or minorities. Stop the shallow compαѕѕion and using minorities as inspirational material."
Nara’s viewpoint comes from the ableist concept of “inspiration p*rn.” Inspiration p*rn (also called inspiration exploitation) usually features a disabled individual overcoming or accomplishing soмєтнing and can first appear harmless and uplifting. However, this type of content can perpetuate the idea that disabled people are weak and unable to help themselves. Abled people will often use this type of content to boost themselves and monetize content using disabled people without any further advocating.
Nara's opinion quickly received much agreement:
But besides that, there are some points that even Nara and many people do not understand exactly about IU, V or the story being conveyed. Fans quickly made arguments to defend IU, V and the new song. They said that IU was diagnosed with Patulous Eustachian Tube Dyfunction, a disorder of hearing ability. Meanwhile, people also pointed out that the stylist had misunderstood the story presented in the song because originally IU and V were not people with disabilities. They were injured by the cube and what they see through the camera could be their life before "cube apocalypse" appeared.
Fans gave the opposite opinion:
- Another individual thinking everything is about them. Its Sci-Fi. Calm down
- She didn't do the bare minimum research before launching into an αѕѕumption that other ppl with disabilities may or may not agree with. IU has herself struggled with hearing impairment.
- She needs to sit down. It was about two people fιgнтing to stay alive in a dy1ng world and never leaving each other’s side till the end.
- It's a sci-fi story girl chill it's not that deep.
- No problem with the message of the song, it reached millions of hearts and minds in a very touching way. The problem lies in the hidden purposes of people who claim criticism without a logical basis
- Using her logic, movies & drama also shouldn’t be telling stories about disabilities. IU changed the title to respect queer’s slogan so both IU/V didn’t represent queer in the MV. It’s sci-fi MV theme, just like movie.
- Nobody cares about her opinion. The storyline was beautiful. She’s the only one making it negative
- She is reaching, and hybe needs to get rid of her. Also I hope she knows she’s not only h^rting IU but V as well.I’m a minority, disabled and part of the LGBTQIA+ and I don’t see any problems stop trying to create drama.
