I think "For Life" is one of EXO's more confusing MVs, as far as the storyline. However, one theory is that the girl is helping EXO escape the Red Force's control. In the first scene you see Kai as he exits a building and gets into his car to leave. It is thought that the building might be the bar where we see the members in their "Sing For You" MV. As he walks out of the building, they focus on the “You Were Here” neon sign. So the sign is supposed to be foreshadowing how EXO was once there, but they have now left. As we see at the end of the MV, Kai also chooses to leave. To understand the role of the girl and the bracelet in the story you really have to pay attention to every detail of the MV. When the girl hands Kai the bracelet it's almost as if he is confused like he is not sure who the girl is, but he feels like he should know her. He looks at the bracelet as if he is trying to remember something. We then see him close his eyes as if he is searching his memories. If you notice, the jewel on the bracelet is made of amber, and as one of the main themes within EXO's story, it is speculated that the girl in EXO's songs and MVs is supposed to be a manifestation of the heart of the Tree of Life, so the fact that the bracelet is adorned with amber -- which is a mineral that comes from the sap of a tree -- it is thought to be a nod to the fact that she represents the Tree of Life, or is at least leaving them with a clue to help them in their search for the Tree of Life, etc. It is also thought that the bracelet can absorb and reflect the moon's light, and the moon is what gives EXO their powers. So even in the dark, as long as they have the bracelet, they will still be able to access the power of the moon. Next, the MV transitions to Suho, who wakes up in a forest. Some say the forest in "For Life" is the same forest we see Suho in in his "Call Me Baby" Pathcode teaser where he is searching for something and can't seem to find it. When Suho wakes up we see him holding the same bracelet that was given to Kai, right as he catches sight of the girl running away. He chases after her, but he is unable to catch her. At the end of his search we see he ends up in a white room as he stares at his reflection in the mirror. However, you have to pay really close attention, because as the scene starts to transition from the forest to the room with the mirrors -- if you look closely at the background in the scene where we see him running in the forest -- it no longer looks like he is in the forest, but instead the forest is an image being projected on a white video screen behind him. Some say the "movie screen" is the same screen we see Chen standing in front of in their "Lucky One" MV, which may indicate that EXO are still trapped by the Red Force and everything that is happening in "For Life" is a dream. Then we see Suho walking down a hallway, which ends up leading into the room with the mirrors. It is thought that if EXO are still stuck in the maze like we see in "Overdose" and "Lucky One," then Suho is just entering another chamber or room in the Red Force's trap. Once Suho enters the room with the mirrors, we see him looking at his reflection and the bracelet almost as if he is trying to remembers something as well. Some say because they have been trapped in the maze for so long, they are starting to forget what they are doing there and what their mission on Earth is supposed to be, so the spirit of the Tree of Life -- which manifests as the girl in the MV -- is coming to each of the members to help remind them that they need to come to their senses and fight back and try to escape. And then you see Chanyeol now has the bracelet, and he is staring at it as if he is also trying to remember something. He then catches a glimpse of the girl and he follows her, where he seems to end up in another room in the maze. Here he is the first one to catch up to the girl and actually interact with her. As we see him standing in front of the girl, it seems as though he now realizes who she is and that she needs to pass on the message to Kai. So Chanyeol puts the bracelet on her wrist in an unspoken request for her to deliver this message to Kai. All along it has been thought that maybe some, or all, of the members are stuck in different dimensions or time periods -- which we have seen references to in some of their other MVs, such as "Tempo" and "Love Shot," etc. -- so it is thought that the reason why the girl needs to be the one to deliver the message is because Chanyeol is stuck in a different time period or location than Kai. Also something to note, the rooms that Suho and Chanyeol are trapped in look very similar to the rooms they are trapped in in the beginning of "Overdose," however, in "Overdose" the maze looks dark because all the members are still in a memory fog caused by the Red Force. But in "For Life" the rooms are white because EXO are starting to break free and come out of that fog like we see them doing in their "Lucky One" MV, which also takes place in a white room. After delivering her message to Suho and Chanyeol the girl -- or spirit of the Tree of Life -- wakes up now in Kai's time period or relm, and sees the bracelet on her wrist which reminds her that she needs to hurry and find Kai and deliver the message. However, we discover that the girl is also trapped in her own maze or time loop, so she tries to retrace her steps from her dream to try and find Kai. She first goes to the room with the lights, but instead of the lights turning on like they did when Chanyeol completed his part of the mission, the lights turned off when she entered the room as if to say this is not the right time or location. So she moves on to the next place. You see her now frantically running through the room with the video screen searching for a way out of the maze. Eventually you see the girl end up back in the same location where the MV started, where the dream world now becomes reality, with her handing the bracelet to Kai as he prepares to leave. You see her complete her mission as Kai escapes the Red Forces' grasp and heads off to try and find the other members. And the "You Were Here" sign turns off as if to say that this time and place has now ceased to exist like waking up from a dream, as the members have now broken free from the Red Forces' control. Kai means opening as in a door or gateway, so his stage name is meant to symbolize that he is the one who connects all the members together and it's his job, with the power of teleportation, to travel all over the world, and between time periods and dimensions, to find and bring the members back together, so they can complete their quest to reunite the two halves of the Tree of Life in order to restore peace. Another thing to pay attention to is the use of red and blue light. As with everything EXO does, red represents the Red Force and blue is thought to represent EXO. So when you see the red light this is where the Red Force is thought to have control and when you see blue, this is thought to be where EXO has started to break free and they are in control. When you see purple -- red and blue mixed together make purple -- or both red and blue together in the same scene, this is often where the lines are blurred and the Red Force and EXO are fighting for control or battling each other for power. There is actually a lot more connections you can make from this MV storyline to EXO's other MVs, but that would take more time and space than one comment would allow, so I will leave you to continue discovering more connections on your own. :D In the MV for "For Life" you only see Kai, Suho and Chanyeol, but you hear all the members singing in the song. I'm not really sure why SM only chose to include 3 of the members in the MV, but there are theories about that as part of EXO's storyline. There is also a Mandarin version with a similar MV and an all English version of "For Life" sung by D.O. with a live concert performance. However, the Mandarin lyrics are slightly different than the Korean and English lyrics, so you should look up all the versions to see and hear the differences. :D
Wow I’m surprised you haven’t heard this one yet lol!! But this song is very special to me. Two years ago, I got to see my sister walk down the aisle to this song❤ happy to say that EXO was a part of her special day!
Kim Sungu (Director of EXO's drama For Life MV & Bad Procureur - d.o.'s drama) was asked why only KAI, SUHO, and CHANYEOL in the For Life MV and he said: "Because all the members' schedules wasn't not available, at first only Suho was about to shoot the MV so we showed the scenario with only one man lead, but then Chanyeol said he wanted to do it too so they did the scenario again with 2 main leads this time and showed them that, and then Kai said he wanted to do it too, in the end it turned into an MV with a performance by 3 members". He was asked by the publisher of Bad Procureur's next screenplay book
You can see all the boys in the live stage. Also, don't miss D.O.'s English version (Ft. Chanyeol). Thanks for the reaction. Always love to hear this song!
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this song. As far as I remember you reacted to Xiaojun’s cover of DO’s English version of “For life”. But yeah, I’m enjoying this song every time I listen to it as if it’s for the first time ❤
Oh man, I'm here for every exo reaction and especially this song even though I'm a bit surprised u didn't hear it before. I certainly love chanyeol singing in this one. I do vively recommend the English version that DO sang. U can thank me later.
Actually, I'm not sure if its the producer or the director who said this but last week (??) he revealed that the reason why KAI, SUHO and CHANYEOL are the only one you see in mv (i mean like tells the story of it) bcs OTHER members have super busy schedules that time and SUHO are the only available so they shoot the mv with him but CHANYEOL wants to be in mv also so they re-take/shoot it with the two and lastly, KAI also wants to be in the mv that's why they re-shoot the MV 3X with kai and the other two members.
In my view, the girl is the representation of EXO-L. So, in that way, in the begging (And here comes the 'You were here' light, saying EXO-L where for them since the very beginning) is like in EXO's debut, EXO-L showed and gaved our boys all their love (the bracelet), but Kai looks confused because it was a new experience (to receive all that love). Then, maybe Suho wokes up confused because all the difficulties that they've been through, but he see EXO-L's love and, even confused, he just kept going on and trying to follow EXO-L. Also, in the Chanyeol' scene, he just entered to a dark place (maybe representing again all the difficult moments EXO've been through), but immediately, a lot of lights turned on and them seems to be like lightsticks in a concert so Chanyeol felt all the love EXO-L 's gave to them in those hard times and, because oh that, he wanted to show us (EXO-L) his love (again, the bracelet) for being there always for them. After that, when the girl woke up, she noticed that she wasn't only giving love to all the members but she also was receiving so much love all that time, but the sad thing is that we all know that someday they're gonna stop singing as a group and, in that moment, they may think that we're gonna forget them, but that's not true and she noticed all that when she wokes up, that's why she start looking for them to tell each one that her love (bracelet) is gonna be with them forever, even if they're not here as EXO. So she gives Kai her love (EXO-L's love) in the end of the road, when everything seemed to be ended, and that's why Kai was again moved, for realising thay our love for them will be for life, even when they're not here anymore (Here comes the 'You where here' fluorescent light again, but now with a different meaning). I think is so beautiful, but this is only my perspective of the MV. (Sorry if I wrote something wrong, I'm just learning English 😢) ❤️
I hope you can watch Jackson Wang's new music video if you have time!《Come Alive》，This is definitely an unprecedented work of his, and it can be called a work of art! Looking forward to your reaction to this short music video!
I think "For Life" is one of EXO's more confusing MVs, as far as the storyline. However, one theory is that the girl is helping EXO escape the Red Force's control. In the first scene you see Kai as he exits a building and gets into his car to leave. It is thought that the building might be the bar where we see the members in their "Sing For You" MV. As he walks out of the building, they focus on the “You Were Here” neon sign. So the sign is supposed to be foreshadowing how EXO was once there, but they have now left. As we see at the end of the MV, Kai also chooses to leave.
To understand the role of the girl and the bracelet in the story you really have to pay attention to every detail of the MV. When the girl hands Kai the bracelet it's almost as if he is confused like he is not sure who the girl is, but he feels like he should know her. He looks at the bracelet as if he is trying to remember something. We then see him close his eyes as if he is searching his memories.
If you notice, the jewel on the bracelet is made of amber, and as one of the main themes within EXO's story, it is speculated that the girl in EXO's songs and MVs is supposed to be a manifestation of the heart of the Tree of Life, so the fact that the bracelet is adorned with amber -- which is a mineral that comes from the sap of a tree -- it is thought to be a nod to the fact that she represents the Tree of Life, or is at least leaving them with a clue to help them in their search for the Tree of Life, etc. It is also thought that the bracelet can absorb and reflect the moon's light, and the moon is what gives EXO their powers. So even in the dark, as long as they have the bracelet, they will still be able to access the power of the moon.
Next, the MV transitions to Suho, who wakes up in a forest. Some say the forest in "For Life" is the same forest we see Suho in in his "Call Me Baby" Pathcode teaser where he is searching for something and can't seem to find it.
When Suho wakes up we see him holding the same bracelet that was given to Kai, right as he catches sight of the girl running away. He chases after her, but he is unable to catch her. At the end of his search we see he ends up in a white room as he stares at his reflection in the mirror.
However, you have to pay really close attention, because as the scene starts to transition from the forest to the room with the mirrors -- if you look closely at the background in the scene where we see him running in the forest -- it no longer looks like he is in the forest, but instead the forest is an image being projected on a white video screen behind him. Some say the "movie screen" is the same screen we see Chen standing in front of in their "Lucky One" MV, which may indicate that EXO are still trapped by the Red Force and everything that is happening in "For Life" is a dream.
Then we see Suho walking down a hallway, which ends up leading into the room with the mirrors. It is thought that if EXO are still stuck in the maze like we see in "Overdose" and "Lucky One," then Suho is just entering another chamber or room in the Red Force's trap. Once Suho enters the room with the mirrors, we see him looking at his reflection and the bracelet almost as if he is trying to remembers something as well.
Some say because they have been trapped in the maze for so long, they are starting to forget what they are doing there and what their mission on Earth is supposed to be, so the spirit of the Tree of Life -- which manifests as the girl in the MV -- is coming to each of the members to help remind them that they need to come to their senses and fight back and try to escape.
And then you see Chanyeol now has the bracelet, and he is staring at it as if he is also trying to remember something. He then catches a glimpse of the girl and he follows her, where he seems to end up in another room in the maze. Here he is the first one to catch up to the girl and actually interact with her. As we see him standing in front of the girl, it seems as though he now realizes who she is and that she needs to pass on the message to Kai. So Chanyeol puts the bracelet on her wrist in an unspoken request for her to deliver this message to Kai.
All along it has been thought that maybe some, or all, of the members are stuck in different dimensions or time periods -- which we have seen references to in some of their other MVs, such as "Tempo" and "Love Shot," etc. -- so it is thought that the reason why the girl needs to be the one to deliver the message is because Chanyeol is stuck in a different time period or location than Kai.
Also something to note, the rooms that Suho and Chanyeol are trapped in look very similar to the rooms they are trapped in in the beginning of "Overdose," however, in "Overdose" the maze looks dark because all the members are still in a memory fog caused by the Red Force. But in "For Life" the rooms are white because EXO are starting to break free and come out of that fog like we see them doing in their "Lucky One" MV, which also takes place in a white room.
After delivering her message to Suho and Chanyeol the girl -- or spirit of the Tree of Life -- wakes up now in Kai's time period or relm, and sees the bracelet on her wrist which reminds her that she needs to hurry and find Kai and deliver the message.
However, we discover that the girl is also trapped in her own maze or time loop, so she tries to retrace her steps from her dream to try and find Kai. She first goes to the room with the lights, but instead of the lights turning on like they did when Chanyeol completed his part of the mission, the lights turned off when she entered the room as if to say this is not the right time or location. So she moves on to the next place. You see her now frantically running through the room with the video screen searching for a way out of the maze.
Eventually you see the girl end up back in the same location where the MV started, where the dream world now becomes reality, with her handing the bracelet to Kai as he prepares to leave. You see her complete her mission as Kai escapes the Red Forces' grasp and heads off to try and find the other members. And the "You Were Here" sign turns off as if to say that this time and place has now ceased to exist like waking up from a dream, as the members have now broken free from the Red Forces' control.
Kai means opening as in a door or gateway, so his stage name is meant to symbolize that he is the one who connects all the members together and it's his job, with the power of teleportation, to travel all over the world, and between time periods and dimensions, to find and bring the members back together, so they can complete their quest to reunite the two halves of the Tree of Life in order to restore peace.
Another thing to pay attention to is the use of red and blue light. As with everything EXO does, red represents the Red Force and blue is thought to represent EXO. So when you see the red light this is where the Red Force is thought to have control and when you see blue, this is thought to be where EXO has started to break free and they are in control. When you see purple -- red and blue mixed together make purple -- or both red and blue together in the same scene, this is often where the lines are blurred and the Red Force and EXO are fighting for control or battling each other for power.
There is actually a lot more connections you can make from this MV storyline to EXO's other MVs, but that would take more time and space than one comment would allow, so I will leave you to continue discovering more connections on your own. :D
In the MV for "For Life" you only see Kai, Suho and Chanyeol, but you hear all the members singing in the song. I'm not really sure why SM only chose to include 3 of the members in the MV, but there are theories about that as part of EXO's storyline.
There is also a Mandarin version with a similar MV and an all English version of "For Life" sung by D.O. with a live concert performance. However, the Mandarin lyrics are slightly different than the Korean and English lyrics, so you should look up all the versions to see and hear the differences. :D
Dear Milinda, Thank you for this. Very interesting reading :)
This song is so beautiful. And D.O did a solo stage for one of their tours of an English version. Stunning, magnificent, marvelous, wonderful
Wow I’m surprised you haven’t heard this one yet lol!! But this song is very special to me. Two years ago, I got to see my sister walk down the aisle to this song❤ happy to say that EXO was a part of her special day!
me too 😂
Kim Sungu (Director of EXO's drama For Life MV & Bad Procureur - d.o.'s drama) was asked why only KAI, SUHO, and CHANYEOL in the For Life MV and he said: "Because all the members' schedules wasn't not available, at first only Suho was about to shoot the MV so we showed the scenario with only one man lead, but then Chanyeol said he wanted to do it too so they did the scenario again with 2 main leads this time and showed them that, and then Kai said he wanted to do it too, in the end it turned into an MV with a performance by 3 members". He was asked by the publisher of Bad Procureur's next screenplay book
You can see all the boys in the live stage. Also, don't miss D.O.'s English version (Ft. Chanyeol).
Thanks for the reaction. Always love to hear this song!
First!!! Love it whenever you react to EXO :)
You really need to see shinee-1000 years always by your side
It's japanese, and winter, and soooo beautiful❤
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this song. As far as I remember you reacted to Xiaojun’s cover of DO’s English version of “For life”.
But yeah, I’m enjoying this song every time I listen to it as if it’s for the first time ❤
Please!!! Exo's winter albums are THE BEST.. not only my opinion... it is the best thing ever...
OMG EXO FINALLY
Love seeing EXO reactions cause they are so amazing group
I'm so freaking excited
Thank you soo much❤
EXO FOREVER❤❤
Yesss I miss exo reactions
EXO winter albums >>>>>
Oh man, I'm here for every exo reaction and especially this song even though I'm a bit surprised u didn't hear it before. I certainly love chanyeol singing in this one. I do vively recommend the English version that DO sang. U can thank me later.
🥹❤
Oh wow you took me back to the golden times ♡
Thank you for your reaction
EXO FOREVER
This was deep in EXO lore so you don't need to understand the plot of the MV uwu
Yay! Love your reactions to this!
EXO for life indeed! ♡♡♡
Please do reactions to The First Snow, and Miracles in December.
Actually, I'm not sure if its the producer or the director who said this but last week (??) he revealed that the reason why KAI, SUHO and CHANYEOL are the only one you see in mv (i mean like tells the story of it) bcs OTHER members have super busy schedules that time and SUHO are the only available so they shoot the mv with him but CHANYEOL wants to be in mv also so they re-take/shoot it with the two and lastly, KAI also wants to be in the mv that's why they re-shoot the MV 3X with kai and the other two members.
Its been awhile so see your reaction to EXO
In my view, the girl is the representation of EXO-L. So, in that way, in the begging (And here comes the 'You were here' light, saying EXO-L where for them since the very beginning) is like in EXO's debut, EXO-L showed and gaved our boys all their love (the bracelet), but Kai looks confused because it was a new experience (to receive all that love). Then, maybe Suho wokes up confused because all the difficulties that they've been through, but he see EXO-L's love and, even confused, he just kept going on and trying to follow EXO-L. Also, in the Chanyeol' scene, he just entered to a dark place (maybe representing again all the difficult moments EXO've been through), but immediately, a lot of lights turned on and them seems to be like lightsticks in a concert so Chanyeol felt all the love EXO-L 's gave to them in those hard times and, because oh that, he wanted to show us (EXO-L) his love (again, the bracelet) for being there always for them.
After that, when the girl woke up, she noticed that she wasn't only giving love to all the members but she also was receiving so much love all that time, but the sad thing is that we all know that someday they're gonna stop singing as a group and, in that moment, they may think that we're gonna forget them, but that's not true and she noticed all that when she wokes up, that's why she start looking for them to tell each one that her love (bracelet) is gonna be with them forever, even if they're not here as EXO. So she gives Kai her love (EXO-L's love) in the end of the road, when everything seemed to be ended, and that's why Kai was again moved, for realising thay our love for them will be for life, even when they're not here anymore (Here comes the 'You where here' fluorescent light again, but now with a different meaning).
I think is so beautiful, but this is only my perspective of the MV. (Sorry if I wrote something wrong, I'm just learning English 😢) ❤️
React to EXO Cloud9 live stage too please
I hope you can watch Jackson Wang's new music video if you have time!《Come Alive》，This is definitely an unprecedented work of his, and it can be called a work of art! Looking forward to your reaction to this short music video!
She probably liked Chanyeol
You've never heard this song?! It was Graham and I's first dance song
LOL actually you HAVE heard the song before. You reacted to Xiaojun's cover of it last year.
You need to hear the English version and d.o sing it all alone aand it was so beautiful ❤❤❤
Pls react to 👑Jackson Wang's newly released mv COME ALIVE, it is insanely artistic and cinematic! 💯🔥