JUST B Gets Red-Pilled in Debut Video “DAMAGE”
On June 30, 2021, JUST B entered the game with their debut song "DAMAGE." BLUEDOT Entertainment's second boy group, consisting of Geonu, Bain, Lim Jimin, JM, DY, and Sangwoo, hails from Under Nineteen and I-LAND, and their EP Just Burn lends to their competitive atmosphere.
With a total of five tracks, JUST B gets a solid start to their career with a series of powerful jams. The intro track "Get Away" starts low before hitting us with the guitar action, accompanied by Lim Jimin's deep-voiced chants, and it sets a tone for the songs to follow. Just Burn carries its theme of active rebellion and "you can't tell me what to do" attitude all the way through to the end.
“DAMAGE”
The title track has lyrics that complement the music video's narrative pretty directly, as a song about breaking past your limits to throw yourself into the world despite the darkness within it. The video brings us back to the style of sci-fi concept seen in BTS's “N.O” and Stray Kids's “District 9,” where the group plays the part of pacified young people trapped in a perpetual single-file line in matching uniforms.
The music video is essentially a montage of their daily lives, waking up at the same time, sitting in class, exercising—all under surveillance. The sci-fi element is turned up just a little louder by the presence of literal red and blue pills for the boys to take each day. The turning point is when one day member Geonu drops his blue pill—representing complacency and willingness to stay in comfortable ignorance in the context of The Matrix (1999)—down a drain by accident, so only the red pill—which will offer a life-changing, often unsettling, truth—is taken.
Naturally, he begins actively observing his surroundings and notices that what they're experiencing isn't real life but just a meaningless routine, so he convinces the others to get rid of their own blue pills before they escape the building together. Once they're outside, they exchange nervous glances because while that wasn't what they wanted, they don't know what to expect from the real world either—but fear of the unknown won't stop them.
I'll admit that even with an unbiased perspective that a debut video typically offers, I generally don't expect debut songs to bang too hard, as nobody hits their stride on their first try, right? Of course, these laws don't apply to the K-Pop industry, and JUST B put me in my place real fast. "DAMAGE," produced by B.A.P's Bang Yongguk, is layered with hard bass and heavy synth building into a flashy electronic chorus that pumps up the listener—I say this as a person who added it to my gym playlist during my first listen.