Rookie girl group iii, launched by Big Ocean ENM, has just released the full MV for their pre-debut single, "Forbidden Midnight".
Made up of members Vivi, Nicole, Ahra, Yan, and Evie, the 5-member girl group is expected to officially debut in the first half of 2024.
Although Big Ocean ENM has yet to confirm or deny the suspicions, many speculated that the group was an AI group, ever since the group first began releasing teaser content for "Forbidden Midnight". Remaining ambiguous, the most that the company has disclosed so far is that it would launch iii "using its unique system" in 2024.
But now, with the release of the full "Forbidden Midnight" MV, netizens felt that the speculations have been more or less confirmed.
The MV soon quickly garnered attention among netizens, as some couldn't help but express that the music video was "scary" and "horrific". Some also observed that the use of "deep fake" to match real dancers with computer-generated faces was producing extremely "unnatural" results, while others still were disturbed by the "unblinking" members.
Comments included:
"This is so scary;; Is it me or do none of them blink the whole time??"
"Their eyes look so empty and lifeless... it's creeping me out..."
"Their pupil movements are so unnatural."
"In some scenes the lips are just floating..."
"You can tell that the faces are AI generated, but the fact that they're trying to promote this as if they're real people is kinda scary..."
"Wow they threw in like all of IVE and aespa and ended up with mediocre results."
"The eyes are so creepy."
"It's totally deep fake, the bodies are moving but the faces stay in the same place or lag behind."
"I'm sorry but this is just scary and disturbing."
"The teaser images weren't as bad, the video is horrible quality."
"It feels so weird to see traces of real celebrities we know in their faces..."
You can watch the MV for iii's "Forbidden Midnight" yourself, below.
it’s honestly so sad bc this is one of the girls who’s in the lineup .. like she’s so pretty but the company are editing her visuals into an ai character for publicity