The Many Sides of MINNIE

HER is an impressively enigmatic series of re-introductions.

The “Commentary Film” that introduces MINNIE’s HER era starts with the following narration:

“This is the portrait of MINNIE. This may be a dream or reality. Believe in what you see. She never paints dreams or nightmares. She paints her own reality. Do you wanna know who she really is? This is everything about her.”

The voiceover continues to describe MINNIE as she poses in various outfits with different props. At different times, she sits behind a picture frame that surrounds her face, stands on a literal pedestal, and sits in front of a massive picture of a platinum-blonde version of herself.

The voyeuristic-seeming situations go from involving a monologue to a dialogue, once MINNIE starts to answer the narrator’s questions, thereby indicating her awareness of being made into a spectacle. While she remains a willing participant in that spectacle, she also protects her privacy, sticking to superficial and evasive answers. “Can you move?,” he asks. “I’m alive,” she responds. Another answer in the form of a non-answer: “Are you obsessed?,” he asks, to which she responds, “I think… I love her.” “Are you lazy?,” he asks, to which she responds, “No, I’m just perfect.” He concludes the Q&A by saying, “I like her,” and MINNIE says, “Me too.” With this back-and-forth, the narrator goes from sounding like a museum tour guide, someone very knowledgeable about what he is showing viewers, to a credulous reporter, wondering if he has been narrating the life of a literal doll or an autonomous being! MINNIE goes from fully playing the role of the exhibit to moving and speaking of her own accord.

They both reference a third character who remains unseen: “her.” MINNIE’s answers are in the first person, but her comment in response to “I like her” (emphasis added) is “Me too;” there is implied agreement that the two are discussing a third person who is not present. “Her” might refer to the platinum-blonde MINNIE on the poster. Whether or not that is the case, the point is that there are multiple MINNIEs in this story. Even if MINNIE were to be completely transparent and thorough in her answers to the identity-based questions, she would still leave a lot unanswered; telling the full story of one MINNIE does not tell the full story of every MINNIE! No matter what, MINNIE, “Her,” and their relationship remain undefined.

The text on the screen towards the end sums it up: “I am my own muse.” MINNIE is both artist and subject, painter and prop. Taking on contrasting roles simultaneously is what this era is all about, which twists every string of continuity into another knot.

“Blind Eyes Red”

The “Blind Eyes Red” music video stars the platinum-blonde MINNIE from the “Commentary Film” poster. Much like that introduction to one of the MINNIEs, this one evokes more questions than clarity. Her lyrics position herself as both the one in charge and the object of fixation: “I’m your masterpiece” (emphasis added). She tells “you” how you should feel: ashamed for leaving her cold and alone (“You got me cold in my apartment”) and regretful about ending your relationship with her (“You want somebody who can touch you like I did”).

The point she is making seems less certain due to the song’s and video’s combining of disparate figures of speech: seeing red and seeing blind. “Seeing blind” implies MINNIE has not been seeing what is in front of her, while “seeing red” implies she is seeing it in enough detail to be filled with anger over it. Then again, projecting anger onto something can distort an accurate vision of it. Just like the many MINNIEs of this era, the metaphors can be seen as complementary just as easily as they can be seen as contradictory.

The video mixes “seeing red” and “seeing blind” symbolism repeatedly. A wall forms the shape of an eye with a red pupil; bursts of red fill the screen periodically, as if eye socket veins are exploding; and after staring into a pair of glowing eyes, MINNIE’s surroundings turn red.

It is possible that one MINNIE sees blind while another one sees red. After all, the last word of each sentence in the chorus gets carried away with a wave of autotune, as if a different voice entirely is finishing MINNIE’s thoughts for her. “I seem to forget where I am,” she says, which would make it unsurprising if she also said “I seem to forget who I am.” Indicating that one of the reasons the audience cannot be sure who “her” refers to is because MINNIE herself doesn’t even know! “Her” identity crisis is collectively experienced.

Just before the ending credits roll, it looks like red paint is pouring on top of MINNIE. This simultaneously reiterates MINNIE’s “true color” and anonymizes her identity more. The longer audiences watch MINNIE, the less they really know about her.

“HER”

The audience meets more MINNIEs in the “HER” music video, and their appearances and personalities vary widely.

A sharply-dressed MINNIE with short, dark hair walks into a mansion, sees two other MINNIEs in a heated fight, and sighs as if to say, “Here we go again! I’ve seen this all before!”

A MINNIE with long, dark hair plays the part of a resentful babysitter, having to clean up the messes of an immature MINNIE who prances around in a light pink dress and curly updo. This serious MINNIE has to clean the bedroom that this silly MINNIE makes a mess of while playing dress-up. The serious MINNIE then has the unenviable task of drawing the silly MINNIE’s picture, while the silly MINNIE refuses to sit still!

Meanwhile, a MINNIE with a long ponytail fires shots inside the mansion. A curly-haired MINNIE, but one with no updo and a purple dress, falls over and poses, as if the fall was intentional. However, it is reasonable to interpret the fall as not a clumsy accident, but the result of being shot by the armed MINNIE.

For those keeping track, there are at least half a dozen MINNIEs in “HER”!

The lyrics leave “Which one is the real MINNIE?” an open question. She asks, “Who shot ya?” and says “I shot ya;” she says, “I’m her” and “You can’t believe her,” the latter comment implying the “her” is someone else, since she would say “You can’t believe me” if referencing herself; and she acknowledges how different people have different characterizations of “her,” depending on which version(s) they have met:

“You think I’m acting like a movie / But I’m just living my real life… They call me by my name on news feeds… I don’t rock with all those daydreams / It’s about time, new reality to make real.”

She lets people believe that she is genuine and that she is just playing a role. Her tone stays playful, and she seems to get a kick out of teasing the audience and keeping them confused! Yet at the same time, the video’s more aggressive moments add a sense of deadly seriousness. The confluence of contrasts in the “HER” video keeps the story as complex as ever.

“Obsession” and “Cherry Sky”

The “Obsession” music video parallels the “Blind Eyes Red” one in notable ways. Both involve a lot of posing and lying on the ground while MINNIE addresses “you,” but in “Blind Eyes Red,” platinum-blonde MINNIE is dressed up for a glam date night, the kind of night spent trying to make an ex jealous and regretful! In “Obsession,” dark-haired MINNIE wears casual clothes and sings about being “obsessed with you,” rather than insisting “you” are obsessed with her. A key commonality, though, is the use of the color red, which pops up in the second half of “Obsession.”

Identity-wise, the “Cherry Sky” performance video presents MINNIE as someone in the middle of “Blind Eyes Red” MINNIE and “Obsession” MINNIE. MINNIE has long, dark hair like in “Obsession,” but her sensual lyrics and demeanor are in the style of the MINNIE in “Blind Eyes Red.” She is also back to emphasizing the second person, with lyrics like “It’s your fantasy” and “you’re caught up in the moment” (emphases added). Further representing multiple MINNIEs: the pink hues that bathe the scenes. Focusing on the color pink over red strikes a purposeful middle ground.

The Rest of HER

The songs on HER that do not have corresponding videos are more meaningful when considering them in the context of the songs that do. The assertive B-side “Drive U Crazy” warns MINNIE’s crush to strap in for a wild romantic ride; the ballad “Valentine’s Dream” references how things feel like just that, a dream; and the relatively calm “It’s Okay” laments lonely days before ending with the line “I’ll get used to it.” There is a focus on “you” in “Drive U Crazy,” on “us” in “Valentine’s Dream,” and on herself in “It’s Okay.” A different MINNIE stars in each song: a MINNIE in a dream, a MINNIE in “the real world” who wants to add adventure and excitement to her daily life, and a MINNIE in “the real world” who is content with keeping daily life mundane. Singles and B-sides alike constantly shift narrators and focuses, presenting MINNIE’s multitudes in ways that keep the true definition of “HER” evasive.

Conclusion

To say that the HER era is multidimensional is an understatement. A layered story that conflates as much as it contrasts, it unfolds through vocal changes, song lyrics, visuals, and subject-orientation shifts (constantly changing among first-person, second-person, and third-person forms). By design, every time a viewer and/or listener gains a sense of certainty in how to describe MINNIE, new reasons to doubt that description appear. The slippery story makes for fascinating social commentary on the nature of identity: who shapes it, who defines it, how malleable it is, and how many simultaneous forms it can take.

Regardless of what people expected from MINNIE’s first major solo era, she has smartly subverted those expectations, bringing the audience along for a ride that is as convoluted as it is clever and compelling!

Read more about the best releases of January here and deep-dive essays about (G)I-DLE’s discography here!