9. “Not Today”
With “Not Today”, BTS was really starting to up their music video game. Like their songs “No More Dream” and “N.O”, it has a more anti-establishment message, which is only intesified by the music video. This one is not simple and emotional like “Young Forever.” The boys are back dancing and pumped up, ready to fight!
The music video opens in an empty parking garage — because all of their videos are in big, abandoned spaces — with RM walking alone before stopping in the middle of a group of what looks like ninjas. In the blink of an eye, all the boys are dancing with the ninjas in a big choreographed number.
In the next scene, they’re dancing in front of a beautiful panoramic shot of a pink sunset and they break out some of their trademark hard-hitting moves to the thumping beat of the song. Adding the big group of backup dancers/ninjas makes the whole thing even more grand.
For the last scene, they take the choreo up another level as they dance on what looks like a frozen lake in front of a beautiful vista as the sun is going down. The music video ends with the band being chased by their ninja backup dancers through a snowy landscape.
“Not Today” showed a return to form for BTS, and it also demonstrated how their production values were getting better and better the more successful they get, with no amateur effects here. Those stunning landscapes were perfect for the concept of this video, whether they were fake or not!