Jeonghan X Joshua (SEVENTEEN) ‘12 o’Clock’ MV Review: A Dream or Reality?

Jeonghan X Joshua (SEVENTEEN) ‘12 o’Clock’ MV Review: The 12 o’Clock track is the kind of track that lets you be comfortable in the dream wth the music video continuing to move, changing its surroundings and making you question whether it is all a fantasy or something that can actually be held on to.

The official MV for Jeonghan X Joshua’s track is a dreamy, slightly surreal visual experience that plays around with the difference between daylight and darkness and how you perceive it. While the song has an upbeat, almost infectious quality attached to it, the visuals have a little extra going on beyond simply giving us pretty shots of the duo. There is a sense of restlessness throughout the video, almost as if standing still or being still for long would mean losing whatever they want to have.

Jeonghan X Joshua (SEVENTEEN) ‘12 o’Clock’ MV Review: MV Keeps Moving Between Dreams and Reality

The first thing that stands out for me about the 12 o’clock MV is its dreamlike setting. The spaces feel deliberately taken apart from ordinary life, with the changing light and scenery making it rather difficult to settle into one reality.

Daylight and darkness seem to exist in conversation with each other, creating a visual distinction between the world we actually recognise and the one we ourselves build in our heads where nobody has access but us. I like the possibility that the daylight scenes represent the reality that we have to actually deal with, while the darker sequences might perhaps belong to our dreams, fantasies and the things we want badly enough to keep imagining in loops.

The dreams do not politely wait for the sun to go down, of course, but there is something about the contrast that makes the reading itself work. Daylight feels more exposed, while the darkness leaves room for uncertainty, and the things can be whatever you want them to be (until reality decides something). The MV does not really seem interested in keeping the two spaces in complete separation. There is a constant movement between them, making the distinction feel less stable. The MV does not simply show two people existing in a dreamscape; it shows them moving through it, as if they are trying to figure out where the dream ends.

The Contrasting Spaces

Another interesting aspect of the MV is the contrast between the spaces it uses. The expansive, seemingly endless landscape brings a certain air to the visuals. There is room to move, to look around and imagine that the person and the moment being looked for would be found somewhere beyond the frame, because it is expansive. The spaces feel “liberating” and are not crowded with multiple things demanding your attention.

Then there is an entirely different visual setup with metallic textures, spirals and the snake-like movements of the train. The atmosphere changes quietly but noticeably. Instead of the expansive landscape, there is a more complicated visual quality to these elements. Reflections multiply, while spirals and winding movements take us around rather than to a clear destination. Honestly, this is where I started thinking about how the spaces could represent different states of mind because we tend to imagine chasing a dream as an exciting, almost uncomplicated experience, except that, somewhere along the way, the wanting itself can become exhausting.

You start thinking about it constantly, imagining different outcomes, questioning the decisions and keeping the possibilities alive until it is rather inconvenient. The mirrored imagery could be read as a visual extension of that experience. I would not necessarily take each visual element as a fixed metaphor, but the combination of these visuals makes the interpretation interesting. The train is an interesting part of this reading, as the snake-like movement introduces a winding quality to the journey, one that feels less like a straightforward route and more like being pulled through a series of turns.

The Song Has the Upbeat Quality

The track has an upbeat, catchy quality that works wonderfully with the constant movement of the MV. The visuals do not remain static for long enough to depict the dreaminess as calm or sleepy, and the music gives the whole experience the momentum it requires.

There appears to be a contradiction: the song makes you want to move along with it, while the visuals make you wonder whether the movement is actually taking the characters somewhere. It is the difference between enjoying the chase and stopping for a second to ask yourself why. The pacing also makes the dream-reality interpretation feel more natural.

Rather than treating the two as separate sections, the video keeps shifting between different moods and spaces.

The Dreamscape Feels Worth Staying In

Jeonghan and Joshua are indeed central to the MV’s appeal. Their presence fits the surreal visual style, and the dreamscape gives them a setting that feels different from just a performance video.

The changing environments also keep the visual experience engaging, allowing the two to exist within the concept rather than only performing against a beautiful background. The MV leaves room for interpretation without making the video feel like an internal assessment assignment. You can enjoy the visuals for what they are. Get caught up in the song, and spend a little longer thinking about the relationship between the open landscapes and the contrasting imagery.

Final Verdict

Jeonghan X Joshua’s ‘12 o’Clock’ MV brings together dreamy landscapes, contrasting light and darkness, surreal imagery and an upbeat track to create a visual experience that is both catchy and open to interpretation. For me, the strongest element is the way it keeps moving between the spaces: from the expansive spaces to the ones that feel more crowded, reflective.

The idea of chasing something until you can no longer tell whether you are pursuing a real possibility or the version of it that exists in your head makes the visuals particularly interesting while clearly putting that the person is “so in love”. The comfort is in watching different elements come together and wondering what else might actually be hiding. For a video built around the uncertainty of dreams and reality, 12 o’clock does not have to actually give us an answer. It just has to make the journey interesting enough for us to keep watching, and well… it does!

What is your favourite aspect of ‘12 o’Clock’ MV? Tell us in the comments.

Watch Jeonghan X Joshua (SEVENTEEN) ’12 o’clock’ Official MV on YouTube.

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