Is the Left and Right music video with BTS’ Jungkook about a gay relationship? Charlie Puth responds – AsiaOne
Fans have been envisioning a relationship between their favourite stars since time immemorial, and here’s a completely unexpected OTP (one true pairing) to add to that list: Charlie Puth and Jungkook from BTS.
Or, more accurately, their personas from the new single Left and Right.
The single marks their second collaboration — the first was when BTS took the stage with Charlie during the Genie Music Awards in 2018.
The video shows two men — played by Charlie and Jungkook — in therapy trying to escape the memories of their partner which are “stuck up in my head”.
Throughout the song, the only two people — apart from the therapist — featured in the music video are Charlie and Jungkook’s characters and at one point, they are in the same therapist’s office singing to each other.
That scene didn’t escape perceptive fans who also pointed out that it curiously resembled a couple’s therapy session.
And if you’re shipping them in the music video, then you might be pleased to know that Charlie has seemingly hinted at a relationship between the characters.
On July 4, the 30-year-old shared a YouTube comment on his Instagram Story and a part of it read: “Since no one else is pictured [in the video] besides the two, the assumption is that the two guys are occupying each other’s minds”.
Charlie has also not shied away from his admiration of Jungkook, previously telling iHeartRadio‘s Z100 New York that the BTS maknae (youngest member) “immediately came to mind” when it came to doing a collab.
He also admitted that “Jungkook is a very attractive human”.
he said what pic.twitter.com/2NNsDFeZwl
— lau (@jksjugs) June 24, 2022
Fans were particularly excited that the collaboration came out in June, which is known to be Pride Month.
One fan was grateful that the video did not come off as fetishising gay people.
im obsessed with charlie puth and jungkook being gay in that music video. like yes! that was not gay fetishization at all. thank you. just men singing about missing each other and showing up everywhere in their daily lives as a vivid memory. that was actually good? thank you
— M ❖ (@byulyisupremacy) July 3, 2022
The highly anticipated single dropped on June 24 and topped the iTunes Top Songs in 93 countries and regions by the next day, according to Naver. The music video also racked up more than 10 million views just slightly more than 12 hours after its release.
With Left and Right, Jungkook also became the fastest Asian soloist to hit 20 million streams on Spotify, setting a new record on the music streaming platform.
The previous record was held by Japanese musician Joji, who took five days to garner the same number of streams. However, Jungkook only took four.
As of July 5, just a little more than a week after its release, the song has also been streamed over 50 million times.
drimac@asiaone.com