Yeonjun's 'Ice Cream' video turns a situationship into melting and brain freeze

K-pop videos live on choreography and charisma; Partizan director Erik He wanted a composed, elevated visual approach for Yeonjun's 'Ice Cream' without sacrificing either.

A situationship — closeness without commitment — told through ice cream's two sensations: melting and brain freeze, sweetness that carries pain.

The film alternates precise, static compositions with handheld, chaotic moments, with the concept of brain freeze inspiring the slow motion. Set pieces like cascading water steps and a series of different rooms were designed to reflect the track's playful, addictive rhythm, choreographed by Shay Latukolan.

Partizan director Erik He's film for Yeonjun's 'Ice Cream' is built around the idea of a situationship — a relationship that exists in the space between friendship and love. Two people are drawn to each other, yet neither their feelings nor their commitment are clearly defined; they constantly move closer and further apart, never fully arriving at a conclusion.

That emotional tension is expressed through the contrasting sensations of melting and brain freeze, using ice cream as the central metaphor. 'The idea of brain freeze became the conceptual foundation for the film, inspiring both the use of slow motion and the concept that something sweet can still carry a sense of pain,' Erik said. That tension shaped the visual language throughout, moving between precise, static compositions and more handheld, chaotic moments.

'I wanted to embrace more composed, elevated imagery without sacrificing the energy of the choreography or Yeonjun's natural charisma,' he said of the K-pop brief. Set pieces like the cascading water steps and the different rooms were designed to reflect the track's playful, addictive rhythm, with Simon Bendroft as director of photography and Shay Latukolan as choreographer.

The metaphor is load-bearing: melting versus brain freeze gives an undefined relationship a physical form the camera can shoot.

It solves K-pop's central visual tension — elevated imagery versus choreography energy — by alternating static and handheld grammar instead of choosing one.

Brain freeze justifies the slow motion narratively, so the film's most stylized device is also its story.

Take the title literally, then push: one food's physical sensations — hot and cold, sweet and painful — can carry an entire emotional arc.