Greatest Hits:: Cross Gene: Black Or White

 This is one of the many groups that debuted in 2012, which is why 2012 was called the year of boy groups. There were a lot that debuted and a lot that did really well. Some of them took longer than others, but generally speaking (and it's not just me with my love of 2012 groups), the 2012 boy groups were a good crop. And they are actually technically no longer on hiatus because they released a song back in June of this year (2026)! Yay! I'm fully aware that I'm projecting with the 2012 groups, but it brings me both relief and joy any time I see any of them doing a comeback. There's actually a cute anecdote about Yongseok seeing his leader at an airport in Japan, realizing it was Shin, and calling out to him. They had a meal together and Yongseok admitted he missed being in a group. Shin came around to the idea after a long letter that Yongseok sent him because he was the last one at the company and was still holding onto Cross Gene.

Cross Gene debuted as a six-member group under Amuse Korea Entertainment in 2012 and had the first fully Japanese K-Pop idol. They're currently a two-member group actively, though there could be a third one who just hasn't rejoined yet. For this particular song, there was a six-member line-up, but it was a different combination of members than at debut. This was also the year that Shin was in the drama Legend of the Blue Sea, which I've heard is really good but I haven't watched yet.

The album artwork for this mini album is gorgeous. I love that.

Anyway. Black Or White is the title track of their fourth mini album and was the final Korean activity for the six-member group. And the music video was rated R. If you saw my Halloween post for 2026, you'll already know why. There was only one writer for all parts of the song: Masked Rider (LABOUM, ONEUS, SF9, Red Queen).

• Group: Cross Gene
• Debut Date: 2012 June 08
• Company: Amuse Korea Entertainment
• Status: Active
• Album: Mirror
• Song: Black or White
• Release Date: 2017 June 11

Alright. This song is going to get some attention because while the music video is inherently rich and delicious in the story department, there's something even cooler about the song itself.

But in order to talk about this song, we have to talk about two of the other songs on the album: Black Mind and White Mind. 

I did spend a moment debating whether or not to give them their own distinct posts before I got this done, but while that would be the most organized, I don't want to make you read two whole posts to get to this one. I have, however, added both of them to my list of songs I want to do because it's actually necessary for this song. But you're going to be getting the short versions of those two posts.

Black Mind had Seyoung, Takuya, and Casper and it's loud, intense and thrumming. It's the intense dance track that flavors so many of the songs from the 2012 crop and spreads out to infect the years around it. We've got a strong skittering beat, a slightly haunting piano that is moving like its life depends on it, and an electric guitar that slams into the instrumental with all the force of a wrecking ball, with lyrics that are so harshly possessive and paranoid that what we're left with is a red flag the size of a national flag flying over an aircraft carrier. 

White Mind, by contrast, had the other three members: Shin, Sangmin, and Yongseok. It's easy to mistake the fluttery piano and soft brightness for something that pretends to be summery, but there's something just slightly off-kilter about the extra sounds going on that exposes the fact that this song goes "Such a red flag. Good thing my favorite color is red." 

Now, why did I give you a rundown on these songs? Because the title track is those two songs blended together. Literally the black, obsessive concept and the white, consumed concepts melded together and noticeably had the same chorus.

Do you have any idea how ballsy it is for a small company and a group that never got massive amounts of fame to roll out a mini album that decided to throw everything at the wall including the kitchen sink almost five years after the debut of said group? VIXX built their fame on being concept kings, so something like this would have been perfectly in their wheelhouse (and their songs already worked lyrically with telling the stories of what happens to all-consuming love), and EXO was part of a big company that could afford to take risks like debuting two groups telling parallel stories in their lore.

But can you imagine what the response to this song would have been if given to one of their fellow 2012 debuts that had the clout and weight to afford a concept like this?

And then we have the other risk. As with VOODOO DOLL, which famously had to have a separate music video and the choreography modified, a graphic music video like this is candy to a film analyst, but it also deals with some pretty heavy topics. Ignoring for a moment the fact that it's their clones killing them, if we go back to the idea of those two songs being blended together to create the title track, this becomes an incredibly heavy topic of love that has been twisted beyond recognition into both destruction and self-destruction. 

And from a songwriter who still doesn't have a lot of songs under his or her belt, let alone big name songs, that's even more impressive that this exists.

Also, this is a six-minute music video. Actual storytelling at its finest and with the room for an intermission of just video. That intermission involves beatings, stabbings, drownings, being buried alive. You know. Super light topics. But the point is that the song is long enough and the music video is long enough to be able to handle that intensity. And there isn't even any choreography breaks in the video for the viewer to get a mental break from all of that. The entire video is dedicated to the story. 

We have to give the members massive amounts of kudos for their acting chops here. This is as fine as any good horror movie. 

Evil Sangmin's smirk at 2:05 after he stands over the Good Sangmin in the coffin in particular is one of my favorite moments because it's incredibly believable. And the absolutely unhinged cackling that Evil Shin is doing at 2:08 when he's got Good Shin in the sink is also incredible. Spine-chilling, but incredible. And the look of almost "Huh, that was easier than I expected" from Evil Takuya after he stabs Good Takuya at 1:28? Almost scarier than the others. The fact that most of the members have transitioned to acting of some sort is one of the least surprising things about any K-Pop group because their ability to play one character terrified for their lives (for excellent reason) and one character so self-satisfied by that terror and pain should have been award-winning. 

But, of course, it was hidden behind the R rating. I'm not saying the music video doesn't deserve it, because it's incredibly violent, but it's just a shame that they probably couldn't get the recognition for it.

There's also the metaphor of depression and self-harm here, which is so thinly veiled that it's gossamer thin, and there's a reason why the joke about this song is "Why is it called 'Black or White' when there's so much red?".

But the thing that prevents this music video from just being heavy and dark comes at the bridge at 4:09. Suddenly, after all that darkness, everything is white. And I mean, everything. Walls. Ceilings. Chandelier. Moulding. Clothing. Statue and plinth. Floor. The floor is a check pattern, but the contrast color is a light gray, or a dark white if you want to think of it that way. The only things that aren't white are their hair and their shoes. Then, after the bridge where white takes over after black did, the Good Clones come back to life starting with Takuya in the hospital. None of them are in a good state afterwards, but they're alive and that's the point. They survived.

Which kind of ended up being a metaphor for Cross Gene as a whole, especially since we may see one or more of the others rejoin eventually.

And I'd like to point out that on the music video, there are comments from all sorts of fandoms showing support. ELF (Super Junior), VIP (BIGBANG), Army (BTS), EXO.L (EXO), Once (TWICE), Tinkerbell (KNK), Baby (B.A.P), Monbebe (Monsta X), Starlight (VIXX), Buddy (GFRIEND), BLINK (BLACKPINK). We've got some younger fandoms in there (Tinkerbell, Monbebe, Buddy, BLINK, and TWICE), then we've got the fandoms that are the CandY's contemporaries (Army and three different 2012 debuts: EXO.L, Baby, and Starlight), and then two fandoms for groups that were the absolute dominant forces in 2017: ELF and VIP. One of the comments was "Before my group has their comeback, I want to support these guys to try to get them their first win", which is so wholesome, and it's exactly what the bigger fandoms should be doing for the smaller ones. Good music is just good music, regardless of the artist.

Considering things, this song is rich in content for y'all. 

And I'm starting off with Music Bank as per usual, even though we don't get the names of who is singing when in this video and then part of the lyrics is omitted in favor of showing who was on the charts that week (which if you want to pause and take a look at them, those are some heavy hitting names).

Also, the comments are largely taken over by the fans and viewers laughing at the title of the video. And now that you've gone back to it to check it out because you also didn't notice, the absolute funniest part of that fail is that their name is spelled correctly on the LED screen behind them at 2:09. And at :28. And at :51. And several other places. Even if I wanted to give KBS the benefit of the doubt for the last two, it's so clear and obvious at 2:09.

Stan Cross Jean, everyone. 

At least it's been apparently edited since then to be "Cross Gean." Which is technically closer, I suppose. But that doesn't save the English subtitles at the very end when "Gene" is very obvious behind them at 3:18.

...

And now that we're all done laughing.

I decided to go with this one first anyway despite the lack of naming at each part and the interrupted lyrics because I love the costuming here. We have three members in black (in order of appearance: Seyoung, Takuya, and Casper) and three members in white (in order of appearance: Yongseok, Sangmin, and Shin). Those combinations of names should be familiar because that's how the members got separated for Black Mind and White Mind. Also, they look kind of swanky, and I love Casper getting to show off his biceps. That sleeveless button-up he's got going on with the gold birds and gold detailing on the collar is so very nice. I'm slightly confused about why the backup dancers were also in black, but at least they're in masks so it's easier to tell. 

And at :36, we have rapper boy Casper singing along. I know rappers usually get the hand mics anyway, but it's good to know he's got one for another, more adorable reason.

One of them caught my attention because of the neck tension while I was looking for good, clear places where their group name was on obvious display behind them. And then I kept getting distracted looking for that member again.

The thing is that you can't always trust the audio for live vocals because of the existence of the very dishonest AR live backing, or because the broadcasters will give a different audio when the video is uploaded. But throat movements and tensions can't be faked like that, especially for men with their Adam's apples. So while it does sound like most of this song is performed with live vocals, you can't always trust the ears.

Some things working in favor of "mostly live vocals" here though. First, you can hear the screaming from the fans under the vocals in places such as at 1:45, and it doesn't sound unbalanced, uninterrupted, or unlikely. That's a reasonable sound.

Second, we've got multiple members with the neck evidence. 3:05 Yongseok has some nice tendon tension while his head and body are both still, which implies that his neck muscles are being used. There are actually several moments where he specifically looks and sounds like he's live. Seyoung at 1:24 has the throat movements we look for. Takuya at 1:29 has very obvious Adam's apple movements even though his isn't very pronounced.

And then we've got a couple of moments where the balance among the members is off, like at :53, the vocals there stand out because they don't sound like the normal sound at equilibrium for the stage.

Well. This has different sounds with the vocals. I like this. This was on Simply K-Pop, which normally is one of the ones that I assume is going to be more lipsynced. But that growl at 2:10 from Shin, I think, stands out a lot and is not the normal sound. And Yongseok's "I will never let you go" at :56 has that slightly rough live quality to it, as well as his own growl at 1:05. I can't verify with the throats because those are either high collars or turtlenecks, but that is unusual. And you can hear the fanchant at 2:29, which is good. It's not very loud, but they probably don't have microphones pointed at them. The mics are probably live if they're picking up the fanchant.

They're all in black this time around, with the black subunit having gold designs on their jackets and the white subunit having red designs. It does not make them quite as easy to differentiate, but we like that they have different outfits all the same.

Also, I'd just like to point out the spot at 1:28 when Seyoung advances on Shin, while Shin gives him a "come at me bro" gesture is superb.

The camerawork on this Inkigayo stage starts off fiercely and dramatically and it remains like that throughout the song. At 2:30, when they stop, the camera shakes like they did it, and that is excellent work on the part of the cameraman.

The fans start off screaming very loudly. 

And Takuya stares down the camera like he's gone Evil Clone Takuya at :26. And Sangmin's moment at 1:51, when his smile drops after his line, is wonderfully jarring. If the song had a different concept, that would just be bad jarring, but because the concept is the way it is, it works so well.

Sangmin, however, is adorable at 2:38, because that is very much not his part and once again, we have a rapper singing along with the vocalists, which he's allowed to do because he's got a hand mic. He's glaring and intense, but the effect is a little bit spoiled by how cute that is. Not that he's the only rapper to be singing along, because Casper is doing it too at 3:07.

Casper also has a bit of the crazy eyes during his part at 2:55, which fits a little bit considering which of the two subunits he's in for this song. 

Our white subunit is in golds and browns for their coats while the black subunit gets black and white for their coats. We've gotten some very gorgeous costumes for the stages. I've very much been appreciating it, as well as the fact that they've been consistently split into those subunits for the costuming. 

And of course, we have an almost ending fairy due to the choreography for Takuya and Shin. It's actually really fitting because Takuya (in the possessive, obsessive black subunit) grabs Shin first and wraps an arm around his shoulder and neck as though to hold him in place, while Shin (in the consumed, desperate white subunit) puts his hand on Takuya's wrist to make sure he can't leave him either.

What a metaphor. Perfect.

A couple of months later, they had a concert, and we're getting some very distinct puffs and air pops on some consonants. We don't have any radio performances that I could find, but if there was going to be a time when they sang this live, it would be at their own concert. And you can also hear some soft pants at the very end once the music cuts. 

The YouTube channel uploaded it after most of the members had left the company and in the period of time where they sort of disbanded quietly for the various reasons, but that's more attention than a lot of groups get, especially the boy groups once they end up on military hiatus and members start leaving.

But! This is still a really cool performance.

Now, as promised, we've got the dance version of the music video, and, like with VOODOO DOLL, this is the censored version. It's still very violent, don't get me wrong, but this is technically slightly less violent and the choreography does break it up a little bit. But how the video intersperses the original storyline with the choreography is really cool without hiding the point of the song. I do have to say that my favorite part here is probably 2:00 where both versions of Casper are rapping together. That's cool.

And if you remember from my Savage post, I adore it when groups do part changes. Cross Gene did, which brings me so much joy, I can't quite express it.

Casper got Sangmin's part. Seyoung got Shin's part. Takuya got Yongseok's part. Shin got Casper's part. Yongseok got Takuya's part. Sangmin got Seyoung's part.

The giggling and confusion is the best part. They're accidentally smacking each other in the head. They're tripping over each other's feet. They're arguing with each other in the middle.

What I learned from this is if you want to know the choreography of any of the members, you'll want to ask Takuya. And Shin does not seem to know Casper's part other than dabbing his way through it. Casper, on the other hand, was quite adorably lost. Casper and Wow would get along. And Yongseok had to literally be on tiptoes to have his arm around Seyoung at the end there. 

But there is someone who is just giggling all the way through with one of the most distinct, high-pitched giggles I've heard out of a boy group. Every five or so seconds, he is just giggling. Based on one of the comments, the giggler is Yongseok.

And also, the actual choreography video is down in the bottom right, so you can compare right there how horribly and wonderfully almost everyone is messing up.

The original dance practice is not currently available on the official website, so we have to go with a CandY who preserved the original dance practice. We should all say thank you because they also did a mirrored version so you could learn the choreography if you wanted to.

I love how the choreography spends so much time with the members in their subunits here. It's one of the highlights of the song, really. Also, while there are a lot of intricately moving parts, it doesn't have choreography that would make live vocals ridiculously difficult. 

Which means that this song is ripe for a fifth gen boy group to show off live vocals. I'd love to see what a group like 82MAJOR or RIIZE or Vayonn or TWS or Waker could do with this. The funny thing is that, yes, you could do this song with fewer or more members, but you'd have to keep it with an even number. It would be cool to see one of them do it as a cover during a fanmeeting or a fan concert.

Thanks for reading everyone! If the music video was too intense for you, that's fine. I hope you took care of yourself. This is a wonderfully thematic and intense song, so I can understand why someone may not have been able to handle it, especially the music video. But the stages should have been fine, theoretically. This song has so many cool parts that I just wish it could get attention, you know? Maybe give the song the experience of getting a resurgence as has been happening lately with older groups and songs. 

If you've got a song you'd like me to cover, I'm leaving a couple of spots for my December planning in case someone else would like to submit something. I can always fill them in myself because there are thousands of songs out there, but I'd like for y'all to give me something. Please drop a comment if you've got one for me or you can fill out The Form if you'd like it completely anonymous.

Peace out, Champions! I'll see you next time!

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