Korean Band Jannabi Drives Down Memory Lane with Hyundai Motor in ‘pony’ Music Video

Meghan Mahar
·3 min read

Korean band Jannabi’s lead vocalist Junghoon Choi developed a love for music at a young age and his life has never been the same.

His mother fostered this interest, setting him down his path to becoming an influential singer-songwriter. “I look back fondly on the times I spent with my mom in her car growing up,” Choi said. “Memories of watching her drive while listening to her favorite mix CD from the backseat, a scent from a quince permeating throughout the car… I always wanted to translate those seminal experiences into a song.” It felt like fate to the frontman when Hyundai Motor tapped the band to be its ambassador for the global Hyundai Heritage project, culminating in the music video for “pony.”

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The eponymous car has been chosen as the first subject of Hyundai Motor’s global Heritage project, which seeks to reinvigorate Hyundai Motor’s singular brand heritage and leverage its legacy in innovating a new path forward for humanity. Similarly, Jannabi has forged their career path by drawing inspiration from their heritage and the past.

Since debuting in 2012, the band has come to be known for its nostalgic sounds, blending elements from psychedelic rock, pop, classical music and gayo (Korean popular music). This soundscape, paired with poetic lyrics that tug on the edge of one’s memories, resonates with both older generations who grew up listening to that style of music and younger generations with an affinity for everything analog.

“pony” is as much an homage to Hyundai Motor’s beginning as it is to Choi’s history; inspired by Choi’s story, the music video incorporates important motifs, such as a mix CD, CD player and quince.

In the music video, Choi, wanting to escape from the present, takes a drive down memory lane. As he travels back in time using the IONIQ 5, it transforms into a silver Pony, Hyundai’s first original model that eventually gave birth to the carmaker’s innovative EV. As his mother’s memories of her first car flash before him, Choi realizes that his favorite playlist songs originate from his mom’s past, connecting the dots between their shared heritage and passion.

Just as a shared love for music brought Choi and his mother together, Pony serves as a common thread extending throughout the Hyundai Motor’s lineup, as visualized through IONIQ 5’s transformation into a Pony. As Korea’s first mass-produced and exported model, Pony, introduced in 1976, ushered in an era of “My Car” for post-war Korea, while leaving a defining mark in the Korean and global auto industry. Its innovative spirit and bold attitude have since spurred the birth of IONIQ 5 and N Vision 74, both of which embody Hyundai Motor’s vision for future mobility and iconic design vernacular.

Using Pony as a launching pad, Hyundai Motor plans to continue sharing the brand vision and heritage through various initiatives and collaborations.

“It’s been nearly 50 years since the launch of Pony, yet it still continues to influence our brand DNA to this day,” said Sungwon Jee, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Hyundai Motor Company. “We see heritage as a great vector to showcase how our past still influences what we do today and what we project to do in the future.”

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