‘High Alone’ MV Review: Jackson Wang’s Single Is A Drowning Reality That Hits A Little Too Close To Home

There are some songs I listen to and vibe to, humming along without a second thought. And then there are songs that make me go numb because they understand me in a way no person ever has. Jackson Wang’s ‘High Alone’ belongs to the latter—it doesn’t just play in the background while I go about my day; it creeps into my soul, sits beside me, and whispers, “I see you.”

Watching the video for the first time, I could feel my heart pounding and my eyes welling up with tears. Watching it again the second time only intensified those emotions. The music video starts with Jackson sitting alone in a dark, bare room with nothing but a mirror, a television, a cigarette, and an ashtray for company. As he lights up his cigarette, a knock on the door brings in a ray of light and a VCR. As Jackson plays the tape, we are transported to a hallway where his alter ego, Magic Man, enters.

Magic Man calmly walks onto the stage with his hands behind his back, but the mirror reveals the reality—his hands are bound, and he is being pushed onto the stage by two men, presumably figures of power. While Jackson’s eyes seem to be screaming for help, Magic Man looks confident, or at least, he pretends to be. With that confidence, Magic Man walks into the water tank, handcuffed, to the applause of the audience. But the people behind the scenes, pulling his strings—both literal and figurative—seem to find an eerie pleasure in his bondage and subsequent confinement.

As the audience watches Magic Man unshackles himself, but there’s something sinister going on behind the scenes. Suddenly, he is locked inside the water tank with no way out. As Magic Man struggles to free himself, the audience continues to applaud. Meanwhile, Jackson stands in front of a mirror, wanting to cry but unable to. The scene switches between Jackson and Magic Magic—while the latter drowns, the former’s anxiety rises. Jackson finally lets out a scream, just as Magic Man fights for his freedom. But the audience remains oblivious. To them, he is just another showpiece for their viewing pleasure.

It’s a sequence that feels eerily familiar. I have lain in bed for hours, unable to sleep, my chest heavy, struggling to catch my breath, with tears that refuse to fall. The struggle, the silent battle against invisible restraints, the growing panic as the water rises, and the weight of unseen expectations pressing down—it’s all too real.

Magic Man fights until he can no more. He fights until he bleeds himself dry, and suddenly, the audience doesn’t care. The metaphor isn’t lost on me. I, too, have performed for an audience with a smile on my face and an “I’m fine” to go along with it—all while drowning, caught in the same loop of “I’m losing air / Can’t be in this world alone.”

Jackson’s performance in the music video is more than just acting. His eyes carry a familiar exhaustion, one I’ve seen staring back at me in the mirror during my lowest moments. The way he sinks deeper, the way he fights against the current, the way he eventually stops struggling—it’s haunting because I know that feeling. That moment when you stop fighting because you’re just too tired. When you wonder if it’s easier to just let go.

The lyrics hit like a confession, like a shared secret between those who’ve felt alone in a room full of people. The music swells, the water closes in, and I’m left holding my breath—not just because of the scene, but because I know that pain too intimately.

What makes this MV so heartbreaking is its truth, a truth Jackson has been honest about sharing with his fans. He doesn’t offer a clean resolution—no last-minute rescue, no sudden realization that everything will be okay. Because in reality, that’s not always how it works. Sometimes, you just sink. Sometimes, you’re screaming inside, and the world just keeps clapping, unaware of the storm raging within.

The music video is not just reflective of loneliness, anxiety, and depression; it also exposes the harsh realities of the entertainment industry, where artists are mere objects of entertainment, often manipulated and discarded even when they are struggling.

As Jackson says at the end of the video, “The deepest wounds are often not from your enemies,” it’s a message that resonates universally. Sometimes, that enemy is the one closest to you. Other times, as I have come to realize, the enemy is you.

As the screen fades to black, the emotions don’t. The weight lingers. And yet, despite the heaviness, there’s also a strange kind of comfort—a reminder that even in the deepest loneliness, I am not alone in feeling alone.

‘High Alone’ is more than a song. It’s an experience, a mirror, a hand reaching out through the darkness. And sometimes, that’s exactly what we all need, don’t you think?

Check out the MV of ‘High Alone’ here: