[CBC News] Music is an art heard with the ears, but the way it is remembered does not remain confined to hearing. Some songs evoke particular colors, and some melodies recall the atmosphere of old places. At times, listening to music makes us imagine scents that do not actually exist. This crossing of the senses shows that music is more than a mere arrangement of sounds — it is a cultural medium that organizes human memory and emotion.

The worldview of the girl group RESCENE is a fascinating case for interpreting such sensory experiences. Viewed through the relationships among fragrance, scene, memory, and music, the name 'RESCENE' can be read not merely as a group's name but as an aesthetic symbol explaining the interaction of the senses.

In particular, the sense of smell, unlike sight or hearing, is difficult to present directly in form. A fragrance is invisible and has no fixed outline. Yet people can imagine the presence of a scent through colors, objects, spaces, and movement. In the process by which an invisible sense is converted into visible imagery, music and video acquire new meaning. The core question for understanding RESCENE's worldview lies here: how does an invisible fragrance become a musical image, and how does that image remain in the listener's memory?

How Smell Works and Visual Association

Smell operates on the premise of physical contact with an object. Odor molecules in the air reach olfactory receptors, and a scent is perceived. In contrast, simply seeing flowers or a perfume bottle in a video cannot produce an actual fragrance. Nevertheless, humans anticipate olfactory experiences through visual cues. Seeing petals brings a floral scent to mind; seeing wet soil allows one to imagine the smell after rain. This phenomenon is not identical to actually smelling something, but it is significant in that it draws on memories and associations formed between the senses.

Methods of representing fragrance in visual media are also based on this associative process. Images of flowers and plants, light and color, and the implied movement of air create a particular olfactory atmosphere without conveying an actual smell. Here, the role of the image is not mere decoration; visual objects function as signs that convey olfactory meaning in its place. Audiences who cannot directly experience the fragrance interpret the cues presented on screen and summon the smells from their own memories. Viewing RESCENE's worldview through the lens of 'the visualization of smell' means analyzing precisely this process. What matters is not which fragrance actually exists, but the structure of expression that makes one imagine it.

The Meaning of an Image Is Formed in Context

A flower represents a physical object — a plant — but it can also be interpreted as a symbol evoking fragrance, beauty, and the flow of seasons and time. However, this meaning is not fixed. The same flower may signify a beginning in one scene and a farewell in another. The meaning of an image is formed within the context in which it is placed and in relation to other signs. In RESCENE's worldview as well, the concept of fragrance can be approached not as a single fixed meaning but as a central sign connecting diverse interpretations.

A fragrance is invisible, yet its presence can be sensed, and it can resurface in memory even after it has physically disappeared. This property resembles the way music is experienced. When playback ends, the physical sound vanishes, yet memories of the melody and lyrics remain. In this respect, fragrance and music share a common trait: both occur and disappear within time and are experienced again through memory. This similarity provides an aesthetic basis for using fragrance as a metaphor for music.

Fragrance as a Medium That Evokes Memory

The phenomenon of fragrance triggering memory has long served as an important subject of expression in literature and art. The experience of a particular scent recalling a past place or person is a representative example explaining the relationship between smell and autobiographical memory. Music, too, functions as a medium that evokes memory as it combines with personal experience. A once-favorite song bringing back the emotions and surroundings of that time shows that music becomes linked to specific events in one's life.

However, the mere fact that fragrance and music evoke memory does not mean the two senses operate on identical principles. Smell and hearing process information through different sensory systems, and the conditions for forming memory vary with individual experience. Yet in artistic expression, these differences actually create new possibilities, because the metaphor that music lingers in memory like a scent is a way of extending auditory experience into olfactory language. Read from this perspective, fragrance in RESCENE's worldview becomes another language for explaining music. Music exists as something heard, but through the metaphor of fragrance it expands into questions of the traces left behind and the memories that resurface.

The Translation of the Senses, and the Group's Identity

In popular music, a group's identity is not completed by music alone. The name, albums, images, videos, and stage expressions form relationships with one another to create a single cultural impression. A worldview centered on a particular sense provides an interpretive framework connecting these various elements of expression. When music is interpreted through the concept of fragrance, a song can be understood both as an auditory product and as an object that leaves a sensory trace. Visual imagery becomes a medium that makes one imagine fragrance, and music gives that imagery temporal flow and emotion.

This relationship can be called 'the translation of the senses.' An olfactory concept is transferred into visual expression, then combined with auditory experience to form new meaning. Of course, translating the senses does not mean fully reproducing an actual smell as sound or video; it means metaphorically linking the characteristics of different senses so that audiences construct a complex experience. This is where the aesthetic significance of RESCENE's worldview can be found. When music and imagery are interpreted around the invisible concept of fragrance, the group's identity can expand beyond a visible style into the question of sensory memory.

The Art of Expressing the Invisible

In contemporary popular culture, visual imagery possesses powerful communicative power. Short videos, photos, and repeatedly consumed screens also influence how music is encountered. But a visually vivid image is not necessarily long remembered. Which cultural experiences keep resurfacing depends on various conditions such as personal emotion, memory, and repeated exposure.

In this regard, the metaphor of fragrance is intriguing. A fragrance has no clear form, yet it can be a powerful cue that recalls a specific moment. Music, too, can persist in personal memory without any visible form.

The possibility of sensory representation seen in RESCENE's worldview ultimately connects to the age-old artistic question of 'how to express the invisible.' Sight cannot directly convey fragrance, and music cannot physically reproduce a smell. But images and sounds can stimulate memories and imagination about fragrance. It is precisely in that indirect process of transmission that artistic meaning is created.

The visualization of smell is not a technique of simply converting one sense into another. It is an aesthetic practice exploring how different senses meet within human memory and imagination. When the name and worldview of RESCENE are read from this perspective, fragrance is positioned not as mere subject matter but as a symbol that prompts reflection on how music exists. A song ends, but the emotions and memories it summons can remain — just as it is possible to remember a fragrance even in a space where it has vanished.

[This article highlights stars nominated for the Netizens' Awards. The Netizens' Awards is an online fan voting platform that does not sell voting rights and offers equal voting opportunities to all users. Rankings are determined by fans' voluntary and continuous participation rather than capital, and the cumulative 79 million votes stand as a record of pure fan devotion built from each individual fan's choices. This article was partially assisted by AI.]