Let’s shake the skeleton outta the closet: many of us listening to kpop don’t understand Korean. If it’s not the lyrics that are resonating with us, then what is it?
Today’s Music Monday is one of my favorite songs by my favorite girl group. It’s a breakup song, but before I knew that, all I understood were the few phrases I could pick out in English and Korean. For lack of a better term, I loved the “color” of the song and it resonated deeply with me. The video is also beautifully shot and does a good job expressing the song’s emotional journey (such as illustrating the girls’ isolation by featuring them alone in busy street scenes).
2018 was a year of change for me. A long term relationship ended, which led to a new living space. Unhappy with where I was, I took a friend’s lead and moved to a different coffee company. I really didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew who I was doing it with: myself. Oh, and my cat.
At some point, a little whisper came back to me. What if I… haven’t fully given up on the idea to move to Korea to teach English? It was an idea I had ten years ago that was abandoned for various reasons, but what if I couldn’t backtrack and try to do it now?
This song encapsulates what I hope for each day: that it gets better (day by day). It recognizes the pain that we suffer in hushed tones, but sings out loud anyways through it. Sometimes you don’t need to understand the lyrics to understand the message.
Drink soju. Eat ice cream. Be happy.
Koffee & Kpop 