Bible Study and Insights

Music

Always, always, ALWAYS double check the lyrics to a K-pop song before committing to it! I learned that the hard way only a few days ago.

I was listening to BTS's Fake Love and I wanted to try singing along to it. After a few lines, I realized it was too fast for me, a very new Korean learner, to try to sing along to. I instead just followed it as the song played, looking at the lyrics I'd pulled up on my phone. After it was over, I decided I wanted to look up the translation again because it had been a while. Well, I'm reading through them and BAM! I hit a word that I somehow missed when scanning the translation. I wanted to break down and cry right then and there, because I fell in love with that song the first time I heard it.

After a search, I found that the Japanese version appears to be clean, so I removed the Korean from all my Spotify playlists and added the Japanese instead. Then I realized that if one word could get by me, there were likely others that had done the same.

Four other songs had words that I'd somehow missed when going through the translation. I didn't feel much more than mild disappointment when I saw that If I Ruled the World and Intro: Skool Luv Affair had to be removed, but my heart shattered when I saw that No More Dream and Danger also had to be removed. I found the Japanese version of both Danger and No More Dream, but only No More Dream passed inspection.

And now that I've seen that those both had words I missed, I realized I need to check all my K-pop songs, not just the ones I added myself. My sister is the one who introduced me to No More Dream. If that word got past both of us, it's possible that some of the others my sister added when she helped me set up Spotify have words that she missed, especially because I'm 99% sure that she's the one who added Danger to my playlist.

Danger is going to be a hard one to give up. I loved the sound it had. But if both versions contain a swear word, there's no way. I almost didn't remove the Korean version of Fake Love, to be completely honest. I kept thinking, "Well, I should go ask advice from so-and-so." And each time I instantly dismissed it. Why? Because I already knew what they would say. And I could hear my Youth Pastor talking to me right then: "If you already know what I would say, then don't you already know what you should do?" I removed it, feeling like my world had been destroyed, not knowing if I would ever find another song that I loved as much, or if the Japanese version would even be enough to fill the gap the absence of the Korean had left.

Fortunately, the Japanese version of Fake Love, is everything the Korean was. I'm listening to it for the first time while writing this, and I've already fallen in love.

Learn from my mistake: if you don't approve of swearing, DOUBLE CHECK ALL LYRICS IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE! Trust me, it's painful if you don't.