The Language of Music

By Samantha Smith

Lyrics have always held immense importance in my life.  During various highs and lows, the words of my favorite artists would help me feel grounded and understood.  I found a home in the songs of the punk rock scene, in which the so-called ‘emo’ lyrics would comfort the depressed teenager I was growing into.  

    My first year of University brought me a problem where my music gave me no solace.  Depression had once again reared its ugly head, and all the lyrics that had once made me feel understood were sending me further and further into despair.  There was no distracting myself from my mental health when the music that used to be my hobby became a constant reminder.  In an attempt to find other music I could listen to, I found a collaboration between an artist I liked and an artist I had only heard rumors of.  That song was “Boy with Luv” by BTS and Halsey. 

My first listen led to disappointment.  Unsurprisingly, I did not understand any of the lyricism or poetry behind the song–I do not speak Korean–so I filed k-pop away in my mind under the ‘not for me’ category.  However, my desperation grew as my depression worsened, and I found myself willing to give BTS another try.  This time, I watched the music video.  I was immediately caught off guard by the bright and jovial theme of the video; the smiling, the dance, and the clear comradery among the members instantly lifted my mood.  Thus began a rabbit hole of  k-pop videos.  

    K-pop albums are almost always concept albums, where a mood or theme is present throughout every song and outfit–including hair color–for that album’s promotional period.  Now, I could find albums full of distracting music without the worry of any words triggering a depressive episode; even if the song was a sad one, I, in no way, had to confront any of the lyrics.  The concept albums helped me find music that appealed to my taste, so I could avoid heavy EDM if I wanted to.  Although k-pop has ‘pop’ in the name, it encompasses a massive variety of music styles and genres from bands and rock music to EDM to R&B.  Once I had gotten past that initial language barrier, a whole world of different music lay before me.  

My love of lyrics weighed on me though, and as much as I loved that blissfully happy music, I wanted depth.  I found that I could turn on English subtitles for several music videos, and I was floored by the poetry of the lyrics.  I began looking at lyric videos, which are in abundance thanks to the bilingual fans of the music. My inability to understand the songs meant I was not constantly affronted with rumination and potentially negative emotions, but I still was able to find that affirmation and understanding that I used to feel from rock music by reading these lyric translations.  Some of the lyrics had the potential to make me cry, but my understanding and emotional reaction was dictated by me, in that I could make a decision to find a translation or not.  I was battling constant rumination when listening to music in English, and this was a time in which I wanted to turn off all my thoughts.  Korean lyrics gave me the opportunity to do just that.  

Not only did I find happy videos that made me smile when I thought I had lost that ability, but I found several artists whose writings about their own struggles made me feel less alone.  In some of my hardest times, reading the lyrics of Kim Jonghyun gave me some reprieve from certain loneliness.  Despite an obvious language barrier, these Korean lyrics served a dual purpose of halting a seemingly constant battle with rumination and exploring the depth of my own emotions together with me.   

An insight into another culture’s music eventually and rather unsurprisingly led me to become quite taken with the language itself. After learning the building blocks of the language, the continuous watching of all those lyric videos allowed me to piece together vocabulary and patterns in the language. In addition to learning another language, another aspect of k-pop caught my attention: the dances. I had always been envious of those who could dance as I considered myself to have two left feet, but I became so enthralled with the synchronization of each dance and the blurring of styles genres from modern dance to hip-hop to tutting. I ended up taking a k-pop dance class at the university and found out, much to my shock, that I was a much better dancer than anticipated. My self-esteem was largely improved from teaching myself another language and finding I could dance all thanks to a rabbit hole of BTS videos I fell down while depressed.

While there are some large problems with the industry itself, I bring to light the impact k-pop has had on me due to a perception I have noticed that people have.  I am reluctant to mention my music preferences to anyone due to an almost instant judgement from whomever I tell.  I have been banned–by my friends–from connecting to my own speaker because I listen to k-pop.  I am aware of cultural differences and that the language barrier is a valid reason not to listen, but I, personally, get a lot of enjoyment and insight by exploring a different culture and language, and I encourage people not to dismiss that which others enjoy.  

Music has always been open to interpretation via the different experiences of those who listen to each song.  Listening to a song I could not understand then looking up the lyrics allowed for an even broader sense of interpretation.  Understanding does play a large role in listening to music, especially in terms of lyrics and personal connections made through various phrases, but the first listen of a song in another language, before one knows the meaning, allows for pure emotional evaluation.  Some of my favorite songs are ones I thought were absolutely beautiful and serene before finding out how devastatingly sad the lyrics are.  Both of my experiences were valid, yet their differences indicate how music communicates in emotion as well as words.  Music has its own, universal, language.  

If you are, as I was, struggling to find solace in music at University or just want to find new songs to listen to, here are a few I recommend:

Sad

    Sea - BTS

    I Need Somebody - Day6

    Hope Not - Blackpink

Rap

    Cypher, Pt. 2: Triptych - BTS

    Gucci - Jessi

    Misfit - NCT

Rock

    Boca - Dreamcatcher

    AuRoRa - Onewe

    Rolling Quartz - Blaze

Happy

    Gogobebe - Mamamoo

    Devil - CLC

    Just Right - Got7

Ballads

    Fine - Taeyeon

    Universe - EXO

    Y Si Fuera Ella - Kim Jonghyun

Hype

    Dumb Litty - KARD

    Goblin (Favorite Boys) - A.C.E

    Paint the Town - Loona

Choreographies

    Criminal - Taemin

    Stay the Night - Chungha

    Thanks - Seventeen

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