The month of Love, February is now in full swing. Love is in the air, and unfortunately so is heartbreak. For the whole month of February, I will be covering the four stages of love, which I formulated and identified as, “Crush“, “Confession“, “Love“, and “Heartbreak“. Of course, being enamored with someone doesn’t necessarily have to lead to heartbreak.
However, every one of us at one point in our lives has experienced heartache one way or another and I want to include the full spectrum of emotions love can evoke. I aim to do that with the help of K-pop music. I handpicked three of my favorite K-pop girl groups and one amazing K-pop soloist and chose some of their songs that I found best reflects each stage.
For the next four weeks, K-pop will reign supreme in the name of love. I will start this series with one of the hottest girl groups on the planet today ITZY. So without further ado, ITZY, MIDZY, Let’s fly!
CRUSH:”Chillin’ Chillin'”
This song talks about the exciting beginnings of a love blooming. Remember when you were infatuated with a person, and the sun seemed a little brighter, the flowers smelled a lot fresher and the days just keep on getting better and better? Chillin’ Chillin’ is about taking things slow and living in the moment, without the restrictions of labels.
Lia and Yuna made these innocent emotions apparent by singing the words:
“My phone ring ring
여기저기 find me
어서 나갈 테니
잠깐 기다려줘 for me
Umm 어떤 날보다
잔뜩 들떠서
설렘이란 연료 가득 채웠어”
Which in English, roughly translates to:
“My phone ring ring
Here and there, find me
I’ll head out soon
So wait for me
Umm, excited more than any other day
I filled up the fuel called ‘Fluttering”
The message and feel of Chillin’ Chillin’ make us want to relive our youth unabashedly feeling like we’re on cloud nine, not worrying about what lies ahead and being present in the moment.
CONFESSION: “LOCO“
The lead single off of ITZY’s debut album Crazy in Love, LOCO is an upbeat, feel-good, unapologetic track about the intense expression and declaration of one’s feelings towards a special person for the first time. It’s aggressive but never desperate. This song evokes strength and boldness by openly confessing, otherwise, hard to express emotions.
The maknae of ITZY Yuna delivers one of the strongest lines at the end of every verse as she sings the line:
“I feel like I was born to love ya”
With that line setting the tone, LOCO continues to take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions throughout the song, arriving at one destination; the declaration of love.
LOVE: “Sooo LUCKY“
One of the many great B-sides from Crazy in Love, Sooo LUCKY tells a simple and innocent story. The song vocalizes the disbelief and overwhelming emotions of being thankful for finding “The One”. The song sounds like a soundtrack to a fever dream you never want to end accompanied by the feeling of wanting to tell the world how happy you are to be in love.
If you haven’t heard this amazing track just yet, do yourself a favor and bask in its glory.
HEARTBREAK: “Be In Love“
Don’t let the title fool you as this song is far sadder than you think. Be In Love sounds so melancholic that if you dive deeper into the lyrics, it’s about love slowly slipping away. Ryujin would exclaim the heartwrenching words:
“뜨겁게 뛰던 너의 심장과
날 웃게 했던 이야기도 Woo
왠지 멀리 있는 것 같아”
In English, it roughly translates to:
“Your loudly beating heart
And the story that made me laugh, woo
Seems to be somewhere far away”
Be In Love is about still remembering the emotions that once made you happy, despite, the memory feeling so distant now. Sure, it still feels amazing when you reminisce about the happy times. But, holding onto something that’s lost and never wants to be found is a futile effort.
One of my absolute favorites in the Not Shy EP, ITZY themselves even suggested listening to this gloomy track on a rainy day in an episode of “ITZY “2021 하드털이” EP.15 LOCO M/V Behind the Scenes #4.”