Asian Addicts Anonymous

So, it’s been quite awhile since MyName debuted with a single (only had 2 songs on it). I liked “Message” which was an addictive dance track with some epic stomping in place moves. They have now comeback with a dance ballad. And um. I know English in kpop lyrics has never been spectacular, but boy do the latest singles from some of the biggest artists have some of the WORST English lyrics EVER! Sigh. Maybe if I wasn’t a native English speaker or an English major in college, I wouldn’t have a problem. But really, can’t they afford to hire someone to at least check that the English makes sense or is somewhat correct?An example? Right at the beginning of the song we have “wanna back to me.” At least a line later the “want u back” is more correct. What the heck is “Wanna back to me”? They are kind of missing a subject and part of a verb here. I THINK they meant they want the girl to come back to them, especially in context with the Korean lyrics and the next English line. But still. Bad, bad English.

And this doesn’t have anything necessarily to do with this song in particular, but did you ever notice the use of “babe” and “baby” in Korean never is quite right? I have seen the actual lyrics spell out b-a-b-e but the singers pronounced it baby instead. Then the lyrics spell out b-a-b-y but the singers pronounce it babe. What the what? I can’t think of an English word where an “e” at the end of the sentence has the long vowel sound. That letter placement usually gives the long vowel sound to the vowel in the middle/preceding it, you know?Ok, back on topic. The next English fail for this song comes with the line “I don’t wanna back to me.” Are they saying they don’t want the girl back? But then again, with the following Korean lyrics asking if the girl is doing better without him…I just don’t know. And I do wonder with the next English line of “Think about me girl, but I don’t think about you girl” just what is going on. I am afraid that the bad English mixed with confusing and contradictory Korean lyrics makes the song a bit difficult to understand. Are they bluffing and saying that the girl moved on and may still think of them but they don’t think of her at all?

And then we get into the chorus time and more English failure. “Somebody tell me, but you girl.” They pronounce the word “but” much like you would ’bout (lopping off the “a”), but the lyrics clearly say “but.” Truthfully, in the context of the Korean lyrics, about or the shortened ’bout would make much more sense. Somebody tells them about the girl and each time it brings pain. And then you have them going on to say that no matter what “you are my girl” (yay! decent English!), but the song is really suffering an identity crisis. The first part of the song details a guy posturing and sounding fine after a breakup and hoping that the girl is unhappy with her choice (that’s how it sounds to me at least) while the next part of the song seem to detail a guy who can’t get over the girl. Oh, and the chorus makes it sound like breaking up is an expected everyday thing and it only takes a moment to get over the pain, so the girl will be okay as she can live without him. Again, what the what?And then we have English that makes sense! Woohoo! It actually took me awhile to think if the “I promise” line made sense and then what they were saying finally clicked. Um, but I am not exactly sure how to take that line. What does he mean by promising to give up to her? Just what is he giving up? They never say. Then we have “You are my girl.” A straightforward declaration as is “Think about me girl.” And then when the guy begs the girl to say goodbye. That was good, too. Again, though, I am really having a hard time actually understanding the mishmash of just what the lyrics are saying as each part seems to say different things about the breakup…and not in a clear enough way to say you have the guy evolving (or devolving) in his way of thinking.So frustrating. The song itself sounds nice and the boys sing it passionately with emotion, but the lyrics send a mixed message and the video? Love this video for being more like a mini-movie versus the boys standing in a room singing and dancing, but at the same time, you have to wonder just how well the actually MV story fits in with what the song is actually saying. In parts the crime lackey who falls for the boss’s girl (at least I THINK that’s what happens) seems to fit in with the lyrics, but mostly not in my opinion.

Still, leader Gunwoo did a good job playing the main character who falls for a woman he shouldn’t and he totally kicked butt in that fight scene, which unfortunately had a weird and stupid end that didn’t quite make sense. I mean, it does, but doesn’t. I’m still trying to figure out how the girl dies and Gunwoo lives.And the dancing? MyName dances well in the snippets you see. I can’t wait to watch this live. You may think that I dislike the song after picking apart the lyrics, but I really do like it, in spite of its bad English lines and confusing lyrics.

Yay for their comeback! I hope we’ll get to see more of them and won’t have to wait another 8 months or more for another song.