(in defense of) Ugly
Click to viewI know it's been a while since this song was released, but I just read through the comments on the Omona post for it. And to be honest I found the comments to be more disappointing than anything else.
The majority of the people who commented said that they thought the song was basic, the chorus was too tryhard, whiny, and clunky, and the MV doesn't bring anything new to the table. I respect their opinions to dislike a song if they truly feel that way, and I do concede that the chorus was a bit...lyrically lacking, and not just because it was in English (why does it matter what language it's in anyway?); however, I must say that I feel like many people missed the point of the song.
To me, the way the chorus is sung refutes the actual words they are speaking. Forget about the clunkiness of the lyrics, and if you've read enough English translations of lyrics and/or have enough experience with Asian languages in general, you know that translations can be very, very general and can be taken many different ways. You learn to take the basic sense and feeling of the phrase and forget about the wording. Although the girls are singing that they think they're ugly and nobody wants to love them (not true, but still), it feels to me more like they're echoing the insults of others, that they don't truly believe them. The way they sing the words, their attitude makes me think that at the same time they're singing the words, they're crushing them under their feet. Am I making sense?
However at the same time, the verses speak of not feeling pretty and loved. This is where they can connect with their audience, because almost everybody can relate to those feelings. But it leads up to the chorus refuting them, or at least trampling them.
Nothing is ever so simple, and I think once you understand the meaning it will stick with you and mean more to you than just having the meaning sung to you in the first place. However, feel free to interpret it as you like, but in the end, the song truly is about self-empowerment and feeling good in your own skin.
(and those of you, my dear irl friends, that keep telling me that kpop is the devil and can never have a deep meaning, I'M SANE, I'M JUST...UHM, PRACTICING MY...ANALYTICAL SKILLS FOR WHEN SCHOOL STARTS 8D)