so young and wild and free

Lonely synths lose their petals under beats clamping from the stands. They're drenched in an Aphex acid, and a pervading melancholy as she pledges devotion, nostalgic, genuine.



Yes, I'm talking about the rap coda to Wonder Girls' Nobody, basically Korea's new national anthem and cultural pop monolith of the 21st century. Now re-recorded for the American market in English, the above promo reminds me just how bravely this goodtime showtune actually ends its 3:38 run.

All K-pop songs feature a rap part, even though Nobody is hardly r 'n' b like older single So Hot was, or the hip dance-pop most of the country's acts turn out to usually excellent effect (most songs are very well made, on par with Timba beats and Westernelectro).

Like Ain't No Other Man, the Christina Aguilera song Nobody is 'sister' to, this is a showtune, built for stadium chants or reality winners. It's all about handclaps and the mightiest melody. But there are synths bubbling at work throughout, and to end the song, out she comes - the rapping wondergirl Yubin, who decently flows as always atop those lonely, lost chord pads which the video above spotlights/extends.

There is no fadeout or chord change. This is how the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper, a scatter of words in a world where rap is the new rock and music is the one language, a remaining currency.

Back to the days when we were so young and wild and free
모든게 너무나 꿈만 같았던 그때로 돌아가고 싶은데
왜 자꾸 나를 밀어내려 해 (*Nothing else matters other than you and me / So tell me why can’t it be? / Please let me live my life my way)
Why do you push me away?
I don't want nobody nobody
Nobody nobody but you.

And end. The blue chords patter out unresolved, lapping at waves in the night. But why? Why does it end this way? Is it because it's now up to the lover to decide now he's heard the case, because only he can resolve this present state?

Hehe. What does it matter? Because without this inspired touch, Nobody would be nothing, just another catchy tune, and yes a very good one at that, but without Yubin it would be all flash and nonsense, a showboat in gloss and makeup without any pop art painted on its side - her presence is now, the zeitgeist of scat, and it's at one with the cold alien synths, and not embarrassingly incongruous or churned out over generics imported from the US.

Here is the English version if you're curious. I doubt it'll break America - the translation's so bland (though I doubt the original was lyrically genius either). Nobody really needs the Korean novelty factor buffering round the English chorus. It's this tongue in cheek factor which originally appealed to outsiders. Otherwise, this is a song belonging to everyone, because anyone could have sung this originally. In English, Nobody loses all identity, no longer the queenly triumph of Korean wave. But hey, it still has those synths.