Showing posts with label kpop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kpop. Show all posts

Sunday, December 4, 2011

2NE1 - UGLY--My Take on It.


I think I'm ugly
And nobody wants to love me
Just like her I want to be pretty
I want to be pretty!
Don't lie to my face
'Cause I know I'm ugly~

This song is so misunderstood by people everyone on the interwebz. 

By saying "ugly", I don't think they're just talking about feeling your appearance is ugly. They're talking about not liking yourself in general for whatever reason, about thinking that there's something fundamentally wrong with you, etc. And not wanting people to lie to you and tell you that there's nothing wrong with you.

The video, though?

THAT'S definitely about the beauty standards within society that make so many beautiful people feel like they're ugly, and how they should be destroyed. 

2NE1 is a great band to promote this song and message because they do not resemble your typical kpop girl group and thus receive a lot of censure about how their faces/bodies/etc. don't resemble the beauty ideal.



It might sound cliche, but it's true: every girl in 2NE1 is actually beautiful in her individual way, if you look, but they are not all skinny sticks or have the "ideal" nose or whatever, which also makes them very relatable as they are all "real" people with no manufactured beauty--except Park Bom, who obtained plastic surgery BECAUSE her appearance was bombasted by critics, so this song is actually even more relatable to her, as she felt her looks didn't satisfy the public's demands of a female kpop singer.

So they are the perfect voices to express the insecurities that everyone feels about themselves sometimes; because even the most beautiful girls can find something they hate about their appearances.


UGLY Lyrics (My Transliteration)

2NE1's UGLY: The Real Lyrics (My Transliteration)



I've seen so many translations of this song on the internet, but I think many of them got it wrong and in the end present the wrong tone to the song.

Here's my preferred translation, amalgamated from multiple sources.


[CL] I’m trying to smile brightly but
I don’t like it
I’m not pretty, I’m not beautiful
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
[BOM] I’m trying to sing but
No one is listening
I’m not pretty, I’m not beautiful
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
[DARA] Why am I so ugly?
How can I smile brightly and freely like you?
[MINJI] I’m angry again
Why can’t I be perfect?
All I see is flaws through the shattered glass
[BOM] Don’t look at me, I hate this feeling right now
I want to hide away somewhere, I want to escape
This world is full of lies

CHORUS:
[CL] I think I’m ugly
And nobody wants to love me
Just like her I wanna be pretty I wanna be pretty
Don’t lie to my face tellin’ me I’m pretty


I think I’m ugly
And nobody wants to love me
Just like her I wanna be pretty I wanna be pretty
Don’t lie to my face ‘cause I know I’m ugly


[MINJI] Don’t tell me that you can understand me so easily
My ugly and crooked heart may come to resent you
[BOM] Don’t talk to me, I can’t get along with you
Your cold fakeness behind your arrogant eyes suffocate me
[MINJI] Stay away
I don’t even want your concern
I just wanna get away anywhere
I just wanna scream out loud
This world is full of lies


CHORUS


[CL, BOM, MINZY] (All alone
I’m all alone
All alone
I’m all alone)
[DARA] I feel no warmth
I have nobody
[CL, BOM, MINZY] (All alone
I’m all alone)
[DARA] I'm always all alone
[CL, BOM, MINZY] (All alone
I’m all alone)
[DARA] I feel no warmth
I have nobody
I have no one to hold me

CHORUS


Transliterated by me
+and others