For this SOTW, it’s once again Lee Hi’s turn with her other title song ‘Breathe’ which was written by SHINee’s Kim Jonghyun.
Last week, we were looking over the YG soloist with her other title track ‘Hold My Hand’. In hindsight, now that I’ve given her album a few listens – give or take at least ten times if not more, I can now fully appreciate it and the time it took for its long awaited release. As a listener, it makes me anticipate the second half of the album which should be released later on this year.
It starts off as a typical ballad styled song, the music melts into the kind of background noise that you would hear in a Studio Ghibli film. It’s really beautiful to listen to, the vocals start off gentle and as the song reaches the chorus, you can really hear the difference in her voice. The kind of effortless power and raw emotion she can instill into a song. Lee Hi had stated that she wanted to release a song that would provide some kind of comfort to others and admitted to feeling lonely during her hiatus.
The message of the lyrics seems to be quite empathetic, as it reaches out to the listener. The lyrics tells a story that even if you may not fully understand what people may be going through behind the scenes, you can never assume that someone’s life is ‘easy’ but instead to simply be aware that everyone has their problems that they deal with.
“You can make mistakes from time to time
Everyone else does too
If I tell you “it’s alright”
I know that they’re only words”.
This section of the lyrics acts as a reminder not to beat yourself up over things you may have done wrong in the past, it’s only human nature to make mistakes. The second half of the works above highlight that sometimes, words do not mean anything as actions can speak louder than words could ever try to accomplish.
Following on from that, the lyrics included below reiterates what I’ve already covered, which is that while you may not know the problems that people are facing – whether they are strangers to you, a close friend or a relative, there will be issues that they will keep to themselves regardless of big or small they may seem to other people. Instead, rather than trying to give advice on how the person should be dealing with their problems, the lyrics consoles the listener and commends them for all the work they’ve done – even if it seems like nothing is going right for them.
“Even though I won’t be able to understand its depth, that’s okay
I will embrace you
Thank you so much for your hard work”.
The first thing I wanted to take note of was the cinematography of this music video. Every panning shot is breath-taking, especially with Lee Hi’s scenes, the most that she would be doing is sitting with a distant look on her face yet it really captures the chilling vibe that her voice can induce.
The story, from what I can gather, divulges into the lives of everyday people who are all experiencing their own different struggles. It could give implications that you don’t know the hardships that people can go through on a daily basis, so always be kind when possible.
