Linguistically reviewing "Bad English" in kpop 3

[@emmamartinez1438]

People who bring up Shakespeare in arguments about bad English are crazy. That man was the pioneer of bad English.

[@Stannewjeansrn]

His grammar was gagging, I barely understood

[@semisweethearts]

YOU’RE SO REAL FOR THIS anyone who brings up SHAKESPEARE of all people in an argument about proper english clearly doesn’t know anything about the guy. he was making up stuff left and right. he wrote for the people. he would have loved jopping.

[@HectorH-M]

Shakespeare was pioneer of bad English? Oh no

[@emmamartinez1438]

@@semisweethearts Shakespeare would have loved jopping was not my bingo 2024 card

[@Sirensscales]

I fucking hate Shakespeare he’s the reason my life in English class is hell

[@julesucodecaixinha]

for the longest time I thought in maniac the lyrics were “but I keep killin’ it” 😭

[@webarebears08]

ME TOOOO IT'S EMBARRASSING HOW I'D SCREAM THIS LYRIC

[@onwindydays]

same

[@SamEricLlort]

That is not the lyrics?

[@julesucodecaixinha]

@@SamEricLlort no 😭 it’s “I can’t killin’ it”, I only realized this when I went to do a dance cover and looked up the lyrics to lipsync

[@stayinneverland]

There's one point in the song where they say it iirc, but just once

[@iforjun0]

You forgot the legendary "if you wanna pretty, every wanna pretty"

[@hybekickgaram4830]

Nobody knows that song.

[@lizzyzliz]

@@hybekickgaram4830Yes they do? It was a hit when it came out

[@gongju-diary]

@@hybekickgaram4830it's a very famous song "pretty girl" by kara that has been covered by most popular girl groups and the fact your whole account is dedicated to bullying garam who ended up being completely innocent and it was proven by her school, is ridiculously pathetic. put some respect on kara's name and stop bullying garam

[@hybekickgaram4830]

@@gongju-diary I don’t respect nobodies and Garam still swore at her victim. That was proven, the victim did send pictures of Garam’s friend. But Garam took revenge instead of telling it to the teachers, so Garam is still a bully.

[@martynab7092]

@@hybekickgaram4830you are being pathetic, stop acting like swearing at someone for something bad that they did is bullying and/or a crime and don’t call kara a nobodie have respect for everyone regardless of their popularity

[@miriamlevenson9430]

go won is a singer, a dancer, a rapper, now an english phrasal verb… what a renaissance woman!

[@eweyucky]

she is Nicki Minaj's teacher in rap

[@chubpilo]

​@@eweyuckyyesss she also birthed her ❤

[@z_bennet4208]

i love my grandma❤

[@caratkate2860]

I was an arcade when I read “tickets won go here” and I got confused😭

[@iammilaya]

"bad english" in kpop is genuinely the best part of kpop. I love hearing things being pronounced differently or just cute and funny phrases that come out of songs. the good thing about english is that it's probably the only language where people can take it and do what they want with it to make it fit a song, I don't find it disrespectful or bad I just think it's charming tbh and I wish more people understood this position

[@IVEREIStan]

like a stickerrr stickerrr

[@starIightluv]

Honestly, when you learn languages ​​it's a very important part to speak like a "native", for me it is not. Your native language and your accent is part of your identity, they are your roots, your culture, being able to speak other languages ​​while maintaining your own accent is like embracing your culture while learning from others, which I find very nice. I'm not saying that wanting to improve your pronunciation to sound like a native is wrong, but it's not wrong not to sound like a native either. It seems very ignorant to me when a native criticizes a non-native for not speaking like a native... at least they are trying to learn a new language. Although maybe I'm overthinking and wanting to justify my bad English lol

[@iammilaya]

i always agreed with this take! I also find it interesting how english is (kind of) the only language where people are allowed to have an accent or speak differently and most native english speakers would actually enjoy hearing their accent. ive been learning russian for almost a year and one thing ive noticed is that some people can be very uptight about pronunciation, and while I understand their sentiment, i simply just have a very american accent sometimes and it makes me feel embarrassed sometimes, because it's not easy for me to get rid of my speaking quirks in other languages. learning other languages is really what made me notice this difference in the first place anyway, but i find it interesting how here in america non native speakers would be treated with more grace and maybe even curiosity more often than not, but in a lot of other countries (mainly European ones) natives will maybe look down on you for not speaking perfectly, which kind of makes me wanna stop learning European languages, because they are quite judgemental. but anyway, i always thought that you never had to be fluent or speak like a native, you should just be comfortable to speak and get your ideas across, and that's all that matters.

[@vixxexo6855]

@@starIightluvhaving an accent in another language has nothing to do with roots. You should try to properly learn a language. It is alright to have an accent at the start, but you should always strive to get the proper accent of that language. Try hear native people of that language speak it and try to speak like them.

[@bear3s]

It's not the only language that can do that, it's simply the only one they've been using for that

[@jonglejuice]

“I’m not killing it” changes the meaning of it though. Using “not” implies that she might be able to end it, but she isn’t for whatever reason, be it her choice or whatever. The original “can’t” implies that she is unable to end the relationship regardless of if she wants to or not.

[@choujimi]

@@jonglejuice hmmm then I guess “I can’t kill it” is the best way to describe it with that in mind - I didn’t think about can’t being used to express that the narrator doesn’t have to ability to end the relationship! I was using the rest of the song of them being “okay” with the maniac relationship to understand that it’s something the narrator has the power to move away from, but chooses not to

[@strawberriesandpeaches9816]

I think "But there's no killing it" is a good alternative it keeps the main point and the rhythm

[@53wonder]

Going further, I think if the phrase was "This love is mania, but there's no killing it" would make even more sense and still fit the melody or phrasing of the song

[@peachiipark]

the analysation of babymonster verses in the most serious voice ever is killing me 😭😭😭 great video btw, jimi!

[@luanatassorocha6487]

Honestly “this love is maniac” is amazing I dont care

[@Taejiu]

Watching this mere hours before I go see Viviz and scream Maniac

[@jamztheworld12]

have fun!!

[@choujimi]

I’m so jealous but yeah have fun!! Please sing along to Pull Up in my honor 🙏

[@youknowwhatelseisbig484]

I'm seeing G idle in September and I'm BEGGING Soyeon to play Uh-Oh... literally one of my favorite songs of all time.

[@SweetforS]

@RoyaleMusicalwhat’s this coming from?

[@kaidarizz]

7:03 I think “can’t”, even though grammatically incorrect, showcases the idea behind the phrase a lot better than any other verb. Because it expresses the idea of VIVIZ NOT BEING ABLE physically or mentally(or for any other reason) to kill this “maniac love”

[@niahniah123]

Yes - « can’t » is actually semantically important here because it implies that there is an inability to kill it, not a choice.

[@nasned]

this video reminded me of one of my fav tweets that says “if i make a mistake in english pls dont correct me i have no respect for this language ❤️”

[@vixxexo6855]

What if people said that about korean? You koreaboos will yell xenophobic and all the other stuff you hell. I hope their native languages also gets mocked, it will just be karma.

[@estie1689]

Yikes

[@amorelockster1023]

@@estie1689exactly imagine if someone disrespected another language like this.

[@nuralynnyyy]

gross

[@Iapologize-h1x]

Then why are they bothering to speak it😅

[@berrymidy2211]

Super lady: I've always thought that it was "Look how I'm fearless, we came to take win" 😭

[@jamztheworld12]

2:31 GOWON MENTION 😍

[@skpcboy]

MY ONE AND ONLY

[@jamztheworld12]

@@skpcboy MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE

[@SamEricLlort]

One and only dozen in Loona. Luckily Gowon had no lines.

[@oli-iq1yx]

@ samericllort so much hate in your heart! >:( nobody dislikes gowon

[@jamztheworld12]

@@SamEricLlort why are you so hateful

[@petkamoravcikova]

I always read the line as "let's go on - fearless". So it's telling us to continue, and describing the action of continuing as fearless. And they pretty much used maniac as an adjective... Like the word psycho, correctly, it's psychotic, but you can definitely say "he's psycho".

[@hyunghaeen]

and to be fair english is VERY lenient in this aspect, nouns take on adjectival functions very often in english.

[@daerincakes]

As someone from England who takes grammar seriously, does 'bad english' annoy me? Yes, but am I gonna go and hate on most likely a non-native english speaker for it? No.

[@HectorH-M]

I would go and hate it, and I'm not even British

[@SweetforS]

@@HectorH-Mthen maybe you need to take a chill pill.

[@HectorH-M]

@@SweetforS No

[@Haneiul_io]

​@@HectorH-MMm yes, a non fluent idol doesnt know howmto speak English OR a producer wrote the english lyrics and gave it for the idols to sing. Time to hate

[@LostandDisappointed]

As a non-native English speaker, consistent good grammar makes learning and expressing myself in English easier. I won’t have to focus as much on my own grammar, it happens more subconsciously. If a book has bad grammar I would absolutely complain. K-pop… probably not.

[@alexxiszy]

People are sometimes very rough with idols, asking them to speak and write in English, but when they do, they make fun of them. I remember when Twice deleted a TikTok of them speaking English because of many comments making fun of their pronunciation. All of this is part of the language, mistranslation, bad grammar and bad pronunciation is just what makes the language spread and more languages, cultures, accents are created. Literally all languages ​​are created like this

[@ButterflySUB]

Most Twice members already speak 3-4 languages. It's harsh for them to be perfect in all of the them. 😢

[@misanayeonz]

0:37 As an English teacher I agree with this statement a lot, I always say to my students that even though it is important that they learn the grammar and the correct pronunciation of the words, the most important thing is to understand and to be understood by others, that's what matters at the end of the day

[@brunetteartist24]

The fun part of writing lyrics and poems is the use of language - i HATE how ppl act as if the lyrics of a song are equivalent to writing an academic essay

[@webarebears08]

Real songs famously do not have to follow college level essays

[@smileez2556]

Bro its just a few lines how can you not take your 5 minutes studying or even using google auto correct to fix your fking grammar like it ruins the whole mood of that section

[@brunetteartist24]

@smileez2556 rythm - often its to create a sense of rythm/ flow that grammar roles are broken, and often the song sounds better for it, even if it doesn't "fully" make sense. Yeah, it doesn't work in all songs in the same way lyrics can make sense but sound clunky in certain portions

[@AnthoNy-vq8bv]

that's why lyricism is a skill.. cause you have to write something that MAKE sense AND rhymes.. the people writting these songs got budget and money.. I'm sure they can implement english more properly.. and I'm not even a native english speaker.. You can (not mind) it.. but let's not reward something that's clearly either because of time restriction pulled by greedy company or laziness..

[@webarebears08]

@@smileez2556 ever heard of rhythm???? If you pronounced words down to the exact T, it'll sound weird not to mention there are hundreds of different accents in the one language so correct pronunciation can fluctuate as long as we can roughly understand the members they don't have to have really good English skills at all

[@aprils1888]

"If you wanna pretty, everyone a pretty" In KARAs "Pretty"

[@hezelia]

I can’t even imagine singing “this love is maniacal, maniacal, maniacal”- I do think the grammar being incorrect makes the lyric catchier like “this love is maniac” sounds catchier.

[@gijijia]

They could have just let it be “mania” instead of “maniac”

[@deltaxxo]

"this love is mania, but i'm not killing it" sounds like it'd fit just as well as the og lyrics & rhythm and is also pretty grammatically sound i think. but either way viviz did what they did and were iconic while doing it LOL

[@natessnaps]

I’ve always thought mania would have worked better than maniac. I’m surprised he didn’t mention that and suggested monster instead.

[@AbbyA-z6j]

"This love is manic, but I can't kill it". Only slight changes needed.

[@yanshuu4244]

@@AbbyA-z6j This sacrifices the rhythm for not much better clarity than delta's idea

[@AbbyA-z6j]

@@yanshuu4244 I disagree. It's a one letter change that doesn't sacrifice any rhythm. It actually makes more grammatical sense to me. It would be like replacing "this love is obsessive" with "this love is obsession", or using compulsive rather than compulsion. I prefer the former in both cases. Feel free to like what you like. That's the joy of language.

[@yanshuu4244]

@@AbbyA-z6j of course you can prefer whatever correction you want, but you can't say one letter doesn't change the rhythm, it certainly does in this case. Manic is two syllables, maniac is three, kill it is two, killin' it is three. You've taken out sounds which are needed for the melody to be preserved. That's fact. For opinion, we might differ in the sense that for me, and not for you, melodic preservation trumps slight grammatical refinement (I'm perfectly comfortable with the original comments proposed solution's grammar), which is fine.

[@wat6507]

“You make it feel me good, do you wanna upside down” 😭😭

[@makeart-notwar-6732]

shakespeare has been real quite since this dropped

[@Abrigat]

So iconic I went bald

[@vincent-x1u]

YOU MAKE IT FEEL ME GOOD, DONT YOU WANNA UP AND DOWN 🗣❗️

[@jakehowathmsp2098]

literally what?

[@rescenery]

DREAMS COME TRUE 😍😍😍

[@sabrinabasilio1766]

I've always thought that Soyeon was singing "Let go, I'm fearless. We came to take win".

[@moonnd1522]

As somone who has interest in linguistic, your video analyzing things like this are a treat for me :D Thank you so much!

[@miriam6686]

"let's go on fearless" is grammatical, beautiful and poetic. it's not standard spoken syntax but it is lyrically fluent!

[@miriam6686]

also, the way english is used in kpop can be some of the most ingenious, playful and poignant combinations. native english speaking poets can stand to learn and expand their mind to the possibilities of language thanks to nonconventional usage like this. but "let's go on fearless" is not one of them, it loops back around to being so archaic and stylistic that native english speakers might not realise this isn't a mistake. native speakers be humble is what i'm saying. learn another language, write or translate poetry in that language, and see what you learn.

[@miriam6686]

also also, english comes in a variety of dialects. none of them are "incorrect". but not everyone might understand them. language emerges in new ways all the time, and it's beautiful.

[@KaitouSaintTailMeimi]

You could really just say “this love is mania” which is probably better for what they’re going for- there’s a compulsive madness to the love. It’s not monstrous, it’s mania. To keep the flow for the next part (I believe the issue comes from changing a closer phrase “I’m not killing it” showing more direct agency or autonomy, but the line has to show a bit of compulsion with “can’t” instead. So “I can’t kill it” or “I can’t put an end to it”would also show that compulsion with a more consistent grammatical structure (but overall, I think they achieve their intended meaning with the original phrasing too)

[@dehosyt]

Choujimi gets a hate comment related to him and Shakespear… So he decides to critique and analyse English sentences that are hard to understand as if we are studying Shakespear in school

[@dreamcore]

I prefer broken English or word salad lyrics if I can't have it in a foreign language I can tune out. But you covered this. (Rapport is a French loanword.)

[@skyhideaway]

i’m unfortunately one of those people who care too much about lyrics and as a result, get annoyed by improper grammar or worst of all, really outdated cringy terms used to connect with the audience. i can forgive bad grammar, i can forgive weird or vague lines, but i draw the line at misusing AAVE slang or clumsily referencing social media and trends as a weak attempt to stay relevant (looking at you “you gon’ finna catch me” and “i would rather film a tiktok”). i know that english isn’t the first language for most of these idols, it’s not mine either, and i don’t expect them to be fluent in it. but these kind of “trendy” lyrics just come off as cringy and embarrassing when they’re not used properly. and in groups like gidle where everything is self-written, i don’t understand why soyeon can’t ask yuqi or minnie, the two english-speaking members, to help her out. yuqi and minnie have participated in writing songs too so they could definitely proofread soyeon’s lyrics and make necessary changes. this is not hate towards soyeon, she’s a very talented lyricist but she has some problem with the language she’s not fluent in, and it could be fixed if she worked with someone who is more fluent in it.

[@ButterflySUB]

I would rather film a Tiktok is completely correct

[@pennymikk]

@@ButterflySUB They're referencing something else.

[@pennymikk]

I 100% agree with you. English is not my first language either. I don't like bad grammar either tho. I do wonder why Soyeon doesn't seem to ask the other members to help her out, it really beats me! So many of these situations could be avoided very easily.

[@ashantythegreat3231]

​@@pennymikk Some of the lyrics are made on purpose. And this isn't only on English lyrics either. Kpop songs also write korean lyrics like this. So it's not about knowing a language, is how you use it. And in music, they use it for rhymes. Not for essays.

[@pauamo5308]

She knows that her lyrics in english aren't "correct", she don't care because she's not looking for grammar adequacy, she's looking for something that sounds good and kinda tells you something that you can understand but that isn't trying to make more sense than "vibes, overall point, sounds good with the rest of the song and the music". Be it good or just cringy, it's pretty much intentional, it's like she doesn't really use English as a language but more as certain words with certain meanings but no rules that she can have fun with... So yeah, sometimes it is a grammar disaster lol

[@revebitcreative]

i love 'bad english'. it's really not that different from when rappers shape the language to better fit the rhyming scheme they are going for or just the general flow of the rap. yes, there is a proper way to construct the sentence, but where's the fun in that when we can shape the language however we like.

[@SamEricLlort]

Nobody takes those mumble rapper seriously either.

[@dean.mcmxcvi]

This!!!

[@makeart-notwar-6732]

@@SamEricLlortand nobody takes you seriously either

[@absolutelynotarobot]

No, people taking a language they don't speak and using it in ways that make no sense isn't the same as AAVE. If someone who doesn't speak korean did the same thing using korean, people would call it disrespectful. There's grammar in slang, there's grammar in AAVE and other English-based vernacular, it's not being "creative with language", it's being lazy in writing good lyrics.

[@eo0-g9j]

Bad english is not the same as african american language. It existed for decades maybe even a century.

[@katfae1270]

I think "bad/gramatically incorrect" english in kpop should be a moot point considering one of the top songs of the US charts has the lyric "that's that me espresso" (As someone who loves that song)

[@ebunamosu864]

Red five diamonds I don't care Soyeon is an icon

[@puppiesgoesrawr]

Understanding isn’t the issue. Authenticity is. The same way we sense how people who mispronounce big words is probably using them to seem smarter than they are, we know that these performers don’t really know what the hell they’re singing. it’s grating to be faced with inauthenticity that services commercialism, not art. Most songs that employ bad english aren’t doing so to convey some sort of meaning, they’re trying to make a song that sound cool enough to be an earworm, chart, and make a profit before churning out another single in an punishing cycle that ends with the artist’s contract. Fine, good enough. It’s kpop. We all buy into this genre for the spectacle, aesthetic, memes, parasocial fandom, and catchy moments. No one is expecting idols to put out lyrics that contains triple entendre in two languages. We have artists for that. Lets just enjoy the mess before our fav idols grow out of their promotion age. It is valid to react negatively to bad lyrics, the same way it’s valid to react negatively to bad art. What’s confusing is the people who are pretending that these bad lyrics are actually deep, or good, or even makes sense. Now that’s delusion to the nth degree.

[@andinho2204]

This comment is perfect

[@bopete3204]

Sounding cool is something with artistic merit though.

[@p1p1pupu]

This one is a very good take and puts into words some thoughts I’ve have on this topic. Like, sometimes weird English lines can just be goofy. I think we can admit that without being xenophobic. Like I genuinely don’t care how good the rest of Queen Card is, every time the chorus and yuqi rap comes on I cringe. And honestly the intent of the song, that it’s supposed to be just campy fun doesn’t justify that I’m embarrassed to sing it alone in my car. I’ll dance to it all day, but I could never utter ‘my boob and booty’s hot”. And it being “bad” is subjective but I don’t understand why all of sudden everyone is acting like weird English lyrics are actually really good and all in good fun, just a lil misunderstood. But imagine how out of place grammatically incorrect phrases would sound in a more mature, sad, or elegant concept instead of a fun, summery, teen crush one And idk I guess I’m just a stickler for rules, so when things break standard, conventional rules something in my brain ticks, so this could just be my own issue. I just don’t think it’s a bad thing for English speakers to expect good English, esp since kpop is more global (and tends to pander to English speaking countries in the west) and they’re gonna use it a lot in their songs anyway

[@bopete3204]

@@p1p1pupu If campy lyrics were in serious songs things would be different, yes. I don't think we should judge campy songs as if they are serious though.

[@amorelockster1023]

I agree

[@finleyy]

i love the way "bad" english is used in kpop songs, i find it so interesting and often it's really catchy too LOL, but i agree that as long as the message is understood it *really* doesn't matter. i love the maniac lyric you analyzed here some interesting english lyrics you may want to look at some time: - "copy cus they mad that i still kiss me" easy (eng ver) - le sserafim - "i don't care you makin me sing that" lil cherry's verse in yves's LOOP - " wife, i make you feel so high / i make you feel like lie / but i don't wanna" and "want me your wife but she is" from wife - g idle - "let's make purple" purple - wooah - "do you wanna upside down?". a personal favorite lmao, aespa - dreams come true

[@smileez2556]

That is so incredibly horrible

[@notyetbut]

To me, "copy cus they mad that i still kiss me" it's just a way of saying the haters copy, or try to imitate le sserafim's style since they (lsrfm) still kiss themselves (basically, love themselves) and they are mad because it is that way. "They try to copy us because they are mad we still love ourselves" or at least i see it like that lol

[@shotanextdoor]

​​​​@@notyetbutAnd that's EXACTLY what the lyrics imply 😭 I find it so strange how nobody has been able to get it immediately because... it's obviously a play on words.....

[@notyetbut]

@@shotanextdoor FR THO like I was thinking i was wrong or something because anybody said anything lmao

[@77fearnot77]

I get where people are coming from, I had a very strict English teacher in high school and my brain is practically trained to be weirded out by a grammatically incorrect sentence. However, after a few listens, the lyrics are what makes the songs unique and charming in a way, Maniac is a great example of that. What is also an interesting topic is the pronunciation, because I genuinely sometimes find out I'm not singing the official lyrics, but I've grown to love them so much, I cannot take that back at this point. NMIXX will forever sing that they're so freaky fishy fishy in Tank and Dayeon's opening line in Wa Da Da will be women, women, Let's go! in my heart 🥰. Also I pretend that ZB1 actually chant crush in the chorus of Crush, because the word gosh feels so out of place in such a boy crush song 😭.

[@nayeonchantix]

I believe there is absolutely a benefit to utilizing "bad English" in some literature. I'm reading Wuthering Heights right now, and it's come up several times in like three chapters, really defining the characters who speak that way. It's just low language, and it's just as deserving of our studying. The Maniac example is particularly interesting to me. They can't (be) killing it. The way they phrase "killin' it" is more like a state of being than an action (or lack thereof). They are not in a state of "killing it." But, as their state of being is already called into question, not including the "be" on top of that strips another layer of self assuredness in who they are. Their invalidation assumes a whole new level with grammatical disrespect.

[@eonniversal]

"i feel i love you" *sigh*

[@amidreaming333]

I'm okay with bad English if it's just little phrases for some 'pizazz' and you know what they mean anyway, but sometimes it goes a bit far, like in the one Suga and Iu song, where the tone is very serious, but their just singing gibberish... Feels like they wrote a serious song, but then used google translate in 2010.

[@adithyasunitha5370]

I know People Pt. 2, right. I loved that song but that irked me out all the time for sure.

[@sukaitodd2510]

"I am the top Super Lady"! - Best (G)I-Dle opening I've heard since Tomboy, in my opinion (somewhat joking). Thanks for sharing this video. Great work. :) - Skye.

[@milli3377]

I find it wierd that people excuse "broken english" in kpop, but when foreigners sing korean lyrics and don't pronounce them correctly or don't use the correct grammar they get criticised badly. (Examples: Vaneysa, she didn't pronounce the rap of "Tell me" correctly in the survival show "Universe Ticket" or Kaachi, they emplemented "borken korean" into their debut songs.) It's really hypocritical to hate on them but then excuse the incorrect usage of the english language when idols do it. I think it's a good thing that people want to protect the proper use of their language. I'm ok with "broken english" when there's a clear meaning and reason behind it. Kpop songs, on the other hand, most of the time, don't follow correct grammar just because the artists/idols simply don't care or know any better, and that seems carless and disrespectful to me.

[@pidgeoninatree]

To be honest, I think there are definitely enough people that both hate on g-idle for example for their english lyrics and also on idols whose native language is not korean for not having a perfect pronounciation. I don't think these two are mutually exclusive and tbh in my opinion they are both incredibly stupid opinions. But I kind of really can't agree that imperfect grammar in kpop songs is careless and/or disrespectful. Grammar is something that keeps changing and doesn't have one set rulebook that everyone agrees on, especially not in english (american, british, australian...). Furthermore, there are also enough american pop songs by native english speakers, that include "incorrect grammar", just like there are enough german songs by native german speakers, that also don't really follow every (or any) grammar rule. I think someone commented it here already as well, but a song is not an essay. You have to match so many other things and often enough, the grammar is just not the most important thing then. To take an example from this video: what would you write instead of "but I can't killin it"? It has to keep the same meaning (so "I'm not killing it" doesn't really work, because the main focus is "they can't", they are unable to do it) and also still fit the same rhythm and melody, while not getting too complex. Sometimes random lyrics and random grammar are just fun, sometimes there is just no way something would fit the song and also not anger some english speakers and maybe sometimes "they do not know any better" which is sadly how languages work, not everyone is perfect in every foreign language (and lots of people aren't even perfect in their native one.) (If a song has to work in japanese, korean and english, maybe even some of these languages at the same time, people are bound to make mistaktes. ) One last note to your examples: First of all, Vaneysa didn't deserve any of the hate that she got, she's a teenager trying her best in a scary and probably not the nicest environment, so of course she's gonna make mistakes, leave people alone. But the thing is, she had lines to rap and stumbled over them. Which is okay, it happens. But you just can't compare someone writing their own lyrics in a foreign language with someone having specific lines to memorize, practice and perform. One has everything very clearly spelled out to them and the other one has literally nothing. And also, let's be honest, Kaachi got hate for breathing. I don't think that the broken korean was the one problem without everyone would have loved them.

[@dean.mcmxcvi]

@@pidgeoninatree 💯🙏🙏

[@amorelockster1023]

Exactly it’s weird how it’s disrespectful for some but not to others

[@karla6479]

​@@pidgeoninatree I absolutely agree with you.

[@milli3377]

@@pidgeoninatree Most idols don't write their own lyrics, they also simply have to memorise them. So your explanation for Vaneysa is no real reason. And with Kaachi, sure they were hated for many things, but one of them was their pronunciation and writing of Korean. That's the same as Soyeon, but they didn't get defended like that. There is still hypocrisy in your comment.

[@jg9425]

randomly came across this video -- you've tapped into a solid content niche/intersection and it works. Congrats

[@FallenAngel23_]

Lol i always thought they said „but i kept killin it“ in maniac

[@thebduy4151]

I feel so cringe at G-Idle's english in their songs but it is iconic i have to admit that

[@hybekickgaram4830]

Iconic only for being cringe. Soyeon is a real example that just because it selfmade it does not make it good. Soyeon should just quit writing songs.

[@kryspynation]

"selfmade does not mean good" as if they didnt blow up like crazy, even after what wouldve been a career death for most other groups, with a member(soojin) kicked out

[@SamEricLlort]

Wife and Queencard are extremely bad and meaningless. Tomboy is camp untill Soyeon starts her Tiktok rap, but if you ignore Soyeon’s parts it is good. Nxde is also good except Soyeon’s crow voice intro. Soyeon is actually worst part of G idle. Her crow voice is too irritating, and her lyrics are bad.

[@makeart-notwar-6732]

@@SamEricLlortjust say you don’t like soyeon, it’s not that hard

[@andinho2204]

​@@hybekickgaram4830She's good at making songs and lyrics, she's just lazy/bad at doing it in english

[@minale3604]

As a non native english speaker, bad english in kpop bothers me when it feels lazy or dumb. Sometimes "bad english" is used for specific reasons, for exemple to shorten a line by omitting words. On the other hand, Soyeon "red five diamonds in my bag" feels like she just didn't know that adjectives are supposed to be placed in a specific order and somehow nobody told her that her line was incorrect.

[@onetwothree7627]

It's a catchy line though... It sounds better than "five red diamonds in my bag"; it has a kind of staccato beat going, it sounds nice

[@odothedoll2738]

The thing is that this happens a lot with people who’s second language is English. Even if they achieve fluency they don’t have that natural sense of what “sounds normal” like a native speaker does. Early nightwish is a good example of this. Tuomas uses very florid poetic English which clearly demonstrates fluency, hell he was an exchange student in America. Despite this the fact is that English is very difficult for native Finnish speakers and vice versa. So you get lines like “the incarnate shall be born” or “Prophesy of becoming floods” which aren’t wrong but it’s just not how you would normally phrase that idea. Another European metal example is Lord of the Rings by Blind Guardian where young Hansi doesn’t know that you aren’t supposed to pronounce the G in Gnome. Which is kind kind of adorable honestly.

[@lilymoon2829]

Viviz and linguistics, my two favourite things 😍initially I did think they were saying "This love is mania," but the more I listen to Maniac (which is a LOT!) the more I just think the bad English works so much better than good English would. Like, this love isn't just mania, a transient state of being, it is Maniac, a noun, a person, a creature; the speaker doesn't just love a person that is a maniac, they love the love itself, and the love... is Maniac. Also maniac works fine as an adjective imo. And "I can't killin' it" is just iconic! The word "can't" works so well here because the speaker literallty cannot let go of the love, it's not a question of choice or desire but ability. "I can't kill it" doesn't work with the synatx of the song. So we get the glorious, the iconic, "I can't killin' it." I feel similarly about the song Square by Baek Yerin (another fave!) in that the dodgy English just elevates the hypontic feeling of the song, it's raw and barely comprehensible, like someone whispering sweet nothings into your ear at the end of a hard day, which is excatly the theme of the song. As someone who is obsessed with etymology and grammar, I also love hearing new and creative uses of Enlish that bend the language into new shapes- language is only a tool after all, and a phrase is only wrong until it isn't.

[@KenSmith-lv7qd]

Should've been "Let's go I'M fearless, we came to take win."

[@AsaQueenAceOfBabymonster]

2:00 I thought it was let’s go “I’m fearless we came to take a win”

[@meheksharma1517]

so many rap songs don’t take proper english but it still makes sense and kinda goes with the vibes of the song correct? it’s the same in kpop. the audience understand what’s being said and that’s enough

[@katyakapustina1512]

we love a communicative function of the language enthusiast !

[@rosiebeth07]

Ateez come to mind- ‘we just going on’ and ‘maybe we’re living younger, that’s why we’re fever’ 😂

[@acerollae]

5:40 this is so fun to watch cuz i never thought that maniac would have a bad english 😭 if we read that part following the portugese logic, “this love is maniac”, works very well. maybe the lyricist had a similar thought, idk!! (just a random thought) anyways, congrats for the video!! it’s so fun to watch !! 😁😁

[@leenaf8322]

Lol fellow linguistics major kpop stan i love this

[@maryortiz5806]

6:22 i always thought it was "But i kept Killing it" 😭😭

[@melonpeach9723]

5:51 which is the whole point 😭 it doesn’t matter what language it is, it’s a bad lyric. i’m not saying the girls are bad, nor am i mocking their english, or anything of the sort, i’m literally just saying it’s a bad lyric.

[@melonpeach9723]

this love is manical is way better

[@spongepoop1661]

"This love is maniac, but I'm not killing it" would make the song even better and relatable.

[@lemonaidebey6190]

This love is mania, mania, mania, but I'm not killing it, killing it, killing it, killing it

[@LibbyLumos]

10/10 the only one that sometimes winds me up here is the VIVIZ one but you fixed it perfectly. I’m glad you did this, I was debating doing similar but I have no energy at the moment 😂 GG LOVE

[@thursdaysstar]

linguistics freshman and kpop stan here i love to see the collab 😏

[@GoldenPerception]

I would LOVE more videos like this! I find it super interesting that people thought the Babymonster one was bad English, because it seems more like an issue of people not being able to analyze a lyric and identify clever wordplay like “peek-a boo-hoo”. Those English classes so many people hated and said would never be useful in the real world would be pretty useful about now!

[@paytonhenrich7376]

it's not even half what the video is about but fun aside rapport is pronounced without the t because it comes from the french word rapporter which meants to bring back. it's also pronounced without the t because english is silly and takes from so many different languages that we don't really have a defined ruleset anymore. the first time i said the word "subtle" out loud and pronounced it "sub-tul" instead of "sut-tul" like it's supposed to be so. so all that to say "bad english" in kpop doesn't really bother me that much. and i definitely agree that there's not really such a thing as "bad english" just english that gets your point across and english that doesn't and what either of those is depends on who the listener is.

[@justwhistle]

first of all, the second lyric seems correct grammatically, so idk why it's in here. the third lyric and its sisters are completely okay with me. it's correct in structure of the sentence, if maybe a little awkward in the word choice. my main problem with gidle's bad english lyrics is that it's very clear where a word was added to an existing correct structure just to match the melody or beat or whatever. their lyrics to me are neither "nonsense english" nor "almost correct english", which is why they bother me so much. it's not intentionally in either direction, the bad english is just being used to hide the lack of vocabulary available to them. it gets even more irritating because of the increasing amounts of english in their lyrics if you were gonna actually "linguistically" analyse this, i wouldve appreciated mention of konglish as an established english dialect and how that influences kpop, vs the influences of kpop using demo songs with existing eng lyrics that are then modified and accidentally resulted in 'bad english'

[@mchjsosde]

I'd argue that 2 is not grammatically correct based on fearless being in the wrong form. You can go on fearlessly (Adverb) you cannot "go" (Verb) "fearless" (Adjective). He was correcting how fearless was used.

[@hybekickgaram4830]

Whole of Wife makes no sense. Nxde you can understand the meaning even if the lyrics have terrible grammar and are cringe. Wife is straight up alien language Soyeon made up.

[@aimi7396]

Hello ! I am French, currently studying English and my favorite subject, for my first year of uni, was definitely linguistics, which I found fascinating (yet I used to hate french grammar back in high school lol). I happened to see this video on my feed and I absolutely enjoyed it. As a kpop fan, I am not bothered by "bad English" in kpop songs I just really don't mind actually, but I found this video so interesting even just for the fun of it. I have nothing interesting to say or state, I simply wanted to share my appreciation. You explained everything very well and I am only looking forward to learn even more about English !

[@audreyleung8100]

Off the record night This late night conversation 멈추지 않아 No more time, “no more kill my vibe” This late night conversation 잠들지 않아

[@PiriyapanBEGo]

Let's go, I'm fearless, We came to take win This love is maniac, But I ain't killin it

[@deardaisy98]

I'm so sorry but no matter how much logical or artistic reasoning there is behind this bad English agenda, I find it extremely cringey. When you listen to Kiss of LIfe's Sticky, for example, I love the way the lyrics contain phrases like "Here me now" and "Here on out", with the chorus and the punchline being "How long before we fall in love?" right after the "Won't you navigate me?" verse. I just love how it flows, with structure and meaning behind it. Why can't we have more songs like that?

[@hrmdgirly]

Y'all,remember that those are songs and it have to fit an RHYTHM,ok?

[@kavwav]

love “bad english” in kpop , it kind of provides a sort of charm to the genre if you ask me . anyway on another note for the gidle section- technically you could’ve just added a comma before fearless to make it “let’s go on, fearless, we go to take win”

[@blaackberry]

Honestly, as a native English speaker, I just find it amusing. Like I know Soyeon writes a lot of G-Idles music, so it's fun to see what she's going to say and how. And it's the same in most cases. English isn't super easy so I get it. But girl fr? "Klaxon" 😭

[@chrisiscool]

wait is klaxon an english word? i have never heard it in english before! but i have heard it a lot here in europe/slovakia where we pronounce and write it just as in the gidle song

[@shotanextdoor]

​@@chrisiscoolYup! According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a Klaxon is: "A brand name for a very loud horn used, especially in the past on police cars and other emergency vehicles, as a way of warning other people."

[@blaackberry]

@chrisiscool Klaxon is a slightly dated English word. I was able to easily look it up and that is it's English spelling. I thought it was a Korean word with strange romanization because I'd never heard it nor seen it before

[@youknowwhatelseisbig484]

@@blaackberry Well then, I think it kind of makes sense. I think the point of their song is that they're "hitting the klaxon" to turn up the party and have fun. makes sense to me. Honestly I just thought it was a Korean word LMFAO.

[@vixxexo6855]

@@chrisiscoolklaxon is an english word. But knowing Soyeon I can understand why you thought it was a made up word. Since Soyeon is someone who really needs an english teacher.

[@양송-k2g]

so turns out that some of the phrases called "bad English" are actually just phrases that listeners didn't like for some reason or sounded cringe, not being badly written

[@itsmeskyeeeee]

Baekhyun - Candy; CHEMISTRY AND CINNAMON hahaha. Love it

[@adamsmoberly]

I like when people bring up, “Queencard” and get think when in the chorus or bridge, “My boob and booty is hot”, when it’s actually just from a Korean mindset. I haven’t seen it a ton, but I think Korean words don’t translate plural words very well (even Oppa Gangnam Style translates only to Older Brother Gangnam Style, so you technically have to switch it around to basically say (said in 3rd person) your man is/has Gangnam style). I even heard CL, who we all know is very fluent in English, say in a KZbin video back in the day, “watch our video”, instead of saying, “watch our videos”. So basically Soyeon (who assumed wrote Queencard’s lyrics) meant, “my boobs and booty is hot”, but if it were me and I could make the song explicit, I’d say, “my tits and ass are hot”, because boobs and booty don’t sound that great together in my opinion.

[@laramurieltzvir80]

I really like the phrase "this love is maniac" cause it conveys a strong feeling of impotence, like you can't even control the words that come out of your mouth, can't even construct basic sentences properly. You don't have your own wheel anymore. Ps. "But I cant' kill it" was right there

[@LookItsSani]

I just want to say: "Just close your lips, shut your tongue" - Mamacita, Super Junior Yeah, it could be worse, but it's still iconic

[@terrell835]

when i first listened to Maniac by Viviz, I thought they were saying “this love is mania” which made sense to me

[@JoeyDrawTunes]

Always thought it would be so much better in Super Lady if they changed the lyrics to “Let’s go on Fearless, we came to take reign” it already kind of sounds like that too

[@DavidMiller-cu2xq]

Really i dont mind until it becomes bad AAVE that for me is when problems arise

[@semiluvss]

NOT GOWON ON THE GO ON PART OMG, STAN LOONA

[@semisweethearts]

i wrote a whole long comment but it really off topic and pretentious lol. basically, i have a degree in english and i love “bad english” in k-pop because it’s fun and silly, and encapsulates my two favorite things about this language: using it in innovative and creative ways and disrespecting the idea of “proper english,” a concept i find frequently just comes around to classism and/or racism.

[@hybekickgaram4830]

There is a proper way to speak russian, chinese, korean, hindi, spanish, polish, turkish and all the other languages. Not just about english. Bad english is extremely annoying especially when it is a long verse like in G-idle songs.

[@SamEricLlort]

How is it racism? Saying POC can’t speak proper english is real racism.

[@semisweethearts]

@@SamEricLlort the idea of one “proper” way of speaking english is largely associated with wealthy white people. aave, southern and appalachian american english, cockney, and english spoken by nonnative speakers, etc are considered lesser despite adhering to their own internal rules because they’re associated with people who are either lower class, have less access to education, or are nonwhite. calling it racist is kind of a broad term on my part, but i find that there is somewhat of a racist element.

[@smileez2556]

WHY IS ENGLISH THE ONLY LANGUAGE ALLOWED TO BE DISRESPECTED?

[@mmmtastyalidzie2435]

⁠@@semisweetheartswhile i fully agree with this response, i dont think it really comes down to racism in this specific context. languages are built to be manipulated and to evolve, but some sort of rules still need to be followed! aave, patois, pidgin etc. all have consistent grammatical and tonal patterns, as they are dialects. to speakers of a ‘standard’ language it may be hard to understand, and as you said the discrimination then stems from stereotypes and ignorance - perhaps a fear of losing power? who knows, im no linguist when it comes to poor kpop lyrics, there are no rules being followed, and thats part of the problem. to effectively use a language unconventionally, you need to have a good understanding of the language to begin with. you can’t break the rules effectively if you don’t know what they are in the first place. and you’ve got to break the rules consistently if that makes sense? most bad english in kpop follows no rules, it’s just words jumbled together. not following the english or korean syntax in most cases. it loses its potential impact and doesn’t appeal to many for that reason imo

[@anabelen2k]

No worries, now kpop is using bad spanish

[@yosami_00]

As someone who has a bachelor degree in Languages, I deeply appreciate this video.

[@sapphirexclaws]

sometimes i sing "but i can't murder it, murder it, murder it"...

[@ketotic]

4:55 another thing is that "boo" is a common phrase that ghosts say when depicted in media, so this line is actually quite clever. i don't see it as bad english at all. also, another so-called bad english lyrics would be "pull up and i rip it up like ballet" from easy by lsrfm like idk what that means but cool 😭💕

[@amandacruz5442]

i think soyeon gets a bad rap for this because she is 1. frequently using konglish, which doesn't read as "good" english to native english speakers and 2. focusing a lot more on the rhythm and phrasing of her lyrics than the grammar. she intentionally drops articles and uses unusual phrasing to reinforce the melody and feel of her songs. also different pronunciation is such a fun part of listening to international music. dosie in purple kiss's "bad behavior" rhymes caviar with behavior and i love it every time

[@kori228]

"Let's go on fearless" could work if you just add a comma "Let's go on, fearless" makes the "fearless" refer back to "us", making it effectively "Let's go on without fear"

[@fimbulvetr6129]

✨💐 It’s not a bug, it’s a feature 🧚‍♂️🌸 On a more serious note, Growing up as the first generation of my house with English as a first language, my family made it paramount I was good in pronunciation, diction, the whole shabang of the English language (they wanted me to be the English speaker of the house). Getting into K-pop was certainly a fun shakeup to my colloquial framework of communication. TLDR: curse you G-Idle, you’ve made my speech Coco Loco and quite possibly Twinkle Twinkle.

[@Winnie47f]

gowon mentioned 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅 it's nice that you're helping people move away from linguistic prescriptivism :)

[@carateuryi7472]

today years old realizing it’s not “this lover’s maniac”

[@daehyukie]

Seeing the same people in the replies trying their hardest to rage bait has me giggling 🤣Y'all r sad fr

[@ButterflySUB]

Another personal favorite of mine from Loona PTT "You ain't gotta east of eden so keep it, if you gon ball with us then just sweep it" 😂

[@FluffleOW]

surely just making it 'this love is mania' solves the issue?

[@aurumkc5217]

Oh, we must going on - Ateeze Wonderland

[@mangmangmangobri]

finally i find someone mentioning the english in 'maniac' lmao like dont get me wrong its such a vibe of a song but the lyrics in english made me raise an eyebrow

[@ChloeBx]

Learning english through kpop was a fun experience haha luckily there was less AAVE and because of the funny lyrics i understood mistakes and weird sentences quickly 😂

[@chubpilo]

This was really fun too watch !!

[@lemonaidebey6190]

This love is mania- would have been perfect!!

[@lolozo214]

For the first one you could change it to "we came to take wins", same syllables so you dont have to worry about articles messing up the rhythm

[@megalunar7860]

5:10 its also a double entendre for boo as in ghost

[@tinytaeyoon]

Am I the only one who thought “this love is maniac” is personification? “The love is a maniac eating her alive” is how I’ve been interpreting this entire time. Yes, grammatically speaking it’d be “this love is A maniac” but I was taught in journalism you can omit words that pertain no meaning due to space constraints. A lot of songs do that and I’m pretty sure it’s a thing with lyrics writing as well. If you count these as wrong grammar most songs have grammar errors, even for pop songs! Believe me, there are lots but people are only picking on Kpop songs. So with how I interpreted that part is in fact correct. It wouldn’t hurt to add the “a” there to me though. The part that’s wrong is the next part. But I think it’s just lack of context + space constraints that made it sound wrong. I bet “Maniac” is written by English speakers. If you check the writing credits there are a lot of foreigners and notice how that part has no Korean words? That means it was untouched when the Korean lyricists translated and made the Korean lyrics. It sounds a little funny but it makes sense. I agree with your take on the first and second one. I don’t think Soyeon’s sounds particularly wrong. “Let’s go on, fearless// we came to take (the) win” is how I took it. Again, “the” can be omitted with journalism. It’s the comma not separating the fearless. For “Sheesh” I think the lyrics sound really cool with the way you interpreted! I didn’t really think about it before but dissecting it it’s really cool! That has to be written by an English speaker too. I checked the credits and I’m not sure, but even if it sounds funny that was prob intentional. So my take from this vid is people are being too much. I feel like people don’t know about the journalism thing that I mentioned, that a lot of songs are originally written by English speakers, and because of lack of context people just decided to say it’s weird. I think it’d make more sense with the context. People really need to stop nitpicking over everything. Sounds funny but if it makes sense then lyrically there’s no problem. I totally get it with “Tomboy”’s lyrics bc it just made no sense (or again lack of context) but these are a different story 💀

[@selenersavage]

maniac just means crazy in this context methinks - this love is crazy, this love is insane vibes

[@selenersavage]

other line is crazy tho lmfao shakespeare could never !!!