PREP is a British quartet, much loved by Koreans who have affinity for the genre 'city pop.' (As far as I've figured out, they visited Korea to give a gig as early as back in 2018.) Their eponymous album, PREP, provides moments of interest to me too, although sometimes (to be honest, many times), say, when it comes to the first track, it turns out to be lackluster. But in general the album can be refreshing enough, I think, for those who suffer from a sense of entrapment in everyday life. For instance, sepaking of the track named "Years Don't Lie," it gives urban life, which is on the verge of being mechanically repetitive, a pigment of imagination. Note the entangled ways in which the video below depicts love in terms of sexuality. Of the three cases, as they all cross the traditional divide of norms either sexually or racially, none straightforwardly conforms to the rule of heterosexuality; even the couple who finally settles in the sphere of heterosexuality goes through a twist of queerness. Norms are no longer in place. That is how imagination makes difference in the monotony of the urban machine.
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I heard that song you like / playing out of someone's phone / just like the night / you said you couldn't face him on your own / it's not as simple as it used to be / we're not those people that / could jump in without thinking / but you're here tonight / there's no need to explain / when we both know / the years don't lie / after all this time / all those hidden hopes / and horoscopes / putting us right here tonight / right here tonight / it's not too late tonight / to load a car and drive back home / you take your time / got pretty good at living on my own / never give up, never give up on us / those big black clouds in the distance / keep on raining down (keep radining down) / but i don't mind / i'm in clear blue skies when I / look at what's here right now.
네가 좋아하는 노래가 누군가의 폰에서 흘러나오는 것을 들었어. 딱 그날 밤 같았어. 그날 넌 혼자서는 그를 볼 수 없다고 했어. 늘 그랬던 것 같이 단순하지가 않아. 우린 생각 없이 뛰어드는 그런 사람이 아니거든. 그런데 오늘밤 넌 여기에 있어. 왜 그런지 설명할 필요조차 없어, 그 모든 시간을 보낸 후에는 세월이 거짓말을 하지 않는다는 것을 우리 모두가 알게 된다면 말이지. 그 모든 비밀스러운 희망과 별자리가 알려주는 미래가 오늘밤 우리를 여기에 함께 하게 한 거야. 차에 짐 싣고 집에 돌아가기에 아직 늦지 않았어. 천천히 생각해도 돼. 나, 혼자 사는 것도 깨나 잘하게 됐거든. (하지만) 포기하지는 마, 절대 포기하지 마, 우리의 관계를. 저 멀리 보이는 거대한 검은 구름이 계속 비를 뿌리지만 난 상관 없어. 지금 여기 내 앞에 있는 널 보는 난 화창하게 푸른 하늘 속에 있으니까. *
* My translation
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PREP (2020)
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