Korean rapper Zico recently had a comeback with his new single Any Song. This song recently received a perfect all-kill (being number 1 on all primary music sites) and even had many Korean celebrities participating in a challenge. I first became associated with Zico when I found the K-pop group Block B; they are known best for going against the norm and shocking the public. Zico’s music also challenges the norm, bringing up topics that many people shy away from.
Zico’s recent song talks about how everyone these days seem down, and it seems to have become ‘the trend.’ As we get into the chorus, we see that he’s talking about party culture and how we tend to try to lose our self in music and substances to forget about our everyday life. At the same time, we can ‘live as nobody for a moment,’ and forget about our troubles. We see the truth in Zico’s lines when he says, ‘I want to laugh my butt off today,’ but instead he chose to tell his friend to buy more alcohol. People often find it easier to lie about how they feel to look cool rather than being truthful and actually enjoying themselves. The music video backs up these ideas. In the beginning, we see Zico inviting his friends’ round for his birthday – however they all end up getting drunk and passing out, leaving Zico to dance to his own music and enjoy himself. By the time all of his friends remember that it’s his birthday he decides to run out of his home and enjoy it by himself.
The relationship between the music and the lyrics makes the piece easy to listen to. The piano in the song gives me Jazz vibes along with the saxophone that comes in later; this goes really well with the beat of the percussion going throughout the song. The percussion and some of the piano sections remind me of Latin music. It is definitely a song to bop your head to if not forcing you to dance along.
This song has a lot of different meanings for me. Personally, it reminds me of a lot of the people I see in university; they end up blocking out a lot of their responsibilities with clubbing. But this is only a temporary solution to the downs in life. It reminds me of the times I’ve used music to distract myself from my own problems. Music is an escape for a lot of people and helps them through their dark moments, although some use it as a catalyst to force emotions through. The song may have a different way to relate to everyone, but the music is really catchy and makes me want to dance. The song feels a little ironic as I can see it being played at parties and clubs when the music video shows his own party going wrong.
All lyric translations are from the Official music video.
https://music.apple.com/gb/album/any-song-single/1494673334
https://instagram.com/woozico0914?igshid=7x9doxx07ci0