On March 11, the Constitutional Court of South Korea upheld the impeachment of the scandal-plagued president and Park Geun-hye became the first president in the nation’s history to be removed from office.
While countless social changes including rapidly rising KOSPI ensue from her ouster, the local music charts is also affected by it. As soon as the impeachment was announced, following songs have placed their titles on charts.
1. SNSD – “Into the New World”
K-pop girl group SNSD’s first debut single, “Into the New World,” was the first to return to music charts. The song first came back to the center of attention as students at Ewha Womans University sang it while protesting against Park’s presidency and Chung Yoo-ra’s unfair admission to the school (Chung Yoo-ra is a daughter of Choi Soon-sil who is at the center of the presidential scandal).
“Don’t wait for the special miracle. Rough roads in front of us are the unknown future and wall. It won’t change, we can’t give up.”
2. Girl’s Day – “Female President”
Another girl group’s song to enter the chart is “Female President” by Girl’s Day. Released in the year when Park started the presidential term, the song shocked people with its lyrics: “We have a female president now so why not? Does a girl get arrested if she kisses first?”
People are revisiting the song and rewriting its lyrics as following: “We have a female president get arrested.” Interesting.
3. Cold Play – “Viva La Vida”
Cold Play’s 2008 song, “Viva La Vida” is also gaining much popularity again, thanks to its much allusive lyrics based on historical and Christian references.
“One minute I held the key. Next the walls were closed on me. And I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand.” Yes, the lyrics certainly remind Koreans of someone.
By Heewon Kim
