Everyday, Ordinary Love | “The Little Things” by Stray Kids’ I.N
Can Han Jisung just write a K Drama already? Seriously. I need this whole thing played out in a ten episode arch with perfect lighting and dramatic dialogue. I would…
Can Han Jisung just write a K Drama already? Seriously. I need this whole thing played out in a ten episode arch with perfect lighting and dramatic dialogue.
I would like to give a shoutout to Stayville for the immediate supply of context in the form of Han and I.N’s 2 Kids Room three months ago and I.N’s bubble messages after the song dropped this morning. We are all so in love with these boys, and I love that for us.
The context: In their 2KR, I.N told Han that when he sings songs that Han writes, his vocal color comes out really well. Almost immediately, Han told him about this song, said that he’d been trying to figure out when to release it, and told I.N he should be the one to sing it. I.N sent a few messages this morning, asking if we’d heard the song and saying that it was a birthday gift from Han. He wanted to release it on his birthday, but after recording it the first time, he didn’t like how it turned out. So they rerecorded and released it today.
Again, I think it’s so sweet that they give each other songs. 3RACHA’s just out here handing out songs like candy. And it’s so obvious that music is their love language. And what a beautiful gift to give!
Note: The lyrics below are from the captions of the YouTube video. I tried to space out the lines as close to the spacing that they have for the Korean lyrics in the video description, but I did make a couple formatting changes to better fit the way I do my annotations.
Couple disclaimers: I’m a pretty new STAY, and I don’t speak Korean. I am using my limited SKZ knowledge and the English translations from Genius. These are my own thoughts based on those translations and not meant to be a definitive interpretation.
Here is the audio for you to listen to as you read the lyrics.
The beauty of this song is in its normal-ness. That will be my broken record today. It’s so beautifully ordinary. And that is the whole point.
The Korean title (and last line of the song) is 행복 뭐 별거 없네요. It literally translates to “happiness is nothing special.” Translated in the video captions as “happiness comes from the little things.”
The majority of this song is talking about everyday things – waking up together in the morning, taking a walk, pointing out shapes in clouds, talking meaninglessly, thinking of the future. These are the things that make up a relationship, make up a life together. Big romantic gestures are important and grand, but they don’t come around often. It’s the little things that fill up your days.
Another reminder from Stayville was from Han and Seungmin’s 2KR. I highly recommend a rewatch, of course, but here’s a transcript of this particular part of the conversation:
Han: When I was really struggling, I asked you so many times “What’s the joy in your life?”
Seungmin: Oh yeah. You asked that a lot.
Han: “What’s the joy in your life? What makes you happy?”
Seungmin: I even remember your expression.
Han: Back then it was really – from my perspective, honestly, I didn’t really get why that would be happiness. A lot of their answers didn’t make sense to me. But now I realize “Ah, these things really are happiness.”
Seungmin: Didn’t I say something small back then, not anything big?
Han: You just sometimes go out with Jeongin for blood sausage soup. It’s such a normal thing. It’s so everyday and small. But I never did those small things.
I love that idea that this mindset shift is reflected in this song. This is, once again, pretty obviously about romantic relationships, but the message applies to platonic and familial relationships, too. Some of the happiest memories of my friends and family are us just talking, watching a movie, eating dinner. I mentioned in my post about “Raining Stars” that my best friend and I are long distance. It is literally the littlest of things that makes our friendship last – texting random thoughts, sending IG reels back and forth, surprise packages and letters, Maro Polos about stupid things, scheduled (and unscheduled) video calls to catch up each other’s lives, K-Pop album drop listening parties over FaceTime. It’s all important.
And speaking of “Raining Stars,” this totally sounds like a sequel to me. I mean…seriously, a K Drama waiting to happen. Person A watches a meteor shower alone, thinking of Person B and writes a song because they’re not together at the time. The next morning, they wake up with Person B and wax poetic about the mundanity of their life together while once again saying things like “You moved a constellation into my heart” and “The night sky studded with stars above, I’ll keep them shining all night for you.”
This is all speculation, of course. Maybe Han will post some more backstory for us on Bubble soon. Maybe he won’t. He uses analogies about and imagery around space all the time in his songs. It’s entirely possible these two songs have nothing to do with each other or are way less connected than they sound in my head, but it is so beautiful to think about.
At the end of the day, I’m going to marvel at Han’s brilliance as a lyricist and songwriter. The whole vibe is beautifully curated. It even sounds like every other love song, you know? In a good way! It’s soft and mellow and sounds like something I would hear on a Benson Boone or Ed Sheeran album. I was instantly reminded of One Direction’s “Little Things” that has a similar theme. There’s also a song I love from a smaller band named Tors called “Colour in the Ordinary” that fits this vibe super well, too.
And I.N has truly captured the awe and devotion and seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. He is 100% right that his vocal color comes out with Han’s songs. He has a very unique sound and it fits this mood so wonderfully. He’s soft at some parts and so powerful at others. I could listen to him sing this all day. Is it too late to request he sing this at the fanmeeting at the end of the month?
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