Goodbye winter (see what I did there?), hello spring, and what better way to start the season than a bubbly song about love? Park Moonchi‘s latest release, “What a Wonderful Word” featuring Day6’s Young K does exactly that–it’s fun, endearing, sweet and sentimental, immediately lifting up the listener’s mood upon listening to it.
Park Moonchi is an indie singer/songwriter signed under Magic Strawberry Sound, the same company as 10cm and Sunwoojunga. Despite having debuted in 2017, her rise in popularity began fairly recently, when she appeared on MBC‘s “Hangout With Yoo”, where she did an 80s remix of BTS‘s “Boy With Luv”. She has also written songs for various artists, such as Kang Daniel‘s “Interview” and Suho‘s “Let’s Love“.
In “What a Wonderful Word”, she expresses the idea of loving someone to the point where not even the most beautiful word could ever express how she truly feels for her loved ones. Throughout the entire song, she likens her feelings to the creation of sentences, as well as what sentences consist of. One example would be the line, “In the sentence, suffocating world, you’re the space”, where it is implied that the loved one provides her with a space to breathe and relax in a world that is constantly moving and never slows down.
These metaphors are sweet and loving, and they bring a new meaning to the phrase “rendered me speechless”, for the persona is constantly looking for a way to string various words to form a cohesive sentence about how they feel towards their loved one, but usually end up dissatisfied with the final product, for it does not fully encompass what they want to say.
Can’t express with the few
Words in front of my eyes
What a wonderful word
I tried to combine some words that shine
Can’t be complete even with
The most beautiful word baby
The lyrics are absolutely romantic, one that causes the listener’s heart to swell, and lets us feel that fluttery feeling in our stomach. Adding to those feelings, the upbeat and happy melody paired with the bright and colourful visuals of the MV give the listener a burst of serotonin upon watching.
Shining even in the sorrowful darkness
The streetlights remind me of you
Light up the street
Where the fireflies shine on us
And the scent of grass fills the air
The MV starts off with Young K and Moonchi in different parts of the same warehouse. Young K slowly makes his way through the warehouse for the first half of the MV, while Moonchi stays in a small room until Young K finally finds her. The colours of the warehouse are more subtle and muted as compared to the room, for the warehouse mainly consists of greens and greys. Furthermore, Young K is dressed in standard black and white.
On the other hand, the colours of the room are warmer toned, with various shades of orange and red that are complemented by the greens and purples in Moonchi’s outfit and accessories. Despite this contrast, the MV never loses its vibrancy, for both areas are brightly lit, and the uplifting track definitely adds to the mood.
Although the lyrics seem to point towards a romantic love interest, Moonchi takes this opportunity to express her love towards her family, as well as herself. In the MV, we see two pictures, one of her family, and a picture of herself when she was younger, which she proudly shows off to the camera towards the end of the MV. Upon the picture of Moonchi’s younger self, as well as how fondly she looks at it, I immediately felt sentimental–”What a Wonderful Word” suddenly became a delicate love letter to oneself.
Although it may seem self-absorbed and narcissistic to apply the lyrics to loving oneself, I firmly believe that everyone should have the chance to feel that way every once in awhile. The feeling of knowing that we are perfect in our own way, and that we are all beautiful beings who do our best to bring about positive change into this world.
“What a Wonderful Word” is filled with so much joy and love that it is near impossible to not smile when watching the MV. It is playful and fun, and seeing both Young K and Moonchi having a good time and being silly on camera enables viewers to feel more at ease and bop along to the beat of the song. What a wonderful song to welcome spring, don’t you agree?
(YouTube [1] [2]; Images and Lyrics via Magic Strawberry Sound)
