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After two viewings of Red Queen, Torsie had More Thoughts™ and one very important question: what happens when you change the translation of a song? 가자!


The Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/18/k-pop-under-scrutiny-over-toxic-fandom-after-death-of-sulli

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Jessica Thirlwall

Hi Torsie! Some added details: The most trusted translation for all things IU is IUTeamStarcandy. This is their translation for IU's Red Queen. (https://iu-jjang.tumblr.com/post/131821254677) In their translation, the person crying was "someone", which is gender neutral. They also wrote "stroke" instead of "patted" :) Also, IU wrote a new bridge (rap) for Red Queen during her Love Poem concert. “Fill up a black martini Fill up the glass for the queen without pity Made her eyes so thinly bloodshot Will she smile at the world one more time? Hey, don't bother queen no more Please don't wake queen up no more Red queen's going back go on My queen keep it up go on Fill up a black martini Fill up the glass for the queen without pity A bouquet of flowers in the dark I give her lullaby bye bye bye Bye, my majesty”

mool

Very interesting podcast Torsie! As someone who speaks Korean, I would say that the second translation from 1theK is much more accurate. Yes, IU does not specify the gender of the person and does not really specify the reason why the Queen turned bad just like what you said. This is what IU does very often especially with songs that talks about social concepts/controversies. She would have a specific event or idea that motivates her to write a song but she doesn’t actually make it so obvious. This is why the Korean public loves her music because while she is being very personal, she also invites everyone to relate with her music. My personal opinion is that although the second translation is almost a perfect translation to IU’s final lyrics, her first draft would have been similar to the first translation.

mool

Another thing is that IU never directly said that the Red Queen represented Sulli. What she actually said was that she went to Sulli’s house one day, saw Sulli’s painting there, and thought “wow this painting fits perfectly to one of my songs”. So we can only assume that the protagonist of this song is Sulli since IU has not directly said that herself (although this assumption is made with an absolute confidence). I always think that IU is such a bold and brave artist but also a very clever person since she knows when and how to avoid “scandals” by being vague when she needs to in this conservative Korean society

Anonymous

Omg I love this so much, Tors! I wish we could have a lengthy discussion or analysis like this often in the fandom

tors1e

Thank you! I don't know how we can go without having these discussions - I might explode if we don't!!

tors1e

Hi Jessica! So, I thought I wrote back - but apparently I did that in my head only. LOL! Sorry! I'll put it in words now: thaaaank you for that translation source, that's amazing! I shall use them from now on :) "Stroke" eh? Well, that changes it all over again! *To the tune of What A Difference A Day Makes* ~What a difference a translation makes~ Also, oof, that rap is glorious. I think we might just have to deal with low-quality Love, Poem and watch it anyway, because I'm going to need to hear that.

Anonymous

Ahhh. I just love your podcast Torsie!