READ A 16YO'S LYRIC ANALYSIS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS!!

(COMMENT IF U SEE THIS PLS) (SKIM THROUGH BUT DONT IGNORE PLS 🤕🤬)

me reducing myself to my age when there is so much more to me (fluttershy ref) (i cant stand fluttershy fans i hate mentioning her at all bcs of them)

I think what I wrote is chunky but amateur. I think I need to word my things better or maybe it's perfectly comprehensible. Even if it's comprehensible I want it to be more expert sounding? I have a clear narrating voice of myself. What do you think? I'm just writing everything that comes to mind rather than ensuring it's top-academic. But I want to get to that level maybe one day. If it helps me be a better thinker and writer. So do you think that is the case? It's probably nuanced I can think of lots of feedback but I'm not entirely sure which applies to me\

Context/My Personal Stuff: 

This song is "not cute anymore" by illit (https://youtu.be/x_RYZsOfpKY?si=qPXKwxhBllEByikG). I wrote this analysis back when the song first came out. I have been a fan for illit since their song "Magnetic" but this was the first time I properly anticipated a song from them and checked on them often. Before I wouldn't voluntarily search for new songs of theirs and just let them come to my feed. But this one instance I did, so I'm aware the hype I initially felt made me biased to find the song overrated. With foresight now, I still think the song is overrated, but I no longer find it as shallow as before. Read on to find out.

I decided I should make this a blog. Firstly to make myself more productive and lead me to write more things. It would make my time more meaningful than my average doomscrolling on YouTube/TikTok. The idea of blogs are so fun though. Can just write anything... and I already write a lot to myself in Google Docs/Notes App so why not share it? Luckily I had an appropriate chunk of writing to share- my lyrical analysis of "not cute anymore"!! Childish and fun sounding, right.

The writing beginning in a different font is the analysis I wrote back then! I'll share my afterthoughts briefly after all that. Oh and I didn't analyse ALL the lyrics I got lazy lol but it is still a LOT of yap to sit through. Not completely formal literally just my thoughts. It does have some sort of methodical thinking so it's not hard to follow dw. I didn't let myself get influenced by other people's opinions. I had to rack my brains and think of it myself before searching it up. Admittedly, I did read a few comments after I got to maybe like the conclusion. But I still stuck with my opinion. Then wayyyy after making this I began to see more analysis or just comments about this song. So my opinion is probably slightly influenced from there. I saw people say how it's about growing up and my analysis from the past actually correlated that so yay maybe I got the analysis partially alright!

If you guys have thoughts, agreements, inferences, ideas to improve, let me know. Even if you think you're not an expert or you don't know this song like your thoughts are still thoughts so lmk! Even if you are deciding to skim through and not read it all just give me a hi if you see this because it would be slightly embarrassing for nobody to reply to such a longgg post. It's like haha this is dumb and useless why did I do this? Okay but even if nobody reads or replies I will keep this up because like I need to share this to the world (spacehey.com...). I hate people skewing the meaning of the songggg (if I'm right) and the chance for someone one day to see this and get me will be cool. I just wanna keep some treasures of my long efforts up too and yeah. Bro I think I'm also partly thinking of the worst being ignored or getting hate because of how common it is on bigger social media as well. Wow this reveal a lot about me. U can even analyse my analysis and show what it reveals about my mindset...

Oh I can't be bothered to look for it but I think I mentioned that I didn't analyse all the lyrics because I got lazy and already wrote a lot (maybe it doesn't count that I wrote a lot because it's cluttered? idk) I can't remember if I wrote it or not well I can't find it and this is the last thing I'm typing before I go to sleep so sorry for being all over the place but also not sorry because this adds flavour and my own human touch yea way to justify it.

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START OF ANALYSIS:

My initial thoughts:

Mediocre, plain, pretty, comforting.

Initial rating: 3 stars

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Afterthoughts: 

Unique, subtle, low contrast, catchy.

Rating after: 3.5 stars

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Introductory thoughts: I feel like the lyrics were too shallow. I already had expectations/thoughts about what the song was going to be like. The teasers hyped it up a lot and the message was overall that they are more than being cute. However, I found the actual lyrics of the song pretty shallow than what I expected. It felt random. Still, I was determined there is some kind of meaning- after all everything is intentionally made. It was just subtle. It's nice as it can be a surface level catchy and comforting song. But I really don’t like things unless I connect it to my inner world so I analysed it for myself. Now I see there can be somewhat of a meaning!!!

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Rough Lyrical analysis:

My bag's so brave

No keyring, no hand mirror

So no accessories to the bag make it “brave” suggesting it’s strong of them to go out of the norm of decorating their bag. The mention of not having these accessories imply that they are meant to have them. But that isn’t actually a brave thing. So it’s just irony. The song is about being more than just cute so they are trying to portray they are different than being cute even though this is rather insignificant and not much different at all. That’s my fault for assuming that not cute means the extreme opposite. Instead, the loss of accessories can imply they are in a more professional setting which suggests the themes of growing up and changing. This makes the song on a subtle and realistic scale instead. Brave implies it is readying, confident, and courageous. The bag personified, in reality, reflects how the person who is carrying the bag feels. This is as clothes make a person and the professional environment is intertwined with that. Like how we are told in school that dressing smart will make you smart and ready, this gives the same vibes as that.

Oh, rock will never die

Linda, Linda lullaby

This seems like a more slightly obvious portrayal of not being cute. Rock is obviously associated with harshness and strength and power. Quite an extreme to “cute”. Contrasting from the subtle appearing lyrics above imo. Still, rock is more acceptable today, it's just a bit unexpected. I think they wanted to make people taken aback given that they are known for being soft and cute. The fact that it is basically at the start of the song means they have to choose an argument for not being cute foremost to make their point strong and lean into the stark contrast to cuteness. It’s still not that prominent/stark but again this shows a realistic scale and not a whole jojo siwa blowout.

Limited edition Kongguksu

Matcha's got nothing on this

Again, a slightly more obvious portrayal of being different. Matcha in the media today is trendy and by preferring something else, something which is traditional for them as well, shows they have their own character and interests compared to other people. Reminds me of those people who are trying to be niche and different on purpose but some people can just genuinely have a different like than what is trending which is what this song could be trying to convey. It does sound like a kinda cringy buzzword to me though (maybe I’m just conditioned from TikTok humour). Maybe they’re ironically trying to fit in.

I'm too shy for all these

Jelly shoes on my date

Shy is closer to cuteness in my mind, which confused me at the start. Again “not cute” doesn’t necessarily mean the exact opposite. Shyness can be humiliating and quiet. Cute can be confident and beautiful. So there can be some parallel and shyness does not have to relate to cuteness. OR, the song is showing how they can still be vulnerable. “Jelly shoes” I thought was just weirdcore and something they were using to be aesthetic but it can also have a meaning too. Jelly shoes I normally associate with children wearing, quite feminine and princessy vibes (because of those clear, sparkly, little shoes which have a disney princess on it). Maybe they are trying to show their youth still influencing them today for such a mature thing like a date but still showing a part of them to be seen- but not too bold. I would say it’s still kinda subtle of them to wear those shoes because it’s not like a man will care to analyse. That’s how they are shy because they are trying to be subtle. They were fishing the jelly shoes from a deep body of water- it was a pond or a river. To me that feels like they are fetching something out of their subconscious or mind or something. It is a solitary place, their own space which the shoes were fetched out of. So overall they are showing that it came from themselves. Jelly shoes are cute though. And the jelly shoes don’t necessarily have to be childhood related. Though the choice of wearing jelly shoes still came from themself displaying they have their own preferences. I wonder how this lyric fits into not being cute. Maybe before the chorus they just want to show an instance of them being cute before they decide to not be cute anymore. 

Conclusion:

Overall, either this song is pretty mid or I’m just missing a unique and beautiful interpretation of the song causing me to find it basic. I still like it but it feels like they are still trying to fit into the cute regime and they can’t let the perfection and image they have been associated with slip off. They want to be seen as something more than cute but still hold up the identity. That’s not a bad thing to me btw. Maybe they like appearing cute but don’t want it to be the only thing. So, whilst being cute they show things about them that aren't necessarily cute. Or if they were genuinely trying not to be cute it wasn’t that successful because they were just a different form of cute. Cuteness is subjective in a way I guess.

I think the truth is that they were simply trying to just show that they aren’t cute by listing things they prefer that are different to the norm because it makes them n0t like th3 otherzzz. If that’s the case that’s kinda boring. 

The theme is pretty basic and that’s fine it’s just the music itself is not my type of thing is all. I can’t find myself enjoying the lyrics itself though I do like my interpretation. I wanted to hear something new rather than “yea im so different than u actually think uh huh” and it's just basic preferences. They don’t need to have crazy preferences- I’m just saying that I felt there could have been more stuff they could say for that theme. 

My expectations were raised from the teasers and I painted an image and thought of more complex (I’m probably a little biased and it was just personal thing I would have liked rather than the fact that my ideas were more complex) things that they could do with the song. 

I really like the message too and I feel like it applies for girls/women especially where they are reduced to just being one personality rather than a complex human being. This song doesn’t show much complexity which I didn’t like. Finding out the song is likely meant to be subtle (+ my own analysis for what this song can be a part of in the wider world) has made me warm up to it. They could’ve just wanted to show it subtly because they didn’t want to take down what they are portrayed as, as it would ruin their image. I don’t mean in a k-pop or vanity way, I mean the fact that people in general can’t display their major noncuteness (flaws, different preferences, ) out of dignity and because of a judgemental society. They chose random/general things so that it would be more of a song to vibe to without thinking too deeply, subsequently conveying that message. It can also just be to maximise people liking the song for profits too ofc cause its general and a lot of people will like this kind of song.

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My Afterthoughts:

So I don't think that it's THAT bad. I think I'm just highly critical cause my standards were so high from their song Cherish as well as my bold expectations/assumptions. Like I first guessed that it was going to be about how as a kid some girls (i didnt tho somehow) had a phase of hating pink because of the weak, delicate connotations around it so the song "not cute anymore" would be a voice for people hating being a cute girly and just generally contributes to effects of patriarchy. I think now that the song is about the pressure of growing up and they're trying to be mature but it's still childish and cute because they are forcing and pretending to be all grown up when they don't feel automatically mature yet. Some people said the song is about being a cute girl instead of a hot girl which I disagree with. You can use the lyrics for that in like edits/animations but the actual meaning of the song isn't that imo. Also idk how much analysis illit members do themselves or if only the lyric writers really thought about it. I saw one of illit's instagram status was sharing someone talking about not cute anymore (or maybe it was dancing or something else idk my memory is fuzzy) and how they interpreted the meaning of the song a certain way. I was dumbfounded because their song lyrics literally didn't correlate to the meaning they said (which i think it was about being tired of being cute). But whatever it's their song and they choose the meaning I guess. If it really aimed to do that then their song is kind of shallow to me or perhaps they're just posting random fan made stuff or they don't really deep their lyrics too much because they're just the singers and dancers. I'm genuinely so tired yo I feel like I could've wrote more but I'm spending too much time on this and I'll literally never finish it if I decide to go back later.

TYSM IF U READ N COMMENT... OR DONT :( imagine this is my niche lost media internet archived thing gosh I regurgitate so many buzzwords like even the word buzzword

okby3