I started out listening to Korean music in 2008, when i was just 11 years old and was a huge Click 5/Simple Plan fan, but by chance i came across Korean music and i’m not sure why but my interest and taste has stuck since then (and to clarify, my first encounter was not some viral ‘Kpop’ song haha).
My taste in music has always been rather varied but my genre of music has always remained rather constant. Over the years, I’ve ventured into old Korean songs from the 70s, pop music, indie music, rap music etc. and i realised how much the Korean music industry has to offer and how many artists are truly the hidden gems of the Korean music industry.
I’ve always enjoyed introducing my friends to songs that i enjoy(ed) listening to and the joy of them replying ‘hey i like this too!’ is a really indescribable feeling. One night i thought about all of this and how i can introduce songs to more people and that’s how ‘haebaragi’ came into formation!
I’m not a music expert and my taste and reviews of the music i choose are obviously very biased but i love the fact that someone else would feel the same way i did when i first heard the song as well and that they are able to understand songs on a deeper level and that’s enough for me.
So hopefully ‘haebaragi’ blooms into a beautiful flower, flourishing for as long as i can find good music to share with everyone.
P.S. I’m not a Korean, nor am i a native Korean speaker, nor do i live in South Korea! Everyday I am still learning this language and thus my translations may be imperfect but I can assure you that i try to get the translations to be as close to the original Korean lyrics as possible, while taking into account English context (as one cannot always translate word-for-word given different expressions used in different languages).
P.P.S. I reserve the right to not translate a song request if the work is too time-consuming or if it is out of my capabilities etc. Afterall, I am doing this as a hobby as well. Hope you understand!
(Update) I realise i didn’t explain why i chose this name over here and only mentioned it on my IG. 해바라기 or Hae-ba-ra-gi is actually the word for sunflower 🌻. But if you break down the word, it can literally be translated as ‘to look at the sun‘ ☀️. 해 (hae) means sun, and 바라기 (ba-ra-gi) means to look. This is also the title of a song with the same name by a singer Zitten (짙은) and i absolutely love that song and this ‘double meaning’ to the name so i chose it for this project. 🙂 Just thought i’d add it here for those who may be curious!
HAEBARAGIS 