🥳🥳Happy Birthday, Sogumm! 생일 축하합니다! 🥳🥳.
Today is International Women’s Day and Sogumm’s birthday. 소금비 (Salt Rain) is the perfect song to celebrate both events! It was released less than a week ago, but l listened to it only yesterday. I didn’t know who Keumbee (임금비) was before last night. Her voice is a pleasant discovery.
Like A Mother’s Lullaby
The song makes me think about my mom. I liked it so much that I sent a link to my bestie J, so he could tell me how he feels when he listens to it. I was curious because it’s the kind of music that brings out different emotions depending on the listener. To my surprise, his answer was: “It’s a song I don’t pay attention to, a song that I can play in the background when I’m busy doing other things. Kinda like I do with relaxing music.” Even though he didn’t particularly enjoy the song, it still had a relaxing effect on him.
As I said earlier, the song reminds me of my mother. Not just lyrically, but also in the way Sogumm (소금) and Keumbee (임금비) sing it. Their voices are so sweet and blend so well. I feel like I’m listening to a lullaby. At the beginning of the music video, the animated character walks towards the shrine because he’s attracted by Keumbee’s voice (he pricks his ears up).
Moreover, Sogumm’s outfit is made of pillows. Lullabies make us feel safe. The feeling of being protected relaxes us and makes it easier to fall asleep (yeah, kinda like “relaxing music”).
Sogumm (소금), verse 1:
그 무서운 꿈 내게 줄래
아이처럼 곤히 잠든 그댈 볼 때
영원했으면 해
나 그대 보듬어 줄게
내 옆 곤히 잠든 그댈 볼 때
English translation
Give me that nightmare
Watching you sleeping like a baby
Made me wish it lasts forever
I will take care of you
Watching you sleeping next to me
Keumbee (임금비), chorus:
Salty raindrops keep
Falling on your head
영원히 그치지 않는 소금비
무럭무럭 자라는 my baby
English translation
Salty raindrops keep
Falling on your head
Salty raindrops keep falling over and over
Grow up, grow up well, my baby
The synth in the intro is used to sound like children’s music. This reinforces the idea that the song is about a mother’s love for her child.
An Unconditional Love
In the outro, they sing:
사랑이라는 말 안 할래
아빠도 날 사랑한대
더 좋은 곳으로 떠나도
늘 여기서 기다릴게
사랑이라곤 말 안 할래
English translation:
I won’t say the word love
Even daddy said he loves me
Even if you go to a better place
I’ll always wait for you here
I won’t say the word love
I don’t think this is still the mother’s point of view. I think it’s the voice of a child who has become an adult. She realizes all the love her mother gave her, all the sacrifices she made for her. To me, “I won’t say love” (English translation of 사랑이라곤 말 안 할래) means that the bond between a mother and her child goes beyond the notion of love. There’s something almost divine about it. Hence the spirituality of the music video.
It reminds me of the figure of the Madonna holding baby Jesus. The pink statue is represented holding in its arms a crystal ball, which symbolizes a drop of sacred rain. And the drop of sacred rain may symbolize tears and the water that help us grow. To me, these two interpretations represent what a mother may feel when she sees her child grow up. She’s happy but at the same times it hurts because she has to let him go.
Sogumm (소금) plays the deity (or the saint) that we have seen represented on the top of the building. The light and shadow effects and her white outfit accentuate her sacredness. Moreover, her “hat” looks like a halo.
As for Keumbee (임금비), she looks like a Mother Superior. She’s the one in charge, and her blue outfit is different from the other disciples. She has a privileged bond with the divinity because she receives the order directly from her.
A mother never stops giving. She gives, and gives, and gives always and no matter what. This is the general feeling of the verse:
내 운을 가져다 써도 돼
덤으로 하나 더 쥐여 줄게
English translation:
You can take my luck and use it all
I’ll give you one more as a bonus
그 무서운 꿈 내게 줄래 [Give me that nightmare you had]
나 그대 보듬어 줄게 [I’ll take care of you]
All children take. Of course, good children also give back 😉, but we all take that’s for sure.
Survival Manual
The sacred manual is called the “survival manual”. I think it’s all about giving love and teaching their children everything they need to survive this world. I was raised only by my mother, and that’s exactly what she did (and still does). There are women of all ages (young, old), but it’s interesting to see a little girl (who’s by definition also a child).
I think the tools and skills a mother teaches her child are represented by the pink sheets, which will probably be used when the giant baby comes out of the crystal ball. The crystal ball protects the baby from a hostile world.
I wonder why they chose laundry as a survival manual. It’s interesting because the women also remind me of a “musuri”. During the Joseon Dynasty, a musuri (무수리) was a working women without any rank in charge of many chores such as fetching water from well. So to me, it means that mothers tend to treat their child as someone superior to them. Not in a bad way. In the music video, the baby seems to be a deity about to be born. A mother’s love for her child is unconditional. I know that it’s not always the case. I’m talking about this song (and me because I’m lucky to have my mom 😃).
Conclusion
What a wonderful song! What a beautiful music video! Happy International Women’s Day 🥳! Please tell me what you think about the song and the music video in the comments.
KOMIYE 