Do Me A Favour (the orchard ft. Kim Daniel): Expressing Love through the Underlying

It’s been a while since I wrote on this blog, so to keep it alive, I decided to make a short post about a pretty old song that I often come back to – ‘Do Me A Favour’ by The Orchard (Jin Dongwook) and Kim Daniel. I was a little nervous about writing this post – my translation of the lyrics and the associated analysis involve a lot of intricacies related to the Korean language, which I’m not fluent in besides understanding songs and lyrics with some help. So, please excuse me in case I misinterpret something! I had to re-discover ‘Do Me A Favour’ to experience the real magic that this song uses to convey its message. Once I did, though, I simply could not stop thinking about how masterfully it is written and composed, and how beautifully its minute linguistic details add to its overall sound and message. This analysis focuses mostly on the lyrics because I feel the beauty of the song lies in the words carefully chosen to convey its emotion and message. 

‘Do Me A Favour’ (in Korean: 하지만 예쁜 마음을 보여주면 좋겠어요, ‘But I’d like it if you showed me your pretty heart’) conveys the feelings of a nervous narrator who is new to experiencing and expressing love for their companion. Early on, the singer shows this sense of discomfort, requesting their companion to “teach [them] the words they don’t have,” such that they can finally find a way to be “straightforward” about their true feelings for this person. The singer is deeply aware that they seem reclusive and upset in their awkwardness at expressing these intense feelings. They state that their companion often asks them “what’s wrong?” and “there’s no problem, right?” The singer requests them not to ask these things, likely having no believable answer to offer. What’s notable about these lyrics is how they are sung and pronounced rhythmically. Certain words are sung in a rushed, quick rhythm, mixing into one another and sounding unclear; while with others, every single syllable of the word is emphasised in a way that would almost sound disjointed and unnatural when spoken aloud (e.g. 내게없는 말-들-로 너를가르쳐-주시면/나는 곧히 곧-해-로). This emphasises the singer’s awkwardness and uncertainty in expressing these feelings – they swallow some of their words, and then suddenly overemphasise, unsure if they are heard. Additionally, Dongwook’s voice is very low and soft here, almost mumbling and whispering these lyrics, further displaying his discomfort with verbalising his feelings. It perfectly captures trying to share your deep feelings with someone or confess something difficult when you are feeling uncertain about the other person’s reaction. 

Coming to the chorus, I feel it’s the prettiest part of the song! Daniel’s voice jumps in here, instantly melting the heart with its higher tone and stronger delivery. The way these lyrics are phrased is often confusing and could mean any of multiple things. It starts with a line which could mean “There’s still so much I don’t know about you, it makes me confused.” But the ordering of the words is such that it could also be interpreted as “There’s still so much I don’t know, you are too much, it makes me confused.” These lyrics, which border between genuine intent and insult, underscore the singer’s struggle to clearly verbalise what they are feeling. It’s also notable that they refer to their companion in this line as ‘당신’ (dang-shin), a highly formal form of the word “you” that is rarely used in daily conversation – and usually not with a companion whom you know. 당신 is also a strange word that can be seen as either overly formal or can be very rude and provocative. Seeing that they use 당신 when expressing either “There’s still so much I don’t know about you, it makes me confused,” OR “There’s still so much I don’t know, you are too much, it makes me confused,” – they are toeing the line between being overly, unnecessarily polite and being extremely offensive. The chorus also evidence to the above verse where the singer states that they “do not have [the] words” to state their feelings – when they try to use their words as they do here, it seems to come out wrong and it’s difficult to interpret what they are truly trying to say. 

However, the mixed signals presented by the singer’s confusing phrasing are resolved in the final lines of the chorus, where they request their companion to “show [them] [their] pretty heart,” such that they will “copy” their companion’s “prettiest heart.” The singer clearly requests their companion to forgive their awkward speech and unclear words and to instead show and teach them how they can be more articulate and express their love as beautifully as their companion does for them. This is the ‘favour’ the singer requests of their companion in the song’s title – to continue openly expressing their love, so the singer may also learn how to do the same. Yet, interestingly, the singer phrases these lines to hardly sound like a request for a favour. They use the word ‘좋겠어요 (joh-gess-eo-yo)’ as opposed to ‘주세요 (ju-se-yo).” The former is interpreted as “I would like it if you showed me your pretty heart,” whereas the latter is more commonly used to request someone to do something for you. The root of 주세요 comes from the word that means ‘to give’ – so, possibly, the singer felt awkward asking their companion to give them their pretty heart, or to openly request a favour from this person. They thus mask this behind the more wordy and confusing ‘보여주면 좋겠어요 (I would like it if you showed me…),’ which conveys their sense of uncertainty and shyness in confessing these feelings to their companion.  

Although the first part of the song is filled with the singer’s uncertainty and clumsiness around expressing their love to their companion, the second part of the song shows them slowly growing more comfortable showcasing their feelings to their lover. The second verse shows their willingness to open up to their companion – now, they are willing to share “[their] problems and if everything’s alright,” contrasting with the first verse, where they wished not to be asked these things at all. The singer, while slowly opening themselves up, is now also open to listening to their companion’s worries – they end the verse with, “I’ll listen to whatever you say/Give me the words I don’t have.” The singer thus wants to learn all about their companion, and in hearing them express themselves, learn how to similarly be vulnerable and open with them. The rhythms of the lyrics, however, continue to match the first verse, with some words rushed and others emphasised, showing that despite remaining unsure about what they want to say, the singer truly wants to make an effort to open up and show themselves to their companion. 

The final chorus beautifully captures the narrator’s shift to being more open and communicative towards their companion, with its lyrics finally capturing what they want to say. The singer ends with, “I know you now/Even if you’re too much, I like it.” Beautifully, they switch the way they refer to their companion from 당신 now to ‘그대 (geu-dae)’ (you). This form of ‘you’ is reserved for someone who is very beloved to you, and shows the singer fondly and happily accepting how much more they have gotten to know and even love their companion. They are no longer confused and overwhelmed trying to figure this person out as they were in the first chorus, and are no longer making verbose and formal statements, getting straight to the point. They accept that their companion is still multifaceted and deep – but instead of this confusing them, the singer has now grown to cherish it. In the next line, they request their companion to continue showing them their “pretty heart,” – although they know each other much better now, the singer never wants to stop learning about their companion and their beautiful inner self. Notably, the singer explicitly uses ‘주세요’ in this line, making it clear that they are asking their companion for a favour, explicitly requesting the privilege to continue learning about their companion forever. The song ends with the singer having a realisation that shows their complete transformation – they want their companion to continue showing them their “pretty heart,” “even if [they] can’t share all of [their] feelings in words.” While they agonised over choosing the right words at the beginning of the song, they now learn that words are not enough to express certain things, and that’s okay. They seem to reach a compromise, learning how to more clearly and even beautifully express their deepest feelings, but also realising that maybe they don’t always need words to express how they feel and get to know each other. Indeed, the song ends with no words at all, just the main melody of the chorus sung along as “na na na na.” When words were fitted to this rhythm and tune, they broke apart and sounded disjointed, but this humming sounds melodic and romantic. It creates a beautiful and heartfelt conclusion and wordlessly shows the singer’s devotion and love for their companion.

In featuring a narrator who agonises over the right language to choose, Dongwook and Daniel have managed to infuse the entire meaning and beauty of this song into the linguistic choices behind its lyrics. More than the words themselves, it is their connotations, contexts and hidden meanings that convey the true message they hold. Each word is chosen so carefully, mirroring the narrator’s awkwardness, but eventually, the words and language come together into poetry that overflows with meaning, romance and emotion. I did my best to correctly analyse the Korean – so I hope you enjoyed my analysis of this song, I love it so much and it melts my heart whenever I hear it!

References:

Translation of Do Me A Favour by Haebaragis – to ensure accuracy :)