Urban Zakapa (어반 자카파): Beautiful Day & Let It Rain [Lyric, Romanization, Translation]

Album Title: Beautiful Day EP
Artist: Urban Zakapa (어반 자카파)
Label: Fluxus
Release Date: April 3, 2012
Track List:

1. Beautiful Day (Title Track)                        

2. Something Special                  

3. 그댈 안은 목소리 (A voice That Hold Us)                     

4. Let It Rain                  

5. Just The Two Of Us                

6. Just A Feeling

And here it is Urban Zakapa newest EP, Beautiful Day Urban Zakapa’s first full length album <01> is like forever in my playlist. I have never had a heart to replace it with something new since it was released one year ago. So I really put high hope to this Urban Zakapa EP album. I was looking for something to top that album that I love back to back. But...

It seems like this band group called Urban Zakapa has changed so much. It makes me wonder: Is it the same group that sings me love through coffee three years ago? Not only it has been through personnel change, but their music has changed too. Urban Zakapa is no longer a band with nine members. It’s used to have four vocalists: Jo Hyun-ah, Kwon Soon-il, Park Young-in and Choi Jae-man and five instrumentalists: Yoon Ji-min as guitarist , Choi Yoon-jeong and Lee Ji-ho as pianists, Baek Hyeong-ki as upright bassist , and Han Tae Young as drummer. And I can’t no longer find the jazzy music with the touch of R&B again, either.

Now, they proclaim them self as R&B group with three vocalist, Jo Hyun-ah, Kwon Soon-il, and Park Young-in. Their music was perhaps rather similar with 8Eight, one of K pop group, but they got more R&B going on. But that was also one years ago. Now, even the R&B feeling is getting less and less to be found. I understand their decision to make this group more appealing to main stream with give them more pop music. I had no complaint in how different Urban Zakapa first and second EPs and their first full length album. It is more pop but it is thick with R&B sound. But then seriously Fluxus what are you doing with your group? Hyun-ah’s voice is perfect for R&B, deep & thick, when almost all K female singers’ voice that I’ve already heard are high-pitch, thin, and shrill. Urban Zapaka as whole is good R&B group. Yet Beautiful Days EP is felt even poppier than ever. And it comes from me, the pop whore.

I object a group that has almost the same material over and over again for the sake of playing safe. I have nothing against musicians that trying to offer new sound in their album because they want to explore their musical ability. Cheers for artistically ever growing artist. But heck I don’t expect Winterplay plays rock music. Pop artists that can give their pop music some sense of jazz, R&B, or rock to make it different are good, but pop artists among bazillion other pop artists that can offer music with the same pop genre but yet still felt different are amazing. It means they have their spesific color right? That set them apart with others.

Take SHINee for example. I know it is weird to use SHINee as example for this issue since they don’t make their own music. But they are one of the amazing one, props to whomever behind their music material. There’re many and many more idol groups in K pop world, till I can’t keep track anymore in my best effort. All almost offer the same old brand new dance electro pop music. But I still find people say “oh this like SHINee music”. But they don’t have the same problem with Super Junior and their triplet songs “Sorry-sorry, Bonamana, and Mr. Simple”. I know maybe SHINee are not the first in their kind of music, maybe people refer to them because they are the most popular one. But I won’t take my compliment for them err, or who ever behind their music. SHINee have set their foot and make their mark.

And the MV for the title song, Beautiful Day. Grrrr.WTH was going on there?!? These are my conclusions:
1. There’s a new sarcastic joke that I’ve still needed to learn and understand.
2. There’s Korean joke that translate well to me.

Urban Zakapa (어반 자카파): Let It Rain

[lyric, romanization, translation]

창밖에 들려오는 빗소리 

Changbakke deullyeoneun bitsuri

Through the window, rain is heard
Rainy night 그대를 불러 보내요

Rainy night geudaereul bullyeo bonaeyo

Rainy night sends you a call

오늘도 멀리 있는 그대와 

Oneuldo meolli ineun geudaewa

And today, I’m far away from you
Rainy night 이 밤을 함께 하고파

Rainy night i bameul hamkke hagopha

Rainy night this night let’s be together

With you, my love 
가만히 그대 내 손을 잡아주면 

Gamani geudae nae soneul jabajumyeon

Still as if you hold my hands
It's love, I know 

메마른 내 맘속 비가 내리죠

Memareun nae mamsok biga naerijyo

Rain falls on my barren heart

*하루 종일 그대 생각에 난 

Haru jongil geudae saenggake nan

All day I think about you

오늘도 이 밤을 걷네요

Oneuldo i bameul geotneyo

And today, I walk through the night

하루 종일 그대와 함께 

Haru jongil geudaewa hamkke

All day, together with you

비 오는 거리를 걷고 싶어요 

Bi oneun georireul geotgo sipheoyo

Rainy road that I want to walk through

I'm gonna be with you 
I wanna be your love
오늘밤 그대와 함께 

Oneulbam geudaewa hamkke

Tonight, together with you

I'm gonna be with you 
I wanna be your love

오늘밤 그대와 함께 

Oneulbam geudwa hamkke

Tonight, together with you

With you, my love
우산 속 그대 여린 어깰 감싸면

Usan sok geudae yeorin eokkael gamsamyeon

Under an umbrella, holding your tender shoulder
It's love, I know 

메마른 내 맘 속 비가 내리죠 

Memareul nae mam sok biga naerijyo

Rain falls on my barren heart

Beautiful Day and Let It Rain are my two favorite songs in the EP. Beautiful Day is cheerful song about two people falling in love. You can find the english translation here. The MV is in animation form with pastel bright colors paraled with the cheery sound that the song brought. But the plot! That plot!

Urban Zakapa (어반 자카파): Beautiful Day

[Lyric, Romanization]

Beautiful day 그대 하나하나 

Beautiful day geudae hanahana
내게 왜 이리 설레죠
Naega whae iri seollejyo

Beautiful day 아름다운 그대

Beautiful day areumdaun geudae
내 마음 당신을 향하죠

Nae maeum dansineul hyanghajyo

Beautiful Wonderful Beautiful, I'm in love 

내 마음 왜 이리 떨리죠

Nae maeum whae iri tteollijyo
Beautiful day 나는 오늘밤도

Baeutiful day naneun oneulbamdo
쉽게 잠들 수 없겠죠

Swibge jamdeul su eopgetjyo

가만히 있어도 자꾸 웃음이 나 생각이 나
Gamani isseodo jakku useumi na saenggaki na

자기 전에도 나 베개를 끌어안고 혼잣말을 해

Jagi jeonedo na begaereul kkeureomango honjatmareul hae
그댄 뭘 좋아해요?

Geudae wol joahaeyo
그대 맘속에 난 어때요?

Geudae mamsoge nan eottaeyo?
그대 때문에 매일 내 하루는

Geudae ttaemune maeil nae haruneun

멍하니 지내던 그 날 그 밤 그 때의 새벽

Meonghani jinaedeon geu nal geu bam geu ttae-e saebyeok
간절히 그대만 원하던 어린 순수함도 다 
Ganjeolhi geudaeman wonhadeon eorin sunsuhamdo da

알아주길 기다려요 

Arajugil gidaryeoyo
내 맘에 귀 기울여 주길
Nae mame gwi giuryeo jugil

그댈 생각해 난 내일도

Geudael saenggakhae nan naeildo

Beautiful day Wonderful day 
세상이 너무 아름답죠

Sesangi neomu areumdapjyo
Beautiful day Wonderful day 

그대와 나 우리가 되길

Geudaewa na uriga dwegil

“In one fine day, one boy and one girl, not knwoing each other yet, attend Urban Zakapa concert. Accidently they meet and accidently they fall in love. But destiny has its own word to say, and they get seperated right after the concert over. They can’t get over each other though. Both keep thinking away to find each other and have the beautiful wonderful day all over again. One day that awaited day finally come. To record store selling Urban Zakapa albums, off they go to meet only to be seperated again. Destiny be damned. [SPOILER] Unfortunetly, the girl is hit by a car at intersection when she tries to cross the road. Dark become the day of the boy’s life. No beautiful day to be dreamed of. Nothing go right, even when he boils a pot of water over a kitchen stove, the water get over boiled and the top of the pot only flies to make a knife flies through the boy neck. [SPOILER] Die he is. To heaven the two lovers go. On a beautiful “day” in heaven, they meet again to live happily forever ever after. FIN”

Car accident as the cause of a lover’s death never gets old for Koreans, but it does to me. It is painfully uncreative. It is like every drama, movie, and music video use this plot. Do Koreans have certain kind of fixation over car accident as a cause of death? These kids really need to be taught how to cross a street correctly.

If the girl’s death is just like coming straight from a K drama, the boy’s death looks like a cut from western sadistic cartoon. At the first time I saw the MV, I was like “What kind of whatthefuckery is this?? Now I prefer to listen to the song without watching the MV. Do they have to kill both lovers? Can’t it be one lover dies and the other lover still can have a beautiful day? Ya know, time heals, people move on, and you can’t give me a bright-pastel-colored music video, play a cheerful sound, write sweet romantic lyrics, sing a song titled Beautiful Day, and kill two lovers in the story. =_= No, even Michael Jackson can’t compensate that. I still think “day” is worldly word. How do you explain A day in heaven, tell me. Is it something consists of 24 hours? Is it something that ends and starts with the sun rise or the sun set?

Yeah I’m over-analyzed it and forget to take my chill pill. You can say it. The comments on Youtube for the MV (Allkpop-style, it is :P):
“Oh, so cute”
“And the mv is great!!! haha love it”
“This video's so funny. AHAHA. im like wthh XDDD”
“The dying part is so brutally cute <3 Ahhh I so love this.”
“Beautiful video and song!”
“That was morbid..yet adorable! :D”
“Thank you for making such a beautiful song and nice MV !”

Imma go check my brain to psychiatrist. SMH

Thanks To:
MegaKpopGeek,  pyosin, sment, fluxus, saranghae036 for the video
Daum, Urban Zakapa Official Facebook for the info and pics