Your professor’s idea about poem titles being unique to create a greater sense of depth sent me down a rabbit hole trying to find kpop songs whose titles aren’t used in the lyrics: Weeekly’s After School TWICE’s Last Waltz IZ*ONE’s Secret Sorry of the Swan IU’s 8 Do you think there’s a guideline for a song to “earn” its unique title? Like writing steps that need to be taken to make sure it *does* provide a greater sense of depth, and is not just a misdirection? Also with that in mind, I wonder how you feel about album titles as they represent a collection of songs/poems? Sometimes I wish albums like ITZY’s Checkmate would’ve just been called “Sneakers,” but mainly because the Checkmate title doesn’t make much sense as an album title without a lot of guesswork, in my opinion This comment ended up being a lot more confusing than it sounded in my head 😭 you don’t have to respond to this if you don’t want to lol
my answer is complicated 😅 first, I actually thought the opposite, that non unique titles have to be earned. For example, Talk That Talk works because of the specificity of "that" yet how it dances around actual definitions as they make much clearer allusions to other Twice songs. Don't by Lee Chaeyeon also works for me because of the insistence of the facade she puts up. More & More is one I would slightly alter to just & More because I think it would better convey the never ending nature of the temptation. There are exceptions of technically unique titles that feel earned with relation to semantic concepts though. For example, I like that Smart is not called Smarter, despite many people thinking it is. It fits better with what I believe will be the concepts of Le Sserafim's newer titles, having less to do with what they are not or how they compare with others, instead just concerning their own qualities. I also think Scientist is a good title rather than Science because it takes a more holistic approach, and I think that was a good idea after The Feels, to take a step back after being more deeply personal. And the song is obviously more about simply being in the moment rather than rhyme or reason. As for the songs you mentioned, what stands out to me is how they have to do with the context of the songs themselves, the grander story or what points in life the songs speak to. I think that is a good way to go about it. I've read quite a few books with titles that don't really make sense, taking a place or an object that sounds cool and making that represent something much grander than itself. I think a unique context is an important factor that would improve titles in cases like these. But I also think another important factor is something more individual, whether you are more inclined to prefer language's musicality or function. Titles like Secret Story of the Swan pose more questions than they answer, but they are languid, and, sometimes, that's enough for a title to work. Of course, liking musicality versus function can be a fluid spectrum rather than a hard and fast rule, but I hope you know what I mean. Regarding album titles, that's also complicated. Usually, I prefer unique titles. I find they have more character, but some names are just kinda blander than the title tracks'. For example, I think Taste of Love could have just been called Alcohol Free because it sounds more interesting and does fit well with the rest of the album. I think these situations are more of a case by case basis though. I guess this would be a good time to ask if a video idea I had would be interesting. I was thinking of trying to come up with new titles for songs with titles that I don't feel work, but I wasn't sure if it would be interesting enough.
@@nayeonchantix This has genuinely changed my mind on some things, or at least my perspective 😭 I think I focus too much on direct meaning and not so much on abstract concepts with album titles like Checkmate- I think you should make a video on this if you want to! Coming up with unique titles for songs would be very interesting, and it’s neat to hear your reasoning behind why you like unique titles / why you’d change it to something different - I’d love to see a video like that!
Your professor’s idea about poem titles being unique to create a greater sense of depth sent me down a rabbit hole trying to find kpop songs whose titles aren’t used in the lyrics:
Weeekly’s After School
TWICE’s Last Waltz
IZ*ONE’s Secret Sorry of the Swan
IU’s 8
Do you think there’s a guideline for a song to “earn” its unique title? Like writing steps that need to be taken to make sure it *does* provide a greater sense of depth, and is not just a misdirection?
Also with that in mind, I wonder how you feel about album titles as they represent a collection of songs/poems?
Sometimes I wish albums like ITZY’s Checkmate would’ve just been called “Sneakers,” but mainly because the Checkmate title doesn’t make much sense as an album title without a lot of guesswork, in my opinion
This comment ended up being a lot more confusing than it sounded in my head 😭 you don’t have to respond to this if you don’t want to lol
my answer is complicated 😅 first, I actually thought the opposite, that non unique titles have to be earned. For example, Talk That Talk works because of the specificity of "that" yet how it dances around actual definitions as they make much clearer allusions to other Twice songs. Don't by Lee Chaeyeon also works for me because of the insistence of the facade she puts up. More & More is one I would slightly alter to just & More because I think it would better convey the never ending nature of the temptation.
There are exceptions of technically unique titles that feel earned with relation to semantic concepts though. For example, I like that Smart is not called Smarter, despite many people thinking it is. It fits better with what I believe will be the concepts of Le Sserafim's newer titles, having less to do with what they are not or how they compare with others, instead just concerning their own qualities. I also think Scientist is a good title rather than Science because it takes a more holistic approach, and I think that was a good idea after The Feels, to take a step back after being more deeply personal. And the song is obviously more about simply being in the moment rather than rhyme or reason. As for the songs you mentioned, what stands out to me is how they have to do with the context of the songs themselves, the grander story or what points in life the songs speak to. I think that is a good way to go about it.
I've read quite a few books with titles that don't really make sense, taking a place or an object that sounds cool and making that represent something much grander than itself. I think a unique context is an important factor that would improve titles in cases like these. But I also think another important factor is something more individual, whether you are more inclined to prefer language's musicality or function. Titles like Secret Story of the Swan pose more questions than they answer, but they are languid, and, sometimes, that's enough for a title to work. Of course, liking musicality versus function can be a fluid spectrum rather than a hard and fast rule, but I hope you know what I mean.
Regarding album titles, that's also complicated. Usually, I prefer unique titles. I find they have more character, but some names are just kinda blander than the title tracks'. For example, I think Taste of Love could have just been called Alcohol Free because it sounds more interesting and does fit well with the rest of the album. I think these situations are more of a case by case basis though.
I guess this would be a good time to ask if a video idea I had would be interesting. I was thinking of trying to come up with new titles for songs with titles that I don't feel work, but I wasn't sure if it would be interesting enough.
@@nayeonchantix This has genuinely changed my mind on some things, or at least my perspective 😭 I think I focus too much on direct meaning and not so much on abstract concepts with album titles like Checkmate-
I think you should make a video on this if you want to! Coming up with unique titles for songs would be very interesting, and it’s neat to hear your reasoning behind why you like unique titles / why you’d change it to something different - I’d love to see a video like that!
FIRSTTTT 🩷🩷