“Cupid (Twin Version)” by FIFTY FIFTY

Fifty Fifty is a K-pop quartet that just came out in 2022, being backed by a label called Attrakt, who themselves are new players in the game. The oldest member of the group is Keena, who is 20 years old as of the release of “Cupid” on 24 February 2023, with Saena being 19 and Sio and Aran both at 18 years of age.

Thus far the ladies have dropped one EP, “The Fifty”, in 2022. And as for Cupid, it is the lead track of their first official single album, which is titled in full “The Beginning: Cupid”.

To note, there is both a Korean and English (aka Twin) version of “Cupid”. As for the latter, only two members of the crew, Aran and Sio, reportedly acted as vocalists.  The “Twin Version” was written and produced by Louise Udin, Mac Felländer-Tsai and Adam von Mentzer, who also served the same roles on the Korean rendition.  But to note, Keena also had an official hand in composing the Korean version.

“CUPID”, THE BREAKTHROUGH OF FIFTY FIFTY

As it currently stands, “Cupid” isn’t necessarily what would be deemed a big hit by K-pop standards. But it is Fifty Fifty’s best showing to date, as the song has fared relatively well on Spotify.

Beyond that this track achieved a standard international chart history, most notably peaking at number 2 on Singapore’s RIAS listing and breaking the top 10 of Billboard’s US World Digital Songs Sales, in addition to appearing on the Canadian Hot 100.

THE LYRICS OF “CUPID”

This song is sorta complicated, in a way. On one hand, we find the vocalist pining for that special someone, with this being one of those pieces where, as depicted in the first verse, the singer gets in her feelings for instance seeing others who are happily in love. 

But then the chorus reveals that she “gave a second chance to Cupid”, thus implying that she’s been in something like a serious relationship at least twice. Yet in the aftermath, the vocalist has been “left here feeling stupid”, with the Fifty Fifty crew going on to proclaim that “Cupid is so dumb”. 

“I gave a second chance to Cupid
But now, I’m left here feeling stupid
Oh, the way he makes me feel
That love isn’t real
Cupid is so dumb”

So the further implication is that the narrator has had painful experiences in love and wants to avoid being in such a predicament again. In other words, it’s as if she wants yet, based on experience, fears being smitten.

But this is another instance where we analysts are saved by the bridge. Therein, what is implied more comprehensively is that the vocalist is “a fool for love”, a helpless romantic as some would say, i.e. a person who pictures an ideal life as one where being thoroughly smitten is part and parcel of the experience. 

So it isn’t that she’s actually grown adverse to falling head over heels per se. Rather, her dilemma is finding “someone who will share this feeling”, i.e. a partner who would appreciate her romantic vulnerabilities, possesses a similar disposition and therefore treat her rightfully as his sweetheart.