“Why Why Why” by iKon

It seems that a lot of songs are coming out these days which center on male vocalists expressing regret for messing up a romantic relationship. Or perhaps this has been a long-standing motif in the pop music industry?  Either way, that’s definitely the overall scenario which we are dealing with in “Why Why Why”.

But in this case, more importantly isn’t how things got messed but rather the fact that they are indeed messed up. And it is especially devastating for the singer, for he never foresaw him and his sweetheart ever breaking up in the first place. Indeed even at this point in time, post-breakup, he still considers her to be akin to his true soulmate. 

The addressee, i.e. his ex, is someone who he just like met one day, and she ended up being the love of his life. So yes, in realizing that he did in fact give her a hard time, to the point of chasing her away, he is now very much in his feelings. 

In fact he comes off as one of those kinds of dudes who didn’t realize how much of a jacka-s he was being until it was way too late.

And that sort of sentiment comes across even more expressly in the second verse. The singer is slowly but surely coming to the realization that this relationship is done for good. And it’s sort of like in the process of driving his lover away, he has also come to realize just “how precious” she truly is. 

In fact in a way you can’t help but to feel sorry for him, as he truly comes off as having been aloof to how valuable and irreplaceable a true love is.

Pre-Chorus and Chorus

And as revealed in the pre-chorus, his feeling of guilt is also exacerbated by a sensation of inadequacy, failure if you will. For he has also come to liken his ex to “a flower”. However, he was unable to protect this beautiful creature, apparently even from himself.

And the chorus features him making similar observations, sort of being in a state of shock due to how this romance has played out. And that’s what leaves him questioning “why, why, why”. 

Of course, as detailed above, he knows why. All throughout the track, from the beginning to the end, he takes responsibility for losing the woman he loves. But perhaps said inquiry is once again based on the idea of him not truly understanding beforehand the consequences of his actions. For instance, the song climaxes with the singer stating that if he knew he would end up getting dumped (basically), then he would have taken the relationship more seriously “from the beginning and even until now”. 

But at the end of the day I guess we can say it’s a lesson learned, albeit a very bitter one. For there is nowhere in the lyrics where he gives even the slightest implication that homegirl is considering taking him back.

iKon

iKon is a boy band from South Korea which came into existence in 2015. As of this track’s release date, which was on 3 March 2021 (by YG Entertainment), the group’s membership is six-fold. And those individuals are listed below:

• Bobby
• Chanwoo
• Donghyuk
• Jinhwan
• Ju-ne
• Yunhyeong 

Moreover all six of them participated on this track, with some really getting into the mood of the song.

The aforementioned Bobby co-wrote “Why Why Why”, doing so in conjunction with Choice37 and Lil G.

Circa the release of this track, outside of the United States and United Kingdom the most-successful country in terms of producing internationally-received pop musicians has been South Korea. And throughout the latter half of the 2010s, iKon has been one of the more-renowned and celebrated groups in that regard.

For instance, within a day of coming out, “Why Why Why” swiftly proceeded to top iTunes charts in a number of countries, including Indonesia, Peru, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.

Hiatus

Fans of iKon have noticed that it was quite a while between the release of this single and the one that preceded it. Prior to “Why Why Why” the last song the band had come out with was “Dive”, which was released over a year prior, in early-February 2020. 

This hiatus was partially due to the departure of B.I, who was basically kicked out of the group due to legal issues. He was not only the leader of the crew but also wrote many of their songs. The band themselves acknowledged the aforementioned hiatus and even sort of apologized to their fans for the long wait but assured them that this particular tune marks “another start for iKon”.

One reason it has been speculated that iKon decided to drop a track at this particular moment in time though is because in April 2021 appearance in a hotly-anticipated reality-TV competition called “Kingdom: Legendary War”. 

This event will feature a number of K-pop boy bands competing against each other. And apparently it isn’t a run-of-the-mill kind of thing, as iKon is taking preparation for the contest very seriously. And besides iKon, other participants are Ateez, The Boyz, BtoB, SF9 and Stray Kids.

왜왜왜 (“Why Why Why”)

In terms of how the title of this song looks in its native language, it actually spells out 왜왜왜.