Episode Eighteen Transcript - The Butterflies On The Concrete Podcast: What Got Me Through The Week?
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Hello and Welcome to this week’s episode of the Butterflies On The Concrete Podcast: What Got Me Through The Week? Before 2023 officially comes to an end, I want to talk about some of the albums and tv shows that have gotten me through this year.
Let’s start off with the music that I’ve been listening to often these days.
Olivia Rodrigo’s album, Guts, is one of my favorite albums released this year. I ended up listening to it for the first time just out of curiosity because it’s her sophomore album and it can be difficult for an artist to top their debut, but I think she might’ve actually surpassed it. Of course, it’s just my opinion, but I think I initially viewed her as a pop artist, and she is, but Guts is more rock influenced than I expected, not just a typical pop offering, and I love it for that reason. I grew up listening to Fefe Dobson and Avril Lavigne, and love artists like Paramore, so I think that’s part of why I appreciate that aspect so much. I’d recommend all of the songs on the album, but the absolute standouts for me are: “Making the Bed,” “Logical,” “Love is Embarrassing,” and “Pretty Isn’t Pretty.” “Making the Bed,” “Logical” and “Pretty Isn’t Pretty,” are just very heartfelt and beautifully written. “Love is Embarrassing,” is just, it’s hilarious, and it’s a very honest look at what it can be like to fall in love with the wrong person. If you’ve listened to this album also, please share your favorite song because the whole album is just really well done.
Another project that I’m really enjoying right now is Jessica Jung’s new EP, Beep Beep. Before I talk about that though, I wanted to talk briefly about some of her other projects, and how I became a fan. I used to be mostly a casual listener of Girl’s Generation’s music, which is probably how a lot of people know her, but I actually became a fan of hers specifically after watching her act in the drama, Wild Romance. Her first solo project, With Love, J, is an EP that I’d like to mention because I still listen to it quite often, even though it was released back in 2016. The title track from that EP was the song “Fly,” which features the rapper, Fabolous, and it’s a song that’s perfect to listen to if you ever need motivation or encouragement. Now, with regard to her newest EP, Beep Beep, it’s really good, and I think what I enjoy the most about it is that it’s so refreshing to listen to. In my opinion, it doesn’t sound like a lot of the music that’s out there right now. It’s an album that I can listen to straight through without skipping any songs, that just makes me happy to listen to it, and it’s so comforting to listen to. She’s always been an incredible singer, but it’s as if she knows exactly what her sound is, and though her music has certainly continued to evolve, she isn’t trying to drastically deviate from what her fans expect from her. She isn’t blindly following current trends like a lot of other artists have been doing lately, which I appreciate as a listener. Instead, it’s as if she is just unapologetically herself, and is confident in what she has to bring to the table, as she should be, and because of that – as a listener - I feel like it allows her to standout in a very crowded genre. The whole EP is something I’d recommend, and the title song, “Beep Beep” is really fun to listen and dance to, but my favorites are: “Better Late than Never,” “Get it? Got it? Good,” featuring Amber Liu, and “Set Me Free,” because they’re so empowering to listen to.
The last album I’ll mention that I’ve been listening to recently is A New Thing by Madison Ryann Ward. I was scrolling through TikTok and heard one of her songs playing in the background of a random person’s video, and I immediately went to look it up on Spotify. Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m in a period where I’m transitioning between different seasons of my life, and so I’ve found her music to be quite inspiring and uplifting to listen to. I feel that way especially about the title track, “A New Thing,”as well as songs like “Go Back,” and “Light (My Time Has Come),” because they help me to keep in mind God’s goodness, and to not get distracted by the daily inconveniences of life. It also references one of my favorite passages from the Bible, Isaiah 43:19, which according to the New Living Translation reads in part, and I quote: “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” And I believe the King James Version is specifically referenced, and I quote, “Behold, I will do a new thing[.]”
Some other songs that I’ve enjoyed listening to A LOT this year are “Yet,” by the King will come, “Big God,” by Terrain, and “Jireh,” by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music, featuring Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine.
Next I’m going to talk about a few of the shows that I enjoyed watching this year.
The first is a variety show that I watched earlier this summer on the Prime Video app, called Jinny’s Kitchen. Basically, a group of celebrities open up a pop up restaurant in Bacalar, Mexico that serves Korean street food for eight days. It was so entertaining that I have to recommend it.
There have been previous iterations of this show in the past, with a group of somewhat different cast members in each version. What enticed me to watch this time around is Kim Taehyung, or V, from BTS. Although I initially started watching because I was intrigued after hearing he would be joining the cast, what kept me watching was the fact that I’d watched shows or movies starring each of the cast members in the past, and so seeing them all working together in that sort of fast paced environment was really fun.
I first watched Park Seo Joon in A Witch’s Romance, but truly became a fan after seeing him in Kill Me, Heal Me and She Was Pretty. Those shows really solidified how talented he is in my eyes and his acting skills have only gotten better over time. He keeps improving so I keep watching his dramas and hoping that I’ll be drawn in. I’d like to mention Fight for My Way and What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim because they are amazing shows of his that I would recommend as well.
The restaurant is named after Lee Seo-jin, and I loved watching him in the drama Marriage Contract. Other cast members include Jung Yu-mi, who I’d previously seen in the dramas, In Need of Romance (2012) and Que Sera Sera, and Choi Woo Shik, who I’d previously seen in the drama, Rooftop Prince, and the hit film, Parasite.
Watching these talented actors train before traveling to Mexico, then run errands like going to the market, planning the restaurant menu, preparing the ingredients and the meals for customers, interacting with customers, getting recognized by customers (Woo Shik and V mostly), as well as setting sales goals and exceeding them was so much fun.
Sometimes they had slow days, other times they had really busy days. Sometimes they took time off from work, other times they struggled to promote the restaurant. There was something so enchanting about seeing them working together as a team towards a common sales goal, and watching their excitement as the amount of customers grew - until there were people lining up to eat there! The dynamics between them were great - so many were at play at once. For instance, Seo Joon supervised V, but Seo Joon is also friends with V, and then there’s the added layer of them being both very, very famous.
It was also amusing to see the reactions of the customers with regard to how spicy some of the dishes were also. Some customers found some of the dishes to be too spicy, while other customers didn’t think any of the dishes were spicy at all.
The biggest thing I took away from this variety show was that I really want Park Seo Joon to play a chef in a romantic comedy, or romance drama eventually. Hopefully it will happen in the near future because I think he would be great in a role like that because of how well he managed the kitchen in this show.
There are several Japanese dramas that I watched this year on the Rakuten Viki App that I absolutely adored. The drama that kept me hooked the most as I watched it each week was The Date of Marriage. This show is so, so good. It’s only eight episodes also, which is great if you’re looking for a short, but satisfying drama to watch, and part of me wishes it had been more episodes because I would’ve watched them if they had been available.
The premise of the show is that the female lead, Kawai Yoshiko, played by Ohara Sakurako, wants to get married in a year – by her 30th birthday - and is expecting her boyfriend of three years to propose but she ends up getting dumped instead when he tells her about a job transfer to another city for work. Her coworker, Yuki Masaomi, played by Matsuda Genta, sees her crying about it on the street afterwards and later, while trying to comfort her at a café, he suggests that -if she’s willing – he will marry her in a year instead.
So the next part is a bit of a spoiler, so I apologize in advance, but the thing that makes this drama so wonderful is that her coworker’s suggestion seems so random until we learn that he’s actually been secretly in love with her for quite a bit of time, and then – from the viewers perspective at least – it changes from a silly, absurd suggestion to an endearing declaration of his love, but she doesn’t know any of it. Only the viewer is aware of how he feels about her and why.
In fact, neither of them is sure of how the other person feels as we see them awkwardly interact with one another after this daring offer of his, and to make things even more complex, they’re both overly considerate of one another, and so there are a few misunderstandings that happen between them. But luckily, from what I can remember, most of the time those misunderstandings got resolved fairly quickly, which was a relief for me because as a viewer I don’t like too much unnecessary conflict in my romance dramas.
Once they’re together, they have a very sweet and supportive relationship. And I was most impressed with Matsuda Genta’s acting in particular while watching this, and so I’m looking forward to seeing more of his dramas.
Lastly, One-sided Love Gourmet Diary has two seasons and I watched both of them because I had to know what was going to happen. The premise is quite simple: The female lead, Tokoro Madoka, played by Motokariya Yuika, is in her thirties and works at a publishing company, and she has a crush on one of her coworkers. He’s the eye candy of the office, quite popular and highly sought after, and she doesn’t have the confidence to approach him. So, knowing how shy she is, one of her authors that she works with encourages her to get closer to him and learn more about him in a unique way. Not by speaking to him directly, but by eating the same food as him – separately, which is interesting, right? And so she eats the same meals as him, and daydreams about what their relationship would be like during her meals, because that’s safer than actually telling him how she truly feels and getting rejected.
But when they start gradually getting placed together in real life situations– through a work project and meeting at the same restaurant by chance, for instance, opportunities arise for her to get closer to him outside of her imagination, and so she has to decide if she’s willing to take that step forward, and try to be with him, knowing that she might fail, or remain stuck in her daydreams - and alone - forever.
This drama is very funny, and worth watching, but I also found myself wanting more from it at times when it came to the development of their relationship. I did really enjoy watching both seasons of this show, but I still wonder what this premise would be like if it were remade perhaps as a Korean drama or an American one. I feel as if the relationship probably would have developed more quickly.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. If you’ve also watched any of the shows I mentioned, or listened to any of the albums or songs that I talked about, then please let me know what your thoughts are! You can leave a comment on our website hyssopandebony.com, or on this episode’s post on our Instagram page at WhatGotMeThroughTheWeek. You can also send an email to whatgotmethroughpodcast@gmail.com. The transcript and audio for this episode will be posted on our website, HyssopandEbony.com.
Until next time!