Rescene, who have lately gained immense popularity through Woni’s YouTube channel in Korean, have released a special single today, and it is a cover of Kara’s 2008 hit ‘Pretty Girl’. 

So, about Rescene, I first posted their song ‘Deja Vu’ when it was released in July of last year. Back then, they were doing OK, but were nowhere near their current popularity. Even though they are really talented, funny, and pretty and had great songs, they had the same problems as all groups from small companies have: a lack of marketing due to financial constraints. Then, in September of last year, a big controversy came up due to a live stream they did in which aggressive shouting was heard in the background, leading to speculations that they were abused by their company. Their next comeback in November with the singles ‘Heart Drop’ and ‘Bloom’ again got modest success, but not what you would dream of. 

But then in February of this year, Woni, Rescene’s leader, started her own YouTube channel ‘안녕하세요원이입니다잘부탁드립니다’ which, as of now, has assumed more than a million subscribers already. With the Gyaru content, the dialect episodes, and the features of both Geoje (Woni’s hometown, of which Rescene became ambassadors) and Chiba (Minami’s hometown), they have hit a nerve in Korea. Also, Zena has mentioned that they will also become ambassadors for her hometown, Gyeongju. And their 2024 song ‘Love Attack’ has climbed up the charts and is consistently holding a spot in the top 5 since weeks.

But let’s dive into today’s Korean sentence:

어디서나 당당하게 걷기

eodiseona dangdanghage geotgi

Which translates to 

Walk confidently anywhere

Let’s break it down:

어디서나

Wherever, anywhere

• 어디 – where
• –서 – from -에서 indicating a place where an action takes is being performed 
• -나 – a particle to indicate (here) that it is about all possible choices

So not somewhere, but anywhere.

당당하게

Confident, powerful

• Base form is 당당하다 
• The 당 is sino-korean 堂, which literally is ‘hall’

위풍당당하다 means majestic or imposing, the hall, ‘당’, refers to a palace or government hall of old times.

걷기

Walking

• From the verb ‘걷다’, to walk.
• -기: this suffix makes the preceding verb a noun -> the act of walking.

I think that them choosing ‘Pretty Girl’ as a cover song now is very fitting, and especially this line ‘Walk confidently anywhere’ now matches them so perfectly.

Whereas until last year people would not usually recognize them on the street or, when they introduced themselves as ‘Rescene’ reply with ‘Who?’, now they can proudly walk anywhere. 

Their music and artistry have always been top-notch, now they can finally savor that all their efforts are recognized.