This release is from last week, but I wanted to catch up on it because it is special to me. So, dodree is the duo of Na Yeongjoo and Lee Songhyun, both of whom have participated in ‘The Ddanddara’ and were slated to debut with DDDD25. I had previously featured An Youngbin’s solo debut. Now I have learned that DDDD25 has been canceled, but we have this duo now.
Why this is close to my heart: Na Yeongjoo has an arts degree majoring in Korean music and had started learning Pansori at the age of 4. Lee Songhyun majored in Korean Dance at her university and she started dancing when she was three. And you can hear and see their proficiency with traditional Korean singing and dancing in their debut song ‘꿈만 같았다 (Just Like a Dream)’. Even the name for their group is inspired by traditional Korean music. ‘도드리’ is the name for a group of rhythmic patterns that are used in traditional Korean music. I love traditional Korean music and bands like e.g. Leenalchi and ADG7. dodree is definitively more to the side of pop, but if it gets listeners into a bit of a feeling for Korean music, that is great. And, I have, a very long time ago, myself studied traditional Korean music in Korea for a year.
Let’s take a look at these two lines for today’s grammar and vocabulary:
흩어지고 바스러지고
계속해서 사라지는 꿈
“Scattering and crumbling,
a dream that keeps fading away.”
1. 흩어지고
heuteojigo
- From 흩어지다 = “to scatter / disperse”
- –고 connects actions in sequence
→ Suggests something once whole now spreading uncontrollably.
2. 바스러지고
baseureojigo
- From 바스러지다 = “to crumble / to fall apart into pieces”
- Often used for fragile things (crumbs, brittle objects, emotional states)
→ Adds a tactile, almost painful sense of breakdown.
3. 계속해서
gyesokaeseo
- Means “continuously / over and over / without stopping”
- Emphasizes duration rather than a single moment
→ The loss isn’t sudden — it’s ongoing.
4. 사라지는 꿈
sarajineun kkum
- 사라지다 = “to disappear / fade away”
- –는 = present attributive form, modifying 꿈 (“dream”)
→ Describes the dream as it is disappearing, not already gone — lingering, unresolved.
흩어지다 is a verb that you will often hear in melancholic K-pop songs, as it is often used to describe something that is slowly fading away in a very lyrical way.
What are your thoughts on dodree? Do you like their sound, which mixes pop and traditional music? Do you think it is too much pop or is their singing style too unconventional to your ears?
