I have stumbled over Alice U by chance in June, when I found her single Runaway, and last month this beautiful collaboration between her and Siso came out. Both of them are at the same company (Beautiful Noise) and this is not a featuring, but a tru collaboration as both have contributed to the lyrics and music of the song.

One line from the chorus really got stuck in my head:

우리, 궁금해 어떤 사인지 왜?

uri, gunggeumhae eotteon sainji wae?

The English translation for this would be something like:

“Us? I wonder what kind of relationship we have—and why.”

But the translation isn’t that simple, as this sentence is rather as if from a conversation rather than written Korean. If written in a letter it should probably be: 우리가 어떤 사이인지 궁금해.

The central word of this sentence, in my opinion, is 사이. Usually 사이 means the space or gap between two things, in the context here, between two persons, it means the relationship instead.

우리: we

궁금해: from 궁금하다, to be curious

어떤: what kind of / which kind of

사인지:

• 사이: here the relationship between to persons
• -ㄴ지: a suffix for an indirect question

왜: why

The sentence is fragmented, and it fits the feeling of the song perfectly. In the lyrics the protagonist is questioning their relationship which may have started out sweet but has now turned bitter. There are no easy feelings or solutions, no quick answers.