[OST Corner] It’s Almost Paradise
by missvictrix
We had so much fun talking about OSTs that we’re starting a new series, so please join in if you enjoy chatting about the good, the bad, and the ugly, of K-drama OSTs.
It seems impossible to launch any article, series, or conversation on OSTs without starting with the Before Before Flowers soundtrack. Is there anything quite like the opening bars of “Almost Paradise”? It might not have been iconic back in 2012, but it certainly is now. In fact, I’d argue the entire OST is. From the weird 80s melodies in “Something Happened To My Heart” and “Stand By Me” to the twinkley “Because I’m Stupid” and the ballad to “Fight The Bad Feeling”… if you get me swaying to the beat, you know you’ve done something right.
My standard for a great OST is that it becomes equivalent to the drama itself, and that’s exactly how I feel about this one. I can’t imagine the drama without these songs — from the opening credits to the big drama moments that scream OST. A great OST also captures the tone of the drama, and I think this is actually the harder feat to pull off. Any drama can add in that soapy ballad during a scene where you need just a little more drama, but it’s not every day that an OST matches its drama pitch-perfectly. (Some dramas that did this for me are Happiness, Cheese in the Trap, and Yumi’s Cells — each dramas with their own vibe that was captured perfectly by their soundtracks.)
But getting back to Boys Before Flowers, I think the thing I love most about this OST is that it aged concurrent with the drama — i.e., quickly and not well — and that is why it’s so terribly precious, and makes me feel things. Dramas don’t look like this anymore, OSTs don’t sound like this anymore, and while that’s probably (mostly) a good thing, it also floods me with a huge wave of nostalgia. Which, no lie, is what I want when I’m listening to an OST anyway.
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Tags: OST Corner
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1 ladynightshade wants her own ryu sunjae
May 15, 2023 at 3:29 PM
I’m honestly MUCH more fond of the Boys Over Flowers OST than I ever was of the drama itself. It’s infectious, sappy, old-fashioned goodness in just the right ways. I’m not ashamed to admit that I still listen to the entire soundtrack quite often. Certainly more than I’ve ever watched the show (which I’ve done maybe… twice? already twice too many lmao). Its SO GOOD. I don’t even want to classify it as a guilty pleasure because it’s just too good. One of the few redeeming qualities of a truly trashy (affectionate? ehhh not for me) drama.
Love the idea for the new series! OSTs are such an integral part of the drama-watching experience and I think this is a great opportunity to talk about some of the iconic and underrated tunes that made our favourite shows what they are. I have really strong opinions on OSTs so, my fellow beanies, be warned. I suspect a whole lot of you will soon be tired of my spicy takes on how so many mediocre dramas end up having great OSTs.
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tabong
May 15, 2023 at 5:41 PM
I love BOF's OST. It's great and no one can convince me otherwise.
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ladynightshade wants her own ryu sunjae
May 15, 2023 at 6:31 PM
If someone is trying to convince you otherwise, they’re lying and/or have no taste. It’s a classic for a reason!!
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shinayame
May 15, 2023 at 10:45 PM
The BOF OST was my gateway to SS501, who had a firm grip on my heart until Beast came along. I love it for itself, but I will always have a fondness for it as my gateway to K-pop.
I don't remember whether BOF was my gateway drama or if it was Coffee Prince, but both helped me while away most of my Master's degree, so I will always love them for that.
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darwi
May 16, 2023 at 2:16 AM
I'm currently enjoying several songs from Born again, a poster child for mediocre dramas. So you are not alone in this dissociative love.
Luckyly, good dramas have good OST too.
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wonhwa
May 16, 2023 at 11:37 AM
There are definitely shows where I like the OST better than the drama (looking at you, Goblin).
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ladynightshade wants her own ryu sunjae
May 16, 2023 at 6:12 PM
That's most Kim Eun-sook dramas for me tbh (stares accusingly at Descendants of the Sun).
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2 faithwithme
May 15, 2023 at 5:24 PM
i think not many kdrama that can top BOF ost hahaha. Almost Paradise remain iconic till this time.
the other kdrama that i could think have the same effect was While You Were Sleeping and Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People.
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3 tabong
May 15, 2023 at 5:35 PM
I agree with your formula for a great OST. The songs really need to fit the show. They're a lot of big dramas, even before BOF but not all of them left iconic songs that people still remember and listen to till these days.
Paradise is BOF and BOF is Paradise, or Stand By Me, or Because I'm Stupid, or Lucky, or One More Time or Fight The Bad Feelings.
All those songs don't feel like random tracks inserted on the show, THEY ARE the show. And that's why they're so iconic and they make us feel so nostalgic.
If there's an album that has never left my computer, is BOF's OST. Just a few days ago I was singing Paradise and One More Time like there was no tomorrow. 😆 And Idk why but in my family listening to Fight The Bad Feeling's club ver is like an inside joke so I enjoy that song so much. LOL
Something similar happens with Love Story In Harvard OST, You're Beautiful OST and Tree of Heaven OST. We were obsessed with those OSTs after watching the shows and we still love them.
For more recent shows is the same. We all connect My Eternal Love with Healer or Round and Round with Goblin (if I hear "see yaaaa~~~" I automatically picture Dokkaebi and Grim reaper walking in the tunnel tbh).
A few examples of great OSTs that come to my mind are:
1. Misaeng
2. Yu Mi's Cells
3. Because This Is My First Life
4. My Ahjussi, My Liberation Notes
5. When The Devil Calls Your Name
6. Oh Hae Young Again
7. Black
8. Just Between Lovers
9. Reply 88
10. Itaewon Class (I dropped the show but I have to recognize that the songs really fit the story and the characters. I feel like a fighter every time I listen to "Start" or "Diamond". Like I can achieve my inexistent dreams -like the lead of the show- LOL).
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4 sakuradaydream
May 15, 2023 at 5:40 PM
HOLD UP "almost paradise" was a Boys Before Flowers OST??????????
DAMN I must be on drugs or smth cuz this whole time I thought I heard it from The Heirs! Truth be told I attempted to watch BBF i think back in 2020 or so and lets just say its NOT a good idea to start classic dramas in this day and age as I struggled with the first 5mins and dropped it immediately depsite it being a classic IM SORRY :'))))))))))
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miso
May 15, 2023 at 6:17 PM
Heirs had Love is the Moment as the recurring theme. Took me a while to get over the repetitiveness of it and now I look back at it pretty fondly lol.
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ladynightshade wants her own ryu sunjae
May 15, 2023 at 6:30 PM
Omg, I remember how much they played that damn song throughout the show! Anytime the leads so much as looked at one another, its blaring LOVE IS THE MOMEEEEEENTTTTTTTT. It was headache-inducing. But, it’s solid meme material, so I look back on it fondly too. Maybe the only part of Heirs I can be fond of.
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miso
May 15, 2023 at 6:38 PM
TBF I'm also fond of I'm Saying... from the Heirs OST. To this day, I can't help but sing along as Lee Hong-ki croons "mariyaaaaa".
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bbstl 🧹
May 15, 2023 at 7:31 PM
hoooo-ey, I thought Almost Paradise was the worst OST song ever created and then came Love is the Moment *bangs head on desk*
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Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain
May 15, 2023 at 9:28 PM
I'll see your 'Almost Paradise' and 'Love Is the Moment' and raise you 'You Are My Destiny' from You From Another Star. I seriously thought it was a parody at first.
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bbstl 🧹
May 15, 2023 at 9:39 PM
Good one! 👏🏽
Wasn’t there a kdrama that used “Stand By Your Man” incessantly? I quit watching whatever that was.
Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain
May 15, 2023 at 9:47 PM
@bbstl Shhhh! Don't summon demons. Good vibes only. 🤭
ladynightshade wants her own ryu sunjae
May 15, 2023 at 10:52 PM
Bringing back old memories (or more accurately, old nightmares). I'm surprised this one hasn't been memed to death yet. Society is lagging behind.
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️ Underpants buddies for life. 😎
May 16, 2023 at 12:32 AM
@bbstl that drama would be Something in the rain which topped it off with another country and western classic Save the last dance for me. Every time those two songs came on it was like a slap round the face😡 Unlike the other songs on the OST especially the ones by Rachael Yamagata which captured the moment so perfectly.
parkchuna is looking for an Emperor Penguin 🍉
May 17, 2023 at 1:08 AM
@reply1988 no sign of trouble lately..
sakuradaydream
May 18, 2023 at 1:43 AM
OHMYGOD LOVE IS THE MOMENTTTTTTT
for some messed up reason past me decided to watch Heirs and actually finished it. Despite having zero recollection of the events that transpired in the show the bloody OST is ingrained into my brain for life :')))))))))))
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Midnight
May 15, 2023 at 11:09 PM
I dropped BOF twice in 2009, and in the end only finished it because my friend forced me to, and hated every second of it. So it is not about the year you tried it, it is about the drama LOL.
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sakuradaydream
May 18, 2023 at 1:44 AM
hmmmmm fair enough :'))))
guess we are all survivors of the BOF war
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5 miso
May 15, 2023 at 6:20 PM
Paradise is definitely one of those era-defining OSTs. To this day you can't have a beach or yacht scene (or for that matter anything that counts as 'flexing') in a k-variety show without hearing this song.
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6 Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️ Underpants buddies for life. 😎
May 15, 2023 at 6:44 PM
Thanks @missvictrix I love these kinds of posts where a newbie like me can sit back and enjoy watching the veteran beanies at play.
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7 OldLawyer
May 15, 2023 at 9:05 PM
You had to mention the theme song- and now its running through my
head again.
This is not the original of this story- as everyone probably knows. Hanna Yori Dango has been remade several times- it is a genuine classic.
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8 shinayame
May 15, 2023 at 10:56 PM
I don't keep usually keep track of entire OSTs, but there is always that one stand-out song that catches your ear. For me, some of those are:
Auditory Hallucination: Jang Jae In (Kill Me Heal Me)
Rainbow: Vincent Blue (My Ahjusshi)
Done For Me: Punch (Hotel del Luna)
I do love the full OSTs of Lookout and Mad Dog, however, and the first three songs of Alchemy of Souls.
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Midnight
May 15, 2023 at 11:11 PM
Love the love for the Lookout ost.
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tabong
May 16, 2023 at 6:39 PM
Auditory Hallucination!! I love that song! And it really represents the show.
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9 panshel
May 15, 2023 at 11:14 PM
Boys Over Flowers was simply a cultural reset. In every language. Everything about the drama is just iconic including its OST. No K-drama fan does not know "Paradise" -- it will always be legendary and make us feel nostalgic. I can still sing "Stand By Me" to this day, but my favorite OST is "Do You Know?" by Someday. The song is so sweet, and I will always associate it with Jun-pyo and Jan-di being trapped in Namsan Tower.
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10 Gikata
May 16, 2023 at 1:28 AM
One thing kdramas taught me is that you don't have to like the show itself to appreciate its OST. BOF is a great example of this - I found the drama hilariously terrible even in 2011 and my opinion didn't change much since then (aside of some added sentimental fondness of the era that is no more), but the music from it is timeless. And hardly THAT retro for me, considering how 60% of my awfully large playlist is from pre-2000... *sigh* I wish kpop will be this good again someday - and that I will be there to witness it. We need more stupidly catchy happy songs! Maybe then life also becomes less complicated and sad...
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11 pamkay
May 16, 2023 at 4:58 AM
Two OSTs that stuck in my head as a beginner kdrama watcher were from Faith and Kimchi Family. The free Sirius Radio trial in my new car had Korea Today and they were playing Carry On by Ali when I turned it on! Kimchi Family had many too and Song to Offer Wine was so sweet.
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wonhwa
May 16, 2023 at 11:36 AM
I loved the Kimchi Family OST!
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12 amfalulawatching
May 16, 2023 at 6:58 AM
The embrace of sentimentality in what is a very over the top show matched with a very over the top OST is what makes this OST, and to be honest, the show special. The show and the OST captured the angst of youth in all it contradictions---both silly and serious. Everything about it was over-the-top from the acting to the music. To me, it represents a more innocent time. I'm truly grateful that this OST can make me smile. Most OST's are completely forgetable.
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13 OhSoEnthusiastic
May 16, 2023 at 7:54 AM
Whenever I listen to my drama soundtracks, I listen to them all together in a big playlist, and I can't usually tell what drama they came from, because they all tend to fit into a similar vibe. Weightlifting Fairy, Age of Youth, Because This is My First Life, When the Camellia Blooms, etc. And none of these dramas have a song that is The song of the drama, so while the music is all beautiful and totally right for the story, it doesn't stand out the way the songs from BOF do.
Sometimes I'll actually test myself and try to guess the drama a particular song came from. I'm usually wrong, lol.
Buying soundtracks is my way of owning a piece of a drama I really loved, since DVD's are so expensive and hard to track down. Someday I'll own the dramas themselves, but until then, I content myself with their OSTs.
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Isa is always time travelling
May 16, 2023 at 9:35 AM
"Sometimes I'll actually test myself and try to guess the drama a particular song came from".
I do the same :D
When I watch a drama, I add all the songs I like to a "K-drama + K-Indie" playlist on Spotify. Then I usually listen them in shuffle mode. There are many songs that I know where they come from but sometimes it's trickier.
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ar_arguably romantic
May 16, 2023 at 3:41 PM
I feel like most drama watchers from 2009 onwards would totally ace matching Paradise to BOF within 2 seconds flat. I didn't even watch the entire drama (though I was present when my mom watched it twice) and it's still so very recognizable for me.
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OhSoEnthusiastic
May 16, 2023 at 5:59 PM
It's a very distinctive song, lol.
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14 LT is Irresistibly Indifferent, Dame Judi
May 16, 2023 at 4:00 PM
Thank you for putting the trigger warning in the title of the post
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15 Qingdao: likes scented candles
May 16, 2023 at 4:01 PM
ICONIC! The OST and BoF are forever linked.
This Kdrama took the world by storm and the theme song is iconic. Even in 2015, Boys Over Flowers sight-seeing tours were still being offered in Seoul.
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16 PinkSushi
May 17, 2023 at 5:57 AM
For me, the drama that first came to mind (after BOF, of course HAHA), was It's Okay, It's Love.
Especially the song Hero. That one broke my heart and was so fitting for the drama <3
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