FINDING BALANCE

binneemusic

Feb 75 min read

Updated: Feb 9

Writing Love Songs Comes Naturally

There are a million ways to write love songs, and I believe it's a topic that I write the best no matter how tired or burned out I get from it. When I can’t think of anything else to write, I default to writing about love or a relationship in some form—it just comes naturally.

The Challenge of Finding a Fresh Approach

After writing 100 or so love songs, I was suddenly struggling to think of a unique way to express it in a way that I hadn't already tried before. Previously, I wrote a song titled “Twin”, a platonic love song for a best friend you feel is… well… your twin. This was also around the 2025 Chinese New Year after I already found myself deep in the world of the K-pop industry. So, being influenced by these three components at once, a new idea was born—Yin & Yang, a K-pop track.

Learning from K-pop and the Korean Language

While Vietnamese is the main language I’m currently learning, I knew enough rules about the Korean writing system Hangul (한글). And to be a better writer (even though I don't understand most of the spoken language still), you must read and listen. So, I read the lyrics to my recent favorite Korean tracks to understand how to rhyme words and get that signature style of mixing Korean and English words seamlessly.

I picked up on a lot of new writing techniques this way that I can incorporate into my future songs, and it helped me to better understand how to write in a secondary language with minimal help from Google Translate and a few helpful Korean friends. I had successfully attempted to write songs in Korean before, but with those, I had focused more on simply translating from English to Korean. This led to a lot of lines that did not follow any proper rhyme scheme. And even though they still sounded fine in the end, my understanding of Korean was not heightened much.

Music as a Tool for Language Learning

This way, however, I found a new way to flex not only my creative skills for writing song ideas I normally wouldn't have thought of but also to better enhance my understanding of foreign languages through the free tool of music. So, with Yin & Yang, I managed to grasp the language more organically and with more respect and honor for native speakers.

A Song Born from Struggle

Even though this idea was born out of a struggle to find a fresh way to express and experience an old idea I'm so used to by now, it turned out to be one of my favorite songs I've written in recent times. I finished writing this song around 1 AM after just a few hours, and it turned out catchier than I ever could have hoped for. When I produced the original instrumental, this was before I had any idea of what I would write for it. However, it ended up pairing well with the content and vibe of my lyrics.

Bringing the Song to Life

So, off to Suno I went. I uploaded a 17-second loop of my original beat I produced and finished the song from there. Even though I already have quite the visual imagination, the end result helped paint an even clearer image in my mind for ideas of what a music video or dance routine would look like for this song. Suno is a perfect way to test and grow your foreign language skills, a great and respectful way to utilize artificial intelligence, as it makes everything more personal and tailored to each unique individuals wants and goals.

The Meaning Behind Yin & Yang

The song explores both duality and complementary forces. The Yin-Yang concept represents two opposing yet interconnected forces—light and dark, masculine and feminine, passive and active. Lines like "서로 다르지만 하나 되어" (Though we are different, we become one) and "Opposites attract, feel the flow" directly align with this idea. The song also portrays love as a balance between two distinct individuals who complete each other rather than cancel each other out.

Symbolism in the Lyrics

Overall, this song is full of vivid lines regarding balance in love, eternal connection, cosmic and natural symbolism, and love as a guiding light. My two favorite parts of the song are the chorus and the bridge.

Chorus

Like yin and yang, you light my way

(yin and yin and, yang yang) oh

Like yin and yang, you light my way

(yin and yin and, yang yang) oh

The chorus is simple and straightforward, yet says everything it needs to. I have a habit of writing poetic, complicated, or mysterious verses in my past, which made it difficult for me to write a catchy earworm of a “less is more” chorus. Growing up, my choruses were always so packed and complicated. I had to let go of how I normally write choruses and be as basic as possible since this is a pop song, something AI cannot do or replicate regardless of genre.

Bridge

(너와 나, balance like the moon and sun

반대가 아닌, 서로 완성된 걸

세상이 뭐라 해도, we're the one

음과 양, 우리의 마음, we’re never done)

The first line explicitly compares the couple to the moon and the sun, classical symbols of Yin and Yang. “반대가 아닌, 서로 완성된 걸 (Not opposites, but completed by each other)” challenges the common misconception that Yin and Yang are simply opposing forces. Instead, they are interdependent—one cannot exist without the other. “We’re never done” reflects the infinite cycle of Yin and Yang, always flowing and evolving.

A Creative Challenge That Paid Off

Ultimately, I am satisfied with what I created. I challenged myself to complete a song outside of my comfort zone, and it ended up being an awesome end product. I learned how to better incorporate my language-learning skills into something I like to do almost every day, and that’s writing personal music. The song captures that magical feeling of love I felt when I originally wrote it.

Most songs you will see me post from Suno will be in English, Korean, or a mixture of both, but I have already begun learning how to write in Vietnamese as well. So, stay tuned for when I have a full collection prepared.

Down below, you'll find you can listen to a snippet of my original instrumental, as well as the full final song!