Don’t Wanna Cry — a chronicle by SEVENTEEN

Hello hello! I’m back with another post. On today’s post we’re going to briefly dive into a theory I like to call the Don’t Wanna Cry Chronicles. This theory is about how 3 SEVENTEEN songs are linked to each other; Don’t Wanna Cry, Without You, and Lie Again. This is nothing original as many Carats have already made this connection but I wanted to write about my take on it ? I find it very interesting and also somewhat personal so this is going to be fun!

Let’s start with the main song, Don’t Wanna Cry

Don’t Wanna Cry is a song released by SEVENTEEN in 2017. It’s about someone who was abandoned by their lover (I’ll refer to them as him and the lover as her just to make things easier). He seems to be in the early stage of lost. He is still in denial and is having a hard time expressing his emotions. One of my favourite lines in the song portrays emotion quite well:

장난치지 마, 거기 있는 거 알아
나타날 거 같아, 마냥 기다리다
널 찾아가야 돼 가야 하는데
눈물 고여 점점 흐려져

눈물은 많지만
울고 싶지 않아

Don’t play around, I know you’re right there
Feels like you’ll appear, so I’m just waiting
I need to find you, I need to go
But tears well up and it’s getting blurrier

I have a lot of tears
But I don’t wanna cry

Don’t wanna cry – SEVENTEEN

Don’t Wanna Cry Without You

So after the release of their mini album A|1 (the one with Don’t Wanna Cry), SEVENTEEN released a full album that same year called Teen, Age. In Teenage, we’re graced with the song Without You. If you were to listen to Without You, it’s not very obvious that it’s connected with Don’t Wanna Cry. However, SEVENTEEN gave us a big hint by connecting the choreography. The ending of Don’t Wanna Cry is how Without You starts.

Without You continues the boy’s journey. In this song, it feels like quite some time has passed and the boy has given the situation a lot more thought. The other reason why I feel like the story is connected, aside from the choreo, is because of this line in the song:

그 뻔한 돌아오겠다는
한마디 말도 남기지 않고서
당연하다는 듯 인사 한번도 없이

You didn’t even say those typical words
I’ll be back as if it’s a given
You didn’t even say goodbye

Without You – SEVENTEEN

This shows that she didn’t even properly say goodbye to him. Which made sense in the Don’t Wanna Cry line I quoted earlier. Without You slowly unfolds the boys emotions after the separation. Although he still longs for her, it feels like he has let go of her as well. We get hear him accepting the fact she won’t be coming back. He makes a conclusion by the end of the song as he reminds himself “네가 오기 전 그날 까지만 You’re not here so from now on… ” Then repeats to himself,

변해볼까 해 I’m gonna change …

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ 변해볼까 해 I’m gonna change …

Her Story – Lie Again

Now this is when it gets really interesting (in my opinion!). Towards the end of 2019, SEVENTEEN dropped their full length album, An Ode, and graced us with yet another master piece, Lie Again. Lie Again is a song about pushing your lover away because you don’t love them the same anymore. This song is the other side of the story. We now get to hear her thoughts. The biggest giveaway that this song is part of the Don’t Wanna Cry Chronicles is during Vernon’s line in both songs that shares lyrics and melody. At the beginning of Don’t Wanna Cry you hear:

사랑해서, 사랑한다는 말이
부족해서, 그 어떤 말을 꺼내봐도

Words like “I love you because I love you”
Isn’t enough no matter what I say

Don’t Wanna Cry – SEVENTEEN

Meanwhile in Lie Again, you hear almost the same exact line:

사랑해서 사랑한다는 말이
부족해서 널 보냈어

Words like “I love you because I love you”
I lack those and that’s why I let you go

Lie Again – SEVENTEEN

What I got from this parallel is that the line “I love you because I love you” was something they used to say to each other often. However, at some point of their relationship, the girl is no longer able to reciprocate. She fell out of love. When you are on the path of falling out of love, it’s really difficult to express the feelings properly. It’s not like you hate the person nor do you want that person out of your life. Yet, you can’t help but constantly act in a way that pushes them away and hurt their feelings. By acting that way, you sometimes wish that they’ll just hate you and leave you so you don’t have to be the one to start the difficult conversation…

Another link between Don’t Wanna Cry and Lie Again:

그리움과 이별이
눈물뿐인 만남보다는
덜 아프겠죠

Parting with longing
It may be less painful
than a tearful meeting

Lie Again – SEVENTEEN

This part of Lie Again shows that she felt like they would be better off separating rather than continuing to be sad each time they meet. A lot of times, breaking up takes two to agree to it. It’s really hard to end a relationship that didn’t have major issues to begin with. When things are going smoothly externally but the issues are internal, what do you say to the person? Even if you were to tell them that “I don’t love you anymore”, they probably will still want to be with you. They’ll do anything they can to make you love them again. This might be the reason why she left him without much explanation. Hence, in Without You, the boy sings about how she didn’t even say goodbye.

너 하나만 아끼던 날 두고서 어디 간 거니
내가 싫어 어어 져서 멀리 간 거니

I loved you so much, where’d you go?
Did you leave because you don’t like me anymore?

Don’t Wanna Cry – SEVENTEEN

Meanwhile, in Lie Again, you hear a direct response from her:

네가 싫어
난 네가 싫어졌어
보기 싫어 더 이상

I don’t like you
I’ve come to not like you
I don’t want to see you anymore

Lie Again – SEVENTEEN

These are very harsh words, but obviously the girl is trying to hide her feelings. Forcing herself to lie again and again so that she can push the boy away. She doesn’t want to give him any hope that will hurt him anymore than she already has.

What’s Next?

Honestly, I really hope SEVENTEEN adds a Without You version for her side of the story. I feel like it’ll be an interesting emotion to explore. Especially when one part of Lie Again they sing about how “I pushed you away, knowing that I’ll regret it”. Every time I hear this line, my heart hurts real bad (lol). I also wish that Lie Again itself gets more love and attention because not very often do you get to hear a song that explores the ‘falling out of love’ emotions in a heartbreak. Is it because not enough of us understands it? Then again, who actually understands love anyways?

My personal thoughts

I personally relate to these songs so much. I’ve been through a situation where someone I loved left me without saying proper goodbyes or even bother explaining to me why they decided to cut me out of their life. Although I had a good guess for the reason why, another part of me was in agony because I can’t help but wonder if they hated me now. The idea of being hated by someone you love is probably one of the scariest things and I really hope not many of you have to ever experience that in you life.

With that said, I really relate to her side of the story in Lie Again as well. Even more so, actually. I don’t know how often people experience falling out of love with someone who has been nothing but kind to you. When you have to break it off with someone who hasn’t done you wrong in anyway, the guilt that comes with it is unbearable. When you sit face to face, looking at them in the eyes realizing that you are no longer in love — it truly is a different kind of heart breaking.

The End

Well, that’s it! Thanks for joining me in unveiling the Don’t Wanna Cry Chronicles. It’s not very in dept, but I still had a lot of fun laying it all out in this post. There’s actually a lot more that I want to point out in each song, but I didn’t want the post to drag. I might add more to it in the future though!

I hope you had fun reading through it, as much I did writing it! Also, if you’re not a Carat and you just happen to be reading this post, I hope that this post will make you want to listen to the songs at least once. I really do recommend it, they’re beautiful.

Final Plugs!

200th Day Without You Theory – A Carat wrote about Without You x Don’t Wanna Cry. They even dig into the choreography parallels between the songs. It’s amazingly in dept and worth a read!