Song Appreciation - Save Me, Kill Me by CIX
- Jovi Giraffe
- Mar 22
- 5 min read
CIX is a 4-member K-pop boy group from C9 Entertainment consisting of members BX, Seunghan, Younghee and Hyunsuk, originally debuting as a 5-member group on 23rd July 2019. They currently have two studio albums, eight EPs, and numerous singles under their name.
On 29th May 2023, they released their 6th EP with their title track Save Me, Kill Me. The song talks about longing for someone, while the music video showcases dark and heavy themes of self-harm and suicide. The song title uses an oxymoron, which combines opposite words together to create a thought-provoking phrase, with the words ‘Save’ and ‘Kill’. It explores the theme of strongly loving someone till they can hurt and save us.
Lyrics & singing (Korean) / (English translation)
The members have an incredible ability to encapsulate us in the emotions they are singing. In the chorus, especially, it feels as if they are desperately calling for us to save them with love.
Chorus lyrics:
Just save my love / Or kill this heart / 널 위해 뛰는 심장을 (I hope that my beating heart for you) / 다 조각 내 주길 (Will be cut into pieces) —> It talks about their deep love for that person until it can either fix or tear them apart.
넌 나의 curse (You’re my curse) / 눈부신 덫 (And dazzling trap) / 이 고통은 고통만이 (Only other pain) / 아물게 할 수 있잖아 (Can heal this pain) —> This suggests that they will willingly love that person, and he/she can heal their constant pain, even if it’s a trap.
Not only in the chorus, but the post-chorus is also brilliantly sung. The soft-toned voice of the 1st 3 lines to the strong, impactful last few lines makes the emotions stronger and complete.
Post-chorus lyrics:
그러니 heal me softly (Therefore, heal me softly) / 아니면 kill me softly (Or kill me softly) / 차라리 kill this love (Rather kill this love) / 나를 버려줘 (Leave me alone) —> This emphasises that they want this love to heal them instead of moving on from the love. However, the last line implies that they are conflicted by this love.
구원해 줄 수 없는 거라면 (If you can’t save me) / 네가 달아 준 날개의 feather (The feather of the wings you attached) / Baby, 자비 없이 꺾어주길 (Baby, I hope you break without mercy) / 너의 손으로 날 부디 kill me softly (Please, kill me softly with your hands) —> This implies that if the love can’t save them, they will prefer to stay broken and in pain.
After BX’s rap, Hyunsuk’s lines in the 2nd verse are so smooth to the ear and delicate! His last line ‘날 살려 또 그리곤 죽여 (Save me and then kill me) / Nobody, only you (Nobody, only you)’ talks about how that person is the only one who can heal and hurt them. The way he ends with a higher-pitched angelic tone is smooth! I also didn’t realise that the song title directly came from his line!
On the bridge, Hyunsuk continues to lead with his delicate voice, with emotions. Through the words ‘cry’ and ‘kneel’, we can feel how deep his emotions are when trying to communicate to us. After that, the stronger voices of Seunghan’s singing and BX's rap, along with the crescendo (increasing volume) of background music, make the bridge so much stronger!
After that, we are given the luxury to hear Seunghan’s adlibs along with the emotional ending chorus sung by his members. Lastly, Jinyoung’s last line, ‘사랑이 아니면 날 위해 kill me softly (If it’s not love, Kill me softly for me)’ is a neat bow tie to end this beautifully sung song (Jinyoung is a former member of the group).
Instrumental
I love the way the intro starts with a soft ‘woohoo’ sound through the instruments, immediately drawing us in.
The background track cleverly uses crescendos to create the feeling of cold and emptiness as a build-up emotion from the verse to the pre-chorus, and then to the chorus. The chorus uses bass and drums to create intense emotions alongside the members’ emotionally strong vocals. In the bridge, it uses the drums to rapidly build up emotions towards the ending chorus, which brilliantly aligns with Seunghan’s lines.
Music Video
Like many K-pop groups, CIX has a lore under CIX Universe (CU). For their group, the lore touches on heavy topics such as bullying, loss and redemption. This 6th album is the 2nd episode of the ‘Ok’ series, with their title track serving as the climax of the series. Compared to the previous title track, this song looks into the aftermath of how reality shatters our innocence and youth.
This music video (MV) is a 4 mins short film portraying horrible realities that each member encounters, including car accidents, isolation and bullying. As K-pop MVs tend to focus on dance performance or ‘catchy’ hooks, CIX goes a different direction through a tragic film and dark storytelling. Just from the thumbnail, warning notice and intro scene alone already shows a different creative direction that the group took.
Also, all of them are incredible actors! I always get goosebumps watching this MV.
Dance
Just from the thumbnail, we get the treat of what the song is through the centre member's hands placed at his throat and the other members saving him, which also happens to be the last move of the dance.
I love the move in the chorus during the lines ‘그러니 heal me softly (Therefore, heal me softly) / 아니면 kill me softly’ :D
I also wasn’t expecting them to speak during the dance. 😂 Love the adlibs!
My thoughts
My first encounter with this song was from Kville Entertainment’s curated 2023 playlist. Compared to the songs before and after, this song was very emotionally weighted just from listening to the voices and melodies. Curious, I decided to watch the MV and my goodness!
The story was so deep and talks about important social issues.
At that time, I was still new to K-pop music, and the ones that I had been listening to were from already famous artists with catchy songs and intense choreography. So, this song came as a surprise for me, especially when it is placed before and after two hyper songs in the playlist. Moreover, it made me realise that K-pop explores a wide genre of music from cute, excitable to rough, hip-hop songs. We just have to search for them.
This song will always remain as one of my most favourite K-pop songs, and please recommend me more CIX songs :D
Comments