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Ugly - 2NE1
English Lyrics by Vicky Huang
& Soniya Udayashankar
Intro:
I put on my biggest smile, but inside I'm in denial
I’m not pretty enough, I’m not lovely enough
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Singing a song from my heart,
I dunno, where do I start
I’m not pretty enough, I’m not lovely enough
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Verse 1:
Why am I so hard on myself?
I just want to smile confidently,
But it's so hard when I don't like what I see
I let out my tears, why can't I get over my fears?
Complaining again and again at my own reflection as I stare into the mirror
Prechorus:
When I look back at me, unworthiness is all I see
Is everyone this blind to pretend, that they're really my friends
Is the world lying to me?
Chorus:
I think I'm ugly and nobody wants to love me
Just like her, I wanna be pretty
I wanna to be pretty
I lie to my face, tell myself I’m pretty
I think I'm ugly and nobody wants to love me
Just like her, I wanna be pretty
I wanna to be pretty
I lie to my face, though I know I’m ugly
Verse 2:
You say, "I understand how you feel"
But don’t tell me so easily cause you don't know all the things that I conceal
When we get along, I'm tempted to reveal my song
The notes, the keys and the melodies,
If I sing them aloud, I'm scared you'll sing along
Prechorus:
So I kept to myself, and everything I wanna tell
I shout it out to the woods and fields, they might know how I feel
But they echo back somehow
Chorus:
I think I’m ugly and nobody wants to love me
Just like her, I wanna be pretty
I wanna be pretty
I lie to my face, tell myself I’m pretty
I think I’m ugly and nobody wants to love me
Just like her I wanna be pretty
I wanna be pretty
Don’t lie to my face though I know I’m ugly
Bridge:
All alone, I’m all alone
All alone, I’m all alone
I don't know where I can go,
I don't know which hand to hold
Am I alone, am I alone?
(am I really alone?)
Am I alone, am I alone?
Then the forest whispers back,
The friends you have they've got your back,
they'd never leave you alone
Final Chorus:
Now thrown back at me, it seems my song's not my whole story
Been too scared to cross this Bridge,
but now that I did
My song's now complete, I sing it out proudly:
I thought I was ugly, but right now I've learned to accept me
Cause I know that inside I'm pretty
And that makes me pretty
No one but yourself defines your beauty
(let nobody else define your beauty)
Written August 5, 2017
When my friend first showed me this song, she definitely did not know how much it hit me. But maybe she does now, because although I wanted to hide it, I chose to vulnerably ask if she wanted to co-write this English cover with me.
Originally, it's a pretty sad song — but I wanted it to have a light at the end of the tunnel. So we changed the ending, and turned it into an empowering song. A song that calls us to define ourselves as beautiful, because we can. And I will.