No. 34· behind-the-music
How Long Are Ten Song Titles?
The ten song titles of dear(you); vol.1 are short, six to nine Korean syllables and three to six English words. The shortest are song 03 in Korean and song 06 in English.
The song titles of this album are sentences. How long are they? This post counts the Korean and English titles of all ten songs in syllables, words and letters.
The scope and method first. We read the title (KR) and title (EN) in the metadata table of each song design document. Korean syllables are the number of Hangul characters (가-힣). English words are the number of space-separated words. English letters are the number of alphabet letters, with spaces and punctuation left out. The design documents were written on 2026-07-04 when the songs were commissioned, and the YouTube titles after release may differ. The music is made with AI (Suno); the lyrics are drafted by AI and reviewed by a person.
The ten titles
| Song | Korean title | Syllables | English title | Words | Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 오늘도 많이 힘들었지? | 9 | Hard Day Again, Wasn't It? | 5 | 19 |
| 02 | 괜찮아, 천천히 말해봐. | 9 | It's Okay, Take Your Time. | 5 | 19 |
| 03 | 나도 무서웠어. | 6 | I Was Scared, Too. | 4 | 13 |
| 04 | 너는 아직 빛나고 있어. | 9 | You're Still Shining. | 3 | 17 |
| 05 | 잠깐 쉬어가도 돼. | 7 | It's Okay to Rest a While. | 6 | 19 |
| 06 | 혼자가 아니야. | 6 | You're Not Alone. | 3 | 13 |
| 07 | 네가 있어서 다행이야. | 9 | I'm Glad You're Here. | 4 | 15 |
| 08 | 오늘도 충분했어. | 7 | You Were Enough Today. | 4 | 18 |
| 09 | 내일은 조금 웃자. | 7 | Let's Smile a Little Tomorrow. | 5 | 24 |
| 10 | 오늘도... 정말 고생했어. | 9 | You Did So Well Today. | 5 | 17 |
The totals are 78 Korean syllables and 44 English words. Per song that is 7.8 syllables and 4.4 words on average.
Reading the lengths
In Korean, two songs have 6 syllables (03, 06), three have 7 (05, 08, 09) and five have 9 (01, 02, 04, 07, 10). No song has 8.
In English, two titles have 3 words (04, 06), three have 4 (03, 07, 08), four have 5 (01, 02, 09, 10) and one has 6 (05).
The shortest titles are song 03, "나도 무서웠어." (6 Korean syllables), and song 06, "You're Not Alone." (3 English words). By English letters, songs 03 and 06 are tied at 13, the shortest, and the longest is song 09, "Let's Smile a Little Tomorrow.", at 24.
Words and letters tell different stories. Song 04 has only 3 English words but 17 letters, while song 05 has the most words, 6, and 19 letters, the same as songs 01 and 02.
One more small thing: the word 오늘도 ("today, too") is in the Korean titles of three songs, 01, 08 and 10.
What we are not claiming
- That the title lengths were chosen on purpose. The design documents do not say so.
- That the post-release YouTube titles match this table. We counted the titles in the design documents and did not check YouTube.
- That a shorter title is easier to remember, or anything about how a listener will feel. No medical or other effect is claimed.
Listen
- 03 I Was Scared, Too. (나도 무서웠어.) — English version · Korean version
- 06 You're Not Alone. (혼자가 아니야.) — English version · Korean version
Once more, plainly: the music is made with AI (Suno); the lyrics are drafted by AI and reviewed by a person. You can also listen on the idle() home page.
Related
- The titles: Ten Titles, Read as Sentences
- The tempos: The Tempo Ladder of Ten Songs