ITWY OST: "Friend Of An Ordinary Friend" by Emerson Tsai

The lyricist of this song, Poppy Xong himself has confirmed that, indeed, this song contains a swear word, mwahaha! Though to be fair, I'm not sure it even counts (it's an acronym), but imo it suits the context. To the clueless ones, not to worry as it will be revealed later in this post :D

The Unsent Letter: "I'm willing to be responsible for you."

This song sounds breezy to the unsuspecting. Happy, even. But that's cause you probably only heard the cheeky line, "(You're) Not an ordinary friend, but the friend of an ordinary friend." Little did you know it contains such bleakness and resignation. Look at the last line, "In the end, we're just... friends"? So NOT how I want the drama to end. Gawd, if Da Ren ends up "just a friend" to You Qing and she goes on to make babies with that Ding fella... NOOOOO!!! *touch wood*

No offense to Li Wei, I love him and it's a fact my interest shot up 60% with his appearance. I mean, one can only stand Not Nic But NIC But Really My Real Name's Latte and Wawa Voice Maggie for so long. Also, Sunny Wang OWNS the whole Harlequin Hero act. C'mon, the whole "No! No! Really Means Yes" scenes? OWN. So much so I wonder if his acting coach slipped him The Sheikh's Captive Bride for character study. 

Artist: Emerson Tsai
Lyricist: Poppy Xong
Composer: Feng Yuan
Translated Lyrics:

As the sun beams,

The desolate soul waits for the moment the sun sets

Wondering what will accompany him for the rest of his life

Unable to send away the loneliness

Unable to run away from the agitation

Why are you making me stay in your cold indifference

Listening to your plans

Encounters are like fireworks

Short, beautiful and fragile

What was once so majestic

The day breaks,

Leaving an endless black hole

What should I say? What should I say?

Tell me, what else can I do for you?

Not an ordinary friend, but the friend of an ordinary friend

At the end of the day, we're ultimately strangers

Write a song, to revel in

No matter how insignificant the moments were

Until the feelings force themselves into

A camel that stores memories

Feeling weighed down

What should I say? What should I say?

Tell me, what else can I do for you?

Not an ordinary friend, but the friend of an ordinary friend

As a friend... of your friend, we're not that familiar

What "friend", this "friend", QNMD (to hell with) "friend"

In the end, "We're just... friends."

In the end, "We're just... friends."

Translation Notes - Chinese Swearing 101: QNMD is an acronym for the Chinese expletive, "Qu ni ma de, ... (followed by an object of one's dislike)" Literally it means, "Go to your mom's ...." but since when are swear words to be taken literally, lol. To understand it in this context, Da Ren the author is in the much feared "Just Friends" territory and tells the girl, no, we're NOT friends, we barely know each other. You're the friend of an ordinary friend, so we qualify as strangers. Strangers = a good thing since one can start off with a relationship; friends = bad bad, a curse (see In Time With You). Hence his cursing of the phrase, "friend," rather than the friend herself. "To hell with" is interchangeable with "screw," or the classic "fuck".

Alas, poor author! From woebegoneness, cajoling to denial; desperation and then anger, it ends on a bittersweet note, with him accepting the fact that they are and will be nothing more than just... friends.