8 chart songs someone else sang first: 'Heavenly fate' starts singing 14 seconds sooner, 'Don't you know' goes five semitones down

When a song is sung again, what stays and what changes? We went through the album notes and credits of the 100 songs on the Bugs weekly chart for the last week of September (September 28–October 4) one by one, and found eight songs that are new versions of songs another singer released first. The originals came out in very different years, from CAN's 'Cheonsangyeon (천상연)' in 1998 to tuki.'s 'Bansanka (晩餐歌)' in 2023. We measured all eight pairs the same way and set them side by side. Tempo and key come from computer analysis of the audio, and the moment the first lyric is heard was found in a version of the sound with the backing removed, leaving only the voice. We list a key only for pairs where three different ways of comparing the two versions all gave the same answer.

At a glance

Chart song ← original	Tempo	Key	Length	First lyric
TAEYEON 'Bansanka' ← tuki. 2023	103 → 103	Same	3:35 → 3:39	0:10 → 0:10
RESCENE 'Pretty Girl' ← KARA 2008	134 → 134	Same	3:29 → 3:30	0:03 → 0:03
Hwang Karam 'I'm Firefly' ← Lunch 2020	148 → 148	Same	3:34 → 3:35	0:26 → 0:27
ZO ZAZZ 'Don't you know' ← DAVICHI 2013	130 → 128	5 semitones down	5:05 → 5:01	0:28 → 0:23
LEECHANGSUB 'Heavenly fate' ← CAN 1998	138 → 144	1 semitone down	5:05 → 4:31	0:27 → 0:13
Nerd Connection 'If I have you only (My love)' ← weather forecast 1999	147 → 138	Same (a semitone up only at the end)	3:59 → 4:10	0:11 → 0:15
BOL4 'Please Summer!' ← Indigo 2002	125 → 115	–	4:07 → 3:49	0:11 → 0:08
10CM 'To Reach You' ← Tomofumi Tanizawa 2009	126 → 126	–	3:25 → 2:38	– → 0:10

For each value, the number to the left of the arrow is the original's, and the number to the right is the chart song's. Tempo is the number of beats in one minute (BPM): if you clapped on every beat, it's how many times you'd clap in a minute. Sources that count the beats in pairs sometimes list half the number (74 for 148). A semitone is the difference in pitch you get by moving one key over to its neighbor on a piano. Lengths follow Bugs (Apple Music for the original of 10CM's song), and the first-lyric times were measured on the audio as the moment the first line of the Bugs lyrics is heard, so they can be a few seconds off from the videos. A '–' marks a cell we left blank because different ways of measuring gave different answers.

Three songs that keep the original's beat and key

TAEYEON 'Bansanka' ← tuki. 'Bansanka (晩餐歌)'

Only the lyrics have changed, into Korean written by 이스란; the frame of the song is the same. Both run at a tempo of 103 in A♭ major, and the first line comes in at 0:10 in both. The 'フルコース' (full course) that tuki. sings four times remains three times, in the line '너의 마음속 Full course 내게 줘' (give me the full course inside your heart). The spot around 2:50 where the last chorus goes up a semitone is the same in both versions, too. That story is in our October 11 list. What differs is the drums. In the original, the drums come in big at 0:28, but TAEYEON's version waits until 0:47. The three seconds the song gains are in the drums as well: right before the last chorus, the drums drop out for a moment and come back at 2:37 in the original and at 2:40 in TAEYEON's version. Apple Music

RESCENE 'Pretty Girl' ← KARA 'Pretty Girl'

Eighteen years apart, the two versions measured exactly the same in tempo and key, and their lengths differ by just one second. The first voice, opening with 'Yeah', comes in at 0:03 in both, and even the spot around 0:31 where the voice rests for a moment lines up. The lyrics differ only in that RESCENE's version adds a few more ad-libs like 'Yeah'. What changed is the weight of the sound. The touches listed in the album notes are distorted guitar, newly added synths and heavier drums. When we split the sound into vocals, drums, bass and the rest of the instruments and measured each, the share taken up by the bass grew from 17% in the original to 29%. The story from the time of the release is in our July 17 article. Apple Music

Hwang Karam 'I'm Firefly' ← Lunch 'I am firefly'

Lay the two versions on top of each other and they almost match. The key (A minor) and tempo (148) are the same, and the moment '나는 내가 빛나는 별인 줄 알았어요' (I thought I was a shining star) begins, as well as the spots where the voice pauses along the way, stay within a second of each other. Not a single letter of the lyrics is different. According to the Bugs credits, 우주비 arranged and played guitar on both the 2020 original and Hwang Karam's 2024 version. The new name in the credits of Hwang Karam's version is 권병호, who played the harmonica. Apple Music

Two songs sung in a lower key

ZO ZAZZ 'Don't you know' ← DAVICHI 'Don't You Know'

Not a single letter of the lyrics changed, but the key moved a long way. DAVICHI sang it in B♭ major for the soundtrack of the 2013 drama 'IRIS Ⅱ', and ZO ZAZZ sings it in F major, five semitones lower. The tempos, 130 and 128, are almost the same. The first line, '찬바람 불어오니' (as the cold wind blows in), arrives at 0:28 in DAVICHI's version and at 0:23 in ZO ZAZZ's, and in both versions the drums first come in during the 1:20s. According to the Bugs album notes, a 50-piece orchestra played on this song, which was ZO ZAZZ's debut album. Apple Music

LEECHANGSUB 'Heavenly fate' ← CAN 'Cheonsangyeon (천상연)'

In 2024, LEECHANGSUB sang the title track of CAN's 1998 first full album again as a song for the webtoon 'A Not So Fairy Tale', choosing F♯ major, a semitone lower (the original is in G major). Both versions are titled '천상연' in Korean. The key went down, but the tempo went up from 138 to 144, and the song got 34 seconds shorter. The biggest change is at the very start. The original plays a 27-second intro before singing '아니길 바랬었어' (I had hoped it wasn't so), while LEECHANGSUB's version, which opens with strings, sings the same line at 0:13. Lining the two versions up shows that about 14 seconds of the original's intro were left out. The lyrics are the same, except that '행복하길 바래' (I hope you'll be happy) is added once more at the end. Apple Music

Three songs with a reworked structure

Nerd Connection 'If I have you only (My love)' ← weather forecast 'Geudaeman Itdamyeon (그대만 있다면)'

The key and lyrics are almost unchanged, but the beat has slowed down: from 147 in the 1999 original by weather forecast (일기예보) to 138 in Nerd Connection's version, about 6% slower. Both versions are titled '그대만 있다면' in Korean. The song also got 11 seconds longer. The instruments come in much later. In the original, the bass is there from 0:11 and the drums from 0:36, while in Nerd Connection's version the bass only comes in at 0:57 and the drums at 1:26. The ending is different, too. Nerd Connection's version goes up a semitone from '이대로 내 곁에 있어야 해요' (you have to stay by my side, just like this) at 2:54, but the original stays in A major to the very end. Apple Music

BOL4 'Please Summer!' ← Indigo 'Please Summer!'

The 2002 original opens with a short shout followed by the English line 'Just take my hand', and the first Korean line doesn't arrive until 0:26. BOL4 leaves out the English intro and sings '여름아 부탁해' (summer, please) right away at 0:08. The tempo slowed from 125 to 115, and yet the song got 18 seconds shorter. The lyrics were reworked, too: '긴 머리' (long hair) became '짧은 머리' (short hair), '비키닐 입은' (in a bikini) became '셔츠를 입은' (in a shirt), and '담배라도 끊겠어요' (I'd even quit smoking) became '드라마도 끊겠어요' (I'd even quit dramas). The credits list Jukjae on nylon guitar, keys and bass, but the bass isn't heard until 2:25. Apple Music

10CM 'To Reach You' ← Tomofumi Tanizawa 'Kimi ni Todoke (きみにとどけ)'

10CM sings in Korean a song that came out in 2009 as the opening theme of the Japanese anime 'Kimi ni Todoke' (君に届け, '너에게 닿기를' in Korean). According to the Bugs album notes, this version was used as the opening when the show aired on Tooniverse in 2010, and only became an official release 15 years later, in March 2025. The lyrics were translated by 고희안. The tempo, 126, is the same as the original, but at 2:38 it's 47 seconds shorter than the original single's 3:25. The story of the short songs on the chart is in our October 7 list. Apple Music

Play the two versions one after the other and you can hear the numbers in the table, too. While CAN's original is still playing its intro, LEECHANGSUB has already sung the whole first line, and while Indigo is still singing in English, BOL4 has already reached '나의 사랑을 이루게 해 줘' (let my love come true).