I Wanna Hear Your Song

Trust me on this: only watch the parts that include Song Jaerim

To be honest, I never thought this drama would be so bad. I can't write a review without spoilers, but if you ask me, you won't regret reading this before watching.
There was zero chemistry between Yiyoung and Dohun, it never even felt like they were a couple, and honestly it would've been a lot better if they had been just friends, because what were the writers thinking making Dohun date someone he thought had dated and maybe killed his brother?! Seriously, who even wrote this?! There were so many things that didn't make sense, it seemed like someone wrote the script in five minutes without thinking about what they were doing.
Shiwon's performance was terrible, she had literally one facial expression and everything sounded and looked fake - she was actually the right person to play Yiyoung's cousin, because Sejeong's acting is almost the exact same, except Sejeong's is even worse; let's say I'd rate Shiwon's acting a 2/10, and Sejeong's a 1/10, because, yes, they're that terrible, and it's honestly ironic how the story included a character that was going to get into a University to study music without being talented, while these two actresses were in this drama. This was insulting to all the great actors who had to work with them. I'm rating the acting a 4/10 because I had to rate it and didn't know what to choose, since I didn't want to be unfair to the good actors who were in this (several of whom I already knew and admired), but at the same time I didn't want to choose too high of a rating because the bad actresses don't deserve to benefit from it. Sejeong is a great singer and a great dancer, she should stick to that.
If the story had been properly written, I would've liked to see Jaerim and Seunghee as the main characters / couple - Seunghee is a great actress and I was sad we rarely got to see her in this drama, but then again, the way this was written, it wouldn't have made a big difference.
Everything was predictable, boring because it felt like nothing was happening almost 100% of the time, and the drama was full of cringey clichés, such as Yiyoung tripping and falling into Dohun's arms a million times - even once would've been a cliché, let alone several times.
Song Jaerim carried this drama on his back, the only parts I'd rewatch and recommend watching to first time watchers are the ones that include his character - do that and you'll be able to put up with this without rolling your eyes.
On another note, all the songs were absolutely amazing - definitely one of the best, if not the best, drama OSTs I've heard, so I highly recommend listening to it, especially '눈부신 날' by Song Jieun!

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Started well, took some weird turns then became very mediocre

My Rating: 7.5/10

Review

I went into I Wanna Hear Your Song excited for the unique orchestra setting and the underdog story of a timpanist fighting for her place in a professional ensemble. The early episodes hooked me hard with that premise — the passion, the training bits, the classical music woven throughout, and the intriguing mystery layered on top. Kim Se-jeong brings a lot of heart to the role, and the OST and orchestral performances are definite highlights.

However, the show quickly shifts priorities. What starts as a compelling musical journey with thriller elements becomes a mystery-heavy drama where the orchestra setting fades into more of a backdrop. The romance and investigation take center stage, but they come with some frustrating character choices and pacing issues that many viewers seem to notice. I’ve watched over 450 dramas, so I can roll with tropes — but it doesn’t quite deliver on the emotional payoff I was hoping for from the musical arc. Solid performances and an interesting concept, but execution is uneven.

I would not recommend this one with so many better options. I got bored with it. There were a lot of things that were just annoying and frustrating in terms of things characters did. So, I would not watch it again.

Spoilers

The biggest letdown for me was how the underdog musician story got sidelined. We open with her determination to become a permanent part of the orchestra, some fun and quirky training moments, and real stakes around her belonging there. Then it almost immediately pivots hard into the murder mystery, and we barely see her musical growth or integration afterward. She ends up mostly on the sidelines, which means the later orchestra performances lack the satisfying emotional punch they could have had. I wanted her journey to stay central; instead, it feels like the writers used the orchestra world mainly as atmosphere. 

On the mystery side, it’s a decent whodunnit, but it has some logic gaps that became annoying. The stabbing incident felt obviously chaotic/self-defense/accidental from early on, so the prolonged guilt and suspicion around it dragged. The female lead’s excessive guilt complex (even over the death of a clearly nefarious character she only indirectly influenced) gets repetitive and frustrating. She also has important flashbacks revealing key details (including what looked like a kidnapping situation), but she only shares tiny fragments with others and doesn’t seem to piece things together proactively on her own. It makes her feel less smart and capable than the story needs her to be in a thriller.

Both leads also repeatedly throw personal safety out the window. Confronting suspects head-on, handing over weapons while accusing people of murder, and continuing risky behavior after already getting hurt — it’s classic “plot needs tension” decision-making that took me out of the story multiple times. We find out how the stabbing happened and that the conductor handed her the knife after attempting to rescue them. But, seriously, who runs down a slippery road in the rain with a knife pointed in front of you? Didn't we learn as children not to run with knives. I mean, I get it, she has some unknown person after her but pull the knife out when you can actually use it. Better yet give it to the guy who seems to be doing a lot better job of staying calm in chaos.

The male lead’s investigation style especially felt like throwing accusations at the wall hoping something sticks, which made the sleuthing less compelling. He was quite the thug. He just got of jail on suspicion of murder and is already holding conductor guy over a stairwell to get information.

Are they all stupid? They know CCTV is basically everywhere but they have confrontations even beat people up on camera and then try to lie to the police that they don't even know them. Like come on. I don't live in a country with cameras everywhere but I know better than to lie about things like that. They even offer to cover things up and lie for others to get what they want. So you are covering a crime and directly lying. That ought to end well for you.

The romance was another tricky element. It’s hard to fully buy his growing feelings while he still (at least partially) believed she viciously stabbed his brother. Even with the explanations given, the trust flip and emotional connection didn’t land as strongly as it needed to for me. She fell for him a bit too quickly after her ex cheated on her. It felt like she moved on from that lightening speed. And she liked this guy that was mostly stand offish and aloof with her. Did not seem to bother her a whole lot he, after knowing her a bit more, still thought she might just stab someone.

Overall, I get what the show was going for — trauma, guilt, hidden truths, and romance amid chaos — and it has some strong individual scenes thanks to the cast and music. But the imbalance between the promised musical underdog arc and the mystery, combined with character frustrations, kept it from being a standout. Many other viewers have noted the same issues with the sidelined orchestra elements, the reckless confrontations, the guilt trope, and the uneven mystery pacing.

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Totally murder mystery

I think this drama title should ," I want to hear you or I want to believe you ".....
This drama is totally about murder mystery.
Starting few episodes were good and with each ending episode curiosity is increased that in one go I had complete 5 episode and with each episode I told myself this one last and then I will sleep but in one go I had completed 10 episodes .so can see how the drama increase and interset level .
Acting is good and even story is very good .
But wants some more scenes should be add .
Like a good flashback story of his brother that how lead actress and lead actor's brother meet at the airport and what they did that his brother fall for her . This drama need a good romantic ending . As there is no much romantic scene in the drama so atleast last full episode should have a good lovely ending .

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I actually loved the story, the characters, and the actors a lot. There are a few MAJOR points that could have been done SO much better and then this would have been a 10 for me, but they were so blatant, that I can only give it an 8 as a result. & likely would never re-watch.
Issues I had:
1. The FL blurting out crap several times in front of people she thought were murderers and expecting to go unscathed? Super stupid. If you think they MURDERED someone, wouldn't you be a little leery to say that to their face without anyone around (literally) to save you if they decided to kill you as well???
2. The FL as a musician was compelling, but we only get to see her as an "assistant" 99% of the show. I really hated that. I wanted to see her as more than a patient who forgot her past and being used as a plot device instead of a character in her own right.
3. The romance. I know it wasn't the main event in this show, but our hopes were up with that lovely kiss early in the show only to go non-existent in the rest.
4. The ending. It had too many flaws.
(a.) Why was our FL and her family APOLOGIZING for an ACCIDENT??? She didn't STAB him. He FELL on her knife while knocking her to safety. GEEEZ.
(b.) Why didn't we get to see the bad guy being miserable? Sad face.
(c.) This guy leaves like that, devastating our FL one AGAIN and then out of the blue returns "1 year later" with a smile on his face like nothing happened and she doesn't even BLINK before forgiving him like it never happen. Truly, this was the most disappointing part. She had to have had been very very hurt by him and yet the writers wrote it off like he just hadn't called in a few weeks. WHUT?
(d.) Side characters. Anyone else feel like they just threw endings out there for everyone without much thought? I felt like they just tried to hurry up and end it all quickly and we got a glossed over ending as a result. SAD PANDA.

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This drama in 5 words, "What really happened to Ian?"

When I first stumble upon this drama I was so excited because SeJeong is the female lead. I just kind of wonder why it wasn't on my radar at all (meaning not famous or didn't created any buzz) but as I started watching it, I realized why.

Let's start with the plot. First impression wasn't really that good to be honest. It took me several episodes before I started to figure out what was happening. Then I started to realize that we need to find out what happen to Ian and that gets more frustrating. I felt like the story was unnecessarily stretched to complete the 32-episodes. This could've been a movie without all the unnecessary drama. I just started to like the last 4 episodes because that's where things started to come around like finally we're knowing what the hell happened to Ian. All the in betweens are meh. I just watched it in hopes that it'll get better. I was kind of relieved though that it had a decent ending.

Cast-wise, not sure if there was chemistry or nothing at all. I mean I'm not even sure if they were bad at acting or was it because of the terrible writing. I seriously just watched this because of SeJeong. (I'm kinda biased here, but SeJeong did pretty well to me at least. Not Daesang award level but for me she expressed the character's emotions well.)

I love classical music but the music played throughout the series wasn't notable for me. Unlike other musical dramas where I had to add the songs to my playlist, this was meh for me. I did like the song that SeJeong sang on the drama though. It was catchy to the ear (or maybe because SeJeong sang it.? P.S: huge Queen SeJeong fan hahaha)

Overall, I really want some of my time back after watching this. If you're a SeJeong fan like me, maybe you might have the time and patience to watch this series. If not, just skip to the last 4 episodes to find out what happened to Ian. However, it's not really something I can recommend.

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This is a good drama. The plot was intriguing but the flashbacks were overused while trying to excrete the mysterious events little by little. The leading couple’s romantic storyline was realistic since they were dealing with memory loss and misunderstandings but it took away from a great romantic story and the clichéd year separation at the end was not necessary since all misunderstandings were cleared already. Although the drama is quite entertaining, there are unrealistic elements of human behavior which can only be taken as the writer’s effort to keep unnecessary tension caused by stupidity (female lead). The actors portrayed their characters well and the story is more about finding the person(s) responsible for the death of “Jang Yoon’s” brother. The leading’s couple’s romantic chemistry was not strong but their inner struggles were very well portrayed. Still, the drama is entertaining.

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The cast is superb also in this drama I've seen how singer actress kim sejeong acting has improve.The chemistry between the lead character is amazing despite of the age difference you wouldn't even notice it. Each character have a secret to be told why they do the things they do. I love how you get a little of almost everything in this drama. You get to laugh while watching the next thing you know your puzzle what went wrong to the turn of the event. Im not into too much theatrical music but i get to enjoy watching this. Thumbs-up! I guarantee this is worth of your time.

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Disclaimer: This is 200% my own thoughts, so if you have a reason to watch this drama, go for it! Don't let me sway you.

The plot was kinda new and intriguing, so I was truly interested at first. But i feel that because it wasn't written smoothly enough so the story progresses unaturally and has those awkward moments. Like how the romance between MC starts doesn't make sense to me at all.
I love Yeon Woo Jin, I have to say all the reasons I started this was because of him. And Se Jeong has great potential after her performance in School 2017. But I didn't expect the two to have such weird (awkward??) chemi on screen....Even in their behind-the-scene vids they smiled more brightly and naturally.
All in all I just coudn't continue watching it, much regret for the actor I love, but...yeah.

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E vamos de mais um dorama por causa da Sejeong!

Ainda abalada com o término de A Business Proposal, precisava diminuir minha saudade de ver a Sejeong nas telinhas com outro dorama dela. E IWHYV foi o escolhido.

Primeiramente, os tiros no pé.
1. Química entre o casal... isso mesmo produção...
Apesar de não ter chegado ao ponto de ser feio vê-los juntos (como aconteceu comigo da metade pro final de Tale of the Nine-Tailed), não foi assim tão satisfatório o casal principal. Dava pra descer sabe?
2. Outro ponto que me chateou foi a personagem da Sejeong. Ela sendo a patroa diva que é, cheia de energia, positividade e brilho, interpretando uma personagem tão sem sal. Eu gostei dela, mas tinha hora que eu queria dar um tapa na cara dela pra deixar de ser burra rsrs. Se não fosse a Sejeong sendo a atriz, essa personagem não tinha minha moral.

Em geral, o drama não foi ruim. Teve aquele "suspensezinho" básico, cenas que chorei, cenas que passei raiva e principalmente, pude matar a saudade da Sejeong rsrs. Recomendo sim!

Concluído por mim: 13/04/22

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