I Wanna Hear Your Song tells the story of a woman (Kim Se Jung) who suffers from nightmares and insomnia and can only go to sleep by hearing a person who is tone deaf sing. She meets a mysterious tone deaf pianist (Yeon Woo Jin) and tries to remember a murder as well as a past love that are lost in her memories.
Kim Se Jung plays Hong Yi Young who is a timpanist in an orchestra. She doesn’t remember a portion of her life, but nightmares and brief flashbacks about that time cause her insomnia. As questions arise about what happened to her, she begins to try to seek the truth.
Yeon Woo Jin is Jang Yoon. He’s a mysterious man who begins hanging around Yi Young and seems interested in her. The question is whether his interest is good or bad. He seems suspicious and his motives aren’t clear.
Then we have Song Jae Rim as Nam Joo Wan who is an arrogant orchestra conductor and Park Ji Yeon as Ha Eun Joo who is a violinist in the orchestra.
I Wanna Hear Your Song had some good stuff in it, but mostly it was disappointing and felt like it could have been so much more. It had all of the ingredients for an amazing series, but it just really didn’t put everything together.
It mixes darker suspense elements with romantic comedy elements in a musical setting. As someone who usually enjoys musical settings in stories, I was surprised that I wasn’t so interested in the music portion of the drama.
I didn’t really care for Yi Young’s career side of the story and didn’t like the supporting characters. In the opening episodes of the drama, the music stuff takes up a bigger part of the story, and it felt slow from the get go.
They then pepper in bits of the darker back story and the mystery surrounding Yi Young’s past as well as Jang Yoon’s interest in it. I was instantly drawn into these moments, and they kept me wanting to move forward and know more.
The drama did seem like it was trying a bit too hard to sell the mystery though. Everything related to it was made extra dramatic down to the tiniest reveal. And teeny, tiny reveals were a big part of this series.
In order to keep a lot of mystery, the show gives the audience crumbs of back story through flashbacks, nightmares, and memories. We aren’t made aware of how Yi Young is connected to the people she knows in the orchestra and just kind of have to go with it as the drama slowly reveals those details.
I think having so little information about everyone’s back story and connection dampened any reveals we had as the show progressed. These reveals were played up as very dramatic, but they just didn’t have a big impact. This slow delivery of key information also made things feel a bit draggy.
I’m someone who really likes mystery elements in a story, and I love it if a drama can pull off keeping some element of mystery all the way though. It’s okay to start off with a lot of mystery as a story is setting up, but the appropriate pacing of giving information to the audience throughout the story is key.
The drama did progress as the story was peeled back, but it sure did take its time. By the time we get halfway through the drama, we were just starting to put together some of what happened to Yi Young. Many things were left shrouded in mystery though and continued to leave a smaller impact because of a lack of context as to who characters were and how they were connected to events.
It’s a good thing I was genuinely interested in the mystery and what happened to Yi Young, because that interest allowed me push through the slower pace. But even then, I was not rewarded, and this drama just seemed to stall and struggle in the middle stretch. It became quite a chore to finish it.
The last quarter does pick up some and finally brings everything to a head as the truth is brought to light and things are dealt with. We find out what happened, everyone’s involvement, and how things end. It was kind of a too little too late situation for me though.
Now, on the plus side, I did really enjoy both Yeon Woo Jin and Kim Se Jung in this drama. I’ve previously enjoyed Yeon Woo Jin’s performances, and he was great here. This was my first time seeing Kim Se Jung, and she really was delightful and had a uniqueness that I quite liked.
The romance between this pairing was very complicated. Most of the time things were very serious between them, but there is humor to lighten things up, particularly in the earlier episodes when they are in the bickering phase.
Without getting too spoilery, at first we are just trying to figure out what the deal is with Jang Yoon, and then as we learn more, the romance potential gets very complicated between this pair. I like a good angsty and conflicted romance. It’s just too bad the overall dragginess of the show also bogged down the romance.
So I Wanna Hear Your Song left me feeling quite conflicted and a bit disappointed. It had so much going for it, but it just couldn’t seem to execute it. The intriguing mystery, complicated romance, solid actors, and wonderful OST kind of got shortchanged when it came to putting everything together. The drama has some things to like, but it really could have been so much more.
My Rating: 5.5/10
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Kdrama Kisses 
First! Hehe.
Regardless of how you think of this drama, I am just so happy you watched and reviewed this. We do have almost similar feelings for this show.
My primary reason for watching it was of course my love for the ever-talented Yeon Woo Jin. (I really really want you to see and know your thoughts of one of my all-time favorite kdramas, Marriage Not Dating. Unbiasedly I really think that drama would suit your tastebuds. 😊)
And had seen Kim Se Jung before in School 2017 and she was so much better, and performed really well in that show than in I Wanna Hear. However I really think from the start Se Jung were not yet fully ready for maturer roles like Hong Yi Young).
And although we have same vibes towards this show, I liked the musical and the romcom set-ups of the drama and didn’t care much to the uniniteresting (for me) mysteries. I also think the actors esp. Woo Jin (and except for Se Jung whom I found underwhelming here) did give good deliveries. It’s just that general developments (plot and characters) were poor and messier than other romcom mysteries (e.g. the well-played well-written When Camellia Blooms, although I watched I Wanna Hear first haha).
And although I did get a bit disappointed, I didn’t up end regretting of watching it. This drama let my love for Yeon Woo Jin become bigger, and had set higher level of standards to choosing my romcoms. (especially when it’s combined with other genres like mystery, or whatsoever).
Rating: 6/10
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It does sound like we did have similar feelings for this drama though we arrived there in different ways 🙂 You more enjoyed the rom-com and music stuff whereas I was really interested in the mystery as well as the more serious aspects of the romance.
Yes, Yeon Woo Jin was quite good here and he was given more to work with. This was my first impression of Kim Se Jung, and I did like her, particularly her charisma, but the character really didn’t do her any favors as the drama progressed.
I really love rom-com mysteries, but this one just couldn’t pull it together. Whereas a drama like When the Camellia Blooms absolutely nailed it. I definitely don’t regret watching it, it’s just always disappointing when you see so much potential and then it is wasted.
I do still need to watch Marriage Not Dating. I watched a couple eps like 5 years ago and just got distracted at the time. I was liking it but just haven’t ever circled back. I need to though 🙂
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Hi Kay thanks for review this one. I wanted to watch this one since it came out and I couldn’t as it wasn’t available for me anywhere. Now that I read your review I’m so glad I’m not missing anything. 😀
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Hi D 🙂 Yes, I had been wanting to watch this one since it came out too. Sadly, it didn’t quite work out though. I definitely think there are much better dramas for you to spend your time. It’s one of those dramas where if you really click with certain aspects of it or really like the actors, it could be a good watch, but as a whole, it is really not done well. And you know me, I’m usually super forgiving of sloppy dramas! lol
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Since romcom and mystery are a unique combination, a good story plot and a more experienced actress like Gong Hyo Jin are a plus. (Well I think Kim Se Jung’s a good actress though from what I could recall during my watch of School 2017.
Please. Do go back to watching Marriage Not Dating. 😀
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I do still have it on The List, hehe 🙂
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Hmm, well, after reading this, I have pretty much zero interest in picking this one up. It’s a shame, as I have to admit that the premise for this certainly seems to have had potential, but the execution is severely lacking. I don’t mind slower pace if it eventually pays off (the smile has left your eyes is of course a great example for that) but with this one, that doesn’t sound like it’s happening. Oh well…I have enough to watch at the moment anyways, so to be honest, it’s nice to not add something for a change😀
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Yep, you should probably give this one a hard pass as it is severely lacking. And this one’s slower pace definitely does not pay off. A drama like The Smile Has Left Your Eyes is very intentional in its set up and revealing its information. It knew what it was doing and rewarded the audience. This one tried too hard and failed at giving a mystery that keeps things exciting as well as giving the audience enough to keep interest. Really a shame since the actual story and mystery were quite good. But yes, that frees up a space on The List for you 🙂
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Was on my list but sadly now it looks like a “pass”. So glad you suffer through these to save us the time! Thank you 🙂
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Yes, I would say pass on this one. Haha, happy to suffer through for the greater good of the drama community 😉
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Wasn’t on my list, but now it’s firmly not on my list! 😆
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It’s always nice when you can have more conviction in your decision, hehe 😂
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