The highly anticipated summer drama, You've Fallen for Me 넌 내게 반했어, is my twenty-fifth drama. This drama also goes by the name of Heartstrings. You've Fallen for Me would reunite former costars Park Shin Hye and Jung Yong Hwa from You're Beautiful. Jung Yong Hwa's character had failed to win over Park Shin Hye's character in You're Beautiful. Fans were looking forward to a second chance to see both of them again together. As a drama fanatic, I was also excited to see that So Yi Hyun and Song Chang Ui would play a role in this drama. I had watched So Yi Hyun in Resurrection and Song Chang Ui in Cinderella Man. At the time of watching this drama, I did not know they were going to be in You've Fallen for Me. It also made me remember that both of their characters were not able to win the love of the main lead in their respective dramas. I felt it was interesting to see them paired together in a separate love line for You've Fallen for Me.
Lee Shin (Jung Yong Hwa) and Lee Kyuwon (Park Shin Hye) are university students. Shin studies in the modern music department while Kyuwon is a student in the traditional music department. Shin is the vocalist and guitarist for the band "The Stupid". The members of "The Stupid" are the most popular guys at school because of their musical talent and good looks. Although many girls are crazy about him, Shin is only interested in Jung Yoonsoo (So Yi Hyun), a dance professor at the university. Kyuwon plays the gayageum, a traditional Korean stringed instrument. With her school friends who play other traditional Korean instruments, they formed their own music group, "Windflower". Kyuwon is the granddaughter of Lee Dong Jin, one of the most famous traditional musician of his time. Kyuwon's grandfather has every intention of having Kyuwon becoming a traditional music prodigy as well. As a result, Kyuwon knows nothing outside of traditional music. One day, her friends drag her to the local bar, the Catharsis, to watch "The Stupid" perform. As Kyuwon watches Shin perform, she slowly becomes attracted to him. Despite their constant arguing, their passion for music brings them together. A former alum, Kim Sukhyun (Song Chang Ui), returns to the university to direct the 100th year anniversary performance. Sukhyun's return causes old feelings to resurface between him and Yoonsoo, whom he loved very much before she left him to pursue her dreams of performing ballet in New York.
First off, having just finished You're Beautiful prior to You've Fallen for Me, I would like to say it was quite a relief to see Park Shin Hye in a casual summer dress. Park Shin Hye's beauty goes hidden with a role like in You're Beautiful. In fact, seeing her dance, sing and even play a traditional instrument such as the gayageum shows how multi-talented she is. Similarly, So Yi Hyun played a tomboy-like role in Resurrection, whereas her character in You've Fallen for Me is much more feminine. As I watched You've Fallen for Me, I noticed she looks absolutely amazing, as well as being a talented actress. One of my most favorite scenes is when Shin uses a Samsung Galaxy Tab to play the guitar while Kyuwon uses her cellphone to play the gayageum. This scene takes advantage of the current trend of musical instrument applications on smartphones and tablet PCs. Also, both "The Stupid" and "Windflower" collaborate several times throughout the drama. I was surprised at how well modern and traditional instruments fit together, bringing a new dimension to music as a whole. One of the most emotional scenes in You've Fallen for Me was Windflower's audition for the school musical. Hyun Kiyoung (Lee Hyun Jin) is brought to the audition, but hesitates again because of stage fright. The director calls him out for being a coward and refusing to face his fears. As Windflower performs, Kiyoung listens to the music and finds the courage to sing. The song they performed is "If I Leave" sung by Jo Sumi. While the scene is short, the emotions conveyed are unmatched.
The soundtrack is perhaps the main reason people were interested in this drama. With Jung Yong Hwa as the main male lead, it seemed pretty obvious that he would release a song for the drama. The main song is "You've Fallen for Me 넌 내게 반했어" which is sung by Jung Yong Hwa. The song immediately hit the top of the music charts after its release. The other song sung by Jung Yong Hwa is "Because I Miss You 그리워서". "The Day We Fall In Love 사랑하게 되는 날" is sung by Park Shin Hye during the first episode when Shin fails to show up to the Catharsis for a performance. "Star 별" is a song sung by Kang Min Hyuk during the fourth episode at the Catharsis. Kang Min Hyuk is known as the drummer in C.N. Blue and not known for his singing. This song proves that although Jung Yong Hwa is the main vocalist in their band, the other band members can sing well too. "I Don't Know 모르나봐" is a ballad sung by M-Signal that was released near the middle of the drama. "So Smile 그래 웃어봐" is also sung by M-Signal. It is also the song that Shin composes, fusing together modern rock with the sounds of traditional instruments. There are two versions of this song, one which is a light rock song and the other which is an instrumental with both rock and traditional elements. I'm a little disappointed that they did not release a version with both Jung Yonghwa and Park Shin Hye singing to the fusion instrumental, just like the drama. Nevertheless, both M-Signal's version and the fusion instrumental are nice to listen to.
Unfortunately, Park Shin Hye was in a minor car accident and they had needed to postone filming. Ultimately, it led to You've Fallen for Me to end with fifteen episodes rather than sixteen episodes in order to not affect the scheduling for the following drama. As a result, the drama's conclusion feels rushed because an episode was cut due to her accident. I was a little sad when I found out the episode ratings for this drama were fairly low. It's quite possible that the popularity of this drama was mostly for overseas fans, since the television ratings do not account for them. Nevertheless, I felt I really enjoyed watching You've Fallen for Me. The drama fit nicely as a summer drama during June to August 2011. The storyline is very casual in that there weren't any crazy plot twists. I highly recommend watching You've Fallen for Me.
