What You Want (CORTIS): Lyrics and Translation in Italian

After all, before starting any project, there is one fundamental question to ask: “What You Want?“. What do you want to achieve? To do? To be?

CORTIS, BigHit Music’s new quintet, has made this question their cornerstone. Their debut single, What You Want, is the very question transformed into music, a powerful and direct mantra. And the answer, their plan of action for achieving, doing, and being, is all encapsulated in their name: CORTIS, meaning Color Outside The Lines.

The music you will hear is completely different from what they presented in GO. A stripped-back and powerful foundation that blends the hip-hop cadence of boom-bap with the dreamy, psychedelic guitars of the ’60s. In this almost minimalist soundscape, the vocals come through directly, almost raw, free from filters and auto-tune, ensuring that every word hits its mark.

The Conceptual Performance Film (an MV where coreography is Queen) is also an essential key to interpretation. The image of the members performing on treadmills in a boundless desert is a powerful metaphor. That desert, which for their seniors BTS in Yet to Come was a place of reflection on the past, becomes for CORTIS a ground zero, a blank slate from which to start a relentless race toward the future. They are not standing still looking back; they are running in place, ready to dash forward. And they will do just that on September 8th, with the release of their self-titled EP, Color Outside the Lines.

As you read the words that follow, keep this context in mind. Every phrase is imbued with youthful determination and a hunger for authenticity: there is no asking for permission when it comes to stubbornly pursuing your desires.

Here is What You Want.

Cosa vuoi

[Chorus]
Crash, smash, rock, mash up
Ooh, prenditi ciò che vuoi
Soldi, stile, fama, amore e cos’altro?
Ooh, prenditi ciò che vuoi

[Verse 1]
La vita è troppo veloce, perché aspettare ancora? Ho chiuso (Cosa vuoi?)
Voglio vedere il mondo intero
Mettimi un timbro sul passaporto (Cosa vuoi?)
Beh, sono i passi che ho pianificato quando ero solo un ragazzino impulsivo (Cosa vuoi?)
Ho lasciato casa per trovare ciò che ho sempre voluto, ciò per cui siamo venuti

[Chorus]
Crash, smash, rock, mash up
Ooh, prenditi ciò che vuoi
Soldi, stile, fama, amore e cos’altro?
Ooh, prenditi ciò che vuoi
Accontentarmi non mi basta di certo (no, no)
Mando giù tutto, yuh, come un ippopotamo (ippopotamo)
Odore da teenager, proprio come i Nirvana (Nirvana)
Urliamolo, yuh, perché ci va

[Post-Chorus]
È quello che tutti cerchiamo
È quello che tutti cerchiamo
È quello che tutti cerchiamo
È quello che tutti (uno, due, tre) cerchiamo

[Verse 2]
Piuttosto che tornare indietro, scavalco il muro e basta (Cosa vuoi?)
Voglio qualcosa che mi faccia battere di nuovo il cuore (Cosa vuoi?)
Una traccia fresca come una consegna di notte, all’alba, ho bisogno di quella roba (Cosa vuoi?)
Voglio che il mondo intero si svegli e capisca
C’è chi vuole questo, c’è chi vuole quello
Anch’io sono così, da 17 anni
L’amore che ho inseguito, la fama che ho inseguito
E ora, voglio che il mondo intero sappia il mio nome

[Post-Chorus]
È quello che tutti cerchiamo
È quello che tutti cerchiamo
(È quello che tutti—) Da-ra-da-ra-ra
È quello che tutti (uno, due, tre) cerchiamo

[Outro]
Cosa vuoi?
Cosa vuoi?
Cosa vuoi?
Cosa vuoi?
Cosa vuoi?

What You Want

[Chorus]
Crash, smash, rock, mash up
Ooh, take what you want
Money, style, fame, love and what?
Ooh, take what you want

[Verse 1]
Life’s too fast, what’s the point in holding back? I’m over it (What you want?)
I want to see the whole world
Go on, stamp my passport (What you want?)
Well, this is the path I planned back when I was still just a naive kid (What you want?)
Leaving home to find what we’ve always wanted, what we came for

[Chorus]
Crash, smash, rock, mash up
Ooh, take what you want
Money, style, fame, love and what?
Ooh, take what you want
Just ‘good enough’ never fills my plate (it don’t)
Chugging it all, yuh, like a hippo (a hippo)
Smelling like a teen, just like Nirvana (Nirvana)
Scream it out, yuh, ’cause we wanna

[Post-Chorus]
That’s what we all looking for
That’s what we all looking for
That’s what we all looking for
That’s what we all looking (One, two, three) for

[Verse 2]
Rather than turn back, I’d just jump the damn fence (What you want?)
I want something that’ll make my heart race again (What you want?)
A fresh song, like an overnight delivery, I need that (What you want?)
I want the whole world to wake up and realize
Some people want this, some people want that
I’ve been the same for all 17 years of my life
The love that I chased, the fame that I chased
So now, I want the whole world to know my name

[Post-Chorus]
That’s what we all looking for
That’s what we all looking for
(That’s what we all—) Da-ra-da-ra-ra
That’s what we all looking (One, two, three) for

[Outro]
What you want?
What you want?
What you want?
What you want?
What you want?

What You Want

[Chorus]
Crash, smash, rock, mash up
Ooh, take what you want
돈, 멋, 명예, love and what?
Ooh, take what you want

[Verse 1]
Life’s too fast, 뭘 더 참아, 이젠 됐어 (What you want?)
I want to see the whole world
도장 찍어, 나의 passport (What you want?)
Well, 이마에 피도 안 말랐을 때 계획한 행보 (What you want?)
바라던 걸 찾아 집을 떠나 what we came for

[Chorus]
Crash, smash, rock, mash up
Ooh, take what you want
돈, 멋, 명예, love and what?
Ooh, take what you want
적당히론 배가 차지 않아 (않아)
들이켜, yuh, 마치 하마 (하마)
Smelling like a teen, 마치 Nirvana (Nirvana)
소리쳐, yuh, ’cause we wanna

[Post-Chorus]
That’s what we all looking for
That’s what we all looking for
That’s what we all looking for
That’s what we all looking (One, two, three) for

[Verse 2]
난 걍 돌아갈 바엔 바로 넘어버려 담장 (What you want?)
난 원해 다시 뛰게 할 무언갈, 나의 심장 (What you want?)
야밤, 새벽 배송 같은 fresh song, I need that (What you want?)
I want the whole world to wake up and realize
Some people want this, some people want that
나도 똑같아 17년 평생
쫓았었던 love, 쫓았었던 fame
So now, I want the whole world to know my name

[Chorus]
Crash, smash, rock, mash up
Ooh, take what you want
돈, 멋, 명예, love and what?
Ooh, take what you want
적당히론 배가 차지 않아 (않아)
들이켜, yuh, 마치 하마 (하마)
Smelling likе a teen, 마치 Nirvana (Nirvana)
소리쳐, yuh, ’cause we wanna

[Post-Chorus]
That’s what we all looking for
That’s what wе all looking for
(That’s what we all—) Da-ra-da-ra-ra
That’s what we all looking (One, two, three) for

[Outro]
What you want?
What you want?
What you want?
What you want?
What you want?