[OST Corner] Gravity: Exploring the Soundtrack of a Masterpiece

Remember who you are
Emerging memories will come to you again
…
Wake up, bring your destiny
Boy, can’t you see? Deny your gravity
I’m flying away, out of the restraints

I don’t know if this will make much sense to anyone else, but in my head, Reborn Rich exists as almost two shows in one: the show I thought (or at least hoped) it was for most of its run, and the show it decided to be in its final hours. Or, to put it another way, there is the Reborn Rich that could have been, and the Reborn Rich that actually was. And in my opinion, the OST “Gravity” belongs to the former.

When Reborn Rich was at its best, it was a compelling time-slip mystery about a man who finds himself growing up inside the very family that had him killed, navigating a complicated relationship with the family’s patriarch, and teetering on the edge of losing himself in the process of bringing them down. When it was at its worst, it left me wondering “What was the point?” and feeling frustrated that certain pieces of information were withheld for plot-twist purposes instead of explored throughout. But what I loved about Reborn Rich I really loved, even once it became clear that it wasn’t going to live up to all my expectations.

“Gravity” to me really encapsulates the good parts — the mystery, the struggle to retain a sense of self after being dropped into someone else’s life, and most of all the gravitational pull between Do-joon and Chairman Jin. The central question of Reborn Rich was not just how Do-joon got himself sucked into Soonyang’s orbit, but how — and if! — he was ever going to break free of it. And while I may not have been fully satisfied by the show’s answer, listening to “Gravity” gives me a space to entertain those questions all over again and arrive at answers of my own.