Do You Like Brahms?

'Doing what you love VS doing what you're good at' dilemma

I admit that this drama is not for everyone. You won't find bubbly and funny characters. However, as a classical music enthusiast, I want to thank the writer & director for putting this magical atmosphere into the drama and for being 'bold' enough to put two introverted characters as main leads. a legit 9/10.

This drama tries to solve the "Doing what you love VS doing what you're good at" dilemma
I can identify myself with the FL, being an amateur violinist myself (I started older than usual) I can assure you that at some point I couldn't continue learning it. It was physically (fingers stretching, having neck pain...) and emotionally consuming ( getting the right feeling, putting emotions in your playing ..). Don't get me wrong it's not like impossible to play it but if you're willing to become a professional it won't be that easy. You feel like you're not enough even if you're a genius in an other field or you're your university's valedictorian or whatsoever (in her case : having a business degree). That feeling of not being good enough at something you really love is torturing. So I can get the main lead. The drama wanted to give an alternative for those who really want to do something that is likely impossible so I kinda liked the resolution of the story.

SPOILER (final ep)****
In her case, as far as I remember, the main lead continued as a musical events organizer so yeah she'll be using her business degree somehow, plus she'll be having fun since it revolves around a subject she's into.
Which was a very realistic but 'not so romantic' conclusion. I also like the coping mechanism of the FL. The fact that she could finally sell her precious violin is so meaningful.

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Do You Like Brahms? (2020) – 8.5/10
This drama was gentle, emotional, and beautifully slow in the best way. It captures the quiet ache of unspoken feelings, the struggles of pursuing passion, and the delicate beginning of love.

The chemistry between Park Eun-bin and Kim Min-jae felt so real—filled with hesitation, warmth, and sincerity. Their characters weren’t perfect, but that made them even more relatable. The classical music throughout was calming and added so much depth to every scene.

It’s not flashy or dramatic—it’s soft, subtle, and full of emotion. If you love slow-burn romance with depth and soul, this one will stay in your heart.

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Bittersweet Symphony

Started watching in between Extraordinary Attorney Woo episodes and it started really strong for the first third. The pace then really slowed down - so much so that I watched it at 1.5x speed. It's a lovely drama with great acting from the leads, and great music but I think they missed a trick with the slow pace. Park Eun-Bin is delightful!

Our protagonist is not good at playing the violin (sounded amazing to me) but she loves it and perseveres - much to the lack of support from her family (not her dad) and her teachers.
Coupled with her struggles, there is a love triangle that drags out too long which takes away some of the joy - it would have been nicer to have Sun Ah prove people wrong and for the final act to show the storylines resolved nicely to end on a happier tone. There was too much sadness for me but then maybe I'm a romantic!

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sweet love story stuck in a love triangle

I thoroughly enjoyed the main character's love story. I wish there were fewer love triangles and more of just their story. The ending saved this drama because otherwise it would be a 6 because of how bored I got with all the subplots and the back and forth of the relationships.

LIKES
-How forward he was, and how even in episode 4, ChatGPT was right, he's already very devoted. You can tell he's getting over his love for the other and getting increasingly curious about our girl.
- I was waiting for the abrupt ending with no real payoff or slow couple's resolution. But they did it. They slowly resolved everything with no questions left, and it went all the way through episodes 15 to 16. fully satisfying.
- There was no "let's fly thousands of miles away for a year and then meet again and look at each other longingly and then end" ending, which I despise. We got to go through it with them and see them come back together Stronger and more stable.
- Kissing scenes were drawn out and rewarding because we've waited so long for them to be together.
- I loved his devotion to her. Though he made mistakes, we, the audience, never question where his loyalty lies.
- loved their moments where he pursued her wholeheartedly, it was amazing came from a 6 to an 8 or at least a 7.5
- The conflict breakup made sense and wasn't just for a dumb reason, and she gave tons of chances before then.

DISLIKES
-I was a little bored until episode 4
-The pace felt as if they wanted a slow burn, they should have gone slower, and if they wanted the opposite, or just a standard love story, they should have gone faster. They were stuck in a weird in-between slow and fast.
-Already the subplots overshadow the main love story and I'm only on episode 4
-all the angst and back and forth
-The fact that they felt like strangers even after they started dating.

overall safe, cute and surprisingly deep love story that had to go through a lot to be realized.

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Well acted, well paced, beautifully put together.

Only 2 dull episodes in the middle (focused on the detailed telling of the conflicts they had to face.) These were unnecessary to me as I knew the general issue and felt that was enough, from there I just wanted to skip how they overcame it. Everything else was very well done for the mood of the drama.

It is a slower paced series but with only 16 eps it goes by quickly. I delayed watching this as I thought it might be too dull or depressing. And it maybe for some people but I was in the right mood for this.

The leads are introverted and frustrating at times. Luckily they have a strong internal compass and they know well enough to pay attention to the small clues life gives us when we go astray. The story shares a little of the experiences they go through when they listen to themselves and when they feel external factors might have a better advice. This is a balance we all have to go through and for some of us introverts, it's incredibly challenging. This is especially true when those external voices are from parents or mentors whom we've learnt to trust or simply obey out of duty or lack of self-confidence.

I'm very pleased with how this plays out. The romantic chemistry is wonderful and moving. The cast was exceptional and I'll be looking forward to their future work.

Production, scrip and costume design all aligned well. I especially liked that the FL was not downplayed as dowdy or stereotypically nerdy (looking naturally beautiful with a classic style). She was human, sensitive, inexperienced but never a pushover. This actor's skill set is on full display.

Thank you for everyone's hard work on this. It was a pleasure watching this.

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Great slice of life classical music school - heartwarming romance

8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 South Korean romantic drama with 16, 65 minute episodes. It is known by the alternate titles: Beuramseureul Joahaseyo , Please Love Brahms , Liking Brahms , beuramseuleul jonghahaseyo , and beuramseuleul jonghahaseyo.

Chae Song Ah (Park Eun Bin) originally majored in business but decides to pursue her love of classical music, violin in particular, at the same university. This alone sets her apart from the other students who came from music focused programs and are going through their first major interest. She is not a prodigy and instead struggles and works hard to develop her ability with violin. This causes a lot of conflict as she is already seven years older than the other students in the program and having a working rather than natural talent makes pursuit of her dream all the more difficult . Her family also strongly disapproved of her change in major. Feeling like an outsider, Song Ah finds comfort in beautiful music so when she hears Park Joon Young (Kim Min Jae), who is a prodigy, masterfully playing “Träumerei," she is drawn to the talented pianist. Caught in a love triangle which has left him with a broken heart he is in love with Lee Jung Kyung (Park Ji Hyun), a friend he has known for a long time. Because of timing his other close friend, Han Hyun Ho (Kim Sung Cheol) is in a romantic relationship with Jung Kyung. When he decides to keep his distance from Jung Kyung, he meets Song Ah and is drawn to her passion for music. This slice of classical music life is a deep look at classical music as a field of study and a slice of life of those that choose to pursue it.

I loved the "slice of life" of those pursuing classical music. Like so many other educational pursuits there is a lot of "dog eat dog", elite structures, power plays and all those things that can make or break anyone. It actually gave me some flash backs to my Ph.D. study days. Spoilers ** It took a lot of courage for Song Ah to have completed an undergraduate program in Business and change to something so radically different. One thing I did not think was well explained was how she came to play violin. Had she played it as a child? Did she pick it up as a teen? It was hard to see her consistently discriminated against for being an "older" student and for coming from outside music. The love story between the leads was believable as they were both very similar in the way they approached things and how soft and gentle their personalities were. They both did not like crossing people and others took advantage of them because of their sweet natures. That became a source of conflict between the two as Joon Young was constantly manipulated by his former love interest, Jung Kung. There were several attempts to make Jung Kung a character to feel sympathetic toward, her loss of her mother at a young age, a cruel violin instructor and her mother coldly making her practice endlessly, and her loneliness in being a heir to a foundation she had no interest in running. I wanted to see a lot of character growth from her, and there was a little, but I still felt she was, on balance cruel. She had opportunities to bridge gaps with those around her and did not take them. After all the struggle Song ah had with pursing her dream to play violin, and her final success with it, it was disappointing that she completely gave it up. I thought perhaps the "key" to her musical success would be playing music with Joon Young and their performance was her shining moment but, in the end, she gave it up completely after so many years of struggle. I loved that Joon Young discovered a renewed love of piano with having Song Ah in his life. Most of the major plot elements were completed and that was refreshing. There wasn't an overlong separation and that was a welcome departure from that tired trope. Park Eun bin is so pretty and I enjoyed her acting in "The King's Affection." I was not disappointed with her performance in this role either. She is someone I will be watching and seeking out things she is in. Kim Min jae is also extremely talented and just fun to watch. He has very soulful eyes and portrays the emotions of the moment very well. Overall I loved this drama for the immersion in classical music, insight into that world, and the heart warming romance. The main detractor for me was Song ah giving up the violin - that marred the perfection of this drama as it did not make sense that someone who sacrificed so much would give it up completely. I recommend this drama to anyone that loves classical music, enjoys these actors and likes uncomplicated (in terms of plot twists and mysterious pasts) heart warming romance.

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A Symphony of Silence That Sometimes Fades Too Soon

Some dramas whisper their way into your heart — Do You Like Brahms? doesn’t shout, doesn’t sweep, doesn’t even really crescendo. It hums. Gently. Painfully. Almost apologetically. And while there’s a certain kind of beauty in that — in the stillness, the restraint, the whispered longings between hesitant souls — there’s also a risk that all that quiet becomes absence. For me, this one lingered... but didn’t quite echo.

Kim Min-jae and Park Eun-bin are both excellent in roles that ask them to do so much with so little. There’s no grand monologuing, no stormy confrontations. Just careful, fragile people moving through a world where vulnerability is treated like a risk not worth taking. Their chemistry isn’t explosive — it’s atmospheric. A shared look in the practice room. An awkward pause that somehow says more than words could. These two don’t fall in love so much as drift into it, and while that soft-burn rhythm has its own charm, it also risks emotional inertia.

The classical music setting is gorgeously used — not just as aesthetic wallpaper, but as emotional subtext. Every performance feels loaded with everything the characters can’t say. Brahms himself becomes a metaphor: love unspoken, talent burdened by loneliness, beauty wrapped in melancholy. The show clearly reveres the music, and it uses it with intention. But there were stretches where it felt like the story was leaning on its atmosphere too much, hoping the ache of a violin could make up for the absence of real movement.

Because here’s the thing: while I loved the tone — moody, elegant, almost meditative — I sometimes felt like I was waiting for a pulse. Episodes passed with little shifting beneath the surface. Conflicts simmered without boiling over. Love confessions landed like passing breezes instead of emotional peaks. The restraint, while admirable, became emotionally numbing. You’re told these characters are changing, but the changes are so internal, so subtle, that it’s easy to miss them entirely. I wanted to feel their evolution, not be told it happened in a soft-focus montage.

That said, there’s something quietly courageous about a drama that doesn’t chase melodrama. That lets its characters sit in discomfort, fumble with honesty, retreat when it would be easier to speak. And Park Eun-bin, especially, plays Song Ah with a kind of fragile dignity that’s rare. You ache for her — not because she’s tragic, but because she wants so badly to be seen, and the world keeps looking past her.

In the end, Do You Like Brahms? is like a beautiful piano piece played just slightly too softly. You lean in, trying to catch every note, and when it works, it really works. But other times, it drifts into the background — lovely, yes, but fading before it can take hold.

It’s a drama for the quiet-hearted. For people who’ve loved quietly, hurt privately, and held back more than they’ve ever said. And maybe that’s enough. Just not quite everything I hoped it could be.

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Beautiful and Heartfelt, but Sadly Underrated

Story

Do You Like Brahms? has a richly layered, character-driven storyline. As the drama progresses, the story slowly unfolds. Well-timed flashbacks reveal deeper dynamics between relationships in the present and add depth to every character. The pacing of this drama is slow. Incredibly slow. Conflicts take several episodes to span out and longer to resolve. There are no big reveals, no big displays of emotions that conveniently wrap up disagreements. Instead, the plot is characterized by small interactions that are telling.

The reason this drama moves at a snail’s pace is because it needs you to pay attention. You have to read between the lines when people are talking. There were moments when Chae Song-Ah talked about how she felt playing the violin, but she was really talking about her dreams and ambitions.

Some reviews talked about how frustrating the plot was because it was fraught with misunderstandings. But isn’t that an entirely human thing, to have moments of miscommunication? How often do people say what they mean? Even when they want to, how easy is it to let someone know how you feel? This drama asks these questions, all the while telling a story that relies on the relationships different characters have with each other, and themselves.

Do You Like Brahms? narrows its focus into everyday interactions between characters. To be fair, Chae Song Ah and Park Joon Young communicate better than most drama couples. There are moments when they misunderstand each other, but they straighten things out quickly.

Acting/Cast

I admired the cast here. I thought they all portrayed their characters well. Most scenes required subtlety to get emotions across, and everyone did their part there.

I loved the characters in this drama. Chae Song Ah, on the outside, seems like a pushover because of how quiet and thoughtful she is. Yet she has a quiet inner strength. It isn’t that Song Ah isn’t a fighter. She simply chooses her battles. She graduated as a business major and then went back to school to study music. Despite all the obstacles in her way, she silently, but steadily fights for her dreams.

Park Joon Young is also introverted. Lee Jung Kyung says that Joon Young speaks with his music first, rather than his words. That being said, he has his bold moments, just like Song Ah. He carries all his burdens himself and doesn’t open up easily, but he also cares deeply for the people around him.

I loved watching Song Ah and Joon Young. They’re both incredibly polite and there are a few awkward moments when they’re getting to know each other. It was rewarding to watch their relationship grow. They stole my whole heart in this show. I liked that they didn’t hesitate to talk about what was on their minds. They weren’t always fair to each other, and there were moments of conflict, but they worked their way through things. I found myself hanging on to every interaction and looking forward to each episode.

The side characters were a treat all on their own. Han Hyun Ho was cheerful, caring and soft. Jung Kyung was a complex play of strength and vulnerability. She’s sharp-tongued and selfish, but she’s also surprisingly vulnerable. There’s a part of her that’s lost, who’s trying to find herself. It was endearing to watch her journey in this drama.

Music

I liked the soundtrack here. Tayeon’s Kiss You might be my favorite, but the songs ranged from light-hearted to emotional and made all the scenes better.

Rewatch Value

I would definitely rewatch this, given some time. It’s one of those dramas that I feel will have new things to love with every screening, and I’m happy to add this to my list of all-time favorites.

Overall

Do You Like Brahms? is about a lot of things: about losing love and finding a new one, about following your dreams, but also about knowing when it’s time to stop fighting and let things go. It’s about friendship, love, pain, healing, and having the courage to start over. I haven’t come across a drama with this much depth before (it’s like a book, there’s so much to analyze). I’d say this is a psychological drama, but not in the sense of crime dramas. Do You Like Brahms? goes inside the minds of all its characters, revealing what is hidden: flaws, insecurities, hopes, regrets, wishes, and dreams. It gets very personal with the main characters in the story. This show made me smile like an idiot, tear up and feel like I wasn’t alone. It’s safe to say I loved it deeply.
If you’re looking for something light-hearted, or something exciting, I’d say skip Do You Like Brahms? This is a drama for people who are ready to invest their time and emotions in characters and all the small parts of their story. It takes some time to paint a picture, but at the end of the day, it’s a beautiful painting.

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I am very pleased with this

I like shows that make me feel something. Some people feel that this show was repetitive and full of misunderstandings. It was but I think it was done rather well and realistically. I didn't notice it's repetitiveness until I thought about the train of events so I would say still that it's rather good.
I think the characters were were interesting. There were misunderstandings and I was upset but the misunderstandings were a direct result of personality traits of the characters that we were informed about early on. Even if it was annoying it was believable and I could totally see this playing out in real life. If you enjoy stories about relationships and deep friendships you well definitely enjoy this. Sometimes people don't communicate well and that is also reality. If you don't like love triangles you should stay away.
The characters are well done but Jung Kyung's character was a bit incomplete at the end.
When I decided to watch this I wanted something slow and thoughtful and I recommend that you be in a similar state of mind to enjoy this. The acting is pretty good and the fl carries the story and her emotions best. Still all of the others give a good performance. The music they play- because they are music students- is good and sometimes it's beautiful.
It is an interesting and thoughtful story.

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First half healing, second half disappointing

Starting this off by saying that this is my first MDL review and English isn’t my first language! Btw I’m always open to discussions in the comments :-)
I feel the urge to write a review about DYLB because I have a LOT of mixed feelings about this show, but I would still recommend it to anyone that’s looking for a slow-paced drama.

STORY
I absolutely loved this show until like ep. 10! The pacing, settings, dialogues, main characters (!) etc. were really calm and had an overall relaxing vibe. Because of this, I thought of DYLB as a healing show I could watch whenever I was feeling down, but in the last episodes the plot became a HUGE mess: bad things kept happening one after another (pointlessly, in my opinion) and a lot of side characters became awful. Maybe the thing that let me down the most was that the main couple started to have some trust/communication problems as I loved them in the first place because they were always there for each other despite their personal struggles :-( So the positive feelings I got at the beginning of the show just gradually disappeared and I still don’t really get why the writers thought all these conflicts were necessary (my rating would have been a LOT higher if it wasn’t for how messy it got at the end!).
CHARACTERS
The two main characters are EVERYTHING to me, I care about them a lot because they’re so shy and well-mannered and calm! They made me understand that the main characters don’t have to be super loud or crazy or annoying for the show to have a solid plot. Also I thought it was really cool how the dynamics of their respective friend groups actually mirrored the Brahms-Schumann-Clara trio (& eventually shifting the Brahms role when the main couple falls in love). I didn’t even mind all of the love triangles honestly (but it’s a personal preference, I kinda get that people may find them annoying as they were a LOT). About the side characters, I didn’t really like the fact that the only nice people were Cha Young In and her employee :-( give the main characters a break please!!!!
SCREENPLAY
I have too many thoughts on the screenplay honestly. It’s so confusing to me because it’s both the best screenplay ever and the worst at the same time? For example, the dialogues were unmatched! Really touching until the very end. But I don’t get how the same screenwriters could put like twice every episode a scene where the only character who’s not supposed to be there suddenly just shows up, without any explanations or logic behind how and when and why they arrive at the right (or wrong) moment. I'm not a personal fan of this cliché but I guess I’ll have to let it slide as the rest of the show was really good tbh.
MUSIC
To be honest I was kind of disappointed? I didn’t like the OST that much, considering the singers involved and the fact that it’s literally a show about music (lol). On the other hand, I loved the use of classical music and its history in the storytelling (!) and each episode’s titles!

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You'll learn so much from this drama, trust me.

HOLY I never thought I would fall in love with this drama as much as I do now. I watched this drama while it was airing, and it took me so long to write this because this drama has affected me so much that I needed time to rest my feelings *cries in post drama syndrome*

I decided to picked up this drama when I came across a short clip on Insta- (the scene where the male lead played Moonlight Sonata remix into Happy Birthday song to the female lead to console her) the scene was too beautifully executed and full of emotions. I knew from that moment DYLB would be my kind of drama, and I'm so glad I did not miss it.

Story:
This was my first classical music drama, hence it was quite refreshing to me. I have little knowledge about the classical music field, but the production team did a great job portraying the reality of the classical music world behind the spotlights. The story started with 2 love triangles, with characters that are broken, scarred from their unrequited love, and later piled with problems faced in life. Yes, it may seem like an overused plot, but no, it was different. The best part about DYLB is the human interactions between all the leads. How they responded to the hardships, how they handle difficult situations in a realistic way. The writers included many life lessons as the story unfolds, which made it so relatable to the viewers life. The pace is totally fine for me. I've seen reviews saying that it's slow and draggy in the later episodes, but I think those parts were necessary to the development of the story. (here comes the spoiler, skip if you don't want to read it) Somewhere in the later episodes, the two leads begin to have conflict, and started to hide their own feelings, basically lack of communication. And it was during this part where many people started to get annoyed about this drama, and dropped it but not me. Let me explain. It's because I found this situation very close to reality. Very often you hear couples breaking up because of lack of communication. And hell yes, I want to see how the leads deal with this first world problem, and I actually wanted to learn from them, to see relationships from different perspectives. This is the whole point of creating that plot. If the writers were to write a smooth sailing lovey dovey relationship, I will totally be bored because there is no ups and downs in it.. And the fact that SongAh requested for the breakup was totally understandable and realistic, because she felt that Joonyoung had residual feelings from his previous crush, and if he do not sort things out, the new relationship will not go far. And for those who said the leads are painfully awkward to watch, well people like them do exist in real life, introverts can relate lol, and it's the cutest thing to watch two introverts flirting with each other.

Acting/Cast:
I like how the director carefully picked his actor and actresses. Those people are REAL TALENTS who themselves know how to play the instruments. Most performance scenes were played by the actors themselves (you can see it for yourself in The Making) which makes the entire drama so believable. All the leads' acting are superb, my baby MinJae and Eunbin, but I want to give extra credits to KIM SUNG CHEOL!!! He deserves an award for all the crying scenes which are all so painful to watch T^T I hope he gets a lead role in his next project, he deserves more recognition, glad that I get to know him through DYLB!

Music:
I strongly believe that the best dramas have the best OSTs. And here we have 3 OSTs from Punch, one from Taeyeon, GOD, Kwill, Gummy, Chen, Baekhyun, Kim Nayoung, 10cm!! I mean come on, it's impossible for these OST legends to produce bad music (I even bought the OST album bc it's so good and I wanted to show my gratitude towards them)
Some classical music are also particularly memorable, for me it's Moonlight sonata, Traumerei, Windmung and F.A.E. Because of these classical music, I decided to relearn piano after not touching it for more than 5 YEARS, and I am going to be dedicated to it for SongAh and Joonyoung. This is how IMPACTFUL the story conveyed through emotions and music is. no joke.

Rewatch Value:
I don't usually rewatch dramas because there's never enough time to catch up on new dramas. But i think I've rewatch so many cut clips and behind the scenes on Instagram countless times, which may be equivalent to the duration of the entire drama XD so yeah, i might have already rewatch the whole drama. And I will keep on rewatching it whenever I needed some soul healing.

Overall:
This drama holds a very special place in my heart, the entire production from cinematography to script writing to directing and acting are top notch. Thank you to the entire production team! <3
This drama makes me appreciate the world of classical music in no ways others would.
Lastly, I want to include one of my favourite takeaways from this drama: "It is better to get 10 points from 1 or 2 person, and 6-7 points from the rest. Because those 1 or 2 judges will go home having seen a performance they'll never forget. So, follow your heart."
DYLB got a solid 10 points from me, and I believe many people like me, will never forget this great masterpiece.

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Stress Reliever!!!

If you want to feel relax and just forget about those stressful things, you should definitely check this out. I've seen a lot of reviews saying that this is boring and awkward and honestly speaking, I almost not watch it because of them BUTTT I AM VERY GLAD THAT I DID!!!

Now, this drama became my favorite! YUHHHH! My one and only favorite kdrama! Awkwardness? That's what makes the main characters' cute for me and it actually maximize their charm!!! Kim Min Jae and Park Eun Bin are now one of my fav k actor/actress.

You will definitely regret not checking this out if you belong to those people who just wanted to relax in this stressful world!

P. S. This is my first time making a review and I just did this because I really loved the drama.

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