“A Song Like Myself”… YOON Recalls His Life of Music for the Past 10 Years as a Solo Artistㅍ

[스포티비뉴스=정유진 기자] YOON of WINNER will recall his life of music with his first-ever full length solo album.

On March 29, YOON held the ‘PAGE’ online showcase and revealed his determination as a solo artist.

YOON will release his first solo full-length album ‘PAGE’ today and return as a solo artist. YOON revealed his excitement by stating, “I feel oddly nervous” and adding, “I’ve worked really hard. It makes me happy and excited just for the fact that I’m putting out this album, after being created through many thoughts and considerations, for the world. This album has meaning to me. It recalls my music life for the past 10 years. That’s why it feels like a dream”.

As the focal point of the album, YOON explained, “It’s been about 10 years since I started making music. Since it’s coming out in such a long time, I thought it should be about myself, rather than love. The main theme is myself and the messages I would like to spread. After completing the track list, I felt like the emotions I’ve felt for the past 10 years making music have been sorted out. It’s like a memoir of my past 10 years of music life”.

As he has been acknowledged as a singer-songwriter and producer by making numerous hits for WINNER, YOON wrote and composed all 12 tracks of his upcoming solo album including the title track ‘IYAH’. The title track ‘IYAH’ is a song about responsibilities and burdens of becoming an adult as you get older. YOON hinted, “The basic message is the exclamation ‘Iyah’, often used by younger generations. I tried to make it sound like that ambiguously. It’s a song comforting myself. I hope the message can make the listeners feel empathy, and even comfort them”.

He also added, “I put in the emotions I’ve felt when I was making the sketch of the song. I’m the leader of the group, and due to my character, I’ve felt a lot of burden and responsibilities. I made the sketch thinking that it would be great to express them emotionally. Meanwhile, I saw my mother always treating me like a child, and began writing while thinking if I’m being too responsible like an adult although I’m still just a kid. After making the song, I realized that many people think the same way, that they should be responsible for many things. That’s why I added a sing-along chorus at the end of the track, thinking that it’s for everyone’s thoughts, not just my own”.

Regarding the MV for ‘Iyah’, he explained, “The biggest point of the MV is that time rewinds. The format begins in the present and rewinds back into the past. I’ve looked back further than 10 years, into even my childhood, and put the things that match the situation. I’ve acted based on the situation, so please pay attention”.

He continued, “There’s a scene where I sing on top of the ocean at the end of the MV. It was very cold”. He chattily added, “You film from a far distance using a helicam. The staff can’t give you clothes even if there’s a cut. It was memorable since it was colder than what I’ve expected. The good thing was that we had to shoot during sunset, so we didn’t film after the sun was down. It was a lonely fight”. He also revealed a behind story by stating, “I wanted to film at Kyunghee Grand Peace Hall where I sang ‘Instictively’ during ‘Superstar K2’, but we couldn’t. I kind of intended to make it look like the place”.

YOON has made various musical attempts through the album. He covered deep folk emotions, fierce rock, sorrow ballad, and even exciting and trendy hip-hop. On the opinion that rock music comes in to mind first, he replied, “I don’t work with a specific direction. I just try to improve the message. It’s sometimes easier to sing like rock music. But I become a bit challenging when making rock. It didn’t work out as easily as I thought it would”. He added, “I thought I didn’t have limitations on genre, but all sounds had a guitar bass”, and laughed. He also stated, “I’ve felt that people don’t easily change and that there are things I excel at”.

The collaboration between him and his acquaintances also grab the people’s attention. ‘BETTER’ featuring MINO is a song about regrets and attachment on past relationships. YOON stated, “I didn’t put him as a featuring artist since he’s a member. The song was actually in MINO’s album. It’s an old song, but I lengthened up MINO’s part and newly arranged it. MINO also wrote new lyrics. He’s very serious when he works, and he worked to create a flow that will surprise people”.

‘OBVIOUS’ featuring Simon Dominic has exciting band sounds starting with a fresh guitar riff. YOON stated, “He’s also from Busan. That’s how our friendship started and worked on ‘OBVIOUS’. The song mood went well with Simon Dominic’s voice, and that’s why he accepted although he was shooting ‘High School Rapper’.

He also followed up his connection he had with Yoon Jong Shin since they met as a participant and judge through Mnet ‘Superstar K2’ back in 2010. After receiving enthusiastic responses by presenting Yoon Jong Shin’s ‘Instinctively’, he collaborated with Yoon Jong Shin once again through his solo album. Yoon Jong Shin featured on the special track ‘IYAH’. The song is formed with a format of Yoon Jong Shin answering to the questions of life YOON had for the past 10 years, comforting its listeners as well as leaving a lingering feeling. YOON expressed his gratitude by stating, “I contacted him thinking he’s the only one for ‘IYAH’. I asked him to write lyrics as a teacher and senior of life. He accepted without hesitation, and I was touched. I would like to thank him once again for such a wonderful job”.

He added, “He recorded everything from overseas due to the ‘Nomad Project’. I listened to the files and saw that he recorded, ‘You’ve grown well’ at the end. That made me burst into tears. I was touched”. He shared his gratitude once again by continuing, “Because of the ‘You’ve grown well’ part, I put track 1 as the solo version and the final track featuring Yoon Jong Shin. The ending of the album will be the comment ‘You’ve grown well’ from my teacher”.

Regarding the differentiation point between WINNER’s albums and his solo album, YOON confessed, “I don’t think genres of WINNER and my music differ that much. The message is the differentiation point. WINNER also puts in messages to comfort people, but focuses on the performance or emphasizing the group’s fresh and sophisticated image. My solo album concentrates on passing on the message I’d like to say”.

The members of WINNER have all sent congratulatory messages. YOON stated, “Our members always congratulate each other a lot. MINO is a good friend and music colleague, so he have me honest feedback after listening to the album. One of them was getting a featuring artist on ‘OBVIOUS’. I made final edits based on it. When I was wondering what the title track should be, MINO told be ‘IYAH’ was the best”.

He also shared that he receives musical aspirations from various circumstances. YOON stated, “It comes to my mind from various situations. Even when talking, I write on a memo if I get focus on a certain word. And then I think how I can express it into music. That is my first step”. He mentioned the song ‘TREAD ON ME’ as an example and explained, “I spotted a sprout while walking on the streets. I admired it. While I was trying to take a photo of the sprout in the pavements, a pedestrian stepped on the sprout. That’s when I wrote it on the memo” and concluded, “I basically think you need empathy and movement in the heart when you write songs”.

Regarding his driving force, he showed his strict aspect towards himself by answering, “I monitor my works a lot. I then evaluate myself objectively. I try to show by better and improved self. I don’t want to get lazy and fall behind. That’s my driving force of growth”. He also mentioned that “The fans always say it’s ok, but I have bigger ambitions” and revealed his musical belief by adding, “I want to make music for a long time, so I think I have to improve based on the current circumstances, fast. When you think about it, you can’t make music for a long time if you don’t improve. But I thank the fans for looking at it positively”.

He said that ‘PAGE’ is ‘YOON’, when defined as a single word. YOON stated, “Among all the songs I’ve sang and created, this album is filled with songs that best express myself, so I would like to express the album with my name, ‘Kang Seung Yoon’”.

YOON hoped, “From being a trainee to an artist, you get songs you’d like to cover. When there’s a full album, you get hopes of wanting to sing songs other than the title track. Those songs I remember for a long time. I hope the album will be remembered and heard for a long time, rather than being briefly introduced. You put a bookmark when there’s a great phrase or heart-touching phrase while reading a book. I want the album to be like that. I want it to be a ‘PAGE’ you can read when you would like to reminisce”.

On the question asking what ‘PAGE’ of music life he’d like it to be, YOON replied, “After our members began joining the army, I told our fans, ‘The first chapter of WINNER has ended, briefly. Please look forward to chapter 2’. This has a similar meaning. It’s like the climax of a prologue. There are two versions of the ‘PAGE’ album, and ‘epilogue’ and a ‘prologue’. I used that as a reference to my answer”.

2021. 3. 29.