'The Ballad of Us' Hong Seung-min shared his thoughts on the competition.
The SBS domestic first-ever ballad audition program The Ballad of Us, which ended last month, featured participants with an average age of 18.2 who reinterpreted classics spanning generations with their own sensibilities, delivering deep and profound emotion to viewers.
Among them, Hong Seung-min, who realized his ballad dream against a classical background, captivated both audiences and judges with sincerity and feeling, establishing himself as a "next-generation ballad prospect."
# classic-family balladeer hopeful, a stage that moves generations
Trendy in sensibility and possessing clean high notes, Hong Seung-min is a contestant who secretly dreamed of becoming a ballad singer while coming from a family of classical musicians. Born to a father who is a professor of vocal music at Kyunghee University and a mother who majored in piano, he inherited musical talent alongside an older brother who entered Yonsei Universitys vocal department as the top student.
Hong Seung-min was a "vocal prodigy" who, after a short period of lessons from his father in his second year of high school, won first place in an Italian vocal competition, but he had to hide his desire to sing ballads from a young age. After entering The Ballad of Us, he drew sympathy from many with the honest and earnest confession "I want to sing ballads."
# crowned "earphone boyfriend" on stage with sincerity and feeling
Based on solid fundamentals and rich vocalization, Hong Seung-min performed various classics in his own style each round and emerged as an "earphone boyfriend." In the semifinals he chose Park Jung-hyun's "Mia," sharing a heartfelt story that he wanted to sing to his lonely 14-year-old self, bringing judges and the audience to tears.
On the final stage he reviewed past rounds with his family and selected Jung Joon-il's "Hold me," delivering deep emotion with a mature vocal and sensibility. Park Kyung-rim said, "It seems you have DNA that sings about breakups. Breakups are ballads, and ballads are Hong Seung-min," and Cha Taehyun praised, "Seeing how he keeps improving is really admirable."
Finishing in fifth place, Hong Seung-min left a deep impression with his candid confessions and sincere emotion on stage. Having conveyed his story through music, he shared behind-the-scenes of The Ballad of Us and his thoughts on the competition, foreshadowing another leap forward.
Below is a one-on-one Q&A with Hong Seung-min related to The Ballad of Us.
Q. How do you feel about finishing the competition in fifth place on The Ballad of Us?
A. I am most grateful to the viewers who gave me the good result of fifth place. I am happy that I could compete, cry, laugh and sing together with good friends.
Q. Which moment from the stages you presented on The Ballad of Us is the most memorable and why?
A. The semifinal stage was a stage where I could tell my story, so it seems to be especially memorable.
Q. How has learning vocal music and winning various competitions influenced your current musical activities?
A. I learned that music is not only treated as competition like contests and auditions. I think it was a time to understand the essence that a song conveys the story or message the singer wants to deliver to listeners, and how much music can give people strength and comfort.
Q. What do you think are the different charms of classical vocal music and ballads, and what do you think is the most important point when singing a ballad?
A. Classical music has the charm of letting you feel the emotions of people from the past and the atmosphere of that era, which you cannot see or meet now, while ballads have the charm of allowing you to hear stories of the current era that are constantly being newly created, so they seem different.
Q. After the journey of The Ballad of Us ended, how did your family react, and what would you like to say to your parents?
A. As soon as the broadcast ended, they comforted me. I think I can pursue music comfortably now because of the passion my parents had for wanting to do music at their age, so I want to tell them that I will make even more interesting music.
Q. What kind of musical color do you want to show in the future, and what goals do you want to achieve?
A. While singing is of course important as a singer, my goal is to become a singer who can embody the stories I have experienced or want to tell and sing emotions so that people can be curious about and feel the charm of the person Hong Seung-min himself.
Q. Please say a word to the viewers and fans who supported you.
A. I want to once again thank everyone who cheered for me, and I also want to thank those who will continue to support my singing. Always be healthy and happy!
Hong Seung-min and the The Ballad of Us top 12 will meet viewers today (the 6th) on the spin-off program "Mumu X Chacha - Uballadio," which premieres. They will then hold "The Ballad of Us nationwide tour concert" performances in Seongnam on the 10th, Daegu on the 24th, Seoul on Feb. 7 and 8, Busan on the 28th, and Daejeon on March 7.
[Photo] Provided by Sihyunhada.
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