Singer Kwon Jin Ah donned a bold rock sound instead of ballads. She delivers an honest story of self-hatred, consoling and encouraging those who bear similar wounds. Instead of saying "love yourself," it is a consolation completed in Kwon Jin Ah's own way.
On the 15th at 3 p.m., Kwon Jin Ah held a showcase at Tongyang Life Insurance Hall in Hapjeong-dong, Mapo District, Seoul, to commemorate the release of her third EP "SAVE ME" and revealed the live stage of the new song "MONSTER" for the first time. No longer an emotional balladeer but wearing an intense rock sound, Kwon Jin Ah frankly brought out her inner story and embarked on a new challenge.
Through her third EP "SAVE ME," Kwon Jin Ah attempts a daring musical leap. Beyond the label of emotional balladeer, she challenges herself for the first time in her career with "all tracks based on rock." Throughout the album she melts the themes of wounds and self-hatred into the rough waves of rock sound. She boldly implements vivid distortion and rough textures, and layered the vocals with even more energized presence.
The title track "MONSTER" is a song that carries a message of encouragement to shake off the self-hatred lodged in the heart and to save oneself. Compared with standardized sounds, it is a much sharper and hotter appeal, tackling the heavy themes of wounds and self-hatred in an even more destructive yet energetic way.
Kwon Jin Ah explained about the new release, said, "The phrase 'love yourself' never really landed for me. I thought it was an easy phrase. I wanted to encourage people with the words, 'even if we find it hard or impossible to love ourselves, let's go on to tomorrow.' That phrase resonated with me more."
She added, "I brought up deep stories from my long history of self-hatred, and I feel I have grown even more through this album."
She went on to say, "If I had been mainly refined, calm and delicate in my vocals, this time I've been shouting and making bright sounds a lot, so it feels new. The music video was new too. Doing things like this made me feel I could really enjoy doing this work for a long time."
Through "MONSTER," Kwon Jin Ah captured deep inner stories. She also incorporated her personal experiences into the music video along with the song's theme.
Kwon Jin Ah said, "One thing that could not be removed from my long periods of self-hatred was the story of eating disorders," and explained, "When I debuted as a child I hated my face, I hated my body, I hated my voice. The quickest thing to escape to was dieting. I suffered from body shape obsession for a long time. I experienced anorexia and bulimia, and because I couldn't remove that, I put it into the music video."
She added, "Of course a healthy body is good, but rather than stories about diverse body types, thin and pretty things are praised a lot. In that respect I still cannot be free, and that's why I wanted to talk more about that. I thought I should do it someday, and the timing was right this time so I recorded it."
Regarding bringing up the keyword "self-hatred," Kwon Jin Ah explained, "The story of self-hatred is like a companion to me that follows me around; I want to overcome it but I wonder if it will continue in the future. It was a subject I've wanted to talk about for a long time. Last year I filled the title tracks of my full-length album with ballads and arranged songs that the public could easily relate to, but this time I wanted to tell the story I really wanted to tell, so I brought up the theme of self-hatred."
On using rock sound while bringing out inner stories, she said, "Strangely, when I talk about deep things, the sound of electric guitar and that sentiment were the only sounds that could express it so well. So I chose rock sound."
"SAVE ME" starts from the perspective of an 'outsider' who cannot adapt to the world and moves forward realizing that even moments of not loving oneself are part of salvation. In the latter part it reaches an infinite loop of 'the salvation of love' that does not let go of each other even in moments of destruction.
Through "SAVE ME," Kwon Jin Ah conveys the courage of solidarity to wounded listeners, saying, 'you are never alone, and we must keep living.' She proves the broadened spectrum of an artist who has become deeper and firmer, completing a chronicle of hopeful solidarity shared with those who struggle to get through today beyond mere consolation.
Kwon Jin Ah said she wanted to say through the new release, "I am also just an ordinary 28-year-old woman living in this era, so I live with the same worries and I am surviving, so I hope listeners find comfort in knowing 'the same person is here.'"
In addition to the title track "MONSTER," the album includes five tracks: "WHO CAN CHANGE," "Rain on me," "87days," and "Don't Save Me." Kwon Jin Ah participated in the lyrics and composition of all tracks.
About the daring challenge of the new release, Kwon Jin Ah said, "I hope it does well, but this is not an album released expecting chart performance. I released it with the intention of showing my world and offering comfort and empathy," and she added with a laugh, "we timed it somewhat to aim for the Pentaport Rock Festival." It was released at 6 p.m. that day.
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