DAY6 member Young K brought out the truest face that feels most like himself.
Young K recently held an interview at a hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul to commemorate the release of his second full-length album 'YOUNGEST(영기스트)' and discussed various stories about the new album.
The new album title 'YOUNGEST' uses the English superlative suffix '-est' to express the aspiration to deliver music that is the most Young K-like and a message true to the person 'Kang Young-hyun.' Young K participated in writing and composing all 15 tracks on this album, once again proving his solid musical capabilities and meticulous work output.
This album began when Young K went to the company himself carrying only the album title 'YOUNGEST' at a time when neither the number of songs nor the direction of the tracks to be included had been decided.
He said, "Over the past 10 years I did my best for DAY6 and made an effort without any lingering regrets, so now I think I wanted to find out who Kang Young-hyun is. As I asked that question, the album 'Younggist' came out, and while working on this album I discovered various sides of myself; I realized things I like and also things I dislike."
As for the reason for putting together a packed 15-track tracklist, beyond the practical reason of wanting to release as many songs as possible when the opportunity came amid JYP's intense release schedule, he gave the cheerful answer that "the number 15 simply looked a bit more neat and pretty than 14 or 16." In fact, there were more than 10 additional songs, but he said he boldly cut them because they were not yet ready to be presented.
The title track 'Shut The Door' is a song written honestly like a diary. It depicts moments of repeating to oneself that things will be okay while the door is closed.
About the title track, he explained, "It's a paradoxical song that expresses the feeling of closing the door and going into some enclosed space yet feeling freedom and liberation. In my case, I feel freedom and liberation when I put on headphones, connect to Discord and play Overwatch. That feeling probably served as a kind of motive."
Behind this song, which was finished like diary writing in just 30 to 40 minutes, is Young K's real experience of being hurt when gossip spread among acquaintances. He calmly said, "Because of my special profession, I can become gossip among friends and people talk about me. But it was found out by me. So I was hurt emotionally, but they are still friends and time is enjoyable when we're together."
He added, "After this song was confirmed as the title, I put the lyrics up and played it in front of the friends who had spoken ill of me, and they cried and apologized. We have reconciled and are getting along very well now."
The album's track order also contains detailed intent. He placed 'Marionette,' which means a puppet with its strings cut staggering forward, as track 1 to give a sense of liberation that runs through the album; after the title track he placed track 3 'F world' to create a flow expressing resentment and hurt toward the world. The album closes with 'In the studio with a coffee,' an homage to the film Breakfast at Tiffany's, creating a circular structure in which he ultimately returns to his everyday life of drinking iced americano even if frozen to death. This album especially gained variety through meetings with new collaborators. Through a connection with a Pop Time writer he visited HYBE's studio, met SEVENTEEN producer BumGyo and immediately created '100 reasons why we will break up,' and a long-awaited collaboration with DJ Groovy Room also came to fruition. Also, in the jazzy collaboration with Sunwoo Jung-a, romantic musical experiments abounded, such as replacing the sound of a keyboard pedal with a kick and using a guide vocal 그대로 in the official recording.
For this album Young K said he lost about 10kg in four to five months purely through diet, and he even pledged the sensational promise that he would dance in Gwanghwamun if he reached No. 1 on the music charts.
He said the goal of this promotion was, "I hope that this 'Younggist' album can be remembered as really a satisfying work and a period of activity. It would be even better if it performs well numerically. I want to be No. 1 too. I haven't been No. 1 as a solo yet. If you dream big and set goals, maybe it will be possible someday," adding, "If I get No. 1 on the music charts, I will dance. In Gwanghwamun."
[photo] JYP Entertainment
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