“LEE CHANHYUK From AKMU Is Now Dead”…LEE CHANHYUK, Do Everything As You Wish

[한국일보=홍혜민 기자] LEE CHANHYUK from group AKMU notified of a new start as a solo artist.

LEE CHANHYUK held a press conference in commemoration of the release of his first full solo album ‘ERROR’ at YG Entertainment’s new building in Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 17th.

LEE CHANHYUK’s first solo album ‘ERROR’, which comes in more than 8 years since he made his debut in the music industry as AKMU in 2014, impressively depicts LEE CHANHYUK’s honest emotions and philosophical thoughts within himself. Within the flow of the songs, which is composed in an organic way, LEE CHANHYUK’s attitude in life and psychological changes is well portrayed.

The album started with the very fundamental question he had about himself “Would there be no regrets if the very last moment in life came to me?”, and portrays the regrets he has about his past, contradicting thoughts of the present, and determination for the future.

“First solo album in 8 years, didn’t know it would come out so soon”

Even though it took 8 years for LEE CHANHYUK to release his own solo album, he unexpectedly said “I didn’t know I’d get to release my own works so quickly”. He then added, “Since my partner SOOHYUN has such a good voice and singing abilities, I had my own standards when it comes to music. When it comes to debuting as a solo artist, rather than doing what I wish to do, I thought there has to be elements that are better than AKMU’s music when both SUHYUN and I come out as solo artists”, explaining why he thought it would take much longer for him to come out as a solo artist.

He then added, “I thought it would take more than 10 years, but the time had come where the public was recognizing LEE CHANHYUK as a certain character, and I got the hang of singing in my own style earlier than I thought too. I also felt like now was the time where I can put together my performance, so I decided to release it now”.

He then added, “All of a sudden I thought I should release my solo album early this year, and I somehow thought any people would listen to it for me. I worked really hard since then and got to release this album”, explaining how he decided to come out as a solo artist.

“Everything started with ‘BENCH'”

LEE CHANHYUK had earlier introduced his first solo album as “a journey of finding my original intentions and the direction of my life in the late 20s”.

During the press conference, he said “LEE CHANHYUK of AKMU will disappear and a new LEE CHANHYUK will come”, showing his determination about his fresh start without hesitation.

His comment is also in line with the messages he portrayed in the new album. “While releasing music as AKMU, I always felt happy and I thought I was always talking about the right things, but when I made my album as LEE CHANHYUK, I felt like there were errors in the thought I had in the past. I got to think about “If I was to die tomorrow, will that be the thing I think I value the most?”. I portrayed those thoughts into this album.

The idea of “If I die tomorrow” all started from the song ‘BENCH’ from AKMU’s album ‘Next Episode”. LEE CHANHYUK said, “At the time, I sang out that “Even if I don’t have everything I have now and wake up on a bench, I’m still confident that I’ll be happy, because the thing that I value the most is love and freedom. I still think that those two are the things I value the most in life. But if I’m in a situation where I came out from my door and I have absolutely nothing and everyone is pointing fingers at me, and if there’s absolutely no chance of overcoming that, I felt like I might not be able to handle it. In that sense, I felt apologetic about the song because there might be those who are living that kind of life in reality. So, in this album, I wanted to portray stories I couldn’t portray in that song”, explaining why he said it all started from “BENCH”.

“LEE CHANHYUK from AKMU is now dead”

The song that culminates the story in this album is his first solo title track ‘Panorama’. ‘Panorama’ portrays LEE CHANHYUK’s regret and desire for life in a calm way, and his sincere vocals and sentimental lyrics are combined with the upbeat melody, conveying a unique atmosphere.

He said, “Through 11 songs, I used a lot of tracks to announce to the world that LEE CHANHYUK, who died once and lived as a LEE CHANHYUK of AKMU, died again and was reborn as LEE CHANHYK who realized this whole process. In this song, I portrayed how LEE CHANHYUK is suffering with the realization that ‘The LEE CHANHYUK I previously lived as, isn’t the real me”.

Then what is the direction LEE CHANHYUK wanted to head in life, as a person who wanted to portray the idea of life, death, regret, and desire through the new album?

He said, “I thought I could not perfect my life simply by saying, ‘I will continue to look humble and pretty’. Instead, I thought, “If I’m right, and if I think it’s right, I’ll do things in life I won’t regret. I decided to not think too deep if my actions don’t violate some of the eternal values. I don’t think I’ll do such things for the time being. I don’t want to be too bold, but I do want to break my own rules and build my own castle. I want to have a party in my world and enjoy life”.

“’Stop doing what you want to do’, I think it’s had a good effect on me”

Due to LEE CHANHYUK’s new way of expressing his own characteristics, he’s become the center of the meme online where people tell him to “Do whatever you want CHANHYUK”. But after his unique promotion became viral ahead of his solo activities, another meme which says “Ok, stop what you want to do CHANHYUK”.

Regarding this, LEE CHANHYUK said “I’m take it as ‘to do both things'”. He then added, I think it had a good effect on me because my activities stand out more because of the meme. It’s not the meme that’s making me more known, but if people receive musical influence from me and think things in a different light through that, I don’t think it’s an individual change, but a societal change. In a way, I think I want to do things not just involving music, but things that throw questions and topics into society. That’s the reason why I do what I do on my YouTube channel”.

 

LEE CHANHYUK described himself as a ‘person who does the opposite of what he’s told’. His goal and determination in starting his first solo was also quite different from others. “What I want is not ‘Please listen to my songs one more time,’ but I want everything to flow naturally”.

2022. 10. 17