[SC Focus] AKMU, Growing pains beautifully expressed in AKMU’s season series album
[스포츠조선=박영웅 기자] AKMU’s SPRING has come this winter.
At 4pm on 28 December, AKMU introduced their new album “WINTER” at the music-listening event held at Beat Box Theater of CGV Chungdam Cinecity in Sinsadong Seoul. The “WINTER” album is being released eight months after the release of “SPRING” album, the first part of the season series.
The Korean name of the album is ‘Sachunki’, which means adolescence. By adolescence AKMU meant a pile of thoughts during adolescence, rather than sensitivity that a teenager would have during adolescence. It means ‘adolescence for thoughts’ that anyone could go through, or in other words, ‘the moment when Spring comes to one’s thoughts’. AKMU have drawn fans’ attention with their own composed witty songs so far. In this album, they talked about everyday life revealing their deeper emotions as well as their unique way of thinking.
At the event, LEE CHAN HYUK said “AKMU’s first album ‘PLAY’ had a pure feel to it. We’ve always said we want to do pure music” and explained, “We wanted to stick to that, but at the same time, we wanted to widen our musical spectrum. We are happy about our new album”. He added, “We chose songs that everyone can get sentimental about in winter. The album also has ballade songs, and emotional songs. I hope people will enjoy them.”
Like the first part of the series, “SPRING”, all songs of “WINTER” were written and composed by LEE CHAN HYUK, to display AKMU’s view of the world. On to the story of growth written by LEE CHAN HYUK, LEE SOO HYUN added her cheerful and clear voice, completing the season series album.
The tracks of the new album are: “Live”, “Reality”, “Last Goodbye’, “Play Ugly”, “CHOCOLADY”, “YOU KNOW ME”, “Way Back Home”, and “Will Last Forever”. The order of the tracks is impressively arranged to tell a story. The sequence of the songs represents the flow of time for people, from the moment of birth to growth, and then coming back home finally to recollect past memories.
The process of creating the album was not easy. “I gave a lot of thought to this album when I worked on it, and I had a really hard time,” said LEE CHAN HYUK. He also said, “I travelled alone for the first time to ease that stress. This album is special, and has my memories,” and added, “I hope I can share those emotions with many people.”
The story of growth was also reflected in the music drama.
LEE CHAN HYUK and LEE SOO HYUN proposed ideas for this music drama themselves. The drama shows conflicts between a brother and a sister and their making up in order of time. The eight songs of the new album were in a natural harmony with the images of the 20-minute short film.
At the event, LEE CHAN HYUK introduced himself, “I’m the main actor LEE CHAN HYUK”, and said, “I really wanted to see how people will think about this film, because it was my first time acting. I’m ready for harsh comments. But I hope people will think it’s sweet”. He went on to say, “I really liked acting, because I was able to have a meaningful experience in a wider art genre, rather than focusing on the work only from the musician’s point of view.”
Yong Yi, director of the short film, also gave generous points for his acting. Director Yong Yi said, “CHAN HYUK came every day and kept asking me ‘how was my acting today’. He also said, “So I thought that this guy is really passionate about acting and his work, and is very earnest,” and then added “He did well for the arguing scene with SOO HYUN. Actually I didn’t expect much for him. I would give 30 points for his first scene, and 70 points for his last scene out of 100 points. Actor Song Gang Ho would receive the full points.”
The siblings who now have more thoughts have more solid music now. In their earlier album “SPRING” that included ‘RE-BYE’ and ‘How People Move’, AKMU talked of the nature, people, and circumstances. This time, they focused on growth and memories. They interpreted situations that could be easily overlooked in their unique perspective and made their own unique songs. Their songs have simple sound, witty lyrics and raps of unique rhythm, and these make all generations to feel comfortable about their songs.
The title song has yet to be decided. LEE CHAN HYUK said, “The title has not been decided. Personally, I like ‘Last Goodbye’ which has my personal experience. The title will be selected soon.” The new album will be released on 3 January.
2016. 12. 28.
