Between cool Young K and the wounded Kang Young-hyun... The perfect bare face revealed after 11 years [★FULL Interview]

*This content was translated by AI.

DAY6 member Young K (real name Kang Young-hyun) has opened the door to his solo album, filled with the most authentic and sincere story he has shared in 11 years since debut.

Recently, Young K held a roundtable interview at Seoul Jongno-gu JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul to commemorate the release of his second full-length solo album 'YOUNGEST'.

Like the album title, which uses the English suffix '-est' to denote superlative quality, 'YOUNGEST' is a new album that collects Young K's answers to questions he has asked himself up to now, expressing his most personal story through music. The title track 'Shut The Door' delicately portrays moments of soothing oneself by repeating "It will get better" while keeping the door to one's heart closed.

Young K expressed his overwhelming feelings about the comeback, saying, "I am happy to return as a solo artist after two years and ten months. I have done my best to show everything I can as a solo artist this time, so I hope many people will pay attention and embrace me with kind hearts."

Regarding the title track, he revealed behind-the-scenes details: "It's a song I wrote in about 30 to 40 minutes, almost like writing in a diary. It was one of the fastest songs I worked on for this album, so I was surprised when it was chosen as the title track."

He continued, "I think it's an ironic song. When you get hurt outside and close the door to go inside, feeling liberation and freedom within that confined space is truly paradoxical, isn't it? In my own life, after working in society as 'Young K' outside, I feel free the moment I return home and put on my headset, where another world of mine unfolds inside computer games. I created this song thinking many people might heal their tired hearts in their rooms and find freedom in their own ways."

Young K worked hard to make all 15 tracks eligible to be title tracks before going through the company's confirmation system to finalize 'Shut The Door' as the title track. He added, "All 15 songs are like my children, so I can't favor one over the other, but I thought 'Shut The Door' would fit well at festivals and concerts."

The full-length album 'YOUNGEST', featuring a total of 15 tracks, is filled with diverse layers to ensure the moods and styles of the songs do not overlap. An interesting point is that the album title was decided before work on the tracks even began.

Young K recalled, "While living as Young K for 11 years, I sought to find my self by asking what the most 'Kang Young-hyun-like' aspect of me would be if I had ignored it all this time. I realized that I have such diverse sides within me. That's how the 15th tracks were born."

The process of looking into 'human Kang Young-hyun' was also a process of facing his own fragility. Regarding the generally dark lyrics, he honestly admitted, "In my mind, 'Young K' has always pursued a more refined image that deserves people's love. On the other hand, 'Kang Young-hyun' is someone with many shortcomings, complaints, and even fragility to the point of being hurt. It seems this message came out because I went through the process of revealing these inner thoughts."

When asked if he felt liberated by exposing his dark side, Young K surprisingly answered, "Actually, it was painful."

"There were many parts where I had to acknowledge my shortcomings. Nodding and saying 'Yes, that's who I am' toward the points I had ignored was a somewhat painful process of admitting 'I'm not perfect.' But once I moved beyond that point of acknowledgment, I could start embracing myself. I think even accepting that was a necessary step for me to move forward."

When asked why he decided to show his 'Kang Young-hyun-like' side at this time, Young K pointed to the past 10 years spent with DAY6. He stated, "Last year marked DAY6's 10th anniversary. I did my best to handle various events throughout that year. After doing my best for DAY6 over these 10 years and working without regrets, I thought it was time to turn my eyes fully toward 'Kang Young-hyun'."

So, what is the most 'Kang Young-hyun-like' aspect he intensely searched for? Young K explained the clear temperature difference between his self as an artist loved by the public and the human self hidden behind that facade.

Starting with "DAY6-ness is already included within Young K, so there's no need to separate it," Young K defined, "In my mind, 'Young K' is a more refined and nearly perfect being. If 'Young K' is a being created to be loved more by people, then 'Kang Young-hyun' is the original self that contains that process."

He further confessed calmly, "Inside Kang Young-hyun, there are shortcomings, and in some ways, he might be more petty and mean than Young K. There is also fragility that can be hurt. If Young K is a coolly portrayed image that laughs off wounds with 'Oh well,' then inside Kang Young-hyun, there seem to be sides where one gets cut and blood trickles slightly."

Given Young K's outstanding musical ability that has produced countless masterpieces, he did not hide concerns about inevitable self-repetition as a singer-songwriter. However, his attitude toward music had become more flexible and firm.

Young K showed an open mind, saying, "I don't insist on only writing my own songs. This time, I tried collecting songs, and if there are better ones, I am fully willing to receive them." He added, "Actually, in OST work, it's common to sing songs written and produced by others, so it's a very enjoyable task for me because it allows new attempts."

Concerns about self-repetition also became an opportunity to broaden the horizon of creation. He said, "While working, I couldn't help but think about that part, but I realized that even with the same theme, you can write in many different ways. With just one keyword like 'love song,' which we commonly refer to, billions of songs could come out, right? Therefore, possibilities are always wide open."

Young K brought up an anecdote from his trainee days at JYP Entertainment (hereinafter JYP) before debut. He confessed with a hearty laugh, "In the past, I thought I was a genius who would shake the world. Before becoming a trainee in Toronto, I was in the terminal stage of so-called 'celebrity disease'."

He continued, "That was the time when my nose was highest and 'celebrity disease' was most severe. But as soon as I entered JYP and saw other trainees, that celebrity disease crumbled and collapsed. All the trainees shone brightly, sang songs amazingly well, and danced incredibly well. I realized, 'I was really a frog in a well.' In fact, becoming a trainee cured my 'celebrity disease'."

This album, shedding past pretenses and focusing solely on himself, also involved Young K spending time asking himself many questions beyond the new album work.

"'Who are you?', 'What state are you in?' I asked myself these questions a lot. But what surprised me most was that when I asked myself 'What do you like?', I didn't even know what I liked. After doing my best to fulfill the mission of DAY6 for the past 10 years, I ended up not knowing what Kang Young-hyun wants to do right now or what he likes and excels at the most. Although I haven't found a complete answer yet, I think this album will be the one that best shows my current state."

He also prepared a special reward for his hardworking self. Young K revealed his excited feelings, saying, "I plan to give myself a gift when this promotion is well presented and somewhat concluded. For the first time in my life, I'm thinking of traveling to a resort."

Given how much 'Kang Young-hyun-like' honesty was poured into it, reactions from acquaintances who watched him closely were also intense. PD Park Jin-young simply praised, "It's good," while JYP Jeong Uk (President) reportedly expressed satisfaction, saying, "This song is good. The music video came out well too? You did a good job restraining yourself." Young K joked, "'Did a good job restraining myself' refers to weight loss. From before the album work until the day of the music video shoot, I lost about 10 kg. Now I am in the stage of rebuilding my stamina, and the appearance in the music video that the public will see is my prime state."

Steady support from fellow artists also continued. DAY6 member Wonpil, who heard all tracks first, left a glowing review around the time the 10th-anniversary concert was ending: "It's a masterpiece album." Young K smiled, saying, "If he said 'DAY6's Young K album is a masterpiece,' I'd be greedy, but I was really happy that Wonpil said it like that."

In addition, Melomance's Kim Min-seok and members of tvN's 'Amazing Saturday', where he is a fixed cast member, also showed enthusiastic reactions. Young K shared, "When I played it for close friends, many reacted with 'Wow, it's new.' Even Hyung Kim Min-seok said it was good, and when I played it for a few members of the 'Amazing Saturday' family, they were very excited and happy." He added, "I actually sang the song once at the filming site, and since then, whenever the members do something, they shout 'Shut The Door~ Shut The Door~', so I have high expectations." He revealed strong confidence in his solo activities.

'YOUNGEST' was released on the 27th of last month at 6 PM through various online music sites.

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*This content was translated by AI.