For 18 years, Lee Hyun has stood on stage and sung. From 8eight to Homme, from MIDNATT to Lee Hyun, the names may have changed, but through countless passing seasons one thing has remained—and will remain—the same: a heartfelt desire to keep singing.
It’s been a while since your last release. How have you been lately?
Lee Hyun: I was pretty much holed up at home. I spent a lot of time watching science videos, and lately I’ve gotten completely hooked on animations. (laughs) I’ve always felt it’s important to keep taking in different kinds of content. As someone who makes pop music, I think you have to stay tuned in to what the world needs and what stories you can tell. All those experiences have to soak into you so that when the time comes—whether it’s in your singing or even in your thoughts—they can come bursting out naturally.
It’s been quite a while, but back in 2009 you even shot the cover of Men’s Health, which shows how seriously you were into fitness. I’ve also heard you enjoy bowling and fishing, but it seems like lately you’ve been spending your time in a more laid-back way.
Lee Hyun: I used to be a lot more active. Whenever I had free time, I felt like I had to do something—even bowling for hours. But these days I just don’t have the energy for that anymore. (laughs) If I pour too much of myself into one thing now, I don’t have anything left for the rest. Back in my twenties and thirties, working out was more about showing something to others. Now it feels more like survival. (laughs) I’d finish work and squeeze in an extra 30 minutes at the gym, just in case I needed to show off a six-pack. Looking back, that probably wasn’t so good for my body. But these days, when my head feels too cluttered, I work out and suddenly it clicks—"Right, that’s how I can solve this.” It clears my mind in a way nothing else does.
On your YouTube channel 혀니콤보 TV, you took an MBTI test and got ‘ISFP.’ There’s that popular meme about ISFPs just lying around at home, right? (laughs) Even though you’ve mentioned you don’t really believe in MBTI.
Lee Hyun: I never really believed in MBTI types. (laughs) But I have to admit, it’s not completely off. It turns out ISFPs are the ultimate laid-back type. I really should be a bit more diligent. (laughs)
But maybe you’re not just resting at home—you’ve been juggling so many roles in society, after all. (laughs) On the girl group survival audition show R U NEXT? on JTBC, you were known as a strict coach who always pointed out areas for improvement. Yet on your current MBC radio show Lee Hyun’s Best Friend, you take on the role of a DJ who makes younger guests feel as comfortable as possible.
Lee Hyun: On R U NEXT?, I think my mustache—and just the way I looked—definitely made me seem more distant. (laughs) And since I was the only coach who also happened to be under the same HYBE roof as the contestants, I felt it was my job to be the one giving tough feedback. Encouragement is important, of course, but in this field the reality is that even minors are working as professionals. Back when I was younger, I sometimes brushed things off thinking, “This is good enough.” But you never know when or how those moments can turn into opportunities. So, while others offered encouragement, I felt I needed to point out the areas for improvement. The radio, on the other hand, is where I place the highest value on consideration. These days, even variety shows can easily cross the line, and I think we often lose sight of that sense of care. But on the radio, I feel like it still survives. So, when I get a listener’s story, I really try to think about how I can respond in a way that truly reaches them.
On your YouTube channel 혀니콤보 TV, you came up with ideas like the “83 Universe,” where you meet friends your age, and focused on trendy content. But more recently you’ve been putting your energy into radio, which has a completely different pace as a medium. What led you to make that shift?
Lee Hyun: Honestly, doing YouTube made me realize I don’t actually have that many ideas worth turning into content. Even if it’s a channel we build together with the staff, I still need the drive and energy to really take the lead—and I felt I was lacking in that. Radio, on the other hand, has a completely different flow from today’s world of selective content consumption. It’s like how you can skip around on Netflix, but in a movie theater you can’t—you end up watching the whole thing as it is. Of course, listeners can choose which program to tune in to, but if it’s live, they can’t just skip past it. When I first started hosting live radio, I sometimes blanked out in the moment and couldn’t think of what to say. At first, that was tough, but now I find that it’s actually part of the charm.
You’re remarkably objective about yourself.
Lee Hyun: That definitely comes from BIGHIT. (laughs) Ever since I was a trainee, the mindset was less about showing what you’re already good at and more about constantly working on what you lack. I think that’s how I came to really understand that growth only happens through practice. Whenever I work, I always try to have a clear sense of the bigger direction, and within that, an awareness of what role I can realistically take on. It’s not about “This is what I want to do,” but rather, “This is what I can do.” And whether it’s me on stage or me in a photo shoot, I try to find something in there that I can draw confidence from. To put it in terms of today’s Weverse Magazine shoot, I tell myself, “Hey, you haven’t tried this before, so just go for it. And if it doesn’t work, the professionals here will suggest something else that fits you better.”
What kind of self-reflection did you go through while preparing for this album?
Lee Hyun: When I was working with producer Pdogg on setting the direction, the goal wasn’t so much about experimenting for the sake of it, but more about finding things I could actually do well but hadn’t really shown before. That’s why I went back to early-2000s R&B as the base genre—something I really loved and used to sing a lot as a trainee, but never fully showcased. Since it would’ve been hard to capture that in just one track, I decided to release a mini album. So, while this album might not be groundbreaking in terms of genre, for me, it marks a brand-new starting point.
Personally, I feel that this album really captures the essence of you as both a lyricist and a vocalist. You took part in writing the lyrics for five of the six tracks, embedding deep self-reflection, and as a singer you deliberately held back your usual powerhouse vocals to focus instead on conveying delicate emotional nuances.
Lee Hyun: Choosing “Let You Go” as the title track was really an instinctive decision. While preparing this album, I went through over a hundred songs, and when I heard this one, I just knew it would fit my voice well if I paired it with the right lyrics. It felt familiar in a way, but not like a cliché, so I decided I wanted to write the lyrics myself. I also felt that each track should have its own little vocal twist as it moves along, but at the same time, I wanted it to clearly come across as a song sung by Lee Hyun. Thankfully, while recording this album, I had a moment where I thought, “Ah, I’ve actually gotten better.” (laughs)
Aren’t you being a bit too modest? (laughs) Even after all these years, you’ve managed to keep your voice in such great shape.
Lee Hyun: But really—(laughs) they always say the more you sing, the more you realize how little you actually know—and how much harder it gets. And in the past few years, I’ve come to feel that so much myself. For me, Luther Vandross is the ultimate vocalist. Even when I listen to those old live recordings with no tuning at all, I’m blown away—"How can someone’s voice sound like that? How does he go up there and still keep that tone?” And then I think, “Well, I could never do that.” But at the same time, I feel so grateful that someone like him existed. (laughs)
You say that, but (laughs) I honestly found the vocals on this album to be incredibly delicate. For example, on “Day & Dream,” your rich, jazzy tone really stands out, while on “What’s On Your Mind,” it’s the bright, lighter vocals that shine—showing just how many different directions you can take from track to track.
Lee Hyun: One of the interesting things about BIGHIT’s style of directing is that it focuses way more on expression, tone, and feel rather than just vocal technique. (laughs) So even during recording, when I worked with Slow Rabbit on vocal direction, the conversations would be like, “I want a bit of irritation in this part, so the sound should wobble a little—almost like it’s cracking.” “Day & Dream” was originally sung in a more exaggerated style, but later I tried singing it in a more relaxed way to find the right balance. For “What’s On Your Mind,” the original guide track had a very husky vocal. But I felt that a lighter delivery would fit today’s sensibilities better, and Pdogg agreed, so we even adjusted the track a bit. And with “Gravity (feat. SONG HA YOUNG of fromis_9)”, I honestly think HA YOUNG’s the one who brought the song to life. I felt the moment her vocals came in, the track needed to feel fresh, and Pdogg said, “This one absolutely has to be sung really well. Otherwise, it won’t work.” But HA YOUNG’s understanding of the song was so strong that she finished her recording incredibly quickly. (laughs) Even the title “Gravity” came from her. We couldn’t decide on one, so we asked, “Did any titles come to mind while you were singing?” She sent us about five ideas, and “Gravity” was the one we chose. So yes—the featured artist actually named the song. (laughs)
Like the album title A(E)ND, the tracks explore different emotions of love, but at the same time they also feel like a story of you closing one chapter as an artist and moving into a new one. In the lyrics of “Tree of Life,” could the line “You’re like a moolsum to me” be interpreted as referring to music itself?
Lee Hyun: That’s right. The lyrics of that song carry a lot of double meanings. “Tree of Life” actually came from watching two documentaries. One was about an island used as a landfill. The big trees in the village were eroding and on the verge of collapsing, and their exposed roots looked like they were clutching onto the soil—almost as if they refused to fall. To me, that looked like myself, unable to start over and still holding on with regret. The other documentary was about haenyeo, the traditional female divers of Korea. Among them, “moolsum”—literally “water breath”—is also called the “breath of greed” or the “breath of death,” because it’s the breath you take when you dive deeper than your limits before coming up. I felt like the part of me that longed for the kind of love and spotlight I once had in the past was like wanting to take that moolsum, so I ended up putting it into the lyrics. In my twenties and thirties, I was moving forward without really knowing much, yet I became widely known and loved. But I think I tried too hard to hold on to that. That led to some very difficult times. At some point, though, I learned to let go of those things naturally, and I realized that even if it’s not about blooming into something flashy, there are still things worth looking back on.
That sense of reflection also seems to come through as a hopeful energy running throughout the album—like in the final track “To Come to See You pt.2,” with lyrics such as, “This time, I’ll be the one to come to see you.”
Lee Hyun: When I thought about it, I realized I’d never actually written a song for the fans. To be honest, part of me wondered if it was right to do it alone—shouldn’t I be writing something like that together with the other members of 8eight? On our third album Golden Age, there was a song called “To Come to See You.” It wasn’t a fan song, but the fans really loved it. So with this track, I wanted to say, “You’ve always welcomed me first—so this time, let me be the one to come to you.” I think when an artist becomes inactive, it’s almost like telling fans to just leave. I’ve always felt so sorry about that, and I really wanted to show my gratitude to the people who are still waiting for us. There’s a line—“My life may be broken, but I wouldn’t trade it—it’s the life that brought me to you.”—and that’sthe lyric that chokes me up the most.
Despite all the doubts and struggles, what makes you hold on to the belief that the heart remains unchanged in the end?
Lee Hyun: Even as so many things change, it’s my hope that certain values will endure. For some people, this moment might feel exciting, but for others it could feel like the whole world is being turned upside down. Love has gotten lighter, AI is advancing… and in the midst of all that, I just hope there’s still something we can lean on. In Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar, you travel across the universe, but in the end, it’s about love. That might feel a little out of left field, but deep down you can’t help but root for it to be true. In the end, if there’s no unchanging value—like love or friendship—then I feel like none of it really means anything.
So even as you keep looking at a world that’s constantly changing, you’re holding on to the things that don’t change. In that sense, just as your album title suggests, it feels like “end” eventually turns into “and,” and like in your lyrics, “When the winter is over, a tree of life blooms again.”
Lee Hyun: What’s exciting for me is that this album made me realize I have even more stories I want to tell. It gave me the thought, “I can still do so many things. Before time dulls me, I want to leave more behind.” Of course, a lot depends on circumstances, but now I really want to try collaborating with other artists. To be honest, I haven’t done that many collaborations in my career. These days, everyone’s doing them—and I understand why. I want to work with people who can complement what I lack and bring out new colors in me. If 혀니콤보 TV’s “83 Universe” was something I did just for content, then in music I’d like to build something—maybe not a whole universe of my own, but a space where I can connect with different artists and create together.
