[Joo Young-jin's News Briefing]

When citing or quoting this interview, please credit the program name as "SBS <Joo Young-jin's News Briefing>." Copyright belongs to SBS.

■ Broadcast: SBS <Joo Young-jin's News Briefing> Mon – Fri (14:00 – 15:20)
■ Host: Anchor Joo Young-jin
■ Guest: Lee Seung-chul (Singer)
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▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Even without an introduction, everyone probably already guesses who is here today. Singer Lee Seung-chul has joined us. Welcome.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Hello.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Has it already been 40 years?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: That's how it turned out.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Forty years. In which month of 1986 did you debut?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Around October. In October, it will have been exactly a full 40 years.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: As a member and vocalist of Boohwal, "Heeya"—that was on the first album, right?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: It was Boohwal's debut track.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Back then, you had long, flowing hair and almost a heavy metal style, didn't you, back in those days?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I wasn't quite at that level, but my hair was somewhat long, what used to be called punk hair.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Gaining an enormous public response immediately upon debut is not an easy thing. How was it back then? Did you wake up to find the world had changed?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: That's right. A miracle happened, and "Heeya" immediately sold over 1 million copies.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: In those days.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: The reason I can understand junior artists today is that feeling of suddenly not being able to walk down the street. I experienced that.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Whereas until yesterday, no one recognized you even when walking on the street.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Yes. And in fact, you yourself can't really accept or grasp it. Rather, you wonder, "How do they know me?" That kind of feeling.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Changing overnight from the life of an ordinary person to the life of a popular artist receiving everyone's spotlight, and then living like that for 40 years since. I imagine it could not have been an easy life.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: You know a bit about that.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Well, for me...

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: There were ups and downs. Debuting unprepared, I personally made many mistakes and had many regrets, but I also grew stronger, made more efforts, and worked hard to achieve results.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Receiving public attention and love is a deeply happy thing, but at the same time, I think it must also be a very heavy burden.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I think I was a bit overwhelmed because I debuted at such a young age.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: To be honest, as part of a similar generation, it would not be an exaggeration to say I have lived my life alongside your songs, and probably many people feel the same way. How many songs do you think you have released so far?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: It seems to be over 270 songs.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: 270 songs. In the past, senior artists like Lee Mi-ja released a tremendous number of songs, didn't they? And senior artists like Na Hoon-a.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: They never rested.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: But 270 songs. The public may not know all 270 songs, but roughly how many songs do you think are loved by the public and hummed by people?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I currently perform 32 songs in my concerts.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: 32 songs.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Out of those 32 songs, about 30 are songs known by almost everyone from their 20s to 60s. I have quite a few hit songs, so I think people know them well.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: That is remarkable. With 32 songs, do you usually perform for about three hours?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Three hours.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: You would have to perform for three hours.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I should perform more, but it is tough. That's because all my songs are high-pitched. That's what makes it difficult.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: But another thing about you is that you are probably known as a singer who sings high notes effortlessly even though the songs are high-pitched. Junior singers must also really envy that aspect.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I have my own know-how about that. That's why I keep giving lessons like that to junior singers, even while doing the audition show "The Scout" this time. The most important thing is that singers actually have similar abilities. But you need to know how to utilize the monitor—the monitoring environment—which rookies don't know well. In fact, those aspects sway performance even more.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: There are many people in the world who sing well. In our country, men all know football well, right? And it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say women know all about the beauty industry. While there are many good singers, there aren't that many singers to whom the public responds especially well. Where do you think that difference lies?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: In touching hearts.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Resonating in the heart?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Yes, moving people when singing that song. Usually, singers who sing well evoke admiration.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: That's right.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Singers who provide resonance and emotional impact tend to have more hit songs and receive love for a long time. So even during such auditions, the singers chosen by the viewers and the ones we...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: The judges.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: The singers the judges see are different. And some singers are great at live performances, while others truly shine more on recordings. Everyone is different.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Having reached 40 years, I saw that you recently gave interviews and appeared on music programs. I imagine you've received this question often: among all those songs, is there a song where singer Lee Seung-chul feels, "Coming across this song was the luck of my life, of my singing career, and I love this song so much"? Many people are probably curious about which song that might be.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: You can think of it as having 30 such songs. I gather those songs to perform concerts. Because...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Singling out one song...

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: That is very difficult, and because every single song gives me its own gratitude. The song "Heeya" is the song that made me who I am upon debut, then "Don't Say Goodbye" made my solo career, followed by "Never Ending Story" and "No One Else." So there is gratitude that each and every song provides.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: I wasn't a schoolgirl back then, but when the song "Heeya" came out, male students at the time probably sang along wishing they had a girlfriend like that. Female students probably listened to the song imagining themselves as Heeya.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: At that time, Boohwal's first concert was held at the 63 Building, and anyone whose name ended with "hee" was granted free admission.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Names like Kyung-hee or Mi-hee?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: A great many people showed up.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Then you probably couldn't make much money.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: It wasn't quite that bad, but it was a very fun event.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: That was well done. Do young generations these days also know the song "Heeya"?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I perform at university festivals now, and just as we knew songs from before we were born when we were young, many people from today's generation know it too.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Did Kim Tae-won compose that song first?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: This one was Yang Hong-seok.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Yang Hong-seok. When you first heard it back then, at 20 or 21...

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Nineteen.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: What did 19-year-old Lee Seung-chul think when you first heard that song?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I thought this song would become a hit, and while arranging it together with Kim Tae-won, I said, "Hyung, like senior Cho Yong-pil, let's drop the intro arrangement, like how he sings 'Praying...'"

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: That's right.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: "Let's go straight into 'Heeya.'" I think that played a key role.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: The timing around then was similar. Cho Yong-pil's "praying heart"—was that "Tragic Love"? That's right. That one also started right with "Heeya" without an intro. It feels like going back to 1986. Would you like to go back, or how do you feel?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I do want to go back. The environment for junior artists today is so great, isn't it? I wish I could do it again in an environment like this. If I have wishes for my 40th anniversary, those are among them.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: You briefly mentioned key turning points in your 40-year singing career earlier—debuting with the release of "Heeya," then going solo.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: "Don't Say Goodbye."

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: What year was that?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: In 1989.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Wasn't it difficult back then as well? People knew you as Lee Seung-chul of Boohwal, but solo Lee Seung-chul parted ways with Boohwal. That couldn't have been an easy decision either, could it?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: But Boohwal had already disbanded after we held a farewell concert, and after continuing group activities, I received an offer to go solo and debuted as a solo artist. At that time, there was a jinx that vocalists from bands could not succeed as solo artists. So I was also very worried. Then I came across a great song, "Don't Say Goodbye." It probably had the very first informal lyrics at the time: "Don't make a sound, don't move."

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: "Don't come near."

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: So those things felt sensational as a new musical style, and it received a lot of love.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: I imagine you must have felt anxious at first.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: When I was very young, rather than anxiety, I had a strong spirit of challenge, thinking I should try no matter what and work hard. But while I thought everyone would recognize me a lot because of Boohwal...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Right.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: At the time of "Don't Say Goodbye," brutally, no one knew me. That is, comparing an underground group to moving up to the mainstream—when I debuted there, who was around? Senior Cho Yong-pil was there, Love and Peace was there, Songolmae was there, and Tae Jin-ah. Because of such prominent figures, I remember being nothing more than a mere rookie singer.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Leaving the memories with Boohwal as memories, starting anew as another rookie singer, a solo rookie singer.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Moving up to a bigger market, it was a completely different market.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: And perhaps another memorable, most touching moment you mentioned among the 40 years was when your daughter was born?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Having a child is the most important turning point. In music as well, I actually had more hit songs after getting married. Junior artists seem slightly afraid of marriage. I tell them not to be like that, because getting married led to more hit songs for me, and after my child was born, my singing became better—I think that's how it was.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Moments like getting married and having a child in your life as an individual alongside your life as a singer were more important than anything to Lee Seung-chul the human being.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: A certain producer once told me, "For a legend, you look far too happy."

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Because a legend is expected to look somewhat lonely...

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: And solitary. "You have everything: a family, a daughter."

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: How wonderful is that? And perhaps that is why you can deliver even better songs to many people. How is your voice compared to 40 years ago?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: In fact, singers probably rarely listen to their debut songs. It's embarrassing.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Is that so?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: It feels lacking. It feels awkward. Now feels even better. When I sing now, I understand a bit more of what singing is. I have that kind of feeling. Rather than the fears of the past, I think I've developed more of an ability to immerse myself.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Which song were you singing in that scene?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: That was for my 30th anniversary.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Was that 10 years ago already?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Time flies quickly.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: That hairstyle and outfit almost gave off the vibe of a rock star.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: People actually think my concerts are ballad concerts, but they are rock concerts. That's why there's a lot of standing and all.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Our Joo Young-jin's News Briefing team put together a clip of your voice, singer Lee Seung-chul. When everyone hears these songs, I think they will remember, "Yes, Lee Seung-chul, that voice, that song." Shall we take a look? As you mentioned earlier...

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: This song was the first to reach number one in 40 countries. From this point on, K-pop began to be known across the world.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: "Jasmine Flower" is truly a song that so many people like and love. It was a song where the lyrics resonated deeply: "Even if my life, collapsing from exhaustion as it turns back, looks shabby."

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: That's a rehearsal scene—a concert rehearsal. A song released during my Boohwal days titled "Reminiscence 3" was remade as "The Last Concert."

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: When you sing this song, that sustained note at the very end...

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: In the past, I held it for about 40 or 50 seconds, but these days I rarely do that.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Back then, I even thought: "Is he human? Could he be human? How can he hold it for that long?" It is truly beautiful. This song is also loved by so many people.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Girls' Generation remade it, so it became known globally.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: It became known globally? Marking 40 years as singer Lee Seung-chul, looking ahead, you must have dreams as a human being, but what dreams remain for singer Lee Seung-chul? It seems you have accomplished everything.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Still, there is a lot of work to do. A new song is coming out again this fall.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: A new song.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I sang a duet with my junior artist Woodz.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Woodz is a singer who is truly loved by young generations these days.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: I think he is the most talented among young artists today. A duet track with him is coming out. He gave me a 40th anniversary tribute song. So a song called "A Story of Our Own"...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: "A Story of Our Own."

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: It will be released in late September. And this year, junior artists including Kim Jae-joong, Wendy, Young K, Jannabi, Lee Mu-jin, Davichi, and others are participating in tribute albums with my songs, so people will probably...

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Among currently active singers, there probably aren't many who can receive tribute songs from junior artists—perhaps you, Cho Yong-pil, and Lee Moon-sae.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: But these days, people ask me a lot how 40 years feels, but compared to seniors who have been around for 55 years, it's not that much.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Even so, a span of 40 years is remarkable.

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Thank you.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Looking ahead to 50 or 60 years, until you truly stand on that final stage you mentioned, I hope you continue to show us wonderful performances. If it's all right, could you stay about two more minutes to say the final farewell together?

▶ Lee Seung-chul / Singer: Yes.

▷ Joo Young-jin / Anchor: Please wait a moment.

※ You can check the video for more details.