Tuesday, October 21, 2008

[08.10.21][news] Lee Minwoo: My 4th album is like an anthology of movies

Halfway through the interview, Lee Minwoo suddenly sent out a text message. "Have you reached safely? Take care of yourself and come back healthy....."

It was a message to Eric who was enlisting that very day.

"2 days ago, all six of us and two other friends who were trainees together with us but didn't become part of Shinhwa, we had dinner and drinks together. We were reminiscing about the times we got into trouble, the times before we made our debut, and we just lost track of time. We took a lot of pictures with two disposable cameras we bought, and it felt like a high school gathering."

After Eric, Kim Dongwan is also scheduled to enlist for military duty, which means that fans will not see Shinhwa on stage. Lee Minwoo has also just released his 4th solo album M RIZING.

Although his previous album featured all self-penned tracks, a strong beat suitable for performances and an electronica sound, it did not do as well as expected. Perhaps because of this, the sound of the 4th album is catered more for the mass audience.

"I didn't hear much of my 3rd album being played on the streets, but this time round I hear Don't Trust Men quite often. The 3rd album was produced with a very tight timeline, and I wasn't exactly satisfied with it. This time round we fixed the release date a month ahead. I really like this album a lot and I'm really satisfied with the results."


-- Do you regret the results of your 3rd album?
▲ I wasn't satisified, but then I managed to get songs like The M Style that I use to hype up the mood at concerts. I wanted very badly to create my own style of music and ended up being overly ambitious for the 3rd album. Actually for this album, we hadn't decided on the title track even 2 weeks before the release date and I was really worried. But then luckily we had good feedback about Don't Trust Men, so that was a good thing.


-- You used music from Brave Brother, Kwon Tae Eun, Lee Hyun Do etc. Is this taking a break from writing all your own songs for the 3rd album?
▲ I wanted to take things a little easier, but somehow it ended up being more difficult because I was worried that by doing so I might end up with songs that I'm not happy with. Brave Brother's "Don't Trust Men" talks about men's selfishness towards their girlfriends, and is a melodic and upbeat song that one can dance to. Lee Hyun Do produced "I 'M' U" together with me, and it's a song with a more Miami funk sound with a touch of R&B. Kwon Tae Eun and Jung Joon Ho produced "Wink Show", which is a swing track with a bigband brass accompaniment.


-- Points to look out for on the 4th album
▲ The 4th album feels like an interesting anthology of movies actually. I'll recommend the two songs that I wrote...haha. "Cool Life" that gets people grooving, and I also added some dialect in the intro to make it more interesting. And also "Masquerade" which combines hiphop and opera. I sampled a part of the opera Carmen, and it's a song I wrote after watching Eyes Wide Shut. I reduced the proportion of rap for this song and varied my vocals a little more.


-- "Don't Trust Men" and Taeyang's "Look Only At Me" seems to be quite similar in terms of melody and lyric content
▲ I can only say it sounds similar. Although the melody is totally different, but the rhythm and structure of the song is common across many pop songs now.


-- You seem to have an interest in business.
▲ Entertainers survive on their image. What I can do well is in the field of fashion which I'm very keen on. Compared to making money from showbiz, the revenue from my businesses give me a different kind of satisfaction. I'm now involved in the Wolf M cap business, soon I'll also be launching a fashion brand called MnU. I hope the brand "M" will come to people's minds more than "Lee Minwoo"...


-- You set up your own company called M RIZING, as a musician what is your goal?
▲ This is a space for me to make my own music. I want to be like my seniors Yang Hyun Suk and Park Jin Young, assemble a group of talented composers and also groom young talents. I want to be a musician that the hyungs can be proud of. I've talked to Yang Hyun Suk hyung before about my journey as a singer, and he has given me a lot of advice.

Source: Yonhap News & oceans
Chi trans: jojoyu7@shinhwachina
Eng trans: midnightgirl13@shinhwabiz

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