Wednesday, October 22, 2008

[08.10.22][news] Lee Minwoo dreams of making Korea the best cultural space in Asia

When I first heard Taeyang's Look Only At Me, I wondered how it would be if it was M Lee Minwoo singing it instead. In the music scene lately, singers like M - with an image that's aggressive and rebellious - come across as being very attractive. The "bad boy" of the music scene, the embodiment of sexy - Lee Minwoo - is back.


Don't Trust Men....Coming back as a bad boy

Not too long ago Lee Minwoo returned to the fans with his new song Don't Trust Men, a song that paints a vivid image of the "bad boy". The song is somewhat reminiscent of Taeyang's Look Only At Me, and one can't help but feel that the track comes just a step too late.

"Is that how it is? The first time I heard Taeyang's song, honestly it felt like it was a song about me. It seems like I'm really suited to be a bad guy. I often hear comments about me like "he seems rude", "he seems aggressive"." In actual fact he is someone with a lot of emotions and is really quite a great guy.

Surprisingly Don't Trust Men isn't written by Lee Minwoo. "I wanted to have something that can satisfy the mass pop audience."


His 4th album, an album made for the listeners

It feels like Lee Minwoo's music production abilities have moved on to the next level. This album is very well balanced. "Taking a title track written by someone else, it seems to complement the songs I've written even better. Someone said that the other songs on the album should be heard before the title track. I took on the role of producer for 8 tracks on the album, and among these, Cool Life has had great feedback, so I'm really glad."

Fans have responded most favorably to Cool Life - an upbeat track with lyrics that give an interesting take on life - rather than the title track, and there's a high chance that it may end up being the follow-up single. The 4th album was produced with the fans' opinions and preferences in mind, and the titles of the tracks are mostly in Korean as well.


Lee Minwoo, and his dream

He doesn't give you the feeling of a manufactured pop idol right out of an idol group. During the times Shinhwa was active as a group, he had already written songs that appeared on Shinhwa albums. Eventually he released his solo albums and became a producer, and his talents finally got recognized.

He has dreams that are vastly different from his peers too. His dream is not just to have his own entertainment company, but rather to build the Shinhwa brand, and to make Korea the best cultural space in Asia.

"I hope for a start we'll have more concert venues tailored just for holding concerts and performances, and specialized record stores like those in Japan."

Shinhwa... Proud of being a member of the best pop group

Building a Shinhwa trademark is definitely not a small dream for Lee Minwoo. "Since we made our debut as Shinhwa, I've been talking to Eric about this. Building a Shinhwa trademark is not because of pressure from anyone. When that happens, we'll really be able to show off Shinhwa's unique qualities and music. I feel this way, and so do the other members, all of us have this grand ambition of making this happen. We will work hard to make Shinhwa last even longer and become the definitive Korean idol group."

Such a blueprint may just happen, given the strong unchanging 10-year friendship among the Shinhwa members. Since their debut in 1998, Shinhwa has survived numerous arguments and fights, rumors of disbandings, to become the longest-running idol group in Korean pop history. 2 days before leader Eric enlisted for military duty, the members all cast their hectic schedules aside for a little sending-off gathering.

"Eric has a thoughtful side to him too. Before he enlisted, he didn't ask the members out because he felt that everyone was too busy. But no matter how busy we are, we had to meet him before he left. So all of us came out for drinks and chatted, and we had a great time. Eric doesn't usually say thanks, but that day he did."


Source: oceans
Chi trans: 淼儿@bestshinhwa
Eng trans: midnightgirl13@shinhwabiz

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