Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

It takes confidence to be comfortable with everybody else’s perceptions of you – confidence that Hwang Min Hyun exudes on his solo debut, ‘Fact or Lie’. Earlier than the mini-album arrived yesterday (February 27), Hwang teased its launch with a nonchalant slogan: “Consider what you need”. As a result of prefer it or not, he’s going to reintroduce himself anew on this document.

“In contrast with my debut period, I believe I’ve bodily and emotionally matured, and my [musical] spectrum has broadened as effectively,” he tells NME over Zoom from Seoul, South Korea. “I want this present chapter generally is a turning level to tell apart [between] the previous me and the brand new.”

In dialog, Hwang Min Hyun comes throughout as carefree but attentive. Fast to flash a smile and set free a smooth chuckle, he additionally takes contemplative pauses earlier than answering. You may’t overlook that he’s a seasoned artist with a decade-long profession that has spanned the splendour of Okay-pop quintet NU’EST and the highly effective, albeit transient, boy group Wanna One.

Hwang grew to become a trainee at Pledis Leisure when he was solely 15 years outdated. Now, a Okay-pop idol at 27, he’s experiencing one other sort {of professional} breakthrough because of the extremely profitable Okay-drama Alchemy of Souls, the place he performed the empathetic, caring mage Search engine optimisation Yul. “I attempted to make a behavior of at all times placing myself in Search engine optimisation Yul’s sneakers and considering what Search engine optimisation Yul would have performed in varied circumstances,” he explains. “I consider that the method of making this character offered me with a chance to replicate on myself and develop personally.”

“Creating the character of Search engine optimisation Yul in Alchemy of Souls offered me with a chance to replicate on myself and develop personally”

Throughout these months of filming, Hwang additionally had time to consider his subsequent transfer. “I shot Alchemy of Souls for a protracted time period, so I assumed that my ardour for music and efficiency on stage might die down somewhat,” he shares. Totally different occasions, such because the long-awaited reunion of Wanna One at MAMA 2021 and his first solo fan assembly held final August, revived that preliminary drive that led him to step into the limelight. “I felt that music could be one of the best ways to repay [my fans], so I began engaged on my album as quickly as I completed my drama schedule,” he says.

True to its title, Hwang explores dichotomies in ‘Fact or Lie’. The mini-album is each an inauguration and a reintroduction, its imagery centering on the distinction between darkish hues and the color white whereas he glides between attractive R&B and pop. The bookends of the document, the ballad ‘Trustworthy’ and the nearer ‘CUBE’, are distinctly tender, however in between ‘Good Kind’ takes a daring flip by exploring how Hwang can, in his personal phrases, be “an ideal lover to anybody.”

This “refined and complex” B-side was an particularly novel expertise for him: “I jokingly stated that I actually like rap, however for this music, there are few components that embrace singing-rapping, so it was a recent problem for me, and I loved the manufacturing course of.”

Credit score: Pledis Leisure

He lightheartedly approaches the general public’s multifarious notion of him in ‘Crossword’, later expressing a latent want to interrupt free in ‘Smile’. Nevertheless it all comes collectively within the enigmatic title monitor ‘Hidden Facet’, an alluring showcase of his silken vocal tone. “Every part lies past expectations / We’re getting nearer, you and me,” he sings, confidently over a seductive bassline. “Each angle adjustments subtly / You look and see one other me”.

As ‘Hidden Facet’ progresses, doubts disperse and we transfer in the direction of discovery and acceptance. “It’s tempting but additionally very sturdy,” Hwang notes. Ultimately, he says, the music’s message is obvious: “Consider what you see in me.”

“Once I was getting ready for my solo debut I obtained the prospect to take a look at myself objectively – I discovered that I nonetheless needed to work on my singing and dancing”

“As an artist, I can not select a title monitor simply because the music itself is sweet,” he provides. “I’ve to contemplate many components, comparable to the way it will look on the stage and the way it will look with the choreography and all the pieces, however once I first heard this music, I simply knew it could possibly be very acceptable as a lead single.”

That readability of imaginative and prescient characterised Hwang’s method to the complete mission. “I really pitched quite a lot of my concepts,” he says. “Simply because the idea of the album says, I attempted to specific a distinct Hwang Min Hyun.”

To strike out on his personal meant additional honing his abilities. Through the years, Hwang earned recognition as an irresistible performer by way of his pure class and evocative voice, however he understood that this new endeavour could be a problem in contrast to any he’d confronted earlier than. “Once I was getting ready for my solo debut I obtained the prospect to take a look at myself objectively,” he says. “I discovered that I nonetheless needed to work on my singing and dancing.”

That’s the mind set that’s allowed Hwang to consistently be taught and alter all through what’s been a whirlwind journey. “Each debut, in my view, was a definite milestone for me and it allowed me to method what I do from a recent perspective every time,” he says. “In a method, it implies that I’ve had many fantastic alternatives, so I really feel appreciative as effectively. I’m wanting ahead to presenting one other facet of myself this time round and I sincerely hope my viewers will share my enthusiasm.”

And despite the fact that Hwang Min Hyun isn’t the sort to fret all that a lot concerning the trek forward, in case you ask him what sort of artist he wish to be often known as down the road, he has a assured, earnest reply: “I wish to be recognised as an artist that continues to develop and evolve, with a definite color of my very own.”

Hwang Min Hyun’s ‘Fact or Lie’ is out now by way of Pledis Leisure

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By Admin

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