[News Now] Cho Yongpil is back after 11 years...What's the comfort that "King Singer" gives you?

■ Host: Kim Sun-young Anchor
■ Starring: Ha Jae-geun, cultural critic

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN NewsNOW] when quoting.

[Anchor]
King Cho Yong-pil is back with his 20th full album in 11 years. It's also a new song that BLACKPINK's Rosé collaborated with Bruno Mars. 'Apartment' is gaining worldwide popularity and is once again creating a K-pop syndrome. Ha Jae-geun, a cultural critic, is here. Welcome. Cho Yongpil is back. It's his 20th album, right?

[Ha Jae-geun]
That's right. The 20th album is out.

[Anchor]
What kind of album is it?

[Ha Jae-geun]
It's literally our 20th album, but we put a lot of effort into it. It came out about two years later than the original time it was supposed to come out. It means that we've been revising it that much.

[Anchor]
It's been a while since the album came out.

[Ha Jae-geun]
That's right. The album was released in 2012, and the singles from this album were pre-released once in 2022 and 23 years, respectively. So just as it was pre-released at the time, like Serengeti, Feeling of You, you can do a complete new song this time, because this is the title song.

And "Do It Still" is a touching song with a slow tempo, and the timing of the fast rock tempo, the ballad-like accompaniment is minimized, and Cho Yong-pil's voice is filled with "Why?" and a new album has been released.

[Anchor]
You introduced the title song a little while ago, but it's okay. Let's listen to the song for a bit. Looking at the music and lyrics, I think it's a message of support. What kind of song is it?

[Ha Jae-geun]
It's literally about cheering for many people in this era, but Cho Yong-pil released a song called Dream in the past. A fancy city.That song. But Cho Yong-pil made the song on the plane, and while looking at the newspaper on the plane, a lot of rural people came to the city and are adapting now. My dream is to make a song right after I read the newspaper article.

Cho Yong-pil said that he was working on it with that feeling, but many people are struggling and having a hard time these days, and he made this song by seeing that. In particular, Cho Yong-pil watched a video of an athletic game broadcast recently, and the spotlight went on the winner and the loser didn't shine. Then how would the loser feel? And Cho Yong-pil said, "I'm a fan of the loser."

So a consolation message to many losers. However, in this era, not only losers are losers, but there are also many ordinary people who suffer from a sense of deprivation these days, saying that when they see young people, they have become a beggar. There are a lot of cases where the general public has a kind of loser sentiment, and there are cases where they are hurt socially and in some way, so I think it's a song that gives comfort to everyone.

[Anchor]
Cho Yong-pil, who is now in his mid-70s. I wanted to deliver a message of hope when I came out with an album after a long time. Let's listen to it for ourselves.

[Cho Yong Pil / Singer: There are songs that lift our hearts a little bit or inspire hope. I think it's an extension of that. I got comfort from that kind of song, so I think I have to do it too. Everything needs to have a hard process to complete one thing. Even if it's hard, I think I'll have to finish it first to develop it later, even if it's this big. ]

[Anchor]
I think Cho Yong-pil's music life is beyond completion and left a mark that is difficult for junior singers to follow, but when I see this message and the style of the song, I think it contains the desire to continue communicating with the younger generation.

[Ha Jae-geun]
Basically, Cho Yong-pil is always communicating with the younger generation, reflecting the society of the time, and continuing to develop his own sense of writer. So, I don't want to do this kind of music to communicate with anyone, but since it's a trend these days, I'll try it, too. It's not that kind of level, but you're continuing to do the music you want to do.

It's based on rock music, band music, and continuing to do various music in it. So Cho Yong-pil's past mix of trot and rock comes back because it was in Busan Port. And the first song that tried electronic music in Korea was bobbed hair in 1980. I've been doing rock and electronic music comprehensively, but this album also has rock music bases and EDM electronic music with electronic music, and I'm also trying to do that.

[Anchor]
Also, the recording of the album is becoming a hot topic, and I heard that this album was recorded at once without making it, but this is not easy even for young singers.

[Ha Jae-geun]
These days, it's popular to cut and record, so I just get one word and put it on my computer. Cho Yong-pil said that it's not my nature to squeeze like that, but the singing "Feeling of Yu" has a very high part in the falsetto. So that part might be a bit hard, but I sang it all at once.

Cho Yong-pil doesn't seem to like cutting it like that because of the musical spirit that values the completeness of the song. The next high note was like that. Cho Yong-pil said that. When a person gets older, he loses his high notes. So I said that I practice every day not to lose it, but as a result of that practice, I think I still have the ability to sing all the high notes at once without squeezing them.

[Anchor]
Cho Yong-pil is still learning. It's a learning process. They emphasize this part.
Some people are curious about whether they can release more albums in the future because they are in their mid-70s. Cho Yong-pil said this. Let's listen to it.

[Cho Yongpil / Singer: It's probably the last album] I've never been satisfied with it. People around me say, "I think this is enough," but I get angry inside. ]

[Anchor]
You seem to have a lot of greed, but you can't be satisfied with these albums, so you can see that your passion for music is incredible, right?

[Ha Jae-geun]
Cho Yong-pil is one of the representative musicians who excessively harass himself, but he threw away hundreds of songs in the process of preparing for this album because he raised too high standards on himself and was almost perfectionist.

I think there are a lot of good songs that I threw away. Also, during the recording process, the engineer in the U.S. worked on it, but the work was repeated and revised, so an American came to Korea and talked with Cho Yong-pil. Since I've always lived with perfection, I'm sure you're very tired, but the content that's created as a result always seems to be perfect.

[Anchor]
It would be nice to see Cho Yong-pil as a fan for a long time, but now he says that it's probably his last album.

[Ha Jae-geun]
You said such a terrible thing, but at the same time, what we talked about at the press conference was... There's another song I made while working on it. I left it out and talked about it as if I was going to release it next time. One song has been saved. And since I just worked on my new album, I don't think I'll be able to do it next time. You don't know what's going to happen in the future, so I think I'll be able to work on my new album in the future.

[Anchor]
I think it's two continents. Anyway, it's a 56-year-old myth. It is also a record maker that is almost called the king of singers. What are the most record-breaking contents of Cho Yong-pil's 56-year life?

[Ha Jae-geun]
Cho Yongpil, please come back. With its immense popularity in Busan Harbor, it officially sold 1 million single albums for the first time in Korean music history when it released its first album in 1980. And for the first time in K-pop history, 10 million cumulative albums were sold. And Cho Yong-pil was the first Korean singer to continue to set such huge records at Carnegie Hall in the U.S. and since popular culture was completely westernized as Korea's full-fledged industrialization, Cho Yong-pil was the first perfect national star to like from elementary school students to the elderly, and he is doubtful about such a national star.

[Anchor]
Cho Yong-pil, the national star, can do that. I hope it's a song that conveys hope to many people. We should also talk about global Hallyu stars. BLACKPINK Rose's apartment. It's a song I listen to every day on my way to work, and the song is really good, but this is a worldwide craze, right?

[Ha Jae-geun]
The song "Rose's Apartment" was released, and it ranked No. 1 in the world and No. 1 in the U.S. on Spotify, a global music site. It was the first Korean female artist to top the U.S. music chart. It means that it's gaining huge popularity. It became No. 1 trending in Korea and No. 1 trending in the U.S. The music video was also about 97 million views in four days. So you can say there's a crazy syndrome going on.

[Anchor]
It's a song that the world's top Bruno Mars collaborated on. How did you end up doing this together?

[Ha Jae-geun]
So Rosé made a suggestion to Bruno Mars, and he said, "Is this possible?" Brunomas is a living legend who won 15 Grammy Awards. So he's like a young Cho Yong-pil in the hip-hop world. But Bruno Mars responded.

K-pop's status has risen that much, and Rosé is a member of BLACKPINK, and BLACKPINK is the first girl group in the world. So I think it was nice to see Bruno Mars as well. So the collaboration between the two came out, and the results came out really amazing.

[Anchor]
I heard that the music video is heading towards 100 million views, and the scene where Brunomas is waving the Korean flag over there also drew attention. I heard that Bruno Mars practiced Korean, so let's take a look at that scene.

[Anchor]
The fact that we're seeing Bruno Mars together like that means that the power of the Korean Wave has become stronger. Because of this song, the game called "Apartment" has become quite famous.

[Ha Jae-geun]
It's a game that young people play when they drink. Apartment, apartment, apartment, apartment, 5th floor. Then, the person on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floor will drink. It's like a game for drinking, but Rosé likes this. But through this song, it became known all over the world.

This is Rosé playing apartment games with world-class models at an after party at a luxury event in the West. In this way, Korean alcohol games are spreading around the world. And what's surprising about this song is the apartment. Americans don't know what apartments are.

That's why it's called an apartment. The apartment is a completely Korean pronunciation, but it comes out as an apartment. Chaeyoung's favorite random game comes out. They don't call it a game, but they call it a game. The Korean pronunciation keeps coming out.

Also, Bruno Mars cheers. Cheers. They hold the Korean flag in the middle and make a toast. So, there are things that are so different that Korean pronunciation and Korean are coming out.

[Anchor]
I think Korean pronunciation will be the pronunciation of people all over the world. Lastly, Rosé introduced bomb liquor or made kimchi fried rice, and the video became a hot topic. There were also expectations that the K-pop craze would lead to a Korean culture craze.

[Ha Jae-geun]
This time, it became a hot topic at a club in Germany where Westerners screamed at apartments. Not only apartments, but also Korean pronunciation and Korean food that I mentioned earlier are introduced by Rosé. So through this, the apartment culture is unfamiliar in the West.

Curiosity about Korea's apartment culture is rising. I think Korean culture will spread more like this, and the drinking culture in Korea will spread more like Psy in the past. As Westerners enjoy Korean culture like this, I think this perception that Korea is a hot country will grow.

[Anchor]
Some analysts say that Gangnam Style will become popular, but I'll see how far the craze goes. Ha Jae-geun was a cultural critic. Thank you.