Korean musicians counter short-form trend with long-form films

"Of the songs I've made, the only one that reached No. 1 on the Melon chart is 'Bam Yang Gang.' The funny thing is, everyone knows the line, 'On the way out you said to me,' and everyone knows 'So sweet and sweet, so sweet and sweet.' But there are a lot of people who don't know the part, 'The table legs break' (a Korean idiom for a lavish feast)."

Singer-songwriter Chang Kiha, who released his first solo studio album "Sansanjogak" on Wednesday, shared this observation during a post-screening question and answer session on Aug. 26 at CGV Wangsimni in eastern Seoul. He said music is increasingly consumed in bite-sized pieces, much like short-form videos and countless songs become widely known only as the background music for short videos. In those circumstances, does a full-length album still hold meaning?

"Sansanjogak" is Chang's answer. Ahead of the album's release, he premiered a 33-minute short film containing every track.

"I wanted to make an album that has a reason why you have to listen to it from beginning to end," he said.

The film starts from a different premise than a traditional music video, which typically complement the music visually. Working from a poem he wrote, Chang made a silent film with the video production team mogeosu. He then composed nine tracks to fit the finished visual work. Because the music followed the images, the tempo changes several times within a single song.

It differs from a standard film score as well, because he built the tracks to hold up as pop music even with the visuals stripped away. In his own words, it is a work where "images and music carry equal weight."

Staying true to his goal to "make a full-length album that is meaningful even in the present era," "Sansanjogak" reveals its true value when the film and music run continuously from beginning to end. Centered on the characters "White Kiha" and "Black Kiha," it cycles through repeated daily routines filled with anxiety, loss and liberation, reaching the audience as one unified story.

Eight-minute songs, albums as playback devices

Other Korean musicians are actively collaborating with visual artists to encourage long-form listening. The band Hyukoh recently released the singles "Godspeed!" and "KoK" with music videos helmed by independent directors Rapu and Song Seo-yoon. "KoK," in particular, is an 8-minute, 26-second track. It holds listeners' attention across its lengthy runtime by blending a school sports day with traditional dance and surreal imagery.

Rapper Kim Ximya, who released his second solo album "Dogma" the same day, also put out a 26-minute video linking the album's new songs prior to the official release.

Multimedia artist and filmmaker Park Chan-kyong directed the visual project. Park drew on his own existing works, such as "Zen Master Eyeball," to build a narrative that runs through the entire video. Set against Kim's new songs, which are steeped in Buddhist philosophy, the work raises questions about belief, dogmatism and the self.

Kim carried this experimentation into the physical album format. Instead of a CD, he released a playback device modeled on the "Buddha Machine" — a small player that loops sounds meant for meditation. To offer an experience similar to meditation, he removed the skip function and loaded alternative versions of the tracks that differ from the digital release.

Formats change, music stays core

What these artists share is not a specific format, but an attitude toward music itself.

"The album, too, was a kind of afterthought before the Beatles. The way music is provided and consumed is always changing according to shifts in technology and platform environments," pop music critic Kim Jakga said. "What matters is letting the music take center stage, rather than a mere component like background music for Shorts or material for TikTok challenges."

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.