KoreaToday Songwriter’s advice on a musical note

By Han Sang-hee

Staff reporter

Turn on the radio or television these days and you will easily find yourself immersed in a pool of K-pop. The hype for the singers and fans in the industry plays a big part in creating the pop culture here, but it takes that extra something to come up with, not just a ``hook'' song, but a masterpiece that will last throughout the years and become a classic.

One of the people who may know the secret of this is songwriter Kim Hyung-suk. In a casual tone and very much at ease, Kim met with The Korea Times for an interview earlier this month to talk about his life as a songwriter, the music business, artistic vision and also the future of K-pop.

Music is harmony

Nicknamed Korea's ``hit-song maker,'' Kim has worked with some of the best known singers today, including Shin Seung-hun, Kim Gun-mo and Sung Si-kyung to name a few, creating more than 1,000 hit songs that have captivated the ears and hearts of many music fans.

He might be compared to fellow musical big wigs Lee Soo-man from SM Entertainment or Park Jin-young from JYP Entertainment, but Kim is foremost a songwriter and he intends to keep it that way.

``My job isn't about showing off my music or purely making money, it's about making a specific singer into a star with my songs,'' he said.

It's hard to ignore the fact that he is still one of the most sought after songwriters in the industry, and his expertise and talent led him to start his own business: K-note Applied Music Academy.

``I was teaching at a university four years ago and I realized that the students had great technique, but didn't know much about music in general. They didn't have their own style; they were just imitating the past,'' he said.

This turned out to be a social phenomenon: students lacked creativity and were failing to discover their own selves and unable to come up with something original and entirely new. The biggest obstacle was they didn't know the true meaning of music: harmony.

``It's like you know all the grammar, but can't put it together to make a conversation. Music is a language, you have to know the language in order to communicate,'' the producer said.

The art of waiting

A lot has changed since Kim first started songwriting. He came out with his first song ``Because the Reason Love'' in 1991, but his musical journey started long before that. Growing up under pianists parents molded him to become a musician, and he still thinks his upbringing influenced him.

As a young adult, he spent his university years during the period before cell phones or laptops and this also helped him develop his creative side, especially the art of waiting.

``I don't want to evaluate idols, but it's hard to find composure, romance or serious emotions.

``We don't wait anymore. In the past, if you were meeting someone, you didn't have any way to contact that person, so you waited: you read a book, listened to music or just looked around, and thought about things until that person arrived,'' he explained.

The same goes with music. We're too busy to wait now: once a song reaches the top, it's time for another one. The Internet introduces star after star, but there's always another one waiting in line.

``It becomes a mere happening, not art. This `happening' is wrapped up with marketing and promotion and is presented as art. You can't put philosophy into something like that and call it art,'' he said.

The music industry as well as the public becomes easily infatuated with the mainstream and this is inevitable. What Kim is arguing is that if such bands and singers paved the way for ``hallyu," it's time for other groups and artists to show what they have in them as well. Korean music cannot be just about temporary idols, but the rest too.

``Indie artists come to me and ask for advice about what they should do. I tell them to find their own way and keep trying. They started music because they enjoyed doing it, not because they wanted to earn fame. When you have a goal, it becomes a desire, but if you are fond of what you are doing, then it's simply a need,'' he said.

Keeping balanced

Kim is branching out this year, not to the United States or Japan like everybody else, but China.

``The U.S. and Japan already have a stable system of their own. After visiting China a couple of times last year, I realized their needs in terms of applied music, and that was when I started to get involved,'' he said.

Kim has joined the Chinese network Hunan Satellite Television to bring the show ``Super Boy,'' the Chinese version of ``American Idol,'' this year. He will overlook the whole competition and search for the next top star of China.

``Chinese culture enjoyed a boom for the past three to four years and it's still developing fast. They need someone who can show them how to work it out, someone who can scratch their backs and help them take the proper steps. They need someone who can balance it out,'' he said.

As Kim continued to talk about songwriting and his business, students who were leaving the academy would walk by his room, waving goodbye. The songwriter didn't ignore a single student, but managed to instantly return to the conversation he was in the middle of. He was in the room, in the middle of an interview, but he was also with his students, with only a glass window separating them. The same goes with trends and songwriting, he explained. You must not overanalyze the current trend and pose a threat to your career by devouring it, but you must stay very, very close.

``The novelist Paulo Coelho told a tale about a young boy who had to carry a tea spoon of oil while walking around a palace. He couldn't focus on the palace at all because he had to be extra careful not to spill the oil. It's the same with songwriting. You have to be focused on the emotional, but still be interested in the world and what's happening. You must keep a balance,'' he said.

Emotional consistency

When asked what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, Kim smiled shyly and said ``Music, of course.''

``I want people to listen to my songs and think `wow, this song never gets old. It just gets better and better whenever I hear it.' I want them to feel the emotions I had when I wrote them,'' he said.

Having his or her songs played forever without losing that initial spark would be any songwriter's wish. It's the same for Kim.

``There are songs that make me feel sad wherever I am, whatever I'm doing. These songs are consistent in emotions, and that's what I want my songs to offer listeners also.''