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| ▲ This photo, provided by QUAN Entertainment, shows Byul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Yonhap) – “I would like to ace in everything I do as a singer and also as a mom; I would like to do things that a forty-year-old mom does not seem to be capable of doing,” said Byul, a South Korean singer with over 20 years of experience.
During her comeback interview on Wednesday, Byul added that she would like to be “the role model of those in their 40s,” as she introduced her new 6th LP “Startrail.”
Byul, who made a debut in 2002 with songs including “December 32nd” and “Farewell,” has made herself known for sentimental ballad songs. She then married Haha, a South Korean singer and comedian, in 2012, and since then has been putting her music career on hold as she focused more on her life as a mother of three children.
The upcoming 6th LP, which was originally planned to be released in celebration of her 20th debut anniversary, will be the LP the singer releases in 14 years since the 5th one which was released in Feb. 2009.
Byul looked back on her life as a mother who also is an artist: “I wanted to be a perfect mom; yet, my heart soared as I always had the dream of becoming a perfect artist,” adding, “If I had just admitted that I cannot become both, I might have disburdened myself. I always felt guilty whenever I asked my mom or husband to help my kids get ready to go to school as if I was not doing my job as a mom. I even fainted once while I was recording for the new album as I was trying to do both.”
“I could not just stop being a mom. So I just started to sleep less and hang out less,” Byul said.
As a forty-year-old mother and a singer, Byul looks forward to “giving courage to every mom who is in the same oven to be encouraged to get back to work after a career break. She explained, “As there are very few moms in the music industry, especially ballad singers, who continue their career after giving birth, I thought that if I can make this work, then younger singers who may walk the same path to feel encouraged.”
Her 6th LP, the work of her courage, will be released with a tracklist of 10 songs, including “Afternoon,” “Song” where she sings about her love and longing for her deceased father, as well as “You’re” where her delicate and refined vocal skills stand out.
“Afternoon” is a song with a beautiful tone that depicts the longing for the past love that still lingers even after time has passed since the breakup. The singer herself has been making a happy family for more than a decade as one of the classic love birds in the entertainment industry; however, as she is returning to her career as a singer, Byul will now be singing about the sorrow of parting.
“After I got married and became a mother, I had more to talk about,” she said. Looking back, Byul added, “When I was young, I used to take a guess to express these emotions such as love and separation, but now I am capable of expressing them much more deeply.”
“The song ‘Afternoon’ will be a song that everyone who has been waiting for me to come back as a singer for a long time to enjoy,” she responded. In regards to other songs listed in the tracklist, she said that she also “put her heart into every song and made them worthy of their titles.”
She also sang “I Don’t Know,” a song from her husband’s mini album “Blank,” in her own style and had it in the tracklist. The singer said that she asked for her husband Haha’s understanding as she believed that his song deserved more recognition.
Byul said, “I have lived with my husband for more than 10 years now, and I feel like he is one of my fans who adore me,” adding, “He likes Byul as a singer that I saw him watching my episode uploaded on ‘Killing Voice’ (a YouTube music channel)’ in the loo the day before yesterday when he came home after drinking heavily.”
She then went on, saying, “Whenever he gets a bit tipsy, he often says, ‘You’re so dope that you sing on stage.’ He does not say this often but even compliments me, saying that he is glad that I am good at singing.”
When asked if she had any musical collaboration plans with her husband Haha, she replied, “My husband and I take different musical paths,” adding, “We do not intentionally restrain ourselves from making such plans but I also think that we deliberately have to.”
As she finished her interview, Byul shared her future plans: “I now have a collection of songs, which I would like to compare as ‘bullets being loaded.’ I’m saying that I have many songs that I want to release next time, hopefully anytime soon. As long as everything stays the same at home, I will be able to continue my musical activities with the tips I earn this time.”
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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