by The boy was timid. He was not good at speaking, so he couldn’t make friends easily. After living in Korea, I left for Australia. The shy Asian boy was a handicap in itself. My mother packed two lunch boxes to share with friends, but my mouth didn’t come off, so I used to eat lunch alone on the toilet bowl. It was a lonely and lonely day.
During the chess show, the boy sang a song. ‘Mad World’ by Gary Jules. I quietly closed my eyes and savored each note. After three minutes or so, when I opened my eyes, all of a sudden, everything changed. From that day on, he became the ‘superstar’ of the school.
“After the chess show, my life has changed. My popularity in the class grew, so I took on the role of class president and made new friends. I also did eight extracurricular activities, such as bands and choirs. I wasn’t good at speaking at first, but as I took on the role of the class president and gained leadership, I also learned how to speak. It was a position I achieved through music, so I wanted to study music in depth.”
Singer-songwriter and producer Neve (28, real name Park Ji-soo, 28), considered the ‘favorite musician’ among young musicians, explained the reason for falling into music like this.
After attending Menes College of Music in New York with a major in clarinet, he appeared on Mnet’s ‘Superstar K6’ by chance. Neve, who spent her teenage years in Australia and the United States, was shocked by the fierce competition-oriented Korean audition culture. He said, “I didn’t know what format ‘Superstar K’ was going to be in. But I thought it was a process of accumulating intangible assets for music.”
Brian Park, who played under the name used in the United States, drew attention for EXO’s ‘Growl’ arranged with a guitar. Thanks to the relief of the judges who noticed his talent, he was proudly listed in the top 10 risks of being eliminated. As a result, the ‘Top 10’ became the ‘Top 11’.
After finishing ‘Superstar K,’ I had time to polish myself for about four years. I learned to write songs over my shoulder at work. Gradually, word of mouth among musicians began to spread, saying, “I have a young friend who is good at music.”
In 2018, he debuted as a producer for a K-pop artist with EXO’s Chen’s ‘When April passes, we break up.’ In the highly competitive K-pop scene, it is rare for a rookie producer to take on the solo title song of a team member with the highest stock price. ‘When April passes, we break up’ became a ‘filial song’ that gave Neve the producer’s fame and even ‘Cherry Blossom Pension.’
“At the time, I didn’t know what that meant. And I didn’t even know that the song was going to be number one on the charts. Time has passed, and I’m starting to feel a bit better now. (laugh)”
Afterward, Park Hye-won’s new song ‘No matter what, bye,’ Heize’s ‘2 Easy’, Paul Kim’s ‘The Reason for My Spring,’ and BTS’ BE album ‘Blue & Gray,’ such as ‘Blue & Gray,’ a prominent K-pop star worked with the An Asian boy who had been subjected to racism rose to prominence as a producer for K-pop stars.
Neve released her first mini-album, ‘Broken Kaleidoscope,’ on the 27th and appeared in front of the public as a singer. Although the digital single ‘Getaway’ was released in the United States in 2018, this is the first time it has been evaluated as an album.
The album title, which means ‘broken kaleidoscope,’ is the subject of a diary written in the form of a letter on his SNS since 2020.
Among the five tracks, the pre-release song ‘ESCAPE’ expresses the desire to escape from a passive reality, and the title song ‘I’m Alive’ sounds the will to rise again in a harsh world. They are embedded in the beat. The atmosphere is quite different from the sweet songs of other singers that Neve has produced in the past.
“I wanted to express myself honestly in this mini-album, saying that the songs I’ve been working on have emphasized the soft and positive parts. In recent years, there have been many cases of stress from relationships and work. When I was making ‘Escape’ and ‘I’m Alive,’ emotional fatigue was accumulated. Music is the way to express my feelings, so I put my sincerity into it.”
That’s not to say that all of the songs on the list are outrageous. If you sang the emotion of resignation in ‘Maybe I Wanna Die,’ which has a dreamy atmosphere, hope again in ‘Perfect Dancer’ and ‘To My Dear Friend’ start flapping your wings.
Neve said about the first album, “I feel naked,” but “I’m worried, but I wanted to confess to myself.”
“I wanted to portray a person like me in detail. Although the emotions in my music are negative, if the listeners who listen to this music wonder, ‘Am I the only one who feels this way?’
It’s too early, but we plan to suppress our feelings again if we release the next album. He said, “An artist has to express himself,” he said.
