★★Highly recommended by Choi Jeong-hoon (leader of the group 'Jannabi) and Park Cheon-hyu (playwright, lyricist)!!★★
★★"Anyone who opens this book will be reminded of 'that song I used to cherish under the shower'" _Choi Jeong-hoon (leader and vocalist of the group 'Jannabi)★★
★★"A book that carefully examines the spirit of our times as reflected in Korean popular music." _Park Cheon-hyu (writer and lyricist for the musical "Maybe a Happy Ending") ★★

“I first learned about love through ballads.”

From the era of pop music to the era of K-pop
Great songwriters have delivered
About immortal songs and the history of love

"The Songwriters" is a book in which music critic Kim Young-dae looks back on the flow of Korean pop music history and the sensibilities of the times through the ballad genre.
By examining the lyrics of 117 songs that can be called the essence of ballads one by one, it goes beyond the genre analysis of ballads and reads the history of Korean pop music through the language of emotions.
Also Lee Moon-se, Yoo Jae-ha, and Kim Kwang-seok.
Artists who have sent meaningful messages to the history of Korean pop music, such as Byun Jin-seop, Yoon Sang, Yoon Jong-shin, Shin Seung-hoon, Kim Dong-ryul, Kim Kwang-jin, Lee Seung-hwan, Yoo Hee-yeol, Lee So-ra, Sung Si-kyung, Jannabi, and IU, are reexamined from the perspective of songwriters, and music is viewed from the realm of lyrics rather than song form.
Through this, readers can experience and enjoy the music more richly by encountering the delicate language and poignant stories of familiar love songs.


The book is divided into three parts.
Part 1 showcases the unique emotions of ballads and the musical world of representative songwriters who created Korean ballads.
And you can meet artists and songs that carry on the tradition of Korean ballads, which began in earnest in 1986.
Part 2 introduces representative ballad songs centered on the chronicle of love that continues with encounters and partings, excitement and pain.
A ballad is a love song.
And the lyrics capture the spirit of the times by giving new and colorful variations to the familiar and obvious language of love.
In particular, here, 10 hashtags about love remind us of the sensibilities of the times as well as the unchanging love.
Part 3 contains the past and present of Korean ballads.
We will examine the lyricism of Korean pop music by examining songs from the 1960s and 1970s that already had ballad characteristics before the emergence of the ballad genre.
In addition, you can get a glimpse of the hidden charm of ballads that flexibly cross genre boundaries such as R&B, rock, and folk in the 2000s through an expert's perspective.

A chronicle of Korean love, separation, regret, excitement, and frustration through music, the great
This is a record of the 'history of love' we have shared with ballad songwriters.
--- p.24, from "Prologue"

While rock represented white extravagance, jazz represented black sensuality, and trot represented local sorrow, ballads began to receive attention as music representing Western sophistication and modern yet conservative romanticism, truly a 'new wave' song.
--- p.32, from “Silent Cry: Ballad, Music Representing Modern Romanticism”

Until the mid-1980s, the emotions of 'local sadness' or 'han' that naturally came to mind when talking about slow songs in pop music were replaced in Lee Moon-se's songs with emotions of 'longing' and 'wistfulness'.
This was not simply the personal taste of songwriter Lee Young-hoon, but rather a reflection of the emergence of a new generation and their musical tastes.
--- p.73, from “Lee Moon-se and Lee Young-hoon, the Eternal Canon of Ballads”

By the 1990s, a spoonful was added to this.
The immediate appearance of excessive emotion and pettiness.
It wasn't just a change in expression.
With the dawn of the 1990s and the rise of Generation X, the world became more honest, and lyrics accordingly began to let go of pretense.
--- p.86, from “I’ll hide and watch over you if you’re a burden: The Anthropology of Emotionality and Irritation”

〈Bangbaek〉 is a work in which everything, from the title to the lyrics, melody, and emotion, is so delicately woven and orchestrated.
Even within K-pop, SHINee, who were icons of experimental electronic sounds, were given such a sweet melody of youth, and this song has now become a classic of idol pop, redefining and perfecting the sense of 'refreshing' and 'whimsical' within idol music.
--- p.147, from “Ballad Hashtag 3”

There are many ballad masters, but Yoon Sang's music has a mysterious emotion that is difficult to explain.
(…) In some ways, this ‘adult innocence’ that can be a bit ticklish is persuasive not only because of the cold yet warm urban sound of Yoon Sang’s music, but also because of the lonely and fragile masculinity of the artist Yoon Sang.
--- p.170, from “Ballad Hashtag 5”

"To You Again" contains a story about a belated 'realization' and 'return' to love, which was rare not only at the time but also in the history of ballads.
(…) Of course, the harmony between Jinseop Byun’s sorrowful voice and the song, especially the lyrics, is practically perfect.

--- p.224-225, from “Ballad Hashtag 9”

Although Lee So-ra has already shown us the extremes of a sad breakup through “Please” and “Enough Now,” “The Wind Blows” conveys a completely different level of expressiveness than before.
The poetic language and cool tone prove that restrained sorrow, without sobs or screams, can be more painful and poignant.

--- p.237, from “10 Ballad Hashtags”

In fact, R&B is a genre that is closely related to ballads both musically and emotionally.
Not only is there an overwhelming number of songs about love, including the so-called 'slow jam' subgenre, but the rich emotions and flowing techniques melted into the elegant yet bluesy progression of the triple-beat pattern are also the unique identity of this genre.

--- p.289-290, from "Wow, Yeah, I guess I'll have to bury it in Jamsil"

Couldn't it be called a genre created by Az One? This fragile and pathetic feeling is expressed calmly, not through the flowing and virtuosic singing of their forte, R&B, but through classic pop ballads.
(…) In particular, it met with Yoon Sara’s writing, which boasted of a peak of emotion, and gave birth to another ‘classic.’
--- p.310-311, from "The Breakup Stories of Millennial R&B Divas Who Had to Hurt Alone"

Park Joo-yeon, a name that I would not be ashamed to call Korea's best lyricist.
He was one of the few lyricists who could have had as much influence on a song as the greatest composers who graced that glorious era of ballads.

Beyond just being a good writer, he was also a talented songwriter who understood music and could apply diverse compositional techniques to it.
--- p.326, from “Who is the ballad lyricist, GOAT?”

In this way, ballads survived in various ways.
Although it was pushed out of the center, it did not disappear, and although it was called an old genre, it was rediscovered as a form that accurately responded to the needs of the new era.
(…) The era of ballads may have ended, but the era of love songs has not.
Our 'history of love' is not over.
--- p.345, from “Has the Ballad Disappeared?”

“Spring Day” is not simply a song about missing someone.
It is a quiet warning to a society that tries to forget something or someone, and a song of comfort for those who want to remember.
In this song and video, BTS subtly yet beautifully weaves together a theme that many contemporary artists dare not touch.
It's a rare achievement that demonstrates how social ethics and artistic metaphor can coexist within the conservative confines of K-pop.

--- p.348, from “Has the Ballad Disappeared?”