An insight into Lim Young Woong
Who is "the greatest threat to KPop artists" and why should you care?
Imagine the scene: dedicated KPop stans all over the world are preparing for battle. It’s the end of April/beginning of May 2024 and there are some incredible bands on the schedule to make comebacks: Seventeen, IVE, aespa, ATEEZ, BTS’s RM and more!
In KPop stan culture, every comeback is a battle - you want your favorite band to have the most views on YouTube, the highest chart result, the most sales, and you want them to win daily music show competitions in Korea, which are decided by fan votes. Instructions are circulated on how to properly listen to songs on Spotify and watch videos on YouTube to ensure each of your views is counted towards your fave’s total.
Stans were prepared to fight each other to win this tough period with lots of releases, but then came a shocking announcement that struck fear into all of their hearts…Lim Young Woong announced a comeback scheduled for May 6.
Who is this man and why were we all shaking in our boots at this news? He’s not even really a KPop singer! He kind of blends genres, but the style Lim Young Woong is most famous for is called Trot. Let’s turn to an expert to explain what Trot music is:
If you don’t want to watch this video, let me give you a quick recap. Trot music is over 100 years old. It’s a very distinctive Korean music genre that developed during the colonial rule of Japan. It’s called trot because it’s similar to foxtrot in it’s two-beat structure. This means you can always hear the back beat of trot music sounding like “ppong-jjak, ppong-jjak" on repeat. It became less popular with the rise of Hip Hop and Kpop in the 1990s, but it is having a resurgence in Korea these days. The lyrics are usually very heartfelt and easy to sing along to. What I’m saying is…ALLLLLL ages love it. And the older aunties love to vote for the handsome and talented 32 year old Mr. Lim Young Woong - to the degree they can compete with established fan armies of Kpop artists!
One of the audition programs she’s talking about in this video was called Mr. Trot. This show aired in 2020 and guess who won? That’s right, Lim Young Woong! He released a super successful single after winning called Trust in Me, and over the course of 2020 dabbled in hosting awards shows, guest appearances in Kdramas, and advertising campaigns - basically quickly becoming a nationally recognized and beloved celebrity.
In 2021, he released his next single, My Starry Love, which became his first number one hit and he also won 3 music shows - the first trot artist to win a music show in 14 years! And then, in May 2022, he release his critically acclaimed first album Im Hero. This album was not just trot - there were pop songs, jazz songs, ballad songs, and even a bit of hip hop! The album actually WON best album at the Melon Music Awards in 2022 - a category that has always been completely dominated by Kpop artists! The two singles from this album also topped the charts.
A significant controversy occurred with the release of his second single off this album, If We Ever Meet Again. In an episode of Music Bank that aired on May 13, 2022, Lim was competing for the win against LE SSERAFIM’s Fearless. Scoring on Music Bank combines the scores of Digital Music Chart performace, Album Sales, number of times broadcast on KBS tv, radio, and digital content, fan votes, and social media charts. In the final scoring, Lim Young Woong had more than double LE SSERAFIM’s score for chart and sales performance, but LE SSERAFIM was awarded massive points for the broadcast score and LYW was awarded zero points! Zero! His fans protested so much that the police investigated the show for rigging, but didn’t find anything. But this demonstrates the degree to which he is competing with Kpop artists!
Since then he has released a number of significant singles, which have been a little bit more pop and a little bit less trot:
Polaroid and London Boy in November 2022 (1 music show win)
Grain of Sand in June 2023 (3 music show wins)
Do or Die in October 2023 (2 music show wins)
And now Warmth and Home in May 2024 (1 music show win so far)
Basically, the vibe I’m getting is that Lim Young Woong is to Korea right now what Kelly Clarkson after winning season 1 of American Idol was to America. He is a STAR. His style may not have the most international appeal (yet!) but he is a force to be reckoned with within Korea and his talent is immense!