[Herald Interview] Jeong Sewoon finds joy in bringing diverse colors to music

K-pop singer-songwriter Jeong Sewoon finds joy in making music that comforts his listeners and that joy is amplified when there is personal development at the end of a project.

In his sixth EP, “Quiz,” released on Thursday, the artist collaborated with a foreign musician for the first time for “Sharpie,” an experience which helped him expand his musical spectrum.

“I worked with American pop band Nightly for the single, ‘Sharpie.’ This was my first time working with a foreign artist. I wanted to release an album filled with newness, things that I’ve never done before,” said Jeong Sewoon during a group interview Wednesday in Seoul.

“I looked forward to this collaboration because I wanted to learn how foreign artists produce music. For that, I asked the band to master and arrange the single because I was curious whether the way they mix and master music is different from how we do it here in Korea. I wanted to see if there is a more efficient way than how I do it, to enhance my musical capability.”

Jeon Sewoon has made a name for himself as an all-rounder -- he not only writes lyrics, composes and arranges music, but is also a good dancer and singer.

He took part in producing all eight tracks in his new album, which came 20 months after his last one.

“I want this album to comfort the listeners. I happily worked on making the tracks in this album as I enjoyed every process and I am confident that such feelings can be delivered to my listeners through the songs. I just hope that these are songs that one can easily tune into when looking for peacefulness,” the artist explained.

The EP is led by the title track, “Quiz,” a medium-tempo pop tune with groovy synthesizer and FX sounds.

“As a K-pop star, I used to have fast-beat dance singles as title tracks for my releases. But this time, I chose a different type of music as the title track, a track that makes you focus on the music itself instead of dance performance,” he said.

“In this song, I talk about how there is no right or wrong answer. I used to ask myself whether I define myself as a K-pop idol or a singer-songwriter. After contemplating it for a long time, I came to realize that I can be both. I used the colors yellow and purple in the music video of the title track because I think yellow is the color that best depicts my vivid K-pop idol identity while purple depicts my singer-songwriter identity.”

Jeong Sewoon debuted in 2017 as a soloist after rising to stardom in the popular Mnet K-pop idol survival program “Produce 101 Season 2” where he made it to the top 12 among the 101 people aspiring to become K-pop stars.

“I like how people call me a ‘singer-songwridol,’ a combination of singer-songwriter and idol. I think my secret weapon is being able to bring diverse colors to music. I can be yellow one moment but be purple in another,” he said.

Jeong does not have a big goal he hopes to accomplish as an artist but instead aims to make the most out of every day.

“My New Year's resolution is to do my best every day. I want to have small and healthy goals for each day to become a strong being who can overcome any difficulties. I hope to continue introducing my music as long as I can. I am always grateful for my fans who look forward to my new releases," he said. "I am aiming to make new releases more often to get to meet with my fans more often.”