Shin Seung-hun to Return with 10th Album in October

Jul 19, 2006

Singer Shin Seung-hun will return to Korean fans with his 10th album scheduled to be released on Oct. 9, some three years after he released his ninth album in February 2004. He is also planning to hold a concert that will serve as a showcase at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 14 and 15.

Having devoted himself to working in Japan during a stint away from Korea, the "king of ballads" will try his best to entertain Korean fans in the second half of this year. In Japan, he will release a single album before the end of the year and his second feature album next February.

Shin is now shutting himself up at home to write songs for his new album. As a singer-songwriter, he has composed all the songs for all his albums. “I have completed 14 songs now. Due to the recent rain, I wrote many slow-tempo pieces. But now I am trying to write some upbeat pieces,” he said.

Recording will begin after he returns from a planned five-day visit to Japan starting Friday. He has been invited as a special guest to a concert by Japan’s leading singer Ryoko Moriyama to be held at the Stellar Theater in Kawaguchiko on Saturday.

Moriyama has been known as the “missionary for Korean songs” since she released the album “Tears” consisting of theme songs of Korean dramas and films. One of the songs was Shin’s “I Believe,” and that choice of music connected the two artists.

In the concert entitled “Hallyu (Korean Wave) Night,” Shin will sing “I Believe” and “Over the Rainbow” in a duet with Moriyama, and “Invisible Love,” “You in My Smile,” and “Long after That” as solos during the 30-minute performance. The two will also play acoustic guitars together and hold an English pop song battle.

Shin’s agency Dorothy Music said that Moriyama had wanted Shin to perform at the concert so much that she even asked him to sing certain songs she likes. She also complimented him on his appealing voice and sentiments in his songs, it added.

“Shin has decided to join the concert although he is busy working on his new album, because he thinks that he has the responsibility of working to expand the Korean Wave for younger singers,” Dorothy said. “Actually, Moriyama’s ‘threat’ to cancel the concert without Shin also played a role in making the decision.”

Source: http://english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/1406473_11858.html