Helloooooo, and let me make your August a little bit fluffy and magical, with the help of one of the best male solo vocalists in South Korea~
Basic information
Artist name: Roy Kim | 로이킴
Debut: June 25, 2013
Agency: CJ E&M Music
Notable singles: Spring Spring Spring, Home, The Great Dipper
Fanclub name: Royrose
What is unique about them: Honey vocals that you want to hear before sleep, flower boy visuals, dork personality. Definitely someone you would not expect to be a complete weirdo if judged by visuals only.
Roy Kim (born Kim Sangwu) is a solo artist under CJ E&M Music entertainment. He’s one of very well known ballad singers in South Korea, and he’s also the winner of a talent competition show Superstar K4. Roy usually sings in folk & acoustic genre, but regularly challenges more poppy sounds for his releases. He made an unofficial debut at MAMA awards in 2012, and also in April 2013 with a single Spring Spring Spring, while his official debut was in June 2013.
This baby is seriously everything. I didn’t follow him much in 2013 when he just debuted, but when I accidentally heard Nothing Lasts Forever from his second studio album back in 2014, I was seriously attacked. Roy’s voice is so soothing, and the atmosphere of the song was so beautiful I couldn’t stop listening to it for a while. You can also see the lyrics translation here, and I guarantee you – his lyrics are always beautifully wrapped around his thoughts.
The complete turnover for me was when Roy released his third studio album, The Great Dipper, and it’s still my most favorite release from this boy. He has music videos for multiple songs from this album, and I cried so hard during I Want to Love You because of the lyrics. The interesting fact that I fully understood Korean in this song without looking for a translation, and that, along with triggered memories of my past, made me cry so hard.
His whole The Great Dipper album is full of a melancholic sound, contrary to bright acoustic feeling his debut album Love Love Love has, and Home is something in between them in terms of musical style and overall feeling of his music.
Roy Kim’s voice is very soft and soothing, sometimes I listen to his music when I have insomnia, or when I have nightmares. This boy can also deliver very emotional vocals, like he had shown as a participant of King of Masked Singer. I was very surprised at how much emotion he had in his voice when singing with a mask on.
He also was invited to Immortal Songs 2 show, that is, as you can possibly know from my MAMAMOO and VROMANCE posts, a show for solid vocalists to compete with each other by performing legend’s songs. His first appearance made everyone cry. Including me. Oh, and he snatched a trophy on his second appearance. Good job, my boy!
Oh, and you probably won’t believe his age. He’s only 24 (same age with me), yet he’s able to deliver such emotions… And his lyrics are always so beautiful.
As for his personality… At first I also was fooled by his visuals. I thought he would be a shy and quiet guy, but then I learned that he’s best friends with Jung Joon Young (who’s known for his wild and very open minded personality), and what kind of person he is in reality. He goes from this…
To this:
- That Salt Bae parody is just… 😀
Okay, now some more songs for you to check out!
(Whatever you see in the video above is actually Roy Kim’s real life personality. He, by the way, initially dreamed of becoming a comedian before switching to musical field)
Reasons you should pay attention to this artist:
- Of course, HIS VOICE. It’s something I always start with when I’m recommending you any of my favorite artists. Try listening to his songs in headphones before sleep, he has a perfect lullaby kind of voice to make you fall asleep~
- Sure I can’t leave his visuals without any attention. He’s beautiful. And he really knows it.
- His songs are so soothing and helps you relax when you had a hard day. Or when you want to create a cosy coffee shop atmosphere, turn his songs on, they fit perfectly to that mood!
- Roy Kim is hilarious. Unfortunately, he rarely gets invited to variety shows to actually show off his comedian skills, so people still think that he has that gentleman’s and nice guy’s vibe, when in fact he’s a complete dork.
- Lastly, before I go give his latest mini-album a re-listen, I’ll drop you a nice performance by him and his best friend Jung Joonyoung from Superstar K4:
Finally I’m back with one of my favorite segments on Liliana N Bookish blog~ I seriously enjoy sharing my favorite songs from K-pop with you all, and I always hope I can lure even more people into Korean music that is so diverse and so much fun! I actually successfully lured Savannah into NU’EST, yaaaay
Hope you really enjoyed this week’s featuring artist, because I adore Roy Kim so much, and his music is so healing~
See you next week with another massive list of recommendations!
Liliana N Bookish Blog 