Kim Bum-soo

The debut single of a faceless newcomer who had to be judged on his voice alone.

• The intro opens calmly with piano and strings, an arrangement that sounds deliberately spare so that all attention falls on the newcomer's voice.
• From the very first line, the head voice resonating through the nasal and pharyngeal cavities stands out, suggesting why critics called it a fully formed technique even for a debut single.
• The passage where he pushes the notes upward into the chorus, in a voice that stretches straight without breaking, became the basic template of his ballad singing.
• In the 1999 record market, where CDs and cassettes coexisted, it is a rare case of a song distributed on the strength of a voice alone, without a single photograph.

The title track of his second album, which made clear his reputation as a newcomer of real skill.

• It begins with the voice settling quietly over a keyboard arpeggio (a passage in which the notes are played one by one) in the intro.
• In the move from verse to chorus he lifts his range dramatically, and his way of supporting it with head voice rather than forcing it is singled out as a hallmark.
• The stretch where he holds the long notes of the chorus without a waver is often cited as the moment he came to be called a singer of real skill.
• With the string arrangement typical of early-2000s ballads laid across the foreground, it offers the archetypal sound that played so often on the music chart shows of the day.

His signature song, which brought him nationwide popularity as an insert song in the drama Stairway to Heaven.

• Opening quietly on a single line of piano with no intro, the structure sets out the song's feeling of longing vividly from the start.
• The drop between a verse that begins low, almost recited, and a chorus that soars to the high notes in a single breath is the song's most famous passage.
• Having aired alongside scenes from the drama, it is remembered by many listeners first through the drama's emotion rather than the song itself.
• A textbook ballad arrangement built on strings and keyboard, it is also worth hearing as an example of how drama OSTs were produced in the early 2000s.

Released at the peak of his prime, it led to the main prize at the KBS Music Awards.

• As the title suggests, the arrangement captures the feeling of a setting sun, with the gentle keyboard of the intro gradually thickening along with the strings as the song unfolds.
• The long-breathed high passages repeated in the chorus are known to have been sung a little differently at each live show, with ad-libs (a style of singing that departs freely from the set melody).
• Its smooth register transitions (the vocal technique of passing naturally from the low range to the high) make it a song often cited in support of his reputation as a vocal textbook.
• The song that led to his main prize at the 2004 KBS Music Awards, it shows the peak of his prime.

The title track of his fifth album, it left the impression of capturing his state of mind on the eve of military enlistment.

• True to its title, it is a song in a soothing tone, with a calm verse unfolding over a slow-tempo keyboard accompaniment.
• His way of singing the chorus with quiet restraint, pressing the notes down rather than belting them, blends naturally with the reading that the song holds his feelings on the eve of enlistment.
• It follows the typical ballad structure in which the strings slowly pile up toward the end, lifting the emotion.
• Followed right after its release by his enlistment, it is a song that people have tended to revisit as time has passed.

His comeback after military service, released in step with the digital music era.

• Paradoxical from its very title, the song moves past a slow introduction until a rhythmic beat joins in the chorus, crossing back and forth over the border between ballad and R&B (rhythm and blues).
• His high notes, sung straight and unbroken rather than bent, contrast with the brief ad-libs laid in between them, giving the song a sense of depth.
• Released in 2008, when digital music charts were replacing album sales, it was a song that spread through the rankings of streaming sites.
• It is regarded as a song that shows the deepened emotional expression of a singer returning from military service.

The song that turned the popularity rekindled by I Am a Singer into a genuine hit for a new song.

• The piano melody of the introduction previews the melody of the chorus, a structure arranged so that the chorus lingers in the ear after a single listen.
• The high passages pushed upward again and again in the chorus drew fresh attention through his I Am a Singer performances and proved strong on the music charts as well.
• With its sharp contrast between a restrained verse and an explosive chorus, it shows the typical form of an early 2010s ballad.
• It is cited as a representative case of recognition gained through variety television turning into a genuine hit for a new song.

The song that showed a change, a step back from the impassioned ballad of longing.

• True to its title, it holds a warm, unpretentious feeling and opens in a tone of warmth quite unlike the plaintive longing of his earlier songs.
• The arrangement centers on acoustic guitar and keyboards, capturing the feel of everyday life in an unexaggerated sound.
• Even in the chorus he chooses a relaxed delivery over pushing big high notes, letting us hear his changed texture as a singer.
• Released more than fifteen years after his debut, it shows a change, a step back from the impassioned ballad.