Singer-songwriter Ahn Ye-eun admits her music may not be every listener’s cup of tea, but her clever crossover, which blends traditional music, pop and ballad, has rightly built her reputation as one of the most unique artists in Korea. Her critics, however, claim her concepts are too difficult to grasp — something she wants to remedy a little with her new EP, “Tales From A Wanderer.”

“I’m fully aware that my music has no middle ground — either you love it or you hate it,” Ahn told reporters during an interview held Monday in eastern Seoul, prior to the release of the new album on Thursday.


“People who like my music really like it, but I started taking vocal lessons for the first time in my career because I know that it could have been a little hard for some people. My style isn’t going away entirely, but I’m going to try and bring a new style to my songs.”

Ahn made her debut in November 2016 after making an impact on the music market with her appearance on the SBS audition program “Kpop Star 5” in 2015. She performed her self-composed song “The Red Knot,” which judges Park Jin-young and Yang Hyun-suk turned down, but judge You Hee-yul saw the potential in and used his “super pass” to give Ahn a try.

Long story short — Ahn’s traditional but trendy performances always divided judges and listeners, but she managed to thrive anyway and make her official debut the following year. Since then, she established herself as a "sageuk ballad singer" among fans, a term that comes from the Korean period drama genre sageuk and Ahn’s talented use of traditional vocal techniques in her ballad tracks.

She even had a go at releasing a series of horror songs, also with a traditional touch, including “Trumpet Creeper” (2020) and “Changgwi” (2021), which won rave reactions from fans and music lovers with tastes for the manic.

“I was honestly surprised at the fact that ‘Changgwi’ did so well,” Ahn said. “I was sure that it was far from the public’s taste and even my friends were against me releasing it. I had to practically beg my agency back then to let me release it. But it came out wonderfully and I’m thinking about even writing songs about the ghosts in other folklore, who would all have their very own cultures and emotions. I’m not sure if it can actually happen, though.”

For now, Ahn’s latest focus is “Tales From A Wanderer.” The six-track EP is her first album since joining her new agency DSP Media in May 2023. It's her first new music in a year and three months since her last horror single “Hongryeon” (2023).

The album is a collection of stories that Ahn wanted to tell, starting from lead track “King Carp,” which is based off the taemong Ahn’s mother had before she was born. Taemong is a dream that Korean mothers, or her close friends or relatives, are said to have when they become pregnant. They usually involve auspicious animals or eating unusual food.

“The first four lines of ‘King Carp’ are actually what happened in my taemong,” Ahn said. “The song is about a storyteller coming to town and unraveling a bundle of books. It opens up the album and each of the four tracks are rolled out, each containing a different story, like a book.”

The four tracks — “Soon,” “Waning Moon,” “Not Me Not Mine” and “Remain” — are each a book containing their own stories. “Waning Moon” began from a memo Ahn wrote that said, “People only greet the full moon, so other moons must be lonely.” The bossa nova track “Remain,” began from her idea, “Everyone is spring but I’m still winter.”

All in all, “Tales From A Wanderer” is the singer’s brightest album to date and her efforts to broaden her musical scope.

“I experienced a lot of things after the audition program, and it took me a long time to find out who I am inside,” Ahn said. “I tried things here and there, and I’ve come to think that a lot of the lyrics that I wrote in the past felt somewhat passive. There were a lot of, ‘What should I do? I’m so in despair,’ and didn’t move on from there. I wanted to give it a change, and this album is part of that effort.”

Ahn was 24 years old when she debuted and was studying songwriting at the Dong-Ah Institute of Media and Arts. The “not having learned vocals” made her “ironically more brave,” but actually made her ponder her future in music.

“I was actually going to quit music if I didn’t make it on ‘Kpop Star,’” she said. “But I was very lucky to have myself known to the public through the program. I had been feeling so unconfident about myself and my work before that, but I know that everything I went through and all the steps I took brought me here today, to ‘King Carp.’”

Ahn likened her music to kimchi jjigae, or spicy kimchi soup — a Korean staple and traditional food that’s not fancy at first glance, but strongly attractive to anyone who’s had a taste. People who come to her come for her kimchi jjigae, so she has that ready with “King Carp,” but the other dishes of the album are a little softer, for the newer customers, according to Ahn.

“I know that the way people listen to my music can be very different from my intentions, but this album is filled with songs that are softer than the sageuk kimchi jjiae,” she said. “I hope people try it out and just think, ‘Oh, this might not be so bad after all.’”

“Looking back, I feel so fortunate to have gone through everything that I did. But in a way, I’m still awed by the fact that I’m sitting at a TV station or seeing celebrities next to me. The very fact that I’m making money from music seemed surreal for the first three to four years, and still so in a way. I think that’s what’s kept me going all these years,” Ahn added.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]