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Jo Kwon comes back as soloist
By Kim Jae-heun
Singer Jo Kwon of JYP Entertainment’s ballad group 2AM returned as a soloist with a title track of his own love experience.
“When I first debuted eight years ago, I said I never dated anyone,” said Jo during the press conference at Mary Hall at Sogang University, Seoul, Monday. “As an entertainer, I want to keep my private life private but now I will not say I still haven’t dated anybody yet because I am 28 years old now.”
Jo did not reveal who, but the singer said he wrote lyrics based on his love experience, turbulent feelings and his break-up from last year.
Jo’s new album “Crosswalk” includes three tracks, two of which he wrote ― the title song “Crosswalk” and the third track “Flutter.”
Flutter is a lively love song. Jo said he wrote it because he always sang mostly sad lyrics when he was with 2AM.
“When I decided to return as a soloist, I knew that I would sing from my true emotions and to do so, I needed to write about my own experiences. Eight years ago with 2AM, I sang love songs with a feeling that I learned indirectly from movies or friends.
Popular songwriters eSNa and Aev produced the title song and the music producers of SM Entertainment’s Shinee and f(x), Ryan S. Jhun and Denzil “DR” Remedios wrote the second track of the album “It’s Okay.”
The singer also revealed the back story of casting Suho from boy band EXO in his music video for the title song.
“I knew D.O. from way back and invited him to my musical show Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Suho came too. Later, while planning the scheme for the music video, I wanted to cast someone to appear in the scene instead of me and instantly thought of Suho. He accepted my offer without hesitation,” Jo said.
He said that his ultimate goal for his new album is to receive good reviews and he will not take the ranking seriously.