Transcript of an Interview with Mr. Kim Hyung-suk, Composer-producer of the Godfather of K-pop and BTS, at the Sheldonian Theatre, Hosted by Faculty of Music, Oxford University. Part 7

Posted by Joseph Hwang Joseph Hwang 7/28/2024

Transcript of an Interview with Mr. Kim Hyung-suk, Composer-producer of the Godfather of K-pop and BTS, at the Sheldonian Theatre, Hosted by Faculty of Music, Oxford University. Part 7

Joseph Hwang

* On July 4, 2024, Mr. Kim Hyung-suk, the godfather of K-pop and one of Korea’s leading composers and producers, gave a lecture and interview at an event hosted by the Faculty of Music at Oxford University. Here, I will post a series of interviews based on the Korean summary of Mr. Kim’s interview, with some of my commentary.

** I am incredibly grateful to Ms. Jieun Kiaer, a professor at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, for arranging and hosting this lecture and interview.

Question #7.

Producer Kim Hyung-suk is credited with laying the foundation for K-pop, but you’re also known for always trying new things. Combining K-drama with K-pop, creating virtual bands, etc. Why do you continue to take on such challenges?

Answer #7.

All cultures are merging now.

There’s something called the Medici effect. The Medici family was famously wealthy in medieval Italy, and they helped create a new form of culture and the creation of arts through the collaboration of artists of all diverse genres. That’s called the Medici effect, which made the Renaissance’s cornerstone.

Similarly, in the age of digitalization and platforms, all genres are mixing, creating new forms of content. I think the most crucial part is the combination of art and technology. Music and all industries, including business, finance, and education, combined with technology. We’re seeing a massive paradigm shift in entertainment, including AI.

Personally, I’m always curious about what’s next. And then I still go for it. Of course, all adventures involve loss and failure, but it is through the experience of failure that your purpose and path become more apparent.

Two years ago, I created a virtual band called “Sa-gong-i-ho,” which I think was a stimulating challenge. I maximized the imagination of what people can’t do in a story and found unlimited possibilities. I also tried many things with characters, VFX, NFTs, and combinations with music.

* Joseph’s comment:

Producer Kim Hyung-suk’s new challenges and adventures inspire other artists and producers. The attempt to launch the virtual band ‘Sa-gong-i-ho’ was a project that made a human personality exist through software against the backdrop of an electromagnetic space, often called the ‘world of bits.’

I think it’s a misnomer to call this work “virtual.” “Virtual” means “to pretend that something exists when it doesn’t,” the world of bits is physically and electromagnetically real. We don’t have to negate its electromagnetic existence because it doesn’t exist in an atomic state. When we use software, we don’t deny the existence of software just because it exists as bits. Just as nuclear organisms return to their inorganic state when they die, beings made of bits exist only as long as there is a supply of electrons. We severely tend to think of only the atomic state of existence as real and everything else as virtual. I treat this as a kind of atomistic preoccupation.

This “Sa-gong-i-ho” project is a work we started at the beginning of a significant era, the “emergence of generative AI.” Being a pioneer is always hard and involves a lot of trial and error. Still, it was a significant challenge because someone had to pave the way first so the challengers who followed could make more substantial progress.

In the future, as AI-related infrastructure becomes more advanced and ubiquitous, there will be more of these attempts in the bits world. And meaningful results and directions will emerge. History is leading humanity in this direction, so it is by no means an inevitable problem. Someone will experience it first and create results; the experience and data produced will be valuable assets to those who follow.

* References and quotations:

https://www.music.ox.ac.uk/event/k-pop-from-the-godfather-of-k-pop-and-bts

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2024/07/398_378556.html

* Series Posts

Part 1.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/07/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-kim.html

Part 2.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/07/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-kim_0392194405.html

Part 3.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/07/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-kim_01853689220.html

Part 4.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/07/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-kim_0403319480.html