"Comfort Became Lim Young-woong's Essence and a Genre... Academic Analysis of His Popularity"

Discourse Analysis at the Korean Popular Music Annual Academic Conference
"Featuring Unique Vocal Techniques and Diverse Repertoire"

At an academic conference, the secret behind singer Lim Young-woong's nationwide popularity was analyzed, drawing attention.

According to industry sources on the 1st, Professors Kim Hee-sun from Kookmin University and Kim Hee-sun (same name) from Kyonggi University presented these findings at the 35th Annual Conference of the Korean Society for Popular Music Studies held on the 30th of last month at Korea National Open University in Seoul.

Singer Lim Young-woong attended the movie 'Lim Young-woong' held on the afternoon of August 22 at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

The conference focused on Lim Young-woong, where experts analyzed his music and the discourse surrounding him. It was jointly hosted by the Korean Society for Popular Music Studies and the East Asia Research Institute of Sungkonghoe University.

The two professors stated, “Lim Young-woong has transcended trot music to establish himself as an artist, gaining fame as a national singer and building a genre called Lim Young-woong,” analyzing that his unique vocal style, which distinguishes him from other trot singers, forms the basis of his popularity. They noted that he employs a method of swallowing emotions internally without outwardly expressing them.

They cited Lim Young-woong’s performance of Noh Sa-yeon’s “Baraem” on the audition program “Mr. Trot” as a representative example.

The professors commented, “Songs like ‘Baraem’ have a narrow vocal range and are generally low-pitched, making them easy to belt out,” adding, “Lim Young-woong showed a new interpretation by singing loudly and powerfully during the chorus, yet also demonstrating restrained, swallowed emotional expression.”

His murmuring yet precise pronunciation was also highlighted as a characteristic of Lim Young-woong. For example, consonants such as ‘ㅅ’ and ‘ㅆ’ produce fricative sounds, which are generally considered unpleasant in popular music vocals, but Lim Young-woong is analyzed to frequently utilize these sounds instead.

Furthermore, after winning “Mr. Trot” in 2020, he expanded his repertoire beyond trot-focused activities to include genres such as rock, dance, hip-hop, folk, and jazz, thereby acquiring a diverse repertoire.

The professors explained, “It is also interesting that Lim Young-woong shows trendy and relatively light vocalization in dance and rock genre songs.”

They added, “The essence of Lim Young-woong lies in his restrained vocal technique that departs from traditional trot style, comfortable tone, sincere voice, lyric delivery, and comfort,” noting, “Fans have stated that these are the reasons they love Lim Young-woong.”