[Sportschosun reporter Jung Bit] It has been 12 years since Ryu Su-jeong began her journey with Lovelyz and found her own path. Now, she is taking on a new challenge under her own name, moving beyond the familiar image of “Ryu Su-jeong of Lovelyz.”
Her goal is clear. She wants to become what might be called a “good-vibes” artist—someone whose music alone makes listeners immediately nod in agreement, without the need for lengthy descriptions.
Ryu Su-jeong released her fourth mini-album, “ALL THE COLORS I AM,” on the 11th. The album began with the question, “Who am I?” She started working on it late last year and spent more than six months recording, examining her tastes and emotions one by one.
“My producer asked what I had been thinking about lately and what I wanted to express. I had often been thinking about my sense of self. As I tried and experienced different things, I kept asking myself, ‘Who am I really?’ I came up with this theme because I thought it would be meaningful to share the process of discovering my tastes and identity as I live.”
During this process, her professional environment also changed significantly. After leaving Woollim Entertainment in 2021, Ryu Su-jeong established the independent label House of Dreams the following year and produced her own music. After ending her independent activities, she recently joined All My Anic Dots.
One decisive factor was a proposal from Lee Hae-in, chief creative officer of All My Anic Dots. Although they had not been particularly close before, Lee Hae-in contacted Ryu Su-jeong first after learning that she intended to work on her own.
“Hae-in said, ‘I want to open up another possibility for Su-jeong.’ I had been working as a solo artist, but I still felt that many people remembered me as ‘Ryu Su-jeong of Lovelyz.’ She said, ‘I hope you can release an album of your own so more people can get to know you.’ Thanks to her, I was able to make a bold choice.”
There was also a clear difference between making every decision alone and collaborating within an agency’s system. Ryu Su-jeong candidly said, “When I worked alone, the budget was unbelievably small. I had the freedom to do what I wanted, but because the budget was limited, that freedom was ultimately limited too. When you join a company, the budget increases, but the opinions of many people become involved, so the result may not always turn out exactly as you envisioned. This time, I think we found a reasonable balance between the two.”
The title track “Diamond” captures the realization that what makes her shine had already existed within her. Ryu Su-jeong said, “I really love hip-hop, but this is the first time I have tried it across an entire album. My vocal style and recording method were different too. The moment I heard the intro, I thought, ‘This is the title track.’ I was completely satisfied.”
Because her first impression of the song was so positive, she even anticipated how it might perform on the charts. Ryu Su-jeong laughed and said, “I cannot completely trust my own ears, but when I first heard it, I thought, ‘Could it make the Top 100?’ It has been a million years since I last had expectations about rankings. Since charting is so difficult, I am thinking around No. 80. I do not even know if No. 80 is possible, but it would be amazing.”
Behind her modest expectations lies a genuine ambition—not a number, but a new image and “good vibes.”
“After working for such a long time, I realized that changing one’s image is not easy. I wondered, ‘Can people understand me just by listening to my music, without any explanation?’ Since solo Ryu Su-jeong is not as widely known as Lovelyz, I want people encountering me for the first time to think, ‘This could be another side of Ryu Su-jeong.’ I hope they listen to this album and think, ‘Ryu Su-jeong has good vibes.’”
Finding her own color does not mean erasing “Ryu Su-jeong of Lovelyz.” Even after 12 years, Lovelyz remains the “first dream” she still wants to protect.
Ryu Su-jeong performed with all the members at last year’s KBS Song Festival. She expressed her affection for the group, saying, “It was our first performance together in a really long time, but it felt as if I had seen them just yesterday. It was amazing that there are people with whom you still feel familiar even if you have not met for a long time. Lovelyz was our first dream, so we all want to protect it. We have many good songs, and there is still so much we want to show and share with people.”
She also hopes to release a new song as a full group. However, practical challenges remain because all the members are represented by different agencies. Ryu Su-jeong said, “If we hold another concert, I hope we can release a new song and perform it there. But because our agencies are all different, we really have to make it happen through our own efforts. We all want to do it, so whenever we meet, we always talk about how we could make it possible.”
While protecting her first dream, Lovelyz, Ryu Su-jeong also has a clear strength to show as a solo artist.
“What I am most confident in as a singer is my vocals and live performances. I think I can say that with confidence. I spend a lot of time on vocal details, and I am also confident in expressing emotions. I have always worked with the belief that my next album should be better than this one, so I can speak about it confidently.”
Ultimately, she wants the album to perform well so she can stand on more stages. Ryu Su-jeong said, “If I want to do what I want, the album has to do well. Whether I want to appear on a particular channel or perform at a festival, the album has to succeed. I was so happy when I performed alone at a festival. I love performing so much that live shows have become my standard.”
Twelve years after beginning as “Ryu Su-jeong of Lovelyz” and finding her own color, she laughs that even ranking No. 80 would be amazing. Yet the next stage she envisions stretches much farther. Her fellow member Yoo Ji-ae recently announced that she will marry actor Kwak Si-yang in November, seemingly reminding Ryu Su-jeong once again of the power of speaking one’s dreams aloud.
“Ji-ae said since she was young that her dream was to become an ideal wife and homemaker, and she really made it happen. I guess people become what they say out loud. Then I should say mine out loud too: Coachella! Ha-ha. If I had a big dream, I would like to perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival during the day. I think it would be nice to sing as the sunlight fades and the breeze becomes cool.”
Jung Bit, Reporter
rightlight@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
