Rocker Do, Won-gyoung explodes Softly.

What if Do Won-gyoung, who has established a reputation as a rocker for ten years, sings a ballad song?

Do Won-gyeong is singing a ballad song called ‘When this rain stops’ (Lyrics by Kang, Eung-gyoung and Composed by Kim, Tae-won), as her title song for her fifth album that will be released around October 13. This song boasts her voice in monotone that keeps delicate emotions together without being astray. Controlling the power compared to the rock comes from her experience as a singer of ten years since her debut. At the climax of the emotions, her softly exploding voice catches the listeners’ ears.

“Well, they say it is a change, but they could understand that Do, Won-gyoung could also sing a song like this. It’s just that rock is an explosion of emotions while a ballad is a pathway to my inner self.”

Do Won-gyoung has already sung a ballad song called, ‘If We Love Again’ as the title song for her fourth album in 2001. However, the song, ‘When This Rain Stops’ is more balladic than the last one. It is hard to find a component of rock music in this song. “It is hard to sing a ballad song since I have to endure the emotions inside. I even thought that this kind of song is not my style,” she said.

Do Won-gyoung debuted as a rocker in 1993 and stayed within the boundary since. Her surroundings say, “Anything she sings, it more likely becomes rock than anything else.” Proving this reputation is her new album filled with rock music. Ballad songs are ‘One Heart-Cold Day’, ‘Forgive Me’, and ‘And Now’, including the title song. The rest are all rock music: ‘My Life’, ‘It Was So’, ‘First Love’, ‘Superstar’, ‘Maybe I’, etc.

She wrote lyrics for ‘My Life’ and ‘Superstar’ that have strong alternative rock ambiance. ‘Superstar’ is a modern rock with heavy guitar sound. The song starts with a characteristic criticism of a rocker, ‘Your eyes full of charade and you’re looking full of arrogance… You say that skin is what you are.’

Do, Won-gyoung was always alone in the midst of dance music boom in the nineties, and it was difficult to release an album. Those five albums during ten years are showing her ‘loneliness’. “Even being alone, I exist because I can sing, and the ballad songs are the result of those heart aching experiences.

In November, she will have a concert tour in Shibuya, Tokyo along with other rock groups of Japan in. In December, she will also have a tenth anniversary concert since her debut.

Yub Huh heo@donga.com