An old singer returns

New songs of Korean mega pop star Cho Yong-pil and global superstar Psy are competing for the best place on the domestic online music charts. The online music charts, which had long been dominated by songs of idols groups and TV dramas, have now become a scene of a fierce battle by the two singers, one in his 30s and the other in his 60s. The fever at the music charts is too intense and extraordinary to be called as a temporary phenomenon.

The competition between the two singers began at Tuesday noon when Cho’s new song "Bounce" was released. Until then, Psy’s "Gentleman," which had been released four days earlier, used to occupy the top notch on the all major music stores in Korea, including Melon, Mnet, Bugs and Naver Music. Bouncing like its name, however, Cho`s new song has made a big bounce to overtake "Gentleman" and has topped on several real-time music charts as of Wednesday afternoon. Real-time charts rank songs every hour based on the number of hits and downloads while daily charts show the results accumulated over the past 24 hours.

"Bounce" has remained at the top on real-time charts most of the time Wednesday, while "Gentleman" was seen moving back and forth at the top several times during the day. On Wednesday`s daily charts to be released on Thursday, "Bounce" is expected to push "Gentleman" to capture the first place. Until Tuesday, "Gentleman" ranked the first place for five consecutive days.

The ranking of "Bounce" began soaring from Tuesday afternoon as several idol stars commented the song on their social network service accounts. Taeyang of Korean boys group Big Bang wrote, “Dear Cho Yong-pil, I heard your song and it is incredibly good. My heart is bouncing!” Jong-hyeon of another boys group Shiny said, “Words are not necessary. Just listen (to the song). I admire you!”

"Cho Yong-pil" and "Bounce" have ranked between the sixth and the 10th in the ranking of real-time search words on domestic portals from Tuesday night to Wednesday afternoon. A 90-second teaser video of "Hello," the title song of Cho’s 19th album, has captured people’s attention. Cho’s stylish arrangement is similar to popular music among young people in their 10s and 20s, and catchy chorus parts such as "bounce, bounce" and “you make me” are apparently appealing to many.

A staff from Cho’s agency said, “Before concluding the contract, the chief of the Asia-Pacific headquarters of Universal Music Group listened to Cho’s songs. When we told him the singer is 63 years old, he looked shocked and said, “I thought he must be a young musician around 27 years old!”

Due to "Bounce" and "Gentleman," songs from idol groups, dramas, audition programs have now been ousted from the top ranking of the music charts.

According to experts, Cho`s “Hello,” which will be released both online and offline next Tuesday, is highly likely to succeed, an extraordinary case of success. Kang Il-gwon, a pop music critic, says, “Cho’s new songs cater to young people’s taste, which no one expects from a musician of his age. Cho’s new song has made his old fans delighted while garnering new younger fans. Enjoying support across generations is such a rare thing for an old musician in his 60s. Now even those who grew up not knowing the name of the singer recognize him and have high expectations for his music. A more surprising result could happen on music charts as his 19th album is scheduled to be released very soon.”

imi@donga.com