Q. Hello, please briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
A. Nice to meet you. My name is singer jeebanoff, and I am a singer-songwriter who has been consistently releasing R&B albums for the past 10 years.
Q. Congratulations on being nominated in the R&B/Soul category at the Korean Music Awards. I’m curious about your honest feelings when you first heard the news of your nomination.
A. I didn’t expect this kind of evaluation because I thought this full-length album [Misery] was just drive music I made because I wanted to listen to it. Maybe that’s why I was even more surprised by the KMA nomination, and I was glad to see it since it’s been a while.
Q. The second full-length album [VOID.] has been talked about a lot as a work that embodies the state of ‘emptiness’ through sound. Looking back now, what do you think that album was like for you?
A. It was an album that I wanted to express the size of the emptiness that someone left in me. The military warrant came out the very day I finished the master, and the album was released after I enlisted, so it felt like an album left without an owner. I remember it as a truly empty time.
Q. [VOID.] What do you feel has changed the most musically since then?
A. As of now, 5 years have passed, and as I get older physically, I feel like my emotions have become calmer. I think that change is naturally revealed in the music. I still want to make sharp and cool music, but there seems to be a tendency to pursue more and more classic music.
Q. Previously, experimentation with sound and genre was at the forefront, but after a certain point, was there a point where you began to focus more on emotional density or emotion?
A. In the past, I often checked whether the album atmosphere was in line with the R&B trend of the time, but these days, I tend to focus more on putting on clothes that match the lyrics I wrote. That’s why I think I’m making choices that go beyond R&B as a genre.
Q. After expressing ‘emptiness’ through [VOID.], what emotion or state did you think you should address next?
A. As I said, I went to the military and spent about two years without thinking about it. After I was discharged from the military, I started writing songs again and archived the songs for my album. As a result, I felt that I had to express my current calm thoughts first, and I remember that the song released like that was ‘Care For You’.
Q. The EPs [We Will Meet Again] and [About Time] were relatively short works between the regular albums. What did you most want to experiment with with these EPs at the time?
A. The starting point from ‘0’ was around January 2023, and continued until December 2024. As I was archiving the songs I wrote at the same time, two EPs were released: [We Will Meet Again], which had a ballad theme as its title, and [About Time], which I wanted to try folk and rock music for my album.
Q. The two EPs also have impressive visualizations that are different from the previous ones. What mood or emotion did you want to convey in each EP?
A. In [We Will Meet Again], I wanted to convey the inner feelings of “I’m back after a long time.” Since it was the first work released under the label ‘Good to Meet You’, it also contained that meaning.
For [About Time], we wanted to create an album that brought to mind images of meadows, fields, rice straw, and the countryside, centered around the title song ‘One Dawn’, and created artwork and visualizers to match those images.
Q. On [We Will Meet Again], you worked with TAEK, lackjoe, etc. What was the sound or mood you wanted to achieve at the time?
A. The sound I used as my motto at the time was Daniel Caesar’s albums. We spent a lot of time creating very clean and refined textures from the instrument and vocal mix.
Normally, I don’t often take sessions except for guitar and bass, but for this album, I received as much help from my colleagues as I had the sense that “it has to be real.” This album was completed with the help of many musicians, including drummer Choi Byung-jun, Snowjeon, and Sojeso.
Q. Was there anything new you felt or realized through the session work?
A. Ironically, it was almost my first experience of being physically present for my album session. Usually, the producers I work with tend to work in a relatively reclusive manner. Maybe that’s why I felt a sense of responsibility, and it was a time when I felt like I needed to do more work in this way. However, I am not sure how long it has been maintained.
Q. Another change was felt in [About Time]. What were your musical interests at the time?
A. Until my 20s, I had such picky tastes that I rarely listened to anything other than R&B. However, at a time when I was increasingly listening to band music and British artists, Swimgood members suggested, “Let’s make an album like the Beatles.”
Until then, I only knew ‘Let It Be’, so I started studying and tried to interpret the texture of the Beatles’ vocals, instruments, and mix in my own way. Avoiding too modern post-production, minimizing pitch tuning and aiming for one-take recording, I worked while imagining opportunities that would not have been available if it had been made on tape.
Q. Do you feel that the work from this period ultimately led to what part of [Misery]?
A. Actually, both EPs and Misery are works created and archived between 2023 and 2024. To me, it’s a story that continues from one period, and I think it’s just the result of being categorized by genre.
Q. Did you feel anything new about musical rhythm or chemistry while working on the regular album and EP?
A. Rather than a new realization, I feel like I have reaffirmed that I preferred this tempo and method even before joining the military. It was an experience that redefined my thinking, “Ah, this is what I liked and this is how I made the album.”
Q. I’m curious why you chose the title ‘Misery’.
A. It’s simpler than you think. I couldn’t think of a better word to describe the album than the title song ‘Misery’, and I didn’t see any reason to give it a different title. The music itself may give a lighter impression, but I didn’t want it to be as light as the title. For reference, Noair, who produced this song, said that he only found out that this song became the title and album name on the day of release.
Q. What was the most important musical approach when creating [Misery]?
A. Soul, funk, and disco have their own unique emotions, and it feels especially good to listen to them while driving. So we excluded songs that were too pop or had an overly calm tempo. We also went through a continuous process of refining the album to ensure that there were no songs that stood out on their own.
Q. There are many songs that deal with ambiguous relationships like ‘Boyfriend’. Is there a reason why you are drawn to this emotional state?
A. As you can see just by looking at the popularity of dating programs these days, I think the material itself is interesting. I wanted to create a prologue in the most tickling and curious way, eavesdropping on someone else’s love story.
Q. I was impressed by your restraint in not pushing your emotions to the limit. Was this an intentional choice?
A. As I listened to the album repeatedly and kept sorting out the parts that stuck out, I think the result was one that wasn’t biased towards one side. It was my own standard, but it’s surprising and fun that people feel that way.
Q. The contrast between the sad lyrics and the danceable sound was impressive. Was there anything you were conscious of when writing the lyrics?
A. I don’t prefer going to extremes, such as a depressing beat for depressing lyrics or an exciting beat for exciting lyrics. I tend to follow that approach not only for this album but overall. I think the word ‘Aibulbi’ is an expression that penetrates the various values I pursue.
Q. The connection and flow between tracks was also impressive. Is there anything you paid special attention to?
A. From ‘Today’ to ‘After Sunset’, I talk about my situation with the weather as the theme, and I was worried about how I could tell a similar story to make people follow along. So we came to the conclusion that we should create transitions between songs that felt awkward, and as a result, several transitions were included throughout the album.
Q. The way emotions go back and forth between joy and sorrow as you turn the track is also noticeable. Was there anything you paid attention to in terms of track placement?
A. We considered the plausibility of the lyrics, but the most important thing was that it was an album that did not require the listener to skip the tracks. So I gave more priority to the genre flow, and the main character’s emotions may have gone back and forth between them.
Q. What was the intention behind the placement of ‘Meet Me at Dream’ and ‘Back To You’?
A. The last track, ‘Back To You’, is a song that summarizes “If I sum up my story, this is how I am living.” I wanted to give the feeling of waking up from a dream through a long intro, and make numbers 1 to 11 feel like a dream and number 12 feel like reality.
So, right before that, we placed the dreamy and chaotic ‘Meet Me at Dream’, and structured the outro of this song to naturally connect with the intro of the last track.
Q. How would you describe the emotions that run through [Misery]?
A. It’s difficult to describe in one word, but I think I can say it as “a love story that we’ve all experienced at least once.”
Q. What kind of state and method do you want this album to reach?
A. I cautiously but strongly recommend that you turn it on when driving a long distance and listen to it as if you were eavesdropping on someone else’s love story.
Q. I am curious about jeebanoff’s future activity plans.
A. [Talking Book 2] is in production. I am working again with Plan8, who co-produced ‘We(Oui)’, ‘You in Memories’, and ‘I Am Not’. I feel like I need to say it like this to complete it, so I’ll say it here once more.
Q. Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to those watching the interview?
A. Thank you very much for reading until the end of this long interview. I was disappointed that I had fewer opportunities to talk about my album than before, but I feel good because I felt like I spoke a lot more honestly this time.
I feel indescribable gratitude to those who always listen to my music. I hope 2026 will be a year where everyone is happy, never gets sick, and does everything they want to do. It was jeebanoff so far.