Kang Ji-won, turning 'Ordinary' into 'Odd'... A reversal shown through her first piano instrumental 'Oddebla'

Singer-songwriter Kang Ji-won is presenting a new musical world that breaks away from the existing framework of 'ordinariness' to contain a somewhat unfamiliar and unique perspective. Ahead of the release of her new EP [but be odd now?] on October 14, Kang Ji-won shared musical changes with fans by pre-listening to the tracks through the 'ZENERATE Listening Room' held at Record Stock in Euljiro, Seoul.

An instrumental track made by reversing 'Albedo', the experience of her first grand piano recording

The most notable change in this album is that she has moved away from her previous vocal-centered style to put piano instrumentals at the forefront. The first track, 'Oddebla', is a title created by reversing the spelling of the song 'Albedo' included in her previous full-length album. Kang Ji-won stated that she came up with the idea of reversing 'Albedo' to capture the theme of 'Odd' for this album, and based on this, she wrote the song.

In particular, this song is deeply meaningful as it is the first time Kang Ji-won has used a grand piano in a studio to record, departing from her previous method of working with an upright piano in her studio. Kang Ji-won revealed a new side of herself as a piano player, saying, "The grand piano has a much wider and more open sound range, so it felt better to play."

A journey to meet my younger self, the ambivalent emotions contained in the title track 'Da capo'

The album's title track, 'Da capo', takes the musical notation meaning 'return to the beginning' as its motif. It is a song created by imagining the current self meeting the younger self and dancing together, capturing the complex emotions felt after becoming an adult. Kang Ji-won explained that she started from the thought that "when I was young, I thought I would have great thoughts once I became an adult, but having actually become one, I feel there is nothing special," and she melted the ambivalent emotions between the welcome and bitterness that my younger self might feel upon meeting my current self into the guitar riff.

This song features delicate guitar playing, and in the latter half, the sound amplifies with the addition of Kim Jun-chun's guitar solo. Describing the atmosphere of the song, Kang Ji-won added, "The contrast between the part that bursts out later and when it transitions back to the chorus is the main listening point of this song."

"I'm going to glue Santa's sleigh"... An honest perspective breaking the fantasy of Christmas

The new album also deals with somewhat provocative and honest themes, departing from conventional sentiments. The included track 'Santa says' is a song that questions the social fantasy that one must be happy on Christmas. Kang Ji-won confessed, "Just because it is Christmas, it doesn't mean you can turn on 'happiness mode' overnight, and I have never felt the vague happiness that everyone talks about."

The lyrics of the song are somewhat unconventional. It contains spiteful content such as gluing Santa Claus's sleigh so it cannot move, which contrasts with the romantic and bright image attributed to Christmas. Kang Ji-won said that starting from the thought that "Christmas cannot always be a bright day," she unfolded the song from the perspective of someone who is firmly cranky.

From 'Ordinary' to 'Odd', a new inflection point in her career

While the full-length album [Ordinary Ever After] released last May sang of belief in ordinariness, this EP [but be odd now?] stands at the opposite point. The album cover also visually reveals this change through the contrast between a scene of standing alone in a winter snowfield and a scene with a summer atmosphere.

While Kang Ji-won continues her busy activities, such as preparing for performances in Taiwan and Japan, she is showing attempts to expand her musical spectrum through this new release. Fans' attention is gathering on the new musical landscape that the artist, who once sang of 'ordinariness', will show by choosing 'oddness'.

Source: original video (YouTube)