The "Reviewing 80s Korean Pop Albums No One Cares About" series is back - I am cheating a bit though. This album is from 1990, and it was promoted on broadcast pretty succesfully. But it is an album that is not really talked about at all, and even in the singer's wider discography, it isn't really acknowledged. So here I am.

Today, we are going to be taking a nice listen to 80s teen singer and proto-idol, Lee Jiyeon's 1990 released third album- Spotify has it as "90 이지연 III 연(娟)" (with "90" referring to the year it came out, 이지연 being her name in hangul, III being the "serial number" of her album, and 연(娟) being the "title" of the album), while namuwiki lists it as just "연(娟)". Yeon, in this hanja, refers to "예쁠 연", which translates to "pretty, beautiful, graceful". Pretty fitting for such a beautiful person, imo. Also, to be noted that it is the third syllable of her name!

I have always wanted to write a long-ass writeup on her, but I just never got the chance. Her career, albeit short, is extremely eventful, full of upsn and downs, impactful n the long run, and there's a reason she has been given the name of "proto-idol". Her two biggest songs, the 1989 Gayo Top Ten Golden Cup Winner Wind, Please Stop Blowing and I Still Don't Know Love, have been covered by a lot of idols and singers to this day, with That Reason Was Pain To Me not beng far behind, and Graduation and After That being songs played in almost every 7080s concert. She basically laid the foundations of a teen pop singer in Korea. This does not mean that there have never been teen singers elsewhere before,or that Jiyeon's image and songs weren't influenced by them - the influence of Tiffany/Debbie Gibson vibe American teen pop-rock as well as Okada Yukiko/Nakamori Akina vibe (or just in general, Showa era) Japanese idol pop are very visible on this album too. But sometimes, you just gotta have one person who does something the local style for it to become mainstream or more widely recognised in that country.

Also, I must confess, in this case, I am extremely biased, for Jiyeon has been my favourite 80s singer for a good while now. I just absolute stan and love her, and I have documented some shenanigans of mine on here too, such as dressing up as her for a RPD event, or playlisting her songs to get her to 100 monthly listeners on Spotify for no damn reason.

Which means, I know and love the songs on the album already, and I really wish I could relive that moment when I first heard the songs to give y'all an unbiased review. But alas, here we are. I shouldn't be calling this post "Reviewing", but "Gushing over", I guess. But I'll do my best.

For the first episode, I always compared the songs to the original because we looked at an album of remakes. Here, I'll take the chorus and translate the chorus lyrics, as to give a little insight on the meaning of the song

#1 : 늦지 않았어요 / It's Not Too Late

Rating : 8.5/10

Review : The album opens with a melancholic, nostalgic, mid-tempo city-pop genre song. When I first heard it, I remember being bowled over by the prominent and catchy bass line, as well as the little vocal embellishment hook. It has a very distinguishable and mellow vibe, and the guitar solo in the middle is pretty fitting and doesn't overdo it. The lyrics are about an impending breakup, and the wish to avoid it, but they're delivered in a very... matter-of-fact way which kinda makes it iconic lol. Jiyeon's vocals are as usual, clean and crisp, and the higher parts are sung with no effort. It is a hidden city pop gem, and people who like that genre and all its subgenres will love this one too.

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나-나-나는 내 소원,

I-I-I, my wish,

나-나-나는 내 생명,

I-I-I, my life,

다시 한번만 생각해줘요,

Do think again one more time,

늦지 않았어요.

It's not too late.

​

#2 : 하지만 / However

Rating : 8.5/10

Review : We go on, to a fast-paced disco-esque beat, with the bass again taking precedence, and a very high-energy but sparse synth backing up the verse. The vocals are nice and deep in the verse, and pick up pitch and power in the chorus (A/N : SLAYYYYY THE HIGH NOTES GIRLIEEEE). It sadly loses a bit of rhythm in the hook part, but I think the vocal buildup is pretty. The guitar solo is also top notch - as expected from Baekdusan, 60s-70s metal band who are Jiyeon's agency seniors and usually played the band instruments in her songs. I would have wished for a bridge part and a final, bombastic ^{side eye} chorus instead of just repeating it once again. For a song that only has such less structure, the fact that it fills 3 minutes is kinda great lol. All in all it's a super disco headbanger with a nice amount of vocal showcase mixed in.

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내가 필요할 땐 항상 그대 멀리 서서 바라보고만 있네

Always when I needed you, you were always standing far away and just watching

아무 표정도 없이, 느낌도 없이, 바라보고만 있네

Without any expression, without any feeling, just watching on

내가 싫어졌나?

Did you hate me?

잊혀졌나?

Did you forget me?

착각일까?

Is it an illusion?

떠나가네

You just left

(A/N idrk if it's "I left" or "you left", because it's not obvious)

하지만

However,

후회하네

You regret

(A/N here again, it could be "I regret" or "you regret" and I can't really figure the context out at all, so just choose what you want to hear lol. Either he regrets leaving her - which makes the most sense as she complains about him not being there for her, or she regrets leaving him for some reason)

#3 : 세상은 하나 , 당신도 하나 / There's Only One World, There's Only One You, Too

Rating : 7.5/10

Review : A bit of a cool off from the previous high tempo song, is a mellow, soft and slow RnB ballad, which sometimes picks up a little tempo here and there but keeps the soft and rather sad-ish atmosphere - with a nice acoustic guitar part in here too. Korean producers in the 80s loved their instrumental breaks - not surprisingy, as a lot of them are former musicians themselves. The chorus consists of two parts - one slow one, and one rather faster part that is connected nicely. For anyone who likes mellow and moody songs, this one's for you. The opening instrument reminds a little of 1991 release "Scattered Days" by Kang Susie (who was called Lee Jiyeon's direct succesor in the "innocent singer" lineage), is it bells? Glockenspiel? either way, it's beautiful.

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새상은 하나,

There's only one world,

당신도 하나

There's also only one you

하나뿐인 세상 속에

In this one world

나만이 홀로

Only I alone

사랑해, 사랑해, 사랑해

I love you, I love you, I love you

그대를 떠나보낼 때

When I sent you away

마음 아파고

My heart hurt

나는 웃어야 해요

I should be laughing

사랑해요

I love you

​

#4 : Love For Night

Rating : 9/10

So this is the title track of the album. It was sent, with Jiyeon, to the annual, now-defunct ABU (Asian Broadcasting Union)'s Pop Music Festival) as Korea's representation, and won (iirc) 3rd prize. It was performed there before this album came out (she was also on top of her popularity), and loking at the good public response to it, they added it to her abum. Now, the most impressive thing about this song is that the entire chorus is in English. Like, 100%. The lyrics are simple, yes, but for 1990 and a Hallyu-less Korea, this was great, we might even say ahead of it's times. But it did land Jiyeon and her producers in a bit of hot water - KBS. KBS didn't allow any foreign words or songs on it's broadcast, so they had to re-write the title of the song and the chorus into Korean. "Love for night", (which already is a pretty ambiguous because of the lack of an article - is it "love for A night" or love for THE night?) became :

- "사랑을 위한 밤" (Which translates back into "A night for love"... yeah weird ik)

- "한밤의 풋사랑" (translating back to "One night's young love" which makes it EVEN weirder) or

- "사랑의 밤" (A night of love),

depending on the station and occasion lol. The album has it as "사랑을 위한 밤", so I guess that's that.

They even translated the entire chorus to korean for one show, which was so disastrous I refuse to acknowledge it. It's just plain bad. I want to believe Jiyeon heard the lyrics for the first time and went, in true gen z sense, "ijbol".

Back to the song - it's a uptempo disco dance song (run-of-the-mill, if you want it that way, because the beat is generic tbh) and is so extremely catchy. With nice bell synths and a Madonna-esque percussion line, I'm yet to see a person who doesn't bop along. Not just the "na na na" part in the beginning is catchy af - the lyics are super sing-along-able, the hook is in english and even then pretty easy to sing along even for someone who doesn't speak english. The vocals are classic Jiyeon-style clean, playful and powerful. It's a very simple, "generic" dance song tbh, and the instrumental break ist just basically the percussion instrumentation with nothing else in the middle (no guitar AT ALL!) - which is kinda sad, because the ABU Fest version had a beat change and a dance break (which she killed) in that part. It would have been so nice to keep that in the album version, or add a nice guitar solo there. Bridges and stuff weren't really a thing in even 80s American Pop music (afaik but PLEASE correct me) so there's none here too (The prevalence of the bridge only came after RnB dance pop made it's big entrance into the Korean pop scene). It's a nice introductory song to her, it's catchy, cute and fun - it's as simple pop as can get.

Love for night, don't you know, my lover

Love for night, need you, my lover

Love for night, don't you know, my lover

Love, love, Love for night

​

#5 : 사랑한다고 말하지 말아요 / Don't Tell Me You Love Me

Rating : 8/10

Remember I said that there are Showa idols/ Okada Yukiko influences on the album? Here they are. A sugary, sweet mid-tempo dance pop song where Jiyeon goes back to her "innocent" persona and voice and plays it up to the max. It would have fit so well on her first two albums, and could have easily replaced one of the 1192831923 ballads on there, and could have even been promoted on TV. I can so imagine even the outfits, a little cute choreography - it would have been as pioneering to the start of the "innocent singer legacy" as can be. The instrumental/backing vocals are the catchiest part of the song, with a sparse chorus that doesn't make sense (and actually does make sense because it's that vibe of a shy cute sweet girl who's to shy, sweet and cute to say the word with three syllables LMFAO) , but it's still pretty enjoyable and replayable.

아, 사랑을

Ah, love

말 안해도

Even if I don't say it

난, 사랑해

I, love

널, 사랑해

you, I love

사랑한다고 말하지 말아요

Don't say "I love you"

사랑이란 느낌이니까

Love is a feeling, after all

#6 : 내 마음 나도 몰라 / I Don't Know My Heart Too

Rating : 8.5/10

Review : This is another "cute" bop, with a bit more tempo and spunk, and it's a bit more... Jiyeon. Idk how to explain it, but if you've listened along to the album with me, it's more natural when it comes to her vocals and the delivery. It's not as sugary sweet, but like, funny and relatable cute. Age-appropriate cute. The lyrics were a big standout for me here, they're just kinda relatable because it's about a girl who is liking a person, but is just like super clumsy and shy about it. But she doesn't make shy her entire personality lol. Idk how to explain it - it sounds like she's just talking in a song, rather than making her voice fit a song. The song fits her, not the other way round. It fits in a musical when the main female lead is phoning her friend and like, lamenting that this guy has her in a chokehold loll. This could have been promoted nicely on broadcast too - there's so many awesome b-sides on the album.

신나는 영화구경 혼자선 아무런 의미가 없어

Watching a exciting movie alone has no meaning at all

나 혼자서 걷는 이 길이 쓸쓸해

The street that I'm walking alone is so lonely

어쩌다 그댈 보면 한마디 얘기도 하지 못하고

Either way, when I see you, I can't say a word

돌아서서 후회만하네

I turn around and just regret it all

내 마음 나도 몰라

I don't know my heart myself

어쩌면 좋아

Either way, I like it

​

#7 그대는 변덕장이 / You're Such A Moody Person

Rating : 9/10

Aaand we're back with some energy in the house! There's a lot of brass band elements and again, an almost signature prominent bass line in this uptempo dance track. If the previous two songs were about the innocent, sweet feeling of falling in love, this one is the almost natural continuation of the story : a "boyfriend-complaining" song LOL. The title is according to the 80s grammar/spelling standards (nowadays, the spelling would be 변덕쟁이), and is kind of a hard word to translate. The word describes someone who changes very fast and can't stick to one thing or be consistent, most importantly when it comes to the mood or the atmosphere around them. And with that in mind, the quirky, almost brash delivery of the vocals and the blaring, loud instrumental comes off as no surprise at all - the girl in the lyrics is angry at her boy for not showing up to the date , leaving her coldly in the lurch, despite him saying he loves her. And when he finally meets her, there's not even an apology for that incident, and worse, he jokes around like nothing happened at all! Damn, girl. If he does that again, he's not a keeper. Hell hath no fury than our S/O spurned, they say, so... y'all, please, don't be late for dates!

그댄 정말 내 마음 몰라

You really don't know my heart

그대는 변덕장이

You're such a moody person

안절부절 어쩔 수 없어

Fidgeting around, unavoidably,

그대는 변덕장이

You're such a moody person

미워해도 그댈 정말 미워할 수 도 없어

Even though I hate you, I can't really hate you

사랑해도 그댈 정말 사랑할 수 도 없어

Even though I love you, I can't really love you

​

#8 촛불연가 / Candle Sonata

Rating : 8.5/10

There's more brass band, but a rather mid-tempo song that is sung entirely with a chorus. It has a very uplifting, flowing melody, but it's not necessarily a very happy vibe. It has a touch of melancholy, overcoming struggles and hope. The lyrics remind me of a song that would have been sung at protests - which the Korean 80s had seen a LOT. Korean 80s protest songs, be it "Morning Dew" or "Sangroksu" by Yang Hee-eun, were almost the same lyrically, about hope, love and overcoming hardships together, tied together by one central imagery (in this case, a candle).

Now, Jiyeon, being born 1970, would have been too young to actually participate in the actual protests that were at their peak in 1980 - 1985, and just about old enough, and 1 year into her career, to see democracy win over the dictatorship after almost half the nation fought for it in 1988. Plus, she had felt the impact of the dictatorship first-hand - she was one of the last singers to release 건전가요, "healthy songs" a.k.a. fake "patriotic" propaganda tracks dedicated to the dictatorship, on her debut album. She was one of the last singers that were considered "important " by the dictatorship, as her agency housed Baekdusan, the 60s metal band I talked about earlier. The thing about them is, is that metal and hard rock music was considered "unhealthy" and was actively censored and banned on the regular, and with them being one of THE bands the dictatorship didn't like, anyone who associated with them - including Jiyeon, whose debut songs were written and produced by their frontman, Yoo Hyunsang - would be under the eye of the censorship board (which also decided who is "societally important" and had to release patriotic propaganda songs on their albums).

With that info in my mind, I think this song is not just Jiyeon's attempt for a "public-friendly" song, but on an extended note, I interpret this song as an attempt to setting the record straight and disassociating with the dictatorship, it's like showing "hey, I'm on the side of my friends, and my generation". It's a good song, all in all, it's quite nice and easy to listen to.

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내 친구들, 소원을 빌어봐요

My friends, let's pray for a wish

여기 둥글대 둥글대 모여서 작은 심지의 사랑을

Let's gather around, for a little lamp wick of love

오 그대여 소원을 빌어봐요

Oh, you, pray for a wish

여기 둥글대 둥글대 모여서 작은 연인의 꿈을

Let's gather around, for a little dream of lovers

함께 빌어요

Let's pray together

​

#9 졸업 Graduation

Rating : 8/10

Review : This song - which Jiyeon had recorded and released on her second album in 1989 already, was recorded by her classmates from her high school and her homeroom teacher as chorus. It takes one back to the hall of one's school, when all the high school seniors are in nice clothes, waiting for their graduation certificates, feeling sad, happy, hopeful, and still laughing and having fun until the last moment of them as high schoolers. It's a very nostalgic, melancholic, and warm ballad about graduating, including the sound of said students actually laughing, whistling, chattering, whispering in the interval and intro/outro. I wish I had found this song whn I was in high school, so my graduation would have been a bit more special, a bit more romanticised, and tied to a memory... I was just waiting to be gone from my school, to be honest. It's just now, that a few years have passed, that I realised I had a bonding to more classmates than I thought.

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기쁠때 나, 슬플 때 나

When we were happy, or sad

같이 웃고 울던

when we laughed and cried together

우리들의 사랑

Our love

우린 잊지마라요

Let's not forget it

아름답던 우리 옛추억

Our beautiful past memories

따쓰했던 우리들 마음

Our warm hearts

이젠 다시 올 수 없어도

Even if they don't come again

우린 잊지마오

Let's not forget it

# 10 늦지 않았어요 (Instrumental) / It's Not Too Late (Instrumental)

Rating : 7/10

Review : This is the instrumental of the first track, It's Not Too Late. It's beautiful city pop. I just wish that the background vocals weren't there because they'e kinda... redundant, plus there are a lot of people that might wanna listen to just the instrumental. At least I do. The last instrumental on her album (Maybe We Were Young) had a beautiful whistling melody added on top of the instrumental, that gave a total feel to the song altogether. I wish that they could have just kept the background vocalists out of the track or put a guitar or sax melody playing the main melody on top.

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With that, we conclude the review of 80s korean pop idol singer, Lee Jiyeon's third album, an album full of personality and diverse songs, vibes, beats and melodies! The combined score of the album is 8.25, which is fueled mainly by u/SeetheSeaInUDP's love for the singer lmfaooo. I'm curious to know y'alls ratings!

For the next album, I am thinking of going a little bit back into the 80s and maybe take a Min Hae-kyung or a Hye Eun-yi album.