Wonstein’s Latest Single “Han River 220625” is Here to Take You Straight to Seoul
Need a song that instantly transports you to Seoul? Then Wonstein’s latest single, “Han River 220625” (“한 River 220625”), released on May 14, is the tune you’re looking for.
Anyone who’s been to South Korea’s capital city or even just watched K-dramas, knows that the Han River is an essential element of the city's urban geography, providing the perfect backdrop for countless stories and works of art. It’s the ultimate sight one can hope for when looking for hotels, restaurants, or houses with a panoramic view. In fact, it has recently emerged that Seoulites consider it Seoul’s landmark (while foreign nationals consider Gwanghwamun Plaza the city's most iconic place if you were curious!).
Considering this, how could we not be partial to the mellow sounds of Wonstein’s “Han River 220625?” While listening to it, you can envision the sparkling, placid waters of the river flowing by, the riverbank parks where people go for a walk, a bike, or have picnics even at night. Maybe one could picture even the endless stream of lights dotting the main roads that run along the river as they get full of cars in the evening or the countless buildings clustered throughout the riverbank.
Thinking of the Han River while listening to this song may evoke different scenes for each of us, and that’s probably the charm of this tune. But while the music and Wonstein’s signature singing style, soft and mellow, seem to paint an idyllic portrait of the nation’s most beloved river, the lyrics suggest otherwise. They talk about “flipped fish and flattened cats” that make the night of the Han River “eerie.” And then the river itself is imagined as an obstacle to cross, but a dangerous one, where “If you get in, you'll never get out.” Quite a twist, right?
About Wonstein
Born in 1995, ever since his breakthrough in the Korean music scene, Wonstein (원슈타인) has been releasing music constantly. debuted in 2018 with the single "Spider Web" (거미줄), then published two albums (frankenstein in 2019 and ZOO in 2020), and the rest of his already impressive discography is made up of many singles, OSTs, collaborations and even a considerable number of tracks he produced for other artists. But the turning point in his career was the TV show Show Me The Money 9, which aired in 2020: he managed to appear on that after failing three times before (in seasons 4, 7, and 8, where he failed to make a mark in the first round. In season 9, though, he managed to reach the semi-finals, and even though he placed sixth, he was considered the artist who benefited the most from the spotlight provided by the show and the one who kept monopolizing the attention of the judges, especially Zion.T and GIRIBOY.
The singer decided to take the stage name “Wonstein” by combining the last syllable of his birth name, Jeong Jiwon (정지원), and the “stein” from Frankenstein right after reading Mary Shelley’s novel. Sometimes, he is mistaken as someone of mixed ethnicity, mostly due to his curly hair. But, folks, that’s all perm!
In an interview with Elle Korea back in 2021, he revealed that he got his first perm while appearing on Show Me the Money and realized it suited him better than he thought. He added with a laugh that his mother runs a beauty salon!
Wonstein is recognized as an artist with excellent musical and songwriting skills, able to make songs that everybody likes. On this topic, in the same interview, he mentioned that for him, writing songs is a physiological need: “Everyone has their own favorite way of expressing themselves, but in my case, writing lyrics was that way. For a long time I have been venting and relieving my emotions through writing lyrics.
As for his latest single, “Han River 220625”, he also spoke again with Elle Korea and disclosed: “I sketched the song at the grandmother's house of the PD in charge of YouTube content at my company. I wrote it while eating rice, wrapped in nori and eating kimchi stew, and when I came back to Seoul to record it again, I couldn't replicate the atmosphere. I wrote a version of the song in the living room, next to the TV set with her family photos, and recorded it on a single table. It captured the mood of that day, so I added the date to the title."
The process of becoming an artist and dealing with the expectations of a whole industry, even if your field is not mainstream K-pop, is certainly challenging for anyone. And for Wonstein, it took time to decide to interact with people: when he started, he wanted to be a sort of “cyber singer.” But then he changed his mind, as he told Elle Korea in a previous interview: “ [At first] I just wanted to share stuff through my songs and hope that people could relate to it. But then I realized that music made by an imperfect person wouldn't be that perfect. My music is imperfect, I'm imperfect, so I thought it would be okay to be seen as imperfect."
We totally agree with Wonstein and can’t wait to see what his music has in store for us.
Edited by Rachael Lovette