Park Jang-hyun is a South Korean vocalist known for his work with the male vocal group VROMANCE and for a style rooted in ballad and R&B. He first appeared on Superstar K3 in 2011 and later spoke openly about struggling with stage fright and panic disorder so severe that performing could make it difficult for him to breathe normally.
In 2021, he returned to television competition as a contestant on TV CHOSUN’s Tomorrow’s National Singer. There, he performed Breathe (Han-sum, 한숨), originally released by Lee Hi in 2016. The performance aired during the one-on-one deathmatch round on November 11, 2021, and Park advanced with a 13–0 result.
Media & Copyright Note: This article features an official YouTube video embedded through the YouTube player. K-POP CHRONICLES does not host or re-upload the video or audio. Full lyrics are not reproduced; the song’s meaning and emotions are explained through original editorial commentary and summary.
The Story Behind Lee Hi’s Breathe
Lee Hi first became widely known through the inaugural season of SBS’s K-POP STAR, where she finished as the runner-up. She later signed with YG Entertainment and made her solo debut in 2012 with 1,2,3,4.
Four years later, she released Breathe, written by SHINee’s Jonghyun, who also participated in the composition. The song offers comfort without pretending that another person’s pain can be completely understood. Instead, it acknowledges that some burdens are impossible to measure from the outside and gives the listener permission to stop for a moment and breathe.
That idea takes on a different weight in Park Jang-hyun’s performance.
During Tomorrow’s National Singer, Park spoke openly about the difficulties he had experienced onstage. After a mistake during an earlier performance in his career, he developed severe stage fright and panic symptoms. He later explained that although he still wanted to sing, standing in front of an audience could leave him struggling to breathe normally.
That history makes this more than a familiar-song cover. The emotional premise of Breathe and the singer’s own circumstances begin to overlap.
The Pause Before the Climax
Park begins the song with restraint. He does not immediately lean on the power or upper register his voice is capable of producing.
The opening stays relatively quiet, giving each phrase room to settle. His tone remains controlled, yet there is noticeable tension in the way he sustains certain notes and prepares for what comes next.
One of the most striking moments arrives shortly before the song moves into its climax. Park appears to stop briefly and gather his breath.
Taken on its own, the pause could simply be heard as vocal phrasing. It feels different, however, when placed beside what Park had already said about panic disorder and the breathing difficulty he experienced around performances.
There is no direct confirmation that this exact pause was caused by a panic attack. It would be inaccurate to present it that way. Still, the physical tension visible in the moment is difficult to separate entirely from the experience he had described.
After the pause, he continues.
The climax lands differently because of it.
The High Notes Are Only Part of the Performance
Park has enough vocal power to turn the final section into a showcase. Here, the high notes work because the performance has spent several minutes building toward them.
His voice gradually gains weight and volume. The phrases open up, the sound grows broader, and the upper register finally arrives as a release rather than an isolated display of technique.
That progression matters as much as the final notes.
Breathe was never built around one explosive vocal moment. Its emotional movement feels closer to someone who has been holding something in for too long and is finally able to let the air out.
Park’s interpretation follows that direction.
For listeners exploring Korean vocalists beyond the familiar idol-group format, this stage is a reminder that Korean ballad singing often depends as much on pacing and emotional control as it does on vocal power.
When the Singer’s Story Enters the Song
Audition programs frequently build personal narratives around contestants. Sometimes those stories become more prominent than the music itself.
This performance does not need that background to work.
The melody, restrained breathing and gradual increase in intensity already give the stage its shape. But knowing Park’s history with stage fright changes the way certain moments register.
Park later said he found it meaningful that viewers had come to see Breathe as part of his process of overcoming those difficulties. He also described hearing from people who had been comforted by the performance, and said that their responses ended up comforting him in return.
An experience he had once wanted to hide — his struggle with panic disorder — had unexpectedly become something other people understood.
That exchange may be the most affecting part of the performance.
A song written to tell another person that it is all right to stop and breathe was being sung by someone who was trying to learn how to do exactly that onstage.
Lee Hi, YG and the Origins of Breathe
Before becoming the original singer of Breathe, Lee Hi had already followed an unusual path into the Korean music industry.
She finished second on K-POP STAR Season 1 and subsequently signed with YG Entertainment. She officially debuted on October 29, 2012, with 1,2,3,4, a track that highlighted the low, soulful tone that distinguished her from many young singers active at the time.
By the time Breathe arrived in 2016, her career had moved well beyond the image of a television audition contestant.
Jonghyun wrote the lyrics and participated in the composition with We Freaky. The original production keeps the emotional center on the voice and on a melody that gives each phrase time to settle before moving forward.
That sense of space becomes particularly important in Park’s version.
He does not try to transform the song into something unrecognizable. Instead, he brings a different vocal history and a different personal context to it.
Why This Performance Is Worth Returning To
Park Jang-hyun eventually finished Tomorrow’s National Singer in fourth place, but Breathe became closely associated with a particular stage of his return to performing.
The performance does not depend on elaborate staging.
Its most memorable details are smaller: the controlled breathing at the beginning, the way Park holds back his voice, the brief pause before the climax and the gradual expansion of his sound.
The high notes matter, but they are not the whole story.
The performance becomes more compelling when heard as the meeting point between a song about exhaustion and a singer who had spent years trying to manage the fear he felt onstage.
Breathe was already a song about comfort before Park Jang-hyun performed it.
Here, that comfort seems to travel in both directions.
Comments
Post a Comment