Meet Xydo, The K-R&B Voice The World Needs To Know
Maintaining positivity in his love-lorn songwriting...
As someone who doesn’t ever want to stall, *Xydo* got his stage name from the Korean verb “to try” — 시도하다 (shidohada). Born Park Chi-woong in South Korea, his trials led him to become a rising name in the underground Korean R&B scene, and eventually to debut in 2019 under GROOVL1N, a label founded by K-pop star and member of boy group VIXX, Ravi.
His first EP, X, serves as an energetic introduction to his unmistakable vocal color and soaring falsettos. Paired with witty, honest lyrics and a willingness to experiment new things, Xydo’s radiance is hard to deny. He is also part of the hip-hop crew V/hr, and collaborated with names such as Bumkey, pH-1, and MRSHLL, as well as featuring in the juggernaut, 28-people remix of Chancellor's 'Automatic'.
On June 21st, Xydo released his second EP, 'Cycle'. A moodier, sultrier take than his previous work, it unveils how much he has grown since debut. Recently, Clash caught up with the singer via Zoom, where his disposition as a trier was apparent — after all, 'Cycle' is about heartaches and restarts, as he explains thoughtfully, one finger drawing a circle in front of him. We talked about his inspirations, regrets, and being ready to change again.
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*What is the story behind your latest EP, 'Cycle'?*
While [my first EP] 'X' was trying to express the start of love, 'Cycle' is trying to express the opposite, falling out of love. It also includes my personal thoughts. I got inspired by this emotion of change in myself, and that’s what I tried to convey.
*How do you perceive this cycle of falling in and out of love?*
When you fall in love, you see the world very beautifully, differently from before. But I saw this paradigm of how the love cycle goes, when you get tired of love. I felt like everything was the same, nothing special. When you start another love, there’s sort of an excitement, you feel good, and then you are looking forward to it. But then, after some time you feel tired again.
*How does 'Cycle' fit in your discography overall?*
I care about this album a lot. I didn’t want to make a totally different album from 'X', but I wanted them to be linked, yet have singular moods. As [the letter] 'Y' comes after 'X', I made this a hidden meaning in this EP to express my identity [as Xydo]. If you see the cover art, only the letter 'Y' is different from the others.
*So the next album will probably feature the letter D?*
Maybe D, or D-O, something. [laughs]
*What was the main lesson you learned while preparing for this album?*
Rather than the excitement of the first love, this is more like the comfortable phase, where you are more used to that feeling of love. And then, from that, about the feelings of expectation and disappointment that you start to experience as well.
*Your single is named 'Paradigm'. What paradigm are you trying to express through it?*
I tried to express people’s typical way of acting when they are in love, including my own experience. When it’s not just a simple kind of love, but deeper details, they think there is a special form of love, but in the end, ultimately it wasn’t special.
*In the MV for 'Paradigm', you walk through an artificial forest, full of blurry effects, before you find yourself in an actual forest.*
It represents myself before my regrets, that moment when I was falling in love. And then I try to remember what it was like and reminisce back on that. I know that there’s something special about love, but at the time that was not the feeling that I was getting. The MV represents going back to that.
*Are you feeling regretful at that time?*
I wrote this album when I was having a really tough time, really sad, and maybe that’s why it might feel a little regretful. Especially track number three, 'Can’t Fall in Love', it represents that. I really thought, “I can’t fall in love again, there’s nothing special about it,” but that feeling is a little bit different now.
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*You collaborated with singers Yoon Juae and Jade in this album. How did that happen?*
Those two artists are friends of mine, and I thought about what kind of sound I wanted to be presenting and what kind of mood and vocals would fit into these sounds. I was just looking for the people, and then luckily my friends around me were perfect for these tracks. I just got lucky with that.
*The album cover is really intriguing, with a branch full of butterflies in the middle of a dark room. What does that image represent for you?*
As this album is called 'Cycle', I wanted to show this cyclical process and the change of weather. How the trees blossom and then the leaves fall off, and how the butterflies represent yet another change.
*What is your favourite song in this EP, and why?*
I would say all of them, but if I were to pick one, it would be 'Reborn'. After you go through the regrets and sadness, it’s about how you can get back on your feet and go through the next process of [love]. It’s almost like the finale of the play. There’s a certain concept in an album, but each of the tracks has a theme and concept into it too, and 'Reborn' is the perfect track for getting over the trauma that I went through.
*I love the rock influence in 'Reborn', and also how it reminds me of a heavier version of X’s 'Hollow'.*
I really like the feeling of 'Hollow' and 'Knight' too, so I wanted to put that in the album. This song was made last in the album process, and I was thinking about how to end it well, in this concept. That’s basically why I wanted to put the positive message towards the end, so then it goes back to being reborn, re-cycling.
*One of my favourite tracks is 'Can’t Fall In Love'. When the song gets distorted in the end it feels like falling in love is inevitable, despite how much you don’t want it. How did this idea came up?*
I wanted to have something like an interlude in the middle of this album. That was the concept that I was thinking of with the production team, something that doesn’t contain any lyrics, just instrumental, but due to the situation I couldn’t do that.
I definitely wanted to create that “interlude” moment, though, to give that effect of things going far away after the song. Of when a movie is ending, and after the ending credits you have that feeling of continuity. Like you said, it talks about falling in a love that you cannot avoid, and that’s why I wanted to put that sound effect of the movie film cutting at the end, so the next track goes on from that.
*I also feel like you are playing around more with your vocals. Was that your intention for this album?*
After one year passed by and a lot of changes happened, when I was working towards this album, I could certainly feel that my capability had grown. I can say that it became more natural to express certain themes that I wanted to express better.
*Is there anything I didn’t ask that you want to talk about?*
I simply want to say that when I heard that Clash Magazine would be interested in an interview with me, I was very surprised and really, really thankful. I really love to talk about the album and there haven’t been many opportunities to do that. When I talk more details into my album, the audience will be able to hear it in a tridimensional way, so I think this is a great opportunity. I’m just really thankful for you inviting me.
*Are you feeling more hopeful about life now?*
Yes, yes! [laughs] It’s a lot better, thank you for asking.
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'Cycle' EP is out now.
Words: *Tássia Assis* // *@_tassia_a*
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