By Vivian Wu
Boston University News Service
On Wednesday, Sept. 25, I walked into a small venue filled to near capacity with audience members and bright sounds. This was the Oliver Colvin Recital Hall, a place where Berklee College of Music students could host performances, and where I found myself—a lucky spectator—to soulful renditions of Korean Pop (K-pop) and Japanese Pop (J-Pop) songs.
Hanyoung Lyu is the student responsible for this serendipitous recital. She’s a second-year Electronic Production & Design (EPD) and Music Production & Engineering (MPE) student at Berklee.
Her setlist comprised eight songs, including two original songs:
- Welcome to the Show (Day6)
- Blue Spring (Hanyoung Lyu)
- Champagne Supernova (Original Song by Oasis, Rearranged by Yerin Baek)
- Pretender (Official HIGE DANdism)
- Your Name, Youth (Movning)
- Summer (Original Song by The Volunteers, Rearranged by Yerin Baek)
- Today’s Mood (Rick Son, Hanyoung Lyu)
- Ready, Get Set, Go! (Original Song by the Peppertones, Rearranged by Lucy)
Lyu first found her start in music busking around Seoul, Korea, where she was born and raised. She received her teaching license for middle school and high school Chinese and Social Studies before pursuing her passion.
“I didn’t really enjoy [it]. I was really tortured,” Lyu said. “I just realized that whenever I tried to stay up at night studying my other things, I really fell asleep easily, but when I do music and stay up, I could just not knowingly stay up the whole night. Music, to me, is what makes me awake.”
It’s apparent from her performance that Lyu draws heavy inspiration from some of her favorite Korean and Japanese pop artists.
“I really like Yoasobi,” Lyu said, referencing a well-known Japanese pop duo known globally for their bright electronic sound. “I want to learn from them. [The main producer] makes songs for his teammate, the lead female singer. I think he understands her range, and he writes songs that fit her vocals.”
The band is known for making music used in anime. “Production to fit content is also something that I should learn,” the Berklee student said.
Lyu loves J-Pop for its energizing songs, which she describes as having an inspiring tone. It makes her motivated. In fact, the song Pretender, which Lyu performed at her Sept. 25 concert, was her main motivation for playing music in a band.
Michelle Sho, a friend of Lyu and a second-year Music Business student at Berklee, says this concert was her first exposure to J-Pop.
“What I most liked was the Japanese song,” the Korean student said. “It broke my cultural barrier.”
Lyu’s main inspiration is a relatively small Korean artist named Sunwoojunga who writes, composes, sings and produces her own music. Lyu’s heart is in Korea, citing that her music already has a very “Korean vibe.”
“Her singing skills, composing skills and production skills, everything is so top tier,” Lyu said. Sunwoojunga’s music inspired Lyu to start her career in music.
Although she originally auditioned for violin performance at Berklee, Hanyoung Lyu enjoys singing, writing and producing music. She releases the songs that she composes and performs herself on Spotify.
When composing her numbers, Lyu says she has a rather unconventional approach. She begins with a chord progression. Then, she writes lyrics and melody on top of that, keeping the mood of the chord progression in mind. Finally, she polishes her piece.
“Hanyoung cares a lot about the melodies. She cares a lot about lyrics, and very hopeful lyrics, actually,” Rick Son, a fellow second-year at Berklee and friend and bandmate of Lyu, said. “Most of the lyrics I’ve seen her write have to do with hope and looking for better days, looking forward.”
Lyu pairs her youthful and hopeful melodies with lyrics drawn from her daily life.
“I usually don’t really talk about love stories because I’m not that much interested in those things,” Lyu said. “But maybe if I fall in love and it’s really inspiring, maybe I can.”
Originally, Lyu was only going to perform one original song for her recital, but after struggling to arrange a song, she enlisted the help of her keyboard player Rick Son, a Jazz Composition major at Berklee.
He says she approached him for assistance arranging the final tune for the setlist. But after spending a whole day trying and eventually giving up, Son suggested they write a song together.
Son came up with the form of the song and passed it off to Lyu, who then strengthened the melody and lyrics.
“While writing that tune, I was thinking a lot about her sound and trying to translate her kind, good energy into that while making sure it’s musical and lyrical,” Son said.
The Korean-Canadian student met Lyu through classes and jam sessions, and he now considers them good friends. He says that they often hang out in the same friend group.
“Hanyoung, as a person, is very caring. She’s a very kind friend. She puts up with me in many parts,” Son said.
Michelle Sho also speaks of Lyu’s warm and welcoming spirit.
“She’s older than me. In Korea, we have a word called ‘unnie,’ which means older sister. She’s very comfortable, very caring. She’s really kind-hearted,” Sho said.
Watching her perform, audiences can see Hanyoung’s kind spirit shining through. Her friends say that it’s reflected in the music she writes, too.
“It’s quite transparent how the music kind of translates her kindness and her good spirit,” Son said.
Son says she was very accommodating during their rehearsals, putting time into writing sheet music for a 10-member band. Likewise, Lyu enjoyed the ease of working with her bandmates.
“In Korea, I also had this kind of band [with people] from different schools. They were not as good because they were not majoring in music,” Lyu said. “This time, I think, was much better, much easier for me because I didn’t have to tell the band members to be like, ‘Can you please do that in here? Do that in here?’ They were doing those things on their own.”
Lyu’s band consisted of her friends, resulting in effortless chemistry. Rehearsals were a comfortable environment. Son enjoyed that he knew everyone in the band. Practices were full of jokes and laughter. After rehearsals, the friends would even stay after and jam for a bit.
Son plans to host his own recital later this month on Oct. 30.
Lyu and her band rehearsed four times before their big recital. Sho, who got to watch one of the rehearsals, was impressed by the result.
“When I saw the result of the performance, it was really good. I didn’t think this many people would come, because usually, the audience is, if there’s a lot, around 20. So, for Hanyoung’s recital, it was a lot, like I was surprised,” Sho said.
Sho works as a camera operator for these live performances, so she has been to multiple shows. For her, this performance was special.
“I really loved it because I’m a close friend of Hanyoung. Her voice really shines. Most of her songs are more inspiring, like fresh. Like the fresh start of something, and really light,” Sho said.
When Hanyoung performs, her optimistic and caring attitude burns bright. “[You can see it] in her facial expressions, as well as how she sings, her posture and everything,” Sho said.
Lyu plans to continue her pursuit of singing and songwriting. She hopes to go to Korea or Los Angeles to be a sound engineer and/or composer.
Wherever life takes her, Hanyoung Lyu’s friendly spirit and inspiring music are sure to captivate all audiences alike.
“[Music] arouses the emotion inside you. I don’t think it evokes some kind of feeling that didn’t already exist in your inner heart, but it expands and arouses what you have inside. So I really love that experience, listening to music and making music,” Lyu said.
Click here to watch her live performance from Sept. 25!
Click here to check out more Berklee student recitals.
