''At Gwanghwamun'' () is debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

by South Korean singer Kyuhyun. It was released on November 13, 2014, by

S.M. Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies where it was established in 1995 by record executive and record producer Lee Soo-man. The company ha ...

and distributed by KT Music. The EP features seven tracks in total, including the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

which shares the same name as the title of the album.

Background

On November 6, 2014, it was announced that

Super Junior Super Junior (; stylized in all caps), also known as SJ or SuJu, is a South Korean boy band formed by Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment in 2005. They are also dubbed by the media as the "King of Hallyu Wave" due to their prominent ...

's youngest member Kyuhyun would be releasing his very first solo

mini-album A mini-LP or mini-album is a short vinyl record album or LP, usually retailing at a lower price than an album that would be considered full-length. It is distinct from an EP due to containing more tracks and a slightly longer running length. A ...

, ''At Gwanghwamun'', which would be released on November 13, making him the fourth solo artist of

in a little over a year, following

Super Junior-M Super Junior-M (stylized as SJ-M), an initialism for Super Junior-Mandarin, is a Chinese sub-unit of the South Korean boy band Super Junior. The sub-unit is the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of both ...

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

(''

Fantastic The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces. Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...

''),

SHINee Shinee ( ; ko, 샤이니, Syaini; ja, シャイニー, Shainī; stylized as SHINee) is a South Korean boy band formed by SM Entertainment in 2008. The group's musical impact in their native country has earned them numerous accolades and th ...

Taemin Lee Tae-min (born July 18, 1993), better known mononymously as Taemin, is a South Korean singer, actor and dancer. He debuted as a member of the boy band Shinee in May 2008 and the supergroup SuperM in 2019, both under SM Entertainment, and h ...

(''

Ace An ace is a playing card, Dice, die or domino with a single Pip (counting), pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit (cards), suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large a ...

''), and Zhou Mi, another Super Junior-M member who recently had a solo debut stage with '' Rewind'' on November 3. Along with releasing multiple autumn-themed teaser images, the singer has uploaded several short teaser snippets onto his official Twitter account. Each of the teasers were only a few seconds in length, but gave his fans an opportunity to sample the upcoming mini-album.

Release

On November 13, 2014, Kyuhyun released his first EP through various music sites, and the title track on 12 midnight ( KST). The

immediately took the first spot on nine of real time charts such as

MelOn A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...

, Genie,

Soribada Soribada ( ko, 소리바다) was the first Korean peer-to-peer file-sharing service, launched in 2000 by Sean Yang. The name 'Soribada' means "Ocean of Sound" or "Receiving (downloading) Sound". It was closed in 2002 by court order but continued t ...

, Daum Music, Naver Music, Mnet, Olleh Music, Bugs and Monkey3, thus achieving an "all-kill". Not only his title song hit the charts, but all of his tracks made their way to top 10 positions in most of the music sites. On November 26, 2014, Kyuhyun released Chinese version for title track "At Gwanghwamun".

Composition

The title track "At Gwanghwamun" () was composed and written by well-known composer of S.M. Entertainment, Kenzie. It is a sad

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

song that talks about painful break-up, giving an autumn feeling that many listeners would love to hear. Kyuhyun's sweet and emotional voice could be heard in the song's background, accompanied by

string instruments String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the Str ...

and

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. The EP also gained a lot of attention for its track listing, which includes "Eternal Sunshine," composed by the world-famous pianist

Yiruma Lee Ru-ma ( ko, 이루마; born 15 February 1978), better known by his stage name Yiruma ( ko, 이루마, links=no), is a South Korean pianist and composer. Biography Yiruma was born in Seoul to a pastor. At age five, he began learning the pia ...

along with 2FACE, as well as "My Thoughts, Your Memories" () composed by the artist himself, with lyrics from

TVXQ TVXQ (stylized as TVXQ!), an initialism for Tong Vfang Xien Qi (), is a South Korean male pop duo consisting of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin. They are known as in Japanese releases, and are sometimes referred to as DBSK, an abbreviation of ...

Changmin Shim Chang-min (; born February 18, 1988), also known by his stage name Max Changmin () or simply as Max, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, and a member of the pop duo TVXQ. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Changmin was scou ...

who is known to be a good friend of his.

Track listing

; Chinese version , lyrics8 = Kenzie , music8 = Kenzie , length8 = 4:42 Notes * Track 6 is a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the song under the same title, which was originally performed by South Korean singer-songwriter

Lee Moon-se Lee Moon-sae (; ; born January 17, 1959) is a South Korean ballad singer who is often considered a Korean pop icon. Since his debut in 1978, he has released 16 full-length albums, including 1987's ''When Love Passes By'', which sold 2.85 million ...

, from his fourth studio album ''When Love Passes By'' released in 1987.

Charts

Awards and nominations

Annual music awards

Music program awards

Release history

References

External links

* * * *
Kyuhyun's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:At Gwanghwamun Cho Kyuhyun EPs 2014 EPs Korean-language EPs SM Entertainment EPs