"My Love" (; ''Nae Saranga'') is a song by South Korean musician

Lee Jong-hyun Lee Jong-hyun (born May 15, 1990) is a South Korean musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He was the former lead guitarist and vocalist of South Korean rock band CNBLUE. He made his acting debut in an omnibus movie '' Acoustic'' in 2010, foll ...

CNBLUE CNBLUE ( ko, 씨엔블루) is a South Korean pop rock band formed in 2009. The band consists of Jung Yong-hwa (leader, main vocals, guitar, keyboard, rap), Kang Min-hyuk ( drums), and Lee Jung-shin ( bass). First bassist Kwon Kwang-jin left the ...

. After being cast to play the role of Collin on

Seoul Broadcasting System Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) () is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. The broadcaster legally became known as SBS in March 2000, changing its corporate name from Seoul Broadcasting System (서울방송). Its f ...

's (SBS) television series '' A Gentleman's Dignity'', the song was released as the fifth installment of drama's original

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

on July 8, 2012, under Hwa & Dam Pictures and distributed by

CJ E&M Music Stone Music Entertainment (Hangul: 스톤 뮤직 엔터테인먼트), is a South Korean music distribution company under CJ ENM, along with music streaming store Genie Music. It was one of the largest co-publisher companies in South Korea. The ...

. A pop song accompanied with a steel-string acoustic guitar, the lyrics reflect the sentiments of Lee's character of "longing for a loved one". "My Love" peaked at numbers two and four on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Korea K-Pop Hot 100 The K-pop Hot 100 is a music singles chart in South Korea, launched by '' Billboard'' in conjunction with ''Billboard'' Korea () on August 25, 2011. It is the second Asian ''Billboard'' chart after the Japan Hot 100. The chart used the same multi ...

and

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based o ...

, respectively. It ranked number six on the former's year-end chart, and number 15 on the latter. The song earned Lee five award nominations, ultimately winning Best OST at the 2013

Seoul Music Awards The Seoul Music Awards (; SMA) is a major South Korean music awards show presented by the newspaper ''Sports Seoul''. The award winners are selected based on a combination of criteria, including music sales, popular votes, and expert judges' op ...

Background and composition

In March 2012, Lee was cast for SBS's drama '' A Gentleman's Dignity'', his debut acting role in a television series. Filming commenced the following month, where he played the character of Collin. It would begin airing in May, in midst of his band promotions with

. "My Love" is a pop song with a "gentle"

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

coupled with a steel-string acoustic guitar, where Lee sings in a "sweet and soft voice". The lyrics are an "expression of longing for a loved one". The song was written by Lee, and composed and arranged by Kim Jae-yang; it is composed in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...

using

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

with a tempo of 115

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

. When recording the track, Lee stated that it was sung from an empathetic perspective of his character.

Release and promotion

On July 6, 2012, it was announced that Lee would release "My Love" on July 8 as the fifth installment of a series of songs released for the original soundtrack of '' A Gentleman's Dignity''. The song was revealed when his character performed the song on the 13th episode of the drama. He first performed the song alongside

at the

National Theater of Korea The National Theater of Korea is a national theatre located in the neighborhood of Jangchung-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Jung-gu, South Korea. It is the first nationally managed theater in Asia. Affiliation The National Theater of Korea was establi ...

during the 2012

Seoul International Drama Awards Seoul International Drama Awards (), simply known as SDA, is an annual award ceremony based in Seoul, South Korea which honors excellence in television drama productions worldwide. Winners Grand prize (''Daesang'') Program Winners are given ...

. Lee went on to perform the song at the 2012 SBS Drama Awards and the

in 2013.

Commercial performance and accolades

On the chart dated July 8–14, 2012, "My Love" debuted at number four on the

, selling 267,455

downloads In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...

and accumulating 1,072,842

streams A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

in its first week. By the end of the month, the song ranked number five on the monthly Digital Chart, where it was the fifth best-selling song of the month with 830,673 digital downloads and 14th most streamed song with 5,308,444 streams. On the year-end chart, "My Love" ranked number 15 on Gaon's 2012 Comprehensive Digital Top 100. It became the 34th best-selling song in South Korea that year with 2,187,150 digital downloads and ranked at number 16 on the Streaming Chart for accumulating 24,645,766 streams. On the chart dated July 21, 2012, "My Love" debuted at number ten on the ''

chart. On its third week, the song reach its peak of number two behind

Psy Park Jae-sang (, ; born December 31, 1977), known professionally as Psy (stylized in all caps as PSY) (; ; ), is a South Korean singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Psy is known domestically for his humorous videos and stage per ...

's "

Gangnam Style "Gangnam Style" ( ko, 강남스타일, ) is a K-pop song by South Korean rapper Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term ...

". It descended from the chart the following week, but returned to its peak by its seventh week on the chart dated September 1. "My Love" went on to rank number six on the Korea K-Pop Hot 100 year-end chart. "My Love" received award nominations for Best OST at the 5th

Korea Drama Awards The Korea Drama Awards () is an awards ceremony for excellence in television in South Korea. It was established in 2007, and is held annually in October in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province as the official main event of the annual Korea Drama Fe ...

, 14th

Mnet Asian Music Awards The MAMA Awards (formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards) is a major music awards ceremony presented annually by entertainment company CJ E&M. First held in South Korea, the majority of prizes has been won by K-pop artists, although there are other As ...

, and 4th Melon Music Awards, the lattermost of where it was also nominated for Tstore Best Song. The song ultimately earned Lee the award for Best OST at the 22nd

in 2013, a first for his solo work.

Charts

Weekly

Year-end

References

External links

"My Love"
on

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:My Love (Lee Jong-hyun Song) 2012 singles 2012 songs Korean-language songs Lee Jong-hyun songs Songs written by Lee Jong-hyun