Min, formerly of K-pop group miss A, on new single Hit Me Up, dancing, her upcoming move to Broadway and where K-pop is now
- Min, who left K-pop group miss A in 2017, is back with a new single and a Broadway role in a K-pop musical
- She talks about rekindling her love of dancing, experimenting with new songs, and how she is taking charge of her life
Lee Min-young was 11 years old when she began pursuing a career as a K-pop star, and in 2010 when she was 19, she debuted in girl group miss A. Now 30 years old, the singer known as Min is still figuring out that career, but on her own terms.
“It’s my first time [being in charge of my own career],” Min says during a video call from Seoul. “I’m just trying to see where it takes me. And so far so good.”
On April 18, she released the R&B-infused pop song Hit Me Up, a collaboration with rapper JMin.
Described as a passion project, Hit Me Up was on the back-burner for about two years. Min decided to release it because she finally was ready to take on the world again – and because friends told her it was time to spread her wings and fly on her own terms.
“I’m not [with] my old [management] any more, so I’m doing an independent thing,” says Min. “I don’t know how to do this. So I’m like a newborn baby, and I had a group of [friends and] people who wanted to help me. And the people around me [saw] I wanted [to put] this song out.”
Hit Me Up follows November’s Onion collaboration with Chang Suk-hoon and the soundtrack from last year’s K-drama Bite Sisters. The new songs come after Min spent years working on herself since leaving miss A formally in November 2017, a month before the group was disbanded. Their last single, Only You, came out in March 2015.
According to Min, being out of the spotlight for a while was necessary for her to discover who she was.
“Since my debut, a lot of things have happened. I had some really, really busy years. And then, after my group, I guess I needed to take some time off and refresh and reflect on myself. Not only as an artist, but as a human being. So I just needed to heal, I guess. Focus on my inner self.”
For Min, this meant reconnecting with the thing she had loved so much since she was a child.
“One day, a friend pointed out an [empty] studio and I started dancing. I thought to myself, ‘Why am I not dancing again? Because it’s my gift from God and I should be sharing this with the world’.”
Min has also spent the past few years learning to deal with having a public persona. She has become more confident in speaking up for herself, and doing what she believes in.
“I used to care so much. But I’ve grown. I’m older and wiser, so I don’t really get that intimidated by what other people say about me. I think that’s what keeps me going.”
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In figuring out her new direction, Min has been experimenting with songs. Onion was a cutesy, summertime pop song about the many layers of Min, while Hit Me Up is a sleek, breezy R&B tune.
“It’s just crazy, myself on Broadway. That wasn’t even in my journey, my plan. But it happened. And it’s like my second home, because I went to high school in New York, so I think being back and living, actually living in New York, will make a fresh difference in my life.”
As she works towards this new era of her career, Min will try to avoid the mistakes she’s made in the past, including what she says is one of her biggest regrets: not speaking up when she had something to say.
“Back then, I thought, ‘Oh, my opinion doesn’t matter. I should just shut up and follow what everybody says’,” she reflects. “Sometimes I would not be myself. But now that I think about it, maybe I should just, you know, be myself.”
While she has some regrets, Min isn’t letting them hold her back while she tries to figure out the next steps for herself, still a work in progress as a K-pop star two decades in the making.
“The industry is so, so, so different nowadays, and I feel like I’m still learning. I’m very proud of myself to be back doing music, especially now,” she says.
