Boy group INFINITE member Kim Sunggyu (also known as Kim Sungkyu) recalled the emotional wounds he suffered during high school.
Recently, Sunggyu held a round interview at a café in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to celebrate the release of his sixth mini-album, OFF THE MAP.
Before OFF THE MAP came to be, the track that defined the direction of the new album wasn’t the title song but the second track, “Over It.” Sunggyu explained, “‘Over It’ is a story about ‘me,’ and I wrote the lyrics based on what I’ve experienced. It could be words I’m telling myself, or feelings about the difficult moments I went through.”
He also spoke about his personal growth beyond music. Opening up, he said, “I’m okay now, but don’t past words sometimes stay with you for a long time?” He continued, “When I was in my third year of high school, my homeroom teacher asked me, ‘Do you have money at home?’ after I said I wanted to live my life through music. As a young kid at a time when I was trying to achieve something and studying hard in my final year, it really hurt my feelings. I spent my school days in Jeonju, and it felt like my dreams were being crushed. Looking back now, I put into this story that ‘In the end, I’m living through music now, so it’s okay.’”
After debuting as a singer, did Sunggyu ever meet that homeroom teacher? He said, “I haven’t reached out, but I have seen then. In fact, when I went to an event in Jeonju, they didn’t recognize me at first. Though I didn’t initiate the conversation, they ran up to me, hugged me, and said I was their proud student. Now that I’m living the life I wanted to achieve, it’s okay. Back then, as a person, I felt hurt, scared, and angry, but now I can say I’m okay,” he said with a smile.
Sunggyu’s sixth mini-album, OFF THE MAP, was released at 6 p.m. on the 2nd across various online music platforms.