Ilhoon enters new creative era blending music and art

Ilhoon enters new creative era blending music and art

Throughout the years, Ilhoon has built a career shaped by intention, growing in front of the eyes of fans from idol beginnings into a solo artist who has shaped his own artistic direction.

SEATTLE - Throughout the years, Ilhoon has built a career shaped by intention, growing in front of the eyes of fans from idol beginnings into a solo artist who has shaped his own artistic direction.

Debuting in the idol group BTOB in 2012 at the age of 17, Ilhoon experienced his teenage and early adulthood life in the public eye.

Throughout his time with the group between 2012 and 2020, Ilhoon discovered the type of artist he wanted to be, both on and off the stage.

"I think that my music matured, and my creative process became much more cerebral, whenever I'm singing or on a stage. I put a lot more pathos and thoughts into what I deliver to the audience, and I feel like I am putting more detail and nuance into each syllable in my music," he tells FOX 13 Seattle.

While he released some solo tracks throughout this idol time, his push into solo artist territory began in 2024 when he joined Carpenters Art Republic, his new home where he could shape the artist he wanted to show to longtime and new fans, and with a career spanning over a decade, he has seen the growth of the Korean music genre globally.

"Although K-pop was international ten years ago as well, it has grown so big. For example, 10 years ago, if a K-pop idol were to be on Billboard at number one, it would have been like a dream for them; it wouldn’t have been as realistic. But now, that’s become a feasible reality for K-pop artists to achieve, and a lot of companies are seeing that as a marginal goal...and I really appreciate all the K-pop fans around the world," Ilhoon explains.

In 2025, he released his full-length album, "The Adam," an album about the story of the first human being, and his journey of discovery, which was also what Ilhoon was doing as a solo artist.

ILHOON - 미켈란젤로 (Official Video)

The title track of that album, "Michaelangelo," related not just to the album’s overall artistic theme, but also to Ilhoon’s own interests in art, on the music stage, and behind the canvas.

"Whenever I'm creating art, whether it be musically, sonically or visually, through painting, I focus mainly on the beauty of it and how it can uplift the people on the receiving end. When I'm painting or creating something musically, I feel the expression and the overall performance while doing so and the pathos really essentially remains the same," he explains. 

The one-year anniversary of "The Adam" album is on April 30, and looking back at it a year later, Ilhoon says he wouldn’t change any part of it.

Now in 2026 he is planning and announcing new releases.

Last month, he released the song "Merry go round" featuring meenoi.

"The song was created in a session with the producer named PATEKO, who initially wrote the main melody during a session and the producer recommended me to do the rap in a more lazier style, which might have caused the ambiance and the vibe of the laid back tone. I really wanted to give out a warmer, softer texture in this song, which gave it that vibe as well," he says.

Ilhoon also announced a new song called "closet" releasing April 24 as well, another song to add to his discography for the fans who have been with him throughout the years.

After those 14 years, he still has new dreams and goals he wants to accomplish in the industry, saying, "Right now I kind of have my hands full with both painting and music, but one field that I really want to explore in the near future is cinema music. I really wish that I could expand on that part. Not necessarily in the field of acting, but the cinematic music and the composition."

And he believes he can accomplish those dreams with the love of his fans. 

"I am incredibly grateful, and thank you to all the fans that have followed me so far. I think that without any type of grand love or devotion, it wouldn't have been possible for them to devote that part of their lives to just one single individual, and I am so grateful. I wish to be an artist that these fans do not regret showing that much love and devotion to, and I wish to present them with good vibes and good emotions throughout the future," he concludes. 

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