Cover of You Hee-yeol's latest album ``Thank You''

By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter

Groups Big Bang and Wonder Girls and singer Park Jin-young with their young and hip melodies are topping the year-end charts, however, the return of a favored artist has hit the charts hard this winter.

You Hee-yeol is back with his new album ``Thank You'' for the first time in six years, the album has reached the top as the best-selling album with more than 500,000 copies sold.

``Thank You'' is the sixth album in the series by the project group ``Toy,'' which he created in 1994. Various singers and songwriters participated as in the making of the series over the past 13 years. Sung Si-kyung, Lee So-ra and Yoon Jong-shin have taken part of the project and gained popularity ever since.

You's popularity is quite a surprise as he performs slow, refined and delicate ballads, while the current musical trends are funky, cute, sexy and soulful. However, due to his soft, subtle melodies and emotional lyrics, You has continuously managed to gain support from both men and women.

But one of the main reasons for You's successful return seems to be because of his loyal fans dating back to the 1990s. The fans, now in their late 20s and their early 30s are purchasing the album, compared to the younger generation's ``downloading'' habits.

He has also touched the hearts of young movie directors, who believe that musicians like You are critical to Korea's music industry. Expressing their support for the musician, they made music videos as a tribute to the new album.

``Artists like You have to go on for the Korean music industry to develop,'' said Choo Chang-min, the director of the movie ``Lost in Love'.'

Choo and several actors and actresses also showed their support of the album by participating in creating music videos for the new album.

sanghee@koreatimes.co.kr