''At Gwanghwamun'' () is debut

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

by South Korean singer Kyuhyun. It was released on November 13, 2014, by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

and distributed by KT Music. The EP features seven tracks in total, including the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

which shares the same name as the title of the album.

Background

On November 6, 2014, it was announced that Super Junior's youngest member Kyuhyun would be releasing his very first solo

mini-album A mini-LP or mini-album is a short record album or LP, usually retailing at a lower price than an album that would be considered full-length. It is distinct from an EP due to containing more tracks and a slightly longer running length. A mini- ...

, ''At Gwanghwamun'', which would be released on November 13, making him the fourth solo artist of

S.M. Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering ...

in a little over a year, following Super Junior-M's Henry ('' Fantastic''),

SHINee Shinee ( ; ; ; stylized as SHINee) is a South Korean boy band formed by SM Entertainment in 2008. The group consists of four members: Onew, Key (entertainer), Key, Choi Min-ho, Minho, and Taemin. Originally a five-piece band, Jonghyun died on ...

's Taemin ('' Ace''), and Zhou Mi, another Super Junior-M member who recently had a solo debut stage with '' Rewind'' on November 3. Along with releasing multiple autumn-themed teaser images, the singer has uploaded several short teaser snippets onto his official Twitter account. Each of the teasers were only a few seconds in length, but gave his fans an opportunity to sample the upcoming mini-album.

Release

On November 13, 2014, Kyuhyun released his first EP through various music sites, and the title track on 12 midnight ( KST). The

immediately took the first spot on nine of real time charts such as

MelOn A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. It can also specifically refer to ''Cucumis melo'', commonly known as the "true melon" or simply "melon". The term "melon" can apply to both the p ...

, Genie, Soribada, Daum Music, Naver Music, Mnet, Olleh Music, Bugs and Monkey3, thus achieving an "all-kill". Not only his title song hit the charts, but all of his tracks made their way to top 10 positions in most of the music sites. On November 26, 2014, Kyuhyun released Chinese version for title track "At Gwanghwamun".

Composition

The title track "At Gwanghwamun" () was composed and written by well-known composer of S.M. Entertainment, Kenzie. It is a sad

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

song that talks about painful break-up, giving an autumn feeling that many listeners would love to hear. Kyuhyun's sweet and emotional voice could be heard in the song's background, accompanied by

string instruments In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. The EP also gained a lot of attention for its track listing, which includes "Eternal Sunshine," composed by the world-famous pianist Yiruma along with 2FACE, as well as "My Thoughts, Your Memories" () composed by the artist himself, with lyrics from

TVXQ TVXQ (stylized as TVXQ!; , ), known as Tohoshinki in Japan, is a South Korean pop duo formed by SM Entertainment, composed of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin. Originally a five-member boy band which also consisted of members Kim Jae-joong, Hero ...

Changmin Shim Chang-min (; born February 18, 1988), better known by his stage name Max Changmin (), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, and a member of the pop duo TVXQ. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Changmin was scouted by an SM Ente ...

who is known to be a good friend of his.

Track listing

; Chinese version , lyrics8 = Kenzie , music8 = Kenzie , length8 = 4:42 Notes * Track 6 is a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the song under the same title, which was originally performed by South Korean singer-songwriter Lee Moon-se, from his fourth studio album ''When Love Passes By'' released in 1987.

Charts

Awards and nominations

Annual music awards

Music program awards

Release history

References

External links

* * * *
Kyuhyun's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:At Gwanghwamun Cho Kyuhyun EPs 2014 EPs Korean-language EPs SM Entertainment EPs Albums produced by Lee Soo-man