HOHYUN’s First Headlining Concert Is A Moment Five Years in the Making

Billed as a visual experience for his debut album “DRAMA.”, the concert was a fiery debut for the singer-songwriter.

Photo credits in this story: Jonathan Park

HOHYUN’s first live performance was so small that only a handful of people witnessed it. Five years ago, he performed at a small event outside a Chinese bank in Houston, Texas on a tiny stage for a small audience and food vendors. That afternoon, he went home and recorded a video for himself that he couldn’t open for another five years. It was April 27th, 2019 and he was nineteen years old. (If you want to hear a moment from this day, listen to this skit from his album “DRAMA.”)

Six months ago, Hohyun showed me the video of this performance while we worked together on his debut album “DRAMA.” He was living in Korea for three months while I was in North America, and we had no real outline for where this collaboration would take us. But I enjoyed the stories he told me about his life, and the writing we were doing to build a concept for the album. This performance, I felt, unlocked a new meaning from Hohyun’s past. It’s where things really began. His voice was shaky from the nerves but still rich with his signature honey vocals as he sang Zion.T’s “Snow”. A minute after watching it, though, he cut the footage. “Okay,” he said with a deep sigh, “I can’t watch this anymore.” Then he laughed.

Five years later, on June 18, Hohyun performed his first solo show at the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles. This was a show that Hohyun had first envisioned when we met in New York back in January. Hohyun had created the setlist on the flight over. “It ends with ‘SUNSET BOULEVARD’, of course,” he told me. “Because you gotta play the best song last.” 

But Hohyun had been dreaming about this show for years. When I first interviewed him for this blog back in September 2023, he told me, “Next year the first step is to do a solo show and test out a live band set. I want to create an experience for the people. Set that up in a place where I’m comfortable with and once that is established and if it does well, I want to branch out to other cities and do a mini-tour. Maybe the year after that, I can do a full tour.” 

Hohyun’s debut showcase, then, was a euphoric moment for the singer. “Together, we’re all creating core memories that I will remember forever,” he told the crowd near the end of the night.Filled throughout the crowd was a large number of fans (who stood in line following the show to meet him) and many of his collaborators, including Patrick Hizon, Orion Song, Juju B. Goode and David Rocha, who played guitar on stage. 

Billed as “DRAMA: THE EXPERIENCE”, Hohyun and I first brainstormed the concert six months ago as a visual experience that would bring the cinematic moments of his album to life.. “DRAMA.”, the album catalogs the singer’s experiences returning home to Korea for the first time since he was a child. He looks back at his happiest memories from childhood (“Simple Times”), considers first love (“Those Three Words”, “Without You”), and tries to find his place in a world that doesn’t seem fit for him (the entire last half of the album). 

The singer’s performance was led by cathartic opening set from Chicago/ Boston-based singer-songwriter Micah Yoo. Yoo was a charming presence on stage: when he forget lyrics, he’d flub them and laugh. He told stories and laughed about how his voice wasn’t as great as he wanted. When he perfomred “Arlo”, a song he wrote for his future daughter, the crowd collectively “aww’d”.

Hohyun’s set opened with audio from the skit “(the noise)” before Hohyun crashed into “BETTER DAYS”. “Tonight we’re going to play some old songs, some brand new ones, and the entire new album,” Hohyun said after “BETTER DAYS”. His set brought new urgency and spotlight to some of the best hidden gems from “DRAMA.”, including “idk” and “Without You”. But it also called back to underrated tracks from deeper in his discography, including “Dreams” and “Do Your Worst”. 

Halfway through the set, Hohyun performed a melody on his guitar, including an unreleased track called “Stay With Me”, which will be on his forthcoming deluxe edition of “DRAMA: The Epilogue”. Following the acoustic set, Hohyun brought his girlfriend on stage to slow dance to a song he wrote for her, “Those Three Words”. This moment seemed to resonate the most with fans, and was something that was brought up continuously after the show as the singer met fans. (“I’ve never felt more single,” one girl joked to him.)

Hohyun brought so much energy on stage that, at one point, I was worried he might pass out. “I didn’t realize how hot it would be up here,” he said almost in a daze, before stripping off the suit jacket and shirt that he wore in the photoshoot from “DRAMA.” His onstage persona was electric, frenetic, fierce; he tore through tracks with a ferocity that I have never seen before.  But what I felt most was a genuine happiness and fulfillment from being on stage. This was a moment he had dreamed of for five years, finally culminating in real time. 

While the encore “SUNSET BOULEVARD” was as massive as you might expect it to be, the highlight for me was “DRAMA.” This is a song that has a strong personal memory for me. Hohyun first played it for me in October, the second time we talked following his interview. “You inspired the song,” he told me, “because of the interview.” The demo he played me was simple and bare bones, but I saw the vision. As we worked together on the album, I watched as a concept about vulnerability and owning your identity came into fruition. I admired how willing Hohyun was to go there; to collect memories, some that were painful, and make them into art. 

Onstage as Hohyun performed the first song I heard from the album, his voice choked up. He’s not a guy who cries often, but that night he allowed himself to feel it all, deeply and wholeheartedly.