Hello (Cho Yong-pil album)

On March 21, 2013, the title of Cho Yong-pil's nineteenth studio Hello was announced, set for release on April 23, 2013.^[1] Five days later, the album's artwork was unveiled; the cover depicts a concert's hall stage lighting (representing his passion for music), with the written word "Hello" on the side–which conveys Cho's re-entering of the music scene and reunion with the public for the first time in a decade.^[2] Marking his first full album release since September 2003's Over The Rainbow, the record contains 10 tracks that were mixed and mastered in five different countries worldwide, including the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and Thailand.^[1] Cho received more than 700 tracks from domestic and international composers for the record, and ultimately boiled down the selection to ten songs that he believed were the most trendy. Six out of the ten tracks were composed by foreign songwriters—the first time he had worked with international composers since his debut in 1968.^[3]

"Bounce" was released as the first single a week prior to the album. Upon the single's release, "Cho Yong-pil" and "Bounce" both became top-ten search terms on online portals Naver and Daum. A contemporary pop rock number, it possesses a rather light and bouncy character and contains various instrumentations, including that of keyboards and acoustic guitars.^[4] Primarily known as a traditional trot and folk singer in South Korea prior to Hello, Cho utilized English words in his lyrics for the first time in the track. It was recorded during the span of two years with its mixing and mastering handled in the United States and United Kingdom.^[4]

"Bounce" experienced commercially success domestically, it debuted at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart^[5] and peaked at number one on the K-pop Hot 100.^[6] On the latter chart's year-end issue for 2013, the song ranked at number two.^[7] It was widely well received; it was selected as the Song of the Year through public opinion polls by Gallup Korea^[8] and was ranked the fourth best K-pop song of 2013 by Billboard.^[9] Korean Music Awards selection committee member Sung Woo-jin praised its modern composition and noted how it has received broad attention across various generations from children to the elderly.^[10]

The second single, "Hello", served as the title track and was released in conjunction with the release of the album. It exhibits similar pop-rock musical styles present in "Bounce". It's accompanying music video was directed by Choi Yong-seok of Lumpens studio and was filmed in Canada and South Korea. It depicts the story of a boy who falls in love with a girl who lives next door and expresses his feelings through various forms of music.^[11] The video stars James Lee McQuown, Maemae Renfrow, Julian Banks, and Magna Fall.^[12]

Hello and its singles received numerous awards, including the Song of the Year daesang for "Bounce" at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards and 11th Korean Music Awards in addition to Best Album at the 23rd Seoul Music Awards. Both of the singles "Hello" and "Bounce" achieved the top spots on South Korean music programs during the course of its promotion; his first award for "Hello" on May 1 marked his first music show win since 1990 with "Reunion in Memories".