Familiar voices behind some of Korea’s most beloved OSTs return to the charts

 
The familiar voices behind some of Korea’s most beloved drama soundtracks are returning to the charts, reaffirming the enduring power of original soundtracks in television storytelling.
 
Singer Sung Si-kyung released “Anytime anyhow,” an original song for JTBC’s television drama series “Surely Tomorrow,” on Dec. 4. It marks his first participation in a drama soundtrack in three years since “For A Long Time” from the 2022 series “Curtain Call.”
 
 
“Anytime anyhow” reflects the narrative arc of the drama’s protagonist Lee Kyeong-do, played by actor Park Seo-jun. Sung participated not only as a vocalist but also as a composer and producer for the track, with lyrics by Shim Hyun-bo. The pairing reunites Sung and Shim, who previously worked together on “Every Moment of You,” an original song for “My Love from the Star” (2013-14). 
 
Veteran singer Choi Baek-ho, who drew attention earlier this year with “To the Land of Hope,” part of the soundtrack for Netflix’s “When Life Gives You Tangerines,” released “Still Here Waiting” on Dec. 6 for the third season of SBS’s television drama series “Taxi Driver” (2021–). The song captures the emotions of Park Dong-soo, a father suffering from Alzheimer’s disease who does not know that his son died unjustly and continues to wait for him. The character is portrayed by actor Kim Gi-cheon.
 
tvN’s hit series “Reply 1988” (2015-16) is celebrating its 10th anniversary by having cast members sing titles from the original soundtrack, which already comprises remakes of old songs. Actor Park Bo-gum’s rendition of “Everyday With You” (1992) was released on Dec. 19. 
 

A poster for the 10-year anniversary reunion special of the tvN television drama series ″Reply 1988″ (2015-16) [TVN]

 
Last Friday saw the release of “Don’t Worry Dear” (2004), performed by actors Lee Il-hwa, Ra Mi-ran and Kim Sun-young, and “Hyehwa-dong” (1988) by actors Ryu Hye-young, Hyeri, Ko Kyung-pyo, Ryu Jun-yeol, Park Bo-gum, Ahn Jae-hong, Lee Dong-hwi and Choi Sung-won.
 
Foreign soundtracks — including Kenshi Yonezu’s “Iris Out” from the “Chainsaw Man” theatrical film, “Golden” from Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Zoo” from Disney’s “Zootopia 2” — have also been consistently popular on music charts.
 
“The success of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ has proven that soundtracks play a major role in building fandoms,” said pop culture critic Kim Hern-sik. “It seems production teams are now putting considerable effort into increasing the level of synchronization between soundtracks and storylines.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHOI MIN-JI [[email protected]]