Lee Hyori was famous as the sexiest diva of South Korea because of her exotic face, healthy skin, powerful voice, her sex appeal, sense of style, and her charisma. After Fin.K.L disbanded, Lee Hyo-ri continued her career as solo singer, record producer, activist, actress, and presenter.
Lee Hyo-ri’s Top Songs
In 2003, Hyori debuted as a solo singer and released her first album that August, with title “Stylish”. The lead single, “10 minutes”, become a top hit song that won Hyori many awards such us Daesang, the most prestigious award in South Korea, which she won about seven times. Since then her activities broadened and as a result, the Korean media started calling 2003 “The Year of Hyori/ Hyori Syndrome”, as she was so rarely out of the news. Let’s check out Lee Hyori’s popular songs here!
10 Minutes
Lee Hyo-ri started her activity as a solo singer in 2003 with the debut album “Stylish…E hyOlee” on August 13, 2013, and the title track was “10 Minutes”, which was composed by Kim Do-hyun. This song told about a girl who tried to attract a man in 10 minutes, but in the end the girl was attracted more. The brave and sexy lyrics got listeners excited. Hyori’s name was rising to the top after she debuted with this album. The album sold in such high demand that about 70.000 copies were pre-ordered and the song received the ‘Most Popular Music Video’ award at the Mnet Music Video Festival in 2003.
U-Go-Girl
The 3rd studio album “It’s Hyorish” was released on July 14, 2008, and had 13 tracks, including “U-Go-Girl” and “Hey Mr. Big”. The lead single track, “U-Go-Girl”, was the highlight in this album and became a runaway hit on various online and offline charts. The song, featured Nassun, who is a producer and is famous for South Korea art music in the dance/electronic genre. The “U-Go-Girl” lyrics were written and composed by E-Tribe.
E-Tribe also produced this song, and said that, originally, the song was thrown in the trash until Hyori’s head choreographer found it in her computer and strongly recommended to record it, and on its release it promptly became a hit. This album sold well and the lead track hit the top of the music charts, giving Hyori’s agency a big financial success.
Hey Mr. Big
One of track in the album “It’s Hyorish” is “Hey Mr. Big”, which became a limited edition with a staggering 60.000 pre-order copies sold 10 days before the album’s official release. This song lyrics were written by singer Wheesung and composed by Park Geun–tae, and the track became the top hit song following “U-Go-Girl” in the same full album. The song played about 3 minutes and 12 seconds and describes male charisma, being brave and a real man. The music video for “Hey Mr. Big” has been watched by 2.3 million views until this day.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
H-Logic is the fourth of Lee Hyo-ri’s full albums and has 14 tracks, including the lead track “Bring It Back”, “How Did We Get”, and another of Hyori’s popular songs, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, and was released on April 12, 2010. In this album, Hyori collaborated with many famous singers and producers, such as Big Bang’s Daesung, 4Minutes’s Jeon Ji-yeon, After School’s Bekah, Lessang’s Gary, Mighty Mouth’s Sangchu, and the E-Tribe team, who worked on her previous popular song “U-Go-Girl”. Lee Hyo-ri’s “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, featuring Ceejay of Freshboys, spread her popularity not only in South Korea but also internationally. American mega-pop-star Katy Perry even wrote about the song in her official Twitter. She commented, “That chitty chitty bang bang song is the most egotistical lyric I have heard in a long time.” However “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”’s lyrics are about a self-made, independent woman, a strong woman who argued not about someone claiming that they were better.
Miss Korea
Lee Hyo-ri, had a comeback with a fifth full-length studio album, “Monochrome”, after a hiatus from her activities of about three years. “Monochrome” has sixteen tracks in total, including the lead track “Miss Korea” and “Show Show Show”, which was written and composed by Lee Hyo-ri herself. The album was released on May 21, 2013, under B2M Entertainment and distributed by CJ E&M Music. The lead track, “Miss Korea”, is an understated, jazzy ditty, a classic with acoustic color that could be enjoyed both older and younger generations. The song become became the top song in Korea after it was released and hit number one on both the Gaon Single and Download Charts. This song was standing on number three on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 for the week of May 25, 2013. In South Korea “Miss Korea” has sold about a million digital copies.
“Miss Korea” was promoted on various music programs, such as the music broadcast KBS’s Music Bank and was Music Show Champion on May 24, 2013.
Bad Girl
The lead track from Monochrome is “Bad Girl”. Lee wrote the lyrics herself, according the reality in which confident women are considered “bad”. The song was very different from Hyori’s previous song, “Miss Korea”, which talked about confidence, bravery, and the smooth side of a woman. In the music video, Hyori played several different roles: the women, who gave birth, and the “bad girl” that the young girl grows up to be. She shows how to be a “bad girl” who has a lot confidence, sass, and does not pretend to be shy. In the music video, Hyori collaborated with Leessang’s Gil and model Jang Yoon Joo. “Bad Girls” went straight to number one on the Gaon single and Download charts in the first week of June, 2013, and also topped on Billboard Korea’s K-Pop Hot 100 for the week of June 8, 2013. This song appeared in many television music shows like SBS’s The Music Trend, KBS’s Music Bank, MBC Music’s Show Champion, and Mnet’s M! Countdown.
Black
After taking a long hiatus of almost four years after the album “Monochrome” in 2013, Lee Hyo-ri finally make her comeback in 2017 with her sixth studio album, “Black”, which was released on July 4, 2017. This full-length album was released by Kiwi Media Group and distributed by LOEN Entertainment after the expiration her contract with B2M Entertainment. Hyori showed a different side in this album, which was about building story-telling and had a comfortable image instead the sexy image she put out there in her previous albums.
“Black” was one of the tracks in the album that Hyori wrote. It was composed by Hyori and Kim Do-hyun, and the arrangement was by Kim Do-hyun, who worked with Hyori in “10 Minutes”. In this song Hyori talked about her pre-debut self and about feeling more comfortable in her skin. “Black” blends western acoustics and bluesy, rock guitar over a slow stomp. The beat, which lurched and whip-lashed in the chorus, seemed very different from mainstream K-Pop music. The music video was released on July 3, 2017, and debuted at number twenty-six on the Gaon Singles Chart and number twelve on the Download Chart.
