Few people had heard about Lee Mujin before 2021, and the 2000-born singer is now residing at #1 in Melon.
He placed #3 in the Sing Again audition held by JTBC earlier the year, but the #1 follows an experimental style of music and the #2 is a rocker in his 40s, so his style was the most friendly with the Korean general public.
He does not follow the traditional style of K-ballads - many people say his singing style is similar to Jason Mraz.
Now, I have said earlier that male vocalists will always be in demand. However, after Akmu's Lee Chanhyuk, Korea lacked male vocalists and the better talented ones ended up in trot.
I had expected that the vocalist tradition would end with the Senior Singer and Akmu, but JTBC managed to find a successor to the vocalist tradition which had taken a long hiatus, ending with KWill and Hwang Chiyeol.
While Lee Mujin is still not well known among i-fans, it seems that with the trot craze kind of fading from the general public (although they will still be strong among the older population), it seems after many years, the vocalists are coming back with a vengeance, although they will compete for a different niche from the KPoppers.
