| Lee Jin-ah | |||||||||
| Birth Date: | 16 March 1991 | ||||||||
| Birth Place: | Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea | ||||||||
| Years Active: | 2013–present | ||||||||
| Label: | Antenna | ||||||||
| Associated Acts: | Antenna Angels | ||||||||
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Lee Jin-ah (; born March 16, 1991) is a South Korean singer-songwriter and jazz pianist. After finishing in third place on SBS's K-pop Star 4, she signed with Antenna in 2015.[1] [2] Her distinctive musical style combines jazz with pop and R&B, often featuring whimsical lyrics.[3] [4] [5] [6]
Lee Jin-ah majored in applied music at Seoul Institute of the Arts.[7] [8]
In 2011, she took part in the CCM singer audition program Gospel Star C Season 1 as part of a group called Snowdrop, who placed within the final top 10.[9]
On March 5, 2012, she was selected as the winner of the 9th Tune Up, a competition and musician support program run by the CJ Cultural Foundation.[10]
Lee debuted in 2013 with her first album, Invisible.[11] The album was produced by Kim Soo-jin, a music director who had previously produced OSTs for dramas including Behind The White Tower, Sign, and Queen Seondeok. Lee Han-jin, a professor of applied music at Seoul Institute of the Arts participated in this album as a jazz trombone performer. This album is too intense to be a debut of a new musician.[12]
She was a member of the "JinA Band". The other members of "JinA Band" were Park Hyun(contrabass) and Cho Sun Kyun(drums) before and after K-pop Star 4.[13]
In 2014, she participated as a contestant in K-pop Star 4, a reality television audition program on SBS. She performed seven self-written songs, which is rare in audition programs, drawing rave reviews from the judges with her performances.[14] JYP Entertainment CEO Park Jin-young, one of the three judges, became especially impressed, saying he "might as well quit the music industry now."[15] Antenna Entertainment CEO You Hee-yeol drew attention by saying, "I think I saw here the reality of a female musician who I had dreamed of not being able to conclude or define."[16] Lee and her songs became very popular through this program.
On April 5, 2015, she won 3rd place in the said competition.[17] On April 20, it was announced that she had signed with Antenna Music alongside Jung Seung-hwan who was her co-contestant and runner-up for K-pop Star 4.[18]
On June 10, 2016, Lee Jin-ah made a label debut with the single "I'm Full" which is the first part of her trilogy release.[19] She also was involved in the agency concert called "Hello Antenna:The Label Concert" held from September 23–25.[20]
In March, 2017, Lee Jin-ah was part of a concert by "Antenna Angels" (Antenna Music's junior artists) called "We, Begin".[21] On July 20, 2017, her first EP Random was released.[22] This will serve as the second part of her trilogy release. She produced all songs in it at the recommendation of her agency CEO You Hee-yeol.[23] You Hee-yeol said to her not to pay much attention to the album's success, praising her as "a musician who shows her true value at a concert hall."[24]
Random was described by Jung Yeon-kyung at the music publication IZM as "a mixture of Girls' Generation, Jamie Cullum, Okdal, and Disney animated musicals". In particular, the song "Stairs" was noticed by critics for its novel fusion of pop and jazz.[25] On the title track "Random", the lyrics describe an experience in which she discovered an unexpected joy while listening to music in random play.[26] She said this song contains the meaning of discarding prejudice in music and other things.[23] The EP was later nominated for Best Pop Album at the 2018 Korean Music Awards.
In 2017 Park Jong-woo(bass) joined the "Lee Jin-ah trio".[27] Another member of the "Lee Jin-ah Trio" is Seo Ju-young(drums).[28] [29] Both Lee Jin-ah and Seo Ju-young entered Seoul Institute of the Arts in the same year. Park Jong-woo was a year senior. Park and Seo have sometimes participated in composing and arranging her songs.[30]
Lee Jin-ah was also part of Antenna's label concert later that year called "With, Antenna" that toured throughout 5 cities in South Korea and U.S.[31]
On June 26, 2018, she released her 2nd full album "Jinah Restaurant Full Course" which is the final part of her trilogy release.[32]
In 2020, her second EP, Candy Pianist was released. By participating in writing and composing all the songs in this EP, Lee once again proved her ability as a singer-songwriter. The theme of it is 'Awakening', which is clearly shown in the title song "Dreamlike Alarm", "Awake(Feat. Sam Kim)", and other tracks. This EP contains Lee's desire to give strength and motivate those who listen to her music as a candy pianist.[33]
In 2021, she made her debut as a film music director with Children Are Happy OST.[34]
On September 13, 2023, Lee Jin-ah released her 3rd full length album after 5 years called ‘Inner Heart of the City’ (도시의 속마음). This album is filled with 12 songs presenting a new musical world built from various emotions observed in a familiar but scary world called "city" while also warmly touching the inner hearts of those who live in one. It has two title tracks namely 'Mystery Village' depicting the city as mysterious place and 'Buildings in the City' giving encouragement to build our own enjoyable city.[35] [36] This album also features various artists such as Stella Jang, Sarah Kang, cellist Hong Jin-ho, Lee Hyo-ri, Lee Sangsoon and producers Park Moon-chi and Simon Petrén.[37] [38]
Lee married pianist Shin Sung-jin in March 2019. They met as music students at Seoul Institute of the Arts.[39] Shin has steadily participated in her songs by playing musical instruments, rhythm programming, and string arrangements.[40]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unvisible |
| 13 |
|
| Jinah Restaurant Full Course (Full Course) |
| 40 | |
| Hearts of the City |
| ||
|}
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
[42] | ||||
| Random |
| 35 |
| |
| Candy Pianist |
| 28 |
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR [45] | ||||
| "Coloring Book" | 2013 | — | Unvisible | |
| "Life is Ninano" | 2015 | — | rowspan="2" | |
| "Road to the Airport" | 45 |
| ||
| "I'm Full" | 2016 | — | Appetizer single album | |
| "Starry Night" | 47 |
| SM Station Season 1 | |
| "Random" | 2017 | — | Random | |
| "Run" | 2018 | — | Jinah Restaurant Full Course | |
| "I-Nuri Song" (Song) | 2019 | — | rowspan="2" | |
| "Warm Heart" | — | |||
| "Everything Is OK (With Antenna Ver.)" | 2020 | — | rowspan="2" | |
| "Dangerous Dream" | — | |||
| "Our Christmas Wish For You" | 107 | 2020 Antenna Christmas Carol | ||
| "Dreamy Alarm" | — | Candy Pianist | ||
| "Hello Antenna, Hello Christmas" | 2021 | 124 | 2021 Antenna Christmas Carol | |
| "Rum Pum Pum" | 2022 | — | Rum Pum Pum single album | |
| "Where the Wind Rises" (바람이 불어오는 곳) | — | rowspan="1" | ||
| "—" denotes release did not chart. |
| Title | Original artist | Year | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | |||||
| "Time Slow Down" | 2014 | 3 |
| K-pop Star Season 4 digital singles | |
| "My Own Way" | 2 |
| |||
| "Exciting Waltz" | 2015 | 83 |
| ||
| "Yum Yum Yum" | 9 |
| |||
| "Winter Rich" | 78 |
| K-pop Star Season 4 Top 10 Part 2 | ||
| "Cheerleader Song" | — | K-pop Star Season 4 Top 8 | |||
| "My Reflection in My Heart" ( | Yoo Jae-ha | — | K-pop Star Season 4 Top 6 | ||
| "Reminiscence" | Sanullim | — | K-pop Star Season 4 Top 4 Part 2 | ||
| "Already One Year (Live)" | Brown Eyes | 69 |
| ||
| "Road" | g.o.d | — | K-pop Star Season 4 Top 3 |
| Title | Year | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Again and Again" | 2016 | Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo OST | |
| "Good Morning (Piano Solo)" | 2017 | The Lovebirds: Year 1 OST | |
| "Good Night (Piano Trio)" | |||
| "Fly Away" | 2018 | Shinbi Apartment: Birth of Ghost Ball X OST (season 2) | |
| "Always with Us (Inspired by '')" | D Museum Weather exhibition OST[54] | ||
| "School Episode: Walk Together" | 2019 | Music from Sound Garden digital singles | |
| "Tongyeong Episode: To Cats" | |||
| "Camping Episode: Let's Go Camping" | |||
| "Stationary Store Episode: Stationary Store" | |||
| "Photo Studio Episode: Self Portrait" | |||
| "Love With You" | 2020 | Sweet Munchies OST |
| Title | Year | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Who's Your Mama? (Soul Ver.)" | 2015 | 24/34 | |
| "I Know Why Stars Twinkle" | Someone, Somewhere | ||
| "Your Song" | 2016 | I Am Sam | |
| "I Love You, Be Happy" | Melody to Masterpiece: Track 6 | ||
| "Granny and Her Old Rocket" | Long Way | ||
| "Meet the Rose" | 2017 | ||
| "You In My Arms" | Yoo Jae-ha 30th Anniversary: Forever as We Are | ||
| "Hope" | 2019 | You Hee-yul's Sketchbook 10th Anniversary Project: 19th Voice | |
| "New Day" | 2020 | To Belonging | |
| "Heat Haze" | Paradox Life | ||
| "LAN Escape" | Tailor | ||
| "Stairs (Onstage Ver.)" ( | Onstage 10th Anniversary - Only Onstage: 7 | ||
| "I Wanna Be Loved" | 2021 |
The following credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association database.[55]
| Title | Artist(s) | Album | Lyrics | Music | Arrangement | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credited | With | Credited | With | Credited | With | ||||
| 2016 | "Always" | Miiso | Good Night | Miiso | |||||
| 2018 | "Singing Like a Wind" | Jung Seung-hwan | Spring Again | rowspan="3" | |||||
| "Think About You" (Prelude:) | Yoo Seon-ho | Spring, Seonho | |||||||
| "Maybe Spring" | |||||||||
| "Your Song" | Jo Sang-jun, Park Hyun | ||||||||
| "Fine" | Jung Seung-hwan | Life OST | |||||||
| 2019 | "Hide and Seek" | Kwon Jin-ah | Shape of Me | Hen, You Hee-yeol | Kwon Young-chan | ||||
| 2021 | "First Love" | Jung Joon-il feat. Sole | Jung Joon-il | rowspan="2" | |||||
| "For You, My Sunshine" | Jukjae, Kwon Jin-ah | ||||||||
| "Walk Home with Me (Full Band Ver.)" | Jung Seung-hwan | Kim Da-mi | Seo Ju-young, Park Jong-woo | ||||||
| "Walk Home with Me (Acoustic Ver.)" | Kwon Jin-ah | Kwon Jin-ah | |||||||
| "Adventure" | Kwon Jin-ah, Sam Kim | Sam Kim, Kwon Jin-ah | Sam Kim, Kwon Jin-ah, An Kwang-hyun | Simon Petrén, An Kwang-hyun | |||||
| 2022 | "Close the Door" | Lee Soo-young | SORY | rowspan="2" | |||||
| "Don't Ever Leave Me" | Sole | Seoul Check-in OST Part 8 | Jung Joon-il | ||||||
| "First Love" | Jukjae | Jukjae | Jukjae | Jukjae | |||||
| "Frame" | Modern Cello | ||||||||
| Title(s) | Artist | Show/Company | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | "Logo Song" | Lee Jin-ah | Park Ji-yoon's Gayo Plaza | |
| 2018 | "Jingle 1", "Logo Song 1" | Lee Jin-ah | EBS | |
| "Mallang Song", "Kulkul Song" | Jung Seung-hwan | The Spring Home | ||
| "Title Song", "Opening Song", "Ending Song", "Part 2 Signal" | Lee Jin-ah | Lee Jin-ah's Night Journey | ||
| 2021 | "Book Hangout" | Lee Jin-ah | Kim Seon-jae's Book Hangout |
| Year | Title | Type | Network | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2015 | K-pop Star Season 4 | Television | SBS | Contestant | ||
| 2016 | Melody to Masterpiece | Television | tvN | Series regular | [56] [57] | |
| 2019 | Sound Garden | Web show | Lululala Music | Host | [58] | |
| 2019–present | Lee Jin-ah's Night Journey | Radio | SBS Power FM | Host | [59] | |
| 2021 | Clumsy Antenna | Web show | Kakao TV | Main cast (with Antenna artists) | [60] |
| Year | Award-giving body | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Korean Music Awards | Best Pop Album | Random | [61] [62] | |
| 2019 | Jinah Restaurant Full Course | [63] | |||
| 2024 | Hearts of the City |
2018 최우수 팝-음반 ]
. Lee Jin Ah [Random], Best Pop Album 2018 . July 20, 2021 . Korea Music Awards . ko.2019 최우수 팝-음반]
. Lee Jin Ah [Jinah Restaurant Full Course], Best Pop Album 2019 . July 20, 2021 . Korea Music Awards . ko.Web site: Week 49 of 2021 Digital Chart .