New season of late-night KBS music talk show to reawaken legendary artists and music

Singer Choi Jung-hoon introduces the new season of the late-night KBS music talk show, "The Seasons," during a press conference on Tuesday in Seoul. (KBS)

The late-night KBS music talk show “The Seasons” is set for a fresh start with Choi Jung-hoon, band Jannabi's vocalist, as its new face.

“I’m so honored to be part of this program. I’ve dreamed of performing at a late-night music talk show but never of hosting it. Different to Jay Park, who did an amazing job as the emcee of the first season and put his focus on the artists themselves, I will try to focus more on their music,” said Choi Jung-hoon during a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday.

Under the new title, “The Seasons-Midnight Park with Choi Jung-hoon,” the new season starts on May 14.

The program is a one-year project divided into four different seasons, each hosted by different stars.

The first season, “The Seasons -- Jay Park’s Drive,” was led by the Korean singer and rapper Jay Park.

With the slogan, “Remake, Reawake,” the production team says the second season will spotlight musicians of diverse genres, and those who continue to hold a special place in the hearts of music lovers despite long hiatuses.

“We want to awaken musicians who remain in our hearts despite long hiatuses. We want to spotlight musicians of diverse genres and give them a chance to reintroduce their music to the public in a different way. For that, we thought Choi Jung-hoon would be a perfect fit because he is in a band that does music that is quite different from pop music and he has a broad musical spectrum,” said producer Lee Chang-suh.

“I think, through this program, we will be able to even go back to the roots of Korean music. Now my concern is how to study such music well to be able to introduce it appealingly to the viewers,” said Choi Jung-hoon.

But the program will not only have musical artists as guests to star in the show but also others that love music.

“We want to have people of diverse fields over in our show. That includes actor Kim Tae-ri who is well-known for loving music, and also famous cartoonist Lee Mal-nyeon. Personally, I want to have the legendary singer Seo Taiji as our guest. So I will try my best to have him on our show,” said producer Lee.

Seo Taiji is a living legend of K-pop who paved the path upon which the modern Korean music industry was established.

The production team hopes this program can be filled with music that can provide a time of comfort for its viewers, who do not have time to explore music by themselves, to find out what kind of music they like.

“For artists like me, bands and indie artists, this stage will be a valuable one for them to publicize their works,” said Choi.

Jeong Dong-hwan of Melomance will continue to be the bandmaster of the show.

“I am doing a lot of research on how to present band music in the best way, as we are expecting the program to star many bands, unlike the previous season in which we featured mostly hip-hop and R&B artists,” said Jeong.

“Hosting this show will have a huge influence on my music as well because the time that I spend interviewing artists through the show will leave me with new inspirations. I will try my best to help the music of the artists on our show shine,” said Choi.

“The Seasons -- Midnight Park with Choi Jung-hoon” airs every Sunday at 10:55 p.m. on KBS.

By Hong Yoo(yoohong@heraldcorp.com)