From Hit Songs to Hardships: The Untold Story of Park Hye-kyung’s Journey Back to the Stage

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[MyDaily — Kim Ha-young] Singer Park Hye-kyung says she sold the rights to all of her hit songs during a period of financial hardship.

She appeared in a May 6 video on the YouTube channel “One Mic” titled, “The hit singer who lost her voice and left the entertainment industry… A moving comeback story.”

Park opened the interview by describing her return to a music show stage after a long absence. “It was my first appearance on a music show in 15 years,” she said, adding it felt like her first performance since the “Lemon Tree” era. She recalled that the audience initially seemed to wonder, “Who is that woman?” but then burst into cheers when she began to sing. “That moment made me want to work hard again,” she said.

Park is best known for hits such as “Hello,” “Confession,” and “Red Sneakers.” In recent years, younger artists — including Joy, IU, Jang Beom-jun, and Kim Chae-won — have renewed interest in her work by covering those songs.

But Park said few people today realize those songs are hers, and she shared an anecdote from a busking performance. “My mother knew the songs, but a young woman said, ‘This is Joy’s song’ or ‘It’s IU’s,'” she recalled. When Park told her, “This song is mine,” the listener was surprised.

On the subject of copyrights, Park said songs she wrote or co-wrote became beloved around the world, but she sold all the rights during a difficult period. “Joy’s remake of ‘Hello’ became popular in about 20 countries, and there was even coverage saying royalties for IU’s cover of ‘Red Sneakers’ rose 180-fold,” she noted. “But by then they weren’t mine anymore.”

Still, Park said she doesn’t harbor regrets and has accepted what happened. “Not for a single second do I feel it’s a loss. I just think it was fate,” she said.

She also revealed that she nearly lost her voice. It wasn’t from singing so much as from the stress of various incidents and accidents. “I drank alcohol I couldn’t handle and couldn’t sleep, and my vocal cords suffered,” she said. “Thinking back to that time still makes me dizzy.”

“I think people loved me more for the tone of my voice than for raw vocal power,” she added. “I should have protected that voice better, but I’m grateful simply to be able to sing again.”

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