Korean Singer Admits His Ex-Girlfriend’s “Cheating” Was His Muse For Hit Song

A Korean singer has revealed that his hit song is based on a true story, with his ex-girlfriend being the muse.

The MBC entertainment program Radio Star aired on September 23rd featured a special titled “I Don’t Know, I Don’t Know, I Don’t Know — Only Funny Stories This Chuseok,” with guests Sunwoo Yongnyeo, Lee Dae Ho, Young Tak, and Kim Gyu Won.

On the show, Young Tak said about his hit song “Why Are You There?,” “It’s true that I incorporated an actual experience.”

Young Tak recalled, “I changed the setting to a club, but it was actually at Sadang Station. Around midnight, it was time to sleep. I lived near Konkuk University, and my girlfriend said her company dinner ended around 11 p.m. She said she got home 30 minutes later. But I had a strange feeling. It didn’t feel like home. I said okay but then realized I was heading to Sadang Station.”

He added, “It wasn’t cool to interrogate her. I wandered around near Sadang Station. But you can tell just by looking at her back. I saw her with another man. My heart went crazy. I stood there watching, and the man took a taxi first. My girlfriend was wandering alone, so I asked, ‘What are you doing?’ She was really surprised.”

Young Tak explained that after the company dinner, his girlfriend followed a colleague’s suggestion to have one more drink and reassured him by saying she only had one drink separately. He said, “I didn’t seem to believe her, so she said we could go to the place where she drank separately to prove the time. But going all the way to Sadang Station wasn’t great either. I thought going to that place was an action one takes when deciding to break up, so I just took her home and that was it. We tried to keep it going, but the circumstances ended the relationship.”

About his ex-girlfriend, Young Tak said, “She thinks it’s her song. I’m supporting her from afar. In a way, I think she was my muse.“