Lee Hi on the good and bad of starting music career young: 'I had to become an adult quickly'

Lee Hi first broke into the K-entertainment scene as a teenager on the competition K-pop Star back in 2011.

Nearly 13 years later and she's only 27, but with four albums to boot.

In a recent interview with AsiaOne, Lee Hi said: "The upside of building my career was that I was able to find and start what I like early on.

"On the other hand, the challenge was that I started working too early and thought I had to become an adult quickly. I think that was the only difficult part."

Though her last album was released 3 years ago, Lee Hi shared that she is still working on "many songs".

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"Mostly, I get inspired by my relationships," she said about her music. "But when I feel like nothing inspires me, I usually go out, hang out with new people, or travel to seek inspiration.

"And I don't think I have any particular habits when it comes to songwriting. Sometimes I write the lyrics first, and sometimes I make the melody first. It depends on what kind of song it is."

Lee Hi performs in Singapore on March 16 at Marquee, and told us her favourite thing about the audience here.

"When I visited Singapore before, I was so grateful that many people sang along to my songs with me even though the lyrics were in Korean," she said. "I'm looking forward to them singing along with me the most, just like before."

Though she's been here before — including in January last year for the AOMG Follow The Movement World Tour and again in May for the Tiger's Twist to the Night festival — Lee Hi said that she hasn't had any opportunities to explore the city and is open to suggestions.

"I enjoy eating food with exotic spices," she said, if you want to send her your recommendations.

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drimac@asiaone.com

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