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Shin Seung-hun marked his 35th debut anniversary with a press conference in Seoul’s Gangnam District on September 22, unveiling his 12th full-length album, Sincerely Melodies—his first studio release in a decade since 2015’s 11th album.

“I made this with the mindset that I might never be able to put out an album like this again,” he said. “I wanted to show I’m still an artist in the present, not a remake or commemorative project, so I filled it entirely with new songs.”

The album doubles as his 35th-anniversary release and features 11 tracks, all written by Shin. “This might be the last time I write everything myself,” he admitted. Debuting in 1990 with “You in My Smile,” he added, “It’s a different grain from back then—I captured my story of now.”

There are two title tracks: “Your Gravity,” a Brit-pop ballad blending acoustic guitar and electric textures, and “TRULY,” a Nashville-style country ballad. The set also includes the pre-released “She Was,” as well as “Learning to Break Up” and “Moment of the Stars,” spanning a range of emotions.

“I agonized with my distributor until the very end over which song should be the main,” he joked. “After 35 years, I know what melodies people like—but I didn’t want to write that way. Rather than forcing sorrow, I wanted to speak plainly. I can’t write like my old hits anymore, and that’s fine. At my age, my ballads should flow like this.”

The “Emperor of Ballads” also offered a definition of the genre’s past and future. “These days, ballads can feel like background music in a conversation, but they won’t disappear. Like standards, they come back in season,” he said. “People tell me that listening to ‘Invisible Love’ in winter brings back memories—that’s the power of ballads.”

He distilled his aesthetic into one phrase: aeibulbi (哀而不悲). “It should be sorrowful yet not weeping. If I cry on stage, the listener can’t let go. My role is restraint; the tears belong to the audience.”

Shin quipped about retirement, too. “Lee Moon-se once said he hopes Cho Yong-pil never retires. Hearing that, I figured retirement might be tough for me as well,” he laughed. “Maybe I’m destined to keep singing.”

Shin will hold a 35th-anniversary solo concert at Olympic Hall in Seoul on November 1–2, with opening night falling on his debut date. With 1990s ballad peers like Kim Gun-mo and Lim Jae-beom also returning to activity, anticipation is high. “It looks coordinated, but it’s pure coincidence,” he said. “If friendly rivalries like ‘Shin Seung-hun vs. Kim Gun-mo’ keep going, it injects energy into the scene.”