The First K-Pop : 윤심덕 (Sim-Deok Yun) - 사의 찬미 (In Praise of Death) (1926) Sim-deok Yun was the first soprano singer in Korea. She was the first Korean to study at the Tokyo Music School. In Japan, she met and fell in love with a married English literature student, U-jin Kim, with whom she had an affair. After graduating from music school, she returned to Korea, where she made her debut as a soprano in 1923. Though audiences were impressed by her powerful voice, she was unable to make a living performing Western classical music, and became a pop singer and actress to support herself. Sim-Deok Yun and U-jin Kim committed suicide together in 1926, jumping off of a passenger ship en route from Simonoseki to Busan. The shocking news caused a sensation in Korea, and her 1926 recording of "In Praise of Death" (also called "Death Song") sold a record 100,000 copies following her death. The song is considered the first K-pop.
가슴만 알죠(Only My Heart Knows) is one of the original soundtracks from a 2018 South Korean television series based on the tragic romance between Yun Sim-Deok and U-Jin Kim.
