AI Pulled His Voice Out of an Old Tape and Put Him Back on Stage

Part 3 of 13 in The Man Who Hit No. 1 After He Died: Kim Hyun-sik

No. 11, “Love Love Love,” is the lightest song on the last album Kim Hyun-sik recorded before he died. And in 2022, a singer who had been dead for 32 years walked onto an impersonation-contest stage with it. Artificial intelligence had lifted his voice, and only his voice, out of the old recording. The moment that voice came through again, I sat there stunned for a long while, just happy to hear it.

Hidden Singer 7 – Kim Hyun-sik, “Love Love Love,” Round 3 (JTBC) — 40,000 views

Its original, remakes and covers add up to about 1.5 million views, some 20,000 more than No. 12.

A dead man as the “original singer”

On JTBC’s Hidden Singer, the original artist and several impersonators each sing a line from behind screens, and the audience has to pick the real one. The format only works if the original singer is alive. The Kim Hyun-sik episode of Hidden Singer 7, aired on Nov. 4, 2022, broke that rule.

Recordings from the 1980s don’t have separate files for the voice and the band. The producers used AI source-separation technology from the audio startup Gaudio Lab to extract Kim’s voice from the finished album, then put that voice behind the screen in the “original singer” spot (Asia Economy, Dec. 6, 2022). Round 1 was “Making Memories,” Round 3 “Love Love Love,” and Round 4 “My Love by My Side,” all songs from the sixth album released after his death.

Also read: He Traded It for a Bottle of Soju: "Forever With You"

Everyone, at least once

누구나 한번쯤은 사랑에 울고 / 누구나 한번쯤은 사랑에 웃고

Everyone cries over love at least once; / everyone laughs over love at least once.

— Lyrics and music by Kim Hyun-sik (1991), excerpt

The song doesn’t preach or confess. Time teaches you the love you didn’t understand when you were young, and the person who has never loved and the person who has loved too much both cry over it. That’s love, it says, and it says the word three times over. That a 32-year-old whose throat was ruined by cirrhosis put a song this light on his last album is exactly what makes it heavy. The song also appears on The Sickbed Live (2002), a release of recordings he made playing guitar in his sickbed (Wikipedia; Melon).

Seven trot stars in chorus

The place this song has been sung most is the trot stage. In 2020, on TV Chosun’s Love Call Center, Lim Young-woong, Young Tak, Lee Chan-won, Kim Ho-joong, Jung Dong-won, Jang Min-ho and Kim Hee-jae sang “Love Love Love” together. That clip, at 350,000 views, is the most-watched cover of the song.

Mr. Trot TOP 7 – “Love Love Love” (Love Call Center, TV Chosun) — 350,000 views

Kim’s longtime colleague Kwon In-ha also sang it on KBS’s Concert 7080 in 2005. In 1989, Kwon sang “Watercolor on a Rainy Day” with Kim and Kang In-won.

Kwon In-ha – “Love Love Love” (Concert 7080, KBS, 2005) — 30,000 views

No K-pop idol has posted an official cover of this song yet. What carried it into the 2020s wasn’t idols but trot stars and AI. Whoever carried it, I’m happy enough just knowing his voice still rings out in the 2020s.

Next, Part 4: No. 10, “One Rainy Evening,” the song Lim Jae-beom said he wanted to hear again on a 2025 audition show.

Previous: Part 2 — His Debut Song Flopped, Then Became the Name of a Legendary Korean Band

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Sources: Asia Economy (Dec. 6, 2022); JTBC Entertainment official clip titles (Hidden Singer 7, Kim Hyun-sik Rounds 1, 3, 4, aired Nov. 4, 2022); Wikipedia “Kim Hyun-sik” discography; Melon (sixth album, Jan. 26, 1991). View counts as shown on YouTube, Oct. 25, 2026.