The Lonely Night Shin Hae-chul Sang for Him: “Empty Tonight”

Part 2 of 10 in The One Album K-pop Learned From: Yoo Jae-ha

No. 9, “Empty Tonight,” is the least-sung song on Yoo Jae-ha’s album, and the one Shin Hae-chul sang in his place ten years after he died. In 2018’s list of the 100 greatest Korean albums, Yoo’s album was No. 1. Shin’s band N.EX.T was No. 9 (Hankyoreh, Sept. 28, 2018).

Its combined YouTube views come to about 230,000, the smallest of the nine. That is 1/240th of No. 1, “Because I Love You.” That is exactly why this song is so dear to me. Being the least played means so many people still have the joy of hearing it for the first time.

Lonely while everyone dances

모두 흥겹게 노래 부르며 춤추는데 / 나는 어이해 홀로 외로울까

Everyone is singing and dancing with joy. / Why am I the only one so lonely?

— Lyrics and music by Yoo Jae-ha (1987), excerpt

The song opens on one cold look. She leaves without a word, and he stands there, not knowing why. He tries to forget her, but one thread of longing won’t let go, and he chokes up waiting in case she comes back. The music isn’t sad, though. Over the fastest, brightest beat on the album, he sits out an empty night while everyone else dances.

Also read: K-pop News Today (Oct 28, 2026): A2O LITE Cracks Billboard's Global Top 10, JENNIE's 22nd Week, ILLIT's 382K Day One

The only song that sounded like 1987

The rest of the album slips out of its time with classical strings and jazz harmony. This one rode that year’s trends head-on. OhmyNews called it pop-rock in the vein of Toto, and Yoo played the guitar solo in the middle himself (OhmyNews, Nov. 1, 2017). Critic Park Eun-seok picked it as a key track in his review for the 2018 list and called it “the work where the shadow of time falls darkest,” because of its new-wave sound. Even so, he wrote, it makes you imagine the music Yoo would have made had he lived: something like Steely Dan with less jazz, or Toto with a classical touch (Hankyoreh, 2018).

It was forgotten first because it was the most of its moment. And because of that, it is the one song that still lets you hear what 1987 sounded like when Yoo was alive.

1997: Shin Hae-chul sang it

In September 1997, the tenth anniversary of Yoo’s death, younger musicians released the tribute album For You Who Came Back. Lee So-ra, Shin Hae-chul, Yoo Young-suk, Lee Juck, Exhibition, Cho Kyu-chan, Ko Chan-yong and Na Won-joo split his songs among them, and the last track carried spoken tributes from Cho Yong-pil, Lee Moon-sae, Han Young-ae and Spring Summer Fall Winter. Within weeks it was No. 2 in Korean album sales at Tower Records (Yonhap, Oct. 7, 1997).

The singer who took “Empty Tonight” on that record was Shin Hae-chul (MBN, Nov. 1, 2015; Spotify album credits). While others picked “Because I Love You” or “Past Days,” he chose the song closest to rock.

Shin Hae-chul died on Oct. 27, 2014, at 46 (Hankyoreh, Oct. 26, 2020). That’s five days before the anniversary of Yoo’s death. Now, every autumn, their names run in the same articles.

Davichi’s Kang Min-kyung, and GSoul

The K-pop singer who has sung it on a broadcast stage is Davichi’s Kang Min-kyung. On MBC’s Beautiful Concert in November 2012, she picked the album’s least-known song.

Kang Min-kyung (Davichi) – “Empty Tonight” (Beautiful Concert, MBC, 2012) — 47,000 views

For the 30th-anniversary tribute album in 2017, Yoo Jae-ha 30 Years, Let’s Stay Like This Forever, produced by composer Kim Hyung-suk, the song went to R&B singer GSoul, a JYP alumnus (Munhwa Ilbo, Dec. 11, 2017). In 2013, a “Yoo Jae-ha Super Band” of contest alumni opened a special stage on Mnet’s Must with “Empty Tonight” (News1, Nov. 20, 2013).

A song about being alone on a night when everyone sings and dances is now sung by the people who gather to remember him. This autumn I’m squeezing in among them and playing it again, hoping that on this one night, at least, he isn’t alone.

Previous: Part 1 — Rosé Cried Singing His Song. Bang Si-hyuk Won His Contest. Who Was Yoo Jae-ha?

Next, No. 8: “Our Love,” the song he brought to Cho Yong-pil along with “Because I Love You.”

---

Sources: Hankyoreh (Sept. 28, 2018; Oct. 26, 2020); OhmyNews (Nov. 1, 2017); Yonhap (Oct. 7, 1997); MBN (Nov. 1, 2015); Munhwa Ilbo (Dec. 11, 2017); News1 (Nov. 20, 2013); Spotify album credits. Lyrics checked against Bugs. View counts as shown on YouTube, Oct. 25, 2026.