The Only Song He Ever Sang on TV: “Reflection in My Heart”

Part 9 of 10 in The One Album K-pop Learned From: Yoo Jae-ha

No. 2, “Reflection in My Heart,” is the only song Yoo Jae-ha ever sang on TV, and the one of his own he loved most (Hankyoreh, Aug. 30, 2018; My Daily, Jan. 11, 2021). It’s also the song HYBE’s new group CORTIS is singing now.

Its combined YouTube views come to about 18.9 million. The song he loved most of his own is being sung again by brand-new idols. As a fan, there’s hardly any news I’d rather hear.

The only Yoo Jae-ha left on screen

The only broadcast footage of Yoo is one appearance on KBS’s Youth March, singing this song. When Genie Music brought him back as a hologram in 2018, it was the only TV clip they had to work from; the rest was a handful of photos and what his family and bandmates remembered (Hankyoreh, 2018). A Hankyoreh 21 reporter who watched it wrote that “his face looked a little stiff, as if the TV stage made him awkward” (Hankyoreh 21, Sept. 14, 2018).

My Daily described it as “the only song Yoo Jae-ha ever sang on a broadcast in his lifetime, and the song he himself loved most” (My Daily, 2021).

못 그린 내 빈 곳 무엇으로 채워지려나 / 차라리 내 마음에 비친 내 모습 그려가리

What will ever fill the empty space I couldn’t draw? / I’d rather paint myself as I appear in my own heart.

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

If the album’s other songs are written to one woman, this one alone looks at himself. Pieces of dreams he can’t hold on to slip away one by one, and the days go round like a hamster wheel of endless wandering. He hides what he knows is a lie, and tucks his own truth into one line said with a sigh. Then he decides to stop listening to what others say and paint himself the way he looks in his own heart. Critic Park Eun-seok named it, with “In My Arms” and “Because I Love You,” among the songs that “presented the language of the modern ballad in its finished form” (Hankyoreh, Sept. 28, 2018).

The song came out of Bang Si-hyuk’s company

Bang Si-hyuk won the bronze prize at the 6th Yoo Jae-ha Music Contest (OhmyNews, Nov. 1, 2017; MBN, Oct. 29, 2015). Keonho of CORTIS, the new group from the company Bang founded, HYBE, sang this song on M2’s Would You Record, and that video has 1.6 million views.

CORTIS Keonho – “Reflection in My Heart” (M2) — 1.6 million views

Both AKMU siblings have sung it. Lee Chan-hyuk chose it for his first-ever solo vocal stage on KBS’s You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook in 2020, and Lee Su-hyun sang it against the night sea on JTBC’s Sea of Hope in 2021 (1.93 million views).

AKMU Lee Chan-hyuk – “Reflection in My Heart” (You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook, KBS, 2020) — 270,000 views

AKMU Lee Su-hyun – “Reflection in My Heart” (Sea of Hope, JTBC, 2021) — 1.93 million views

Super Junior’s Kyuhyun sang it in January 2021 on SBS’s Archive K, saying, “I’ve always carried a longing for Yoo Jae-ha’s music in my heart,” and released a remake single too (My Daily, 2021).

Super Junior Kyuhyun – “Reflection in My Heart” (Archive K, SBS, 2021) — 400,000 views

On the 2017 30th-anniversary tribute, Block B’s P.O took the song (Munhwa Ilbo, Dec. 11, 2017). Kim Feel sang it on You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook (610,000 views), and Roy Kim at his own 2024 concert (780,000).

Kim Feel – “Reflection in My Heart” (You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook, KBS, 2021) — 610,000 views

The song he sang once on TV, stiff-faced, is now sung on new idols’ live stages and first solo vocal stages. Lyrics about painting yourself the way you look in your own heart, instead of how others see you, are now the most sung among people performing songs other people wrote. I’d like to believe that if he could see it, he’d smile, a little shyly.

Previous: Part 8 — He Brought Ten Songs. Kim Hyun-sik Took One: “Hidden Road”

Next, No. 1: “Because I Love You.” A score of the song stands at his grave, and two of its notes are wrong.

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Sources: Hankyoreh (Aug. 30, 2018; Sept. 28, 2018, review by Park Eun-seok); My Daily (Jan. 11, 2021); Hankyoreh 21 (Sept. 14, 2018); OhmyNews (Nov. 1, 2017); MBN (Oct. 29, 2015); Munhwa Ilbo (Dec. 11, 2017). Lyrics checked against Bugs. View counts as shown on YouTube, Oct. 25, 2026.