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When talking about H.O.T’s legacy, most will bring up their role in being the first idols in K-Pop (as we know it today) or how beloved “Candy” is, but you’ll rarely hear praise for how the bulk of their title/popular tracks discussed serious issues in Korea. And out of every song in their discography, I-Yah is the best example of this.

History Behind the I-Yah

On June 30th, 1999 a fire broke out in the dormitory of a summer camp in Hwaseong during the middle of the night that killed 19 children (primarily kindergartners) and 4 adults. The “Sealand Youth Training Center Fire”, as it came to be known as, was a perfect storm of corruption, shoddy construction, and negligent adults. Even though laws about safety standards were changed and many of those involved–including six Hwaseong council members who approved of the construction of the center with it’s shoddy design, four builders and contractors who knowingly built the building with flammable materials, the owners of the center, and one teacher who was out drinking with owners instead of watching the children–were arrested, it still didn’t feel like justice was served to many people in South Korea–including H.O.T.

The I-Yah Album

On September 15th, 1999 H.O.T much-anticipated 4th album came out named after the track “I-Yah” that was filmed in New York. While the popular idol group usually released a yearly album around that time, this album is unlike any of their others. While there were the standard up-beat songs like, “Forever Song”, and sad ballad tracks like “It’s Been Training Since You Left Me”, their “Talk” tracks are unique to the album. 

And even though later “Talk” tracks are about the members discussing their dreams, the two earliest ones aren’t like that:

Talk ‘전쟁’ is about H.O.T discussing war. They also bring up what they would do if war started during a concert.

Talk 아이들 & News (From 1999/6/30 SBS 8시 뉴스)’ is a news briefing about the fire and is right before “I-Yah”.

H.O.T’s Message and Performance of I-Yah

There have been many songs by K-Pop artists over the years that discuss serious topics or lightly reference specific events, but rarely is there a song with such a specific message as I-Yah’s. 

It’s important to note that I-Yah isn’t meant to be taken out of the context of Sealand Youth Training Center Fire. If you don’t know Korean, the English parts make it obvious that they’re criticizing adults who harm children. If you only watch the music video without the sound, you’ll still see images of children and structures that look like they’ve been through a fire. If you watch their October 16th Music Camp performance, you’ll see a video at the beginning showing grieving family members and portraits of the deceased children. Even during a concert performance of I-Yah in 2001, the same images of the children are shown on large screens behind the members.

The lyrics were composed by Yoo Youngjin, who is the main composer of the songs in SM Entertainment that deal with problems in society. These songs include H.O.T’s “Warrior’s Descendant” and “Wolf and Sheep”, TVXQ’s “Tri-Angle”, Super Junior’s “Don’t Don”, and EXO’s “Mama”.

If you’re unfamiliar with the lyrics themselves, I recommend you look at them because they truly put into words what people were feeling about the Fire. In particular, Jaewon’s lines of, “Who gave the permission to turn out the children’s flame that couldn’t even be burnt?” and “you wont’ be burnin’ my kids” stand out and specifically reference the tragedy.

There were times when parts of the song were censored on music programs. The two parts that tended to be bleeped out were, “What ya boys need i got about the “P” down, straight bout the “P” down make everybody get down” and “from the roof top I might snipe ya.”

As far as the performances go, there’s not much that stands out from their normal songs except their outfits and (most likely) unintentional audience assistance in overcoming censorship. Their outfits were a huge departure from any of their other wardrobes, as it’s one of the few times H.O.T meant to look intimidating. From the bright orange hair to the black outfits, it’s a clear reference to the Fire.

As mentioned earlier, parts of “I-Yah” were censored on some music programs, but whether they did it on purpose or not, fans can be heard chanting those lyrics and not being bleeped out, which continued the message H.O.T wasn’t allowed to.

I-Yah’s Legacy

Unfortunately, the legacy of this song is limited in Korea. When looking at a work reflecting on the Sealand Youth Training Center Fire tragedy years later, “I-Yah” isn’t mentioned. Quite a few idols have performed “I-Yah”, but it’s always with an emphasis on the performance and paying tribute to an older K-Pop group, and not the event that the song was about. Even during H.O.T’s Infinity Challenge performance of “I-Yah”, it was more a stroll through their discography than a reminder of why the performances during the original promotion period were so powerful. Also if you try looking up “I-Yah” today, you’ll find a lot of references to Boyfriend’s song “I-Yah” that has nothing to do with a tragedy, and is about liking a girl.

However, the history and legacy of “I-Yah” is unexpectedly primarily maintained by new fans and casual K-Pop listeners. This typically happens when someone stumbles upon the track after hearing about H.O.T or their music. Eventually they run across “I-Yah” and wonder why it’s so different to the rest of their discography. This leads them to looking for the story behind the track and discovering the Sealand Youth Training Center Fire tragedy.

Many times an argument will come up that when a pop artist performs a song about a serious event or is involved with a particular cause, that it’s just for publicity and they really don’t mean it or have an impact. While you might want to second-guess H.O.T’s intentions with “I-Yah” because they didn’t write the lyrics themselves, or had a large impact on changing laws and public opinion on safety standards, by using their popularity to promote such a song, they helped newer and casual K-Pop fans to discover the tragedy it was based on.

If you were to make a list of H.O.T’s or K-Pop’s best songs, chances are “Outside Castle” wouldn’t be on there. While the track itself is gorgeous, it’s often forgotten about.

The Outside Castle Album

“Outside Castle” is the name of and title song of H.O.T’s fifth and final album that was released on September 29th, 2000. It wasn’t promoted for nearly as long as other albums, and that could be a contributing factor as to why it’s been forgotten so much. And compared to previous albums, “Outside Castle” is quite mellow and thoughtful. Even though the members didn’t release the album knowing it was going to be their last, it does have the feeling of being a fitting conclusion to a remarkable discography. Besides of “Outside Castle”, the only other track most fans know from this album is “A Song For Lady” as it has clips from the popular drama, “Autumn in my Heart”. Fun fact: If you look at the full list of songs on the album, you’ll notice a song called “Shinvi”, which is interesting as it shares the name with a short-lived girl group that was promoted by SM Entertainment in 2002.

H.O.T’s Message and Performance of Outside Castle

“Outside Castle” was composed and choreographed by Heejun, with the English rap written by Tony. While a cursory look at the lyrics might lead you to think this is just a ballad about love, being able to see H.O.T fully perform the choreography will help you to see the full story.

If you were to ask me what’s my favorite performance in K-Pop history, I would direct you to this video. From the small string section, to the choreography emphasizing the lyrics, this performance is a far cry from “Candy” and “We Are the Future”, and even “I-Yah”, and is proof of how their maturity as artists had grown.

Going back to the meaning of “Outside Castle”, the biggest choreography point that probably stands out to you is the use of sign language. So what are they saying in sign language and why was it included in choreography? If you scroll down to the comments, you’ll see the answer:

While I’m not that good at sign language and can’t check if these claims are true, there are two pieces that back up these claims.

First, while the album picture I included at the top of this post is the one you’ll see if you purchase the “Outside Castle” album on iTunes, there is another cover that includes the album title in Braille and the subtitle “They are not different from us.”

Secondly, let’s look back at the lyrics with this new perspective in mind.

This world is so hard to live Is everyone trying to close their eyes? I am looking at everything in this world with darkness For everything, Just to remain surviving, I, different from everything of yours Exhausted from the writhing in my heart Everyday (always) Different gaze from you guys Look at me with prejudice Solitarily among people that do not even care I am living a lonely life But still the reason I live, What makes me live, Is because there is love, hope and love alive in my heart.

For me, the lyrics “Different gaze from you guys” and “Look at me with prejudice” really stand out with this new context. As I mentioned in the I-Yah Discography Discussion, it annoys me that H.O.T aren’t primarily remembered for singing about serious issues in their title tracks.

As you are probably aware, there’s a lot of stigma around disabilities, mental health, and similar topics, and yet H.O.T chose to take it on publicly and make the title track about it, when even today people are hush-hush about it. Just for this song alone, H.O.T acknowledged those who are d/D/HoH (deaf, Deaf, and Hard of Hearing), blind, and (possibly) even those with other physical and mental health issues, and told them they are worth just as much as everyone else.

This is a big deal not only because they’re showing support for those who don’t always receive it, but also because it’s proof that K-Pop isn’t meaningless–especially for those people who insist it’s just a stupid fad teenager girls enjoy.

Conclusion