Because I Love You

Because I Love You is the first and only studio album by South Korean singer and songwriter Yoo Jae-ha, released on August 20, 1987, by Seoul Records, three months before the singer's sudden passing. Considered one of the best South Korean pop albums of all time and the first one where a singer wrote, composed, and arranged the songs all by himself, it influenced the music of subsequent generations, starting the evolution of Korean ballads. Background Yoo Jae-ha decided to pursue a solo career in the winter of 1986, at the age of 24, and turned to Kim Hyun-sik's bassist Jo Won-ik for help, presenting him a detailed project of the entire album, with the lyrics, composition and instrumentation of each track already complete. The songs were recorded at Seoul Studio in Ichon-dong between December 1986 and March 1987, and Yoo personally paid for the recording studio and played all the instruments himself. Production and composition In composing the songs, Yoo resorted to modulation, a technique hardly used at the time, and tried to mix a variety of musical instruments such as flute, violin, oboe and cello, not just drums, guitar, bass and keyboard. The lyrics were inspired by his personal life and by a flautist, Kim Mo-seong, whom he dated for four years. Apart from "Minuet", a lively instrumental piece played by violin, viola and cello, all others are sung.