"바이올린을 들으면 ALL’N이 떠오르도록": 장르의 경계를 허무는 뮤지션

The String That Connects It All: How ALL’N Uses the Violin to Break Genre Boundaries

Interviewer: Natalia Kabenge 

As the K-pop industry has continued to evolve, artists have infinitely reached new heights, pushing boundaries that those before them paved the way for. Among these artists is singer and violinist ALL’N, a musician whose dreams of pursuing music have allowed him to be his truest self.

ALL’N began playing the violin as a child, and the instrument quickly became an integral part of his journey. After briefly attending New York University to study music business, the singer decided to take a risk and leave to pursue music full time. He’s spent his years since traveling the globe, learning from industry professionals, and taking a chance with himself as he begins a new part of his musical journey. Having made the decision to establish his own independent label, SKS Entertainment, and to ultimately follow the dream that’s called to him for as long as he can remember.

Rolling Stone Korea had the pleasure of chatting with the soloist to learn more about how his journey has led him to believe that if you truly take a chance on yourself, you can make your greatest dreams a reality.

1. To start, could you please introduce yourself to Rolling Stone Korea readers? 

ALL’N: I’m ALL’N, a Korean American violin-driven K-pop solo artist and the founder and CEO of SKS Entertainment. I started playing violin when I was nine, and my path since then has been a pretty unusual mix of classical music, idol training in China, survival shows, producing, DJing, business, and eventually coming back to K-pop by building my own company. As ALL’N, I sing, rap, dance, produce, and play violin. I don’t really want to stay inside one genre. The violin is the thread that connects everything, and my goal is for people to eventually hear the violin in K-pop and think of ALL’N. 

2. This year in April, you made your official solo debut as ALL’N after many years chasing your dreams as an idol, congratulations! How does it feel to be on this new journey as an artist? 

ALL’N: It still feels a little unreal because there was a long period where I genuinely did not know if I would ever get another chance to do this. My original career path was derailed by things outside of my control, and after that I spent years preparing without knowing exactly when or how I would come back. 

So walking onto Music Bank and M Countdown this April was emotional for me in a way that probably wasn’t visible on camera. It wasn’t only, “I finally debuted.” It was also remembering all of the years when there was no stage, no company preparing a comeback for me, and no guarantee any of this would happen. 

At the same time, debuting made me realize how much further I still have to go. I’m grateful, but I don’t feel like I’ve arrived anywhere yet. If anything, it feels like I finally reached the starting line. 

3. Your stage name, ALL’N, is meant to represent both your goal of going all in with your career, as well as the violin being central to your identity. What does it mean to you to go all in as an artist? 

ALL’N: Going all in means taking responsibility for the dream instead of only talking about it. It

means that if I have an idea in my head, I’m willing to learn whatever I need to learn to bring it to life, whether that is producing the song, editing a music video, understanding the business, finding the right people, or figuring out how to fund it. 

That mentality is also why the name felt right to me. ALL’N comes from “all in,” but in Korean, 올린 is also inside the word 바이올린, which means violin. Those two ideas basically summarize the project. 

I’m still learning that going all in doesn’t have to mean destroying yourself in the process. I naturally have a hard time switching my brain off, so balance is something I’m working on. But when it comes to the things I can control, I never want to look back and wonder whether I could have tried harder. 

4. You also founded your company, SKS Entertainment, independently as a part of this new journey. You’ve shared that your unique experiences from both the artist and business side have helped you along the way. What past experience or knowledge did you have that has been most valuable in starting your company? 

 

ALL’N: Probably understanding that talent and a good song are only a small part of what it actually takes to release music professionally. 

When people watch a K-pop music video, they see three or four minutes. Behind those few minutes you might have producers, recording engineers, mixing and mastering, choreographers, dancers, stylists, hair and makeup, camera crews, lighting teams, editors, designers, marketing, distribution, PR, and so many other people. 

During the years when I wasn’t able to pursue music the way I originally planned, I tried to learn how businesses actually operate. I also lived and worked in different countries, learned how people communicate and consume entertainment differently, and most importantly, I saved money so that eventually I could fund the ideas I had been carrying around in my head. 

The most valuable lesson has probably been learning how to turn a creative idea into an executable plan. As an artist, I can say, “I want this incredible music video.” As the CEO, I have to ask, “Okay, who is making it, how much does it cost, when does it need to be finished, and how do we make sure everyone gets paid?” I live between those two perspectives every day now. 

5. You spent your earlier years in the industry competing on the survival show Youth With You as well as in the idol group Highting. What has been most different about being a solo act?

ALL’N: The amount of responsibility is completely different. In a group, there are other members sharing the stage, the energy, the choreography, and even the emotional pressure. As a solo artist, if something feels empty on stage, there is nobody standing next to me to fill that space. I have to carry it. 

That was especially noticeable while filming “Dream Higher.” It was my first music video where I really performed without dancers around me. It was basically me, the violin, the camera, and whatever emotion I could give. 

But I also love the freedom of being solo. I can build songs around the violin in ways that would probably be difficult in a traditional group structure, and I can move between singing, rap, dance, production, and instruments depending on what the song needs. There is nowhere to hide, which is scary, but that also forces me to grow much faster. 

6. Violin is something that has been very important to your musical journey from a young age, and you’ve mentioned this is something reflected in your artist name, ALL’N. What originally made you want to make the violin a central part of your artistic identity? 

 

ALL’N: At some point I realized that the thing I had spent most of my life doing was also the thing that could make me different. 

I started violin at nine and originally approached it very seriously through classical music and competition. For a long time, though, I almost treated the violin and becoming a K-pop artist as two separate lives. Eventually I thought, why am I trying to hide one of the strongest parts of my identity in order to fit into another world? 

I had also performed electronic music as a violin-driven DJ, so I already knew the instrument could exist outside of classical music. That gave me confidence that it could work in K-pop too. 

Now I want the violin to remain in every ALL’N release, but I don’t want that rule to make the music predictable. Sometimes it might be aggressive, sometimes emotional, sometimes almost like an electric guitar, and sometimes you may barely notice it until a particular moment. That is much more interesting to me. 

7. You’ve made the very intentional decision to include contemporary violin in your music, which is highlighted in your most recent release, “Dream Higher.” What is the process of writing pop music for the violin like? What challenges have you come across when writing violin parts for

your music? 

ALL’N: The hardest lesson has actually been learning when not to play. 

When you are a violinist, it is tempting to put a violin everywhere because you want people to notice it. But a pop song already has vocals, drums, bass, synths, guitars, effects, and sometimes a very dense arrangement. If the violin is constantly fighting for attention, it stops feeling special and can actually make the song worse. 

So I think about the violin almost like another vocalist. What is its role in this particular section? Is it carrying the hook? Is it answering the vocal? Is it creating an atmosphere? Does it need a solo, or would two seconds be more effective? 

With “Dream Higher,” I wanted the violin to feel cinematic and powerful without taking attention away from the story of the lyrics. That balance is something I’m still learning with every song. Sometimes the strongest violin part is the one you wait the longest to hear. 

 

8. “Dream Higher” holds a deeply personal message for you and your journey as an individual. Can you talk a little bit about what it was like working on this song, and what it means to you? 
 

ALL’N: “Dream Higher” is probably the closest thing I have released to a short autobiography. 

The beginning talks about the lonely years when nobody really knew what I was working toward. Then it moves through getting a glimpse of the dream, losing it, having to start over, and eventually finding another way forward. 

There is a line, “No blueprint, no hand to hold,” and that probably summarizes the last few years better than anything. There wasn’t a guide explaining how to go from losing my original idol path to creating my own entertainment company and eventually debuting through it. 

Working on the song was emotional because I wasn’t inventing a character. I knew exactly which memories I was writing about. We carried that into the music video too with the rain, darkness, falling, getting back up, and the contrast between struggle and hope. I even broke my nose while filming, which obviously was not part of the concept, but somehow became a very literal representation of the song. 

To me, “Dream Higher” does not mean, “I made it.” It means, “I’m still going.” 

9. “Dream Higher” is a song that’s meant to encourage listeners to pursue their dreams even if it can be a scary thing to do, which is something you shared you had to do to pursue music full time. Was there anything you had to sacrifice to make this dream possible? What did it teach you? 

 

ALL’N: A lot of certainty. Time, money, comfort, free time, and probably a more normal life too. 

Starting my own company meant that the money I had spent years saving could either stay safely in my account or become music videos, songs, staff, studios, choreography, marketing, and everything else required to give this dream a real chance. I chose the second option. 

Time has probably been the hardest sacrifice recently. There is almost always something else I could be doing for ALL’N or SKS, so even when I’m technically resting, my mind is usually still working. 

But the biggest lesson has been learning the difference between sacrifice and control. You can sacrifice everything and still not control whether a song becomes successful. You cannot control algorithms, timing, public opinion, or who decides to give you an opportunity. You can only make sure you did everything possible on your side. 

That is how I try to live without regret. 

10. What is something you feel especially grateful for at this point in your career? 

ALL’N: N’CORE, without question. 

This project is still so young, and somehow there are already people around the world who genuinely care about what happens next. They comment on everything, share the music, stream it, encourage me when something underperforms, and celebrate things with me when something goes well. 

Recently I was selected as Billboard’s K-pop Rookie of the Month, and that was one of those moments where I stopped and thought about how different my life looked only a few months earlier. Before my debut, there was no guarantee anyone would care about what I was building. 

So whenever something like that happens, I’m grateful for the recognition, but I’m also very aware that I would not have reached that point without people choosing to support me when I was still at the beginning.

11. You have spent much of your life living in many different parts of the world, including in the United States, China, South Korea, and multiple African countries. How have your experiences being in different parts of the world influenced your musical process? 

 

ALL’N: I think it made it very difficult for me to see music through only one cultural lens. 

I was born in Busan, grew up largely in America, trained and worked in China, spent time in different parts of Africa and Asia, and eventually came back to Korea. Every place has a different relationship with music, performance, rhythm, language, and even what people consider entertaining. 

That probably explains why I have very little interest in making every ALL’N song sound the same. My playlists have never made sense either. I can listen to classical music, K-pop, R&B, hip-hop, electronic festival music, and something completely different right after. 

I also think living internationally taught me that emotion usually travels further than language. Most of my songs mix English and Korean, but if the melody, performance, and emotion are honest enough, somebody who doesn’t understand every word can still understand what you are trying to say. 

12. As you continue along this new path in the K-pop world, how do you hope to make an impact as an artist? 

ALL’N: First, I want to make really good music. Everything else has to start there. 

Beyond that, I would love to create a lane where contemporary violin feels completely natural within K-pop. Not like a gimmick that appears once, but as something that can live inside hip-hop, R&B, electronic music, pop, rock, or whatever direction I decide to explore. 

I also hope my story can mean something to people who are starting from a position that does not look ideal. I wasn’t given the traditional route back into the industry, so I had to build another one. If somebody sees that and thinks, “Maybe my current situation isn’t the final version of my life,” that would mean a lot to me. 

And as SKS grows, I hope eventually the impact becomes bigger than just ALL’N. I want to build something that creates opportunities for other talented people too. But I still have a very long way to go before I can say I’ve accomplished that.

13. You’ve teased at plans of maybe releasing an album soon, is there anything you can share about what that might look like and what your hopes are for your next release? 

ALL’N: I'm definitely building toward a larger body of work, but right now I’m having fun releasing songs individually and letting people discover a different side of ALL’N with each one. 

The next song is called “DING,” and it is probably the biggest contrast to “Dream Higher” I could make. “Dream Higher” was emotional and very personal, while “DING” is based on a funny real-life story about accidentally meeting TXT in an elevator during my first week of Korean music shows. It happened during Music Core. I turned that encounter into a playful, high-energy song with storytelling through rap, electric guitar, heavy bass, electronic production, dubstep elements, and of course violin. 

I also have another release I’m preparing for November that I’m extremely excited about and probably a little nervous about too. 

Eventually, when those songs come together into an album or larger project, I want people to look at it and understand what I mean when I say violin-driven K-pop. I don’t want twelve versions of the same song. I want each track to have its own personality, with the violin and my identity connecting everything.

Photo Courtesy of ALL’N