ALL’N

While K-pop continues to take inspiration from sounds and styles around the world and expands into various sub-genres, one boundary not often touched upon is classical music. What is usually seen as a unique addition to certain, special performances has become a career-defining opportunity for ALL’N, who seeks to explore this hybridity using violin-led music and has already garnered popularity for it online.

ALL’N studied Music Business at New York University in the U.S., before moving to China to join the idol training system himself. He competed in iQIYI’s Chinese survival show Youth With You, reaching the show’s highest tier with a promotion from EXO’s Lay Zhang and trending at No. 1 on leading Chinese social media platform Weibo. His potential to become an artist has never been in doubt.

Following Youth With You, ALL’N took matters into his own hands. Using the knowledge acquired by years studying the music industry in the U.S., China and Korea both from an outsider and insider perspective, he established his own company SKS Entertainment. His rise comes with complete creative control and a proven ability to persist independently, overcoming the challenges of entering an industry so difficult to break into.

ALL’N’s new single, “Dream Higher,” reflects upon those challenges. As his first comeback, the song revisits his classical foundations and past experiences with a candid outlook while also looking forward towards the identity he is building within electric, modern K-pop. Lyrically, it pulls the listener through the late nights and long hours that led to this moment, before exploding into an anthem of hope and ambition framed by that elevating violin.

“Dream Higher” is your second single, following the release and popularity of “We Up” in April. How did you feel seeing the response to your debut online?

Seeing people respond to “We Up” was honestly surreal. For so long, the idea of debuting under my own company existed mostly in my head, so watching real people discover the song, follow the journey, and become N’CORE gave me the first real feeling that maybe this could actually become something bigger.

At the same time, that positive response has made me even more nervous for my second release. “Dream Higher” is very different from “We Up,” and now there is an actual expectation. With a debut, people do not really know what to expect from you. With the second song, there is suddenly a trajectory people can compare.

So I would be lying if I said I was completely confident. I am excited, but I am also nervous about whether people will connect with this sound and whether I can continue moving upward rather than backward. I appreciate KPOPWORLD asking this because I think people normally only see the finished release, not the pressure an artist feels right before putting something personal into the world.

With both songs, violin-infused K-pop has become your signature. What is your intention behind this unique sound?

There are K-pop artists who can play violin, but for me the difference is that I have made a promise to myself that violin will exist in every ALL’N song.

That does not mean I want to force a huge violin solo into every track. In “We Up,” the violin has a major role and the solo is long and very noticeable. In other songs, it might support the production, add emotion behind the vocals, or appear only at a few critical moments. I think people can feel immediately when an instrument is being forced into a song, so the balance has to feel natural.

Before I debuted, I used to joke that my goal was to become something like if Jungkook and Lindsey Stirling had a baby. Obviously I mean that musically. I wanted the versatility,

performance, and pop side of K-pop to meet the violin in a way that felt modern rather than classical for the sake of being classical.

The violin also has a deeper meaning for me. It helped shape not only my musical ability but my mentality. Years of practicing taught me that repetition matters, that small improvements compound, and that if you apply that discipline consistently, you can become good at things that once felt impossible. That philosophy now affects almost everything I do.

The lyrics of “Dream Higher” follow your perseverance during and after your participation in the Chinese K-Pop Idol survival program Youth With You. How has your mindset regarding your career and sound changed since then?

Youth With You taught me a lot beyond what people saw on television. It taught me how to exist around other trainees and idols, how to be respectful in a highly structured environment, and what it actually feels like to be at a TV station before sunrise, exhausted, under pressure, and still expected to perform at your best.

What happened after that period probably changed me even more. At the time, losing the future I thought I had was devastating. But looking back now, I am actually grateful that my life unfolded the way it did because I learned how important control over my time is to me.

Today I can decide how I spend my time, what message I want my music to carry, what creative direction I want to take, and I can also be held responsible for those decisions. That responsibility is difficult, but it gives me peace because I know I am genuinely giving this dream my best shot on my own terms.

Musically, I have also become much more intentional. I do not just want to make a song because I personally like it. I think about what emotion the listener should feel, what role the violin should play, how the visual world supports the song, and what part of my story actually belongs in that moment of my career.

In “We Up,” the violin creates an elevating effect. In “Dream Higher,” it expands to become an explosive anthem. What does this represent about you as an artist now, beyond those past experiences?

“We Up” was my introduction. I wanted people to understand who I was through the violin, and the message was basically that if you believe in me early, hopefully we can go up together.

“Dream Higher” is different because I think this was the right moment, and maybe the only natural moment in my career, to tell the story of how I got here. It could not really have been my debut song because people did not know me yet. And if I waited until much later, after hopefully achieving much more success, telling the origin story might not feel as immediate or honest.

So I wanted the song to take difficult memories and turn them into something explosive and uplifting. I have always imagined performing a song where thousands of people can chant one simple melody together, which is why the chorus is intentionally easy to sing along with.

Then in the post-chorus, the electric violin becomes much more aggressive and energetic. I want that section to make people move and bob their heads, not just admire the violin technically.

For me, it represents entering a new chapter. I have spent a lot of time explaining where I came from. Now I want to see where the ALL’N story can actually go.

Can you tell us more about the behind-the-scenes creation of “Dream Higher” and your creative process? Were there any interesting or unexpected moments?

One of the craziest moments happened once we started filming the music video. I wanted the video to show the physical side of rebuilding myself, because training and pushing my body had become a big part of that process. I also wanted to bring back some of my breakdancing background and include a backflip, so I learned how to do one only about two weeks before the shoot.

Looking back, that was probably a little too ambitious. I had practiced the flip successfully, but the conditions on set were completely different. I was wearing heavier clothes and shoes, the set was dark, there was fog everywhere, and I misjudged the rotation. I came down badly and fractured my nose.

At that point, stopping would have been the obvious choice. But an MV shoot is not something you can easily recreate the next day. There were locations booked, crew members on set, equipment, schedules, and so many people whose work had led up to that moment. There was also no way for me to know how long the injury would affect everything that was scheduled afterward.

So I decided to keep filming what I safely could before the swelling became worse. In a strange way, the accident ended up reflecting the song itself. Dream Higher is about what you do after something knocks you down. I literally fell down while filming it, and my instinct was still to figure out how to keep moving forward.

The violin segments stand out during the intro and outro of “Dream Higher,” bordering K-pop influences. What were your intentions behind using it for these sections in particular?

I am still early enough in my career that a lot of people discovering one of my songs will not know yet that I am a violin-driven K-pop soloist. So for these first releases, I think it is important to establish the violin early in some way.

But I did not want the intro of “Dream Higher” to feel like, “Hey, look, I can play violin.” In “We Up,” the entrance is much grander and more obvious. With “Dream Higher,” I wanted the opening violin to set the emotional tone and pull you into the world of the song.

Then later, especially in the post-chorus and outro, I wanted to deliver on the expectation that the violin would eventually step forward. That is where it becomes more powerful and expressive.

In the future, there may absolutely be songs where the violin is mostly there for mood or texture. But right now I am still showing listeners the different ways this instrument can function inside modern K-pop, so I wanted “Dream Higher” to have both sides: atmosphere and impact.

When combining parts of K-pop with violin, what aspects are you looking for? How do you define that K-pop sound?

I look at K-pop almost more like a category than one specific genre. So many different genres can exist inside it. You can hear hip-hop, rock, R&B, electronic music, funk, Latin influences, and many other sounds, but the result can still undeniably feel like K-pop because of how the production, vocals, performance, choreography, visuals, and concept come together.

That is one reason I think violin fits K-pop so well. Violin can be romantic, classical, sad, aggressive, cinematic, sweet, or empowering. Most people still associate it mainly with classical music, and I want to challenge that idea.

My goal is to show that violin can exist inside almost every sub-style of K-pop. The way I play it changes depending on the song, and the production effects around it matter just as much.

For parts of “Dream Higher,” for example, I wanted the electric violin to almost have the attitude of an electric guitar in a rock band. So the playing itself had to become more aggressive. I used small slides and glissandos in certain moments, attacked the notes harder, and then shaped the sound further in production.

I will keep a few of the production secrets to myself, but the basic idea is that I do not want people to hear violin and automatically think “classical.” I want them to think, “That sounds like ALL’N.”

“Dream Higher” and “We Up” have both been released under your own company, SKS Entertainment, and you have been part of every step of the process. Was there a defining moment where you made that decision to do this on your own, and what did it feel like?

By the time I decided to return to K-pop, I was no longer the same person who had originally entered the industry as a trainee.

I had spent the years in between working on a global startup, helping build teams, managing people, handling partnerships and budgets, solving problems, and operating in very different markets around the world. At the same time, I still carried everything I had learned from being a trainee: auditions, evaluations, rehearsals, television production, and understanding what is actually required from the artist's side.

Eventually I realized those two parts of my life gave me a very unusual perspective. I understood what it felt like to be the person standing in the practice room waiting for someone else to decide whether I was ready, but I had also learned what it takes to be the person building the organization and making those decisions.

That was when the idea really changed for me. Instead of asking, “Which company is going to give me another opportunity?” I started asking, “Do I now have enough experience to create that opportunity myself?”

That question eventually became SKS Entertainment. It allowed me to pursue K-pop again, but this time with the responsibility of building the structure around my own career rather than waiting for someone else to build it for me.

SKS Entertainment has now also partnered with EMPIRE in the U.S.. How do you think or hope this will impact your journey as an artist?

Working with EMPIRE is something I could only have dreamed about when I was trying to figure out how to build all of this myself.

I especially want to thank Jungjoo at EMPIRE because she has gone far beyond simply distributing the music. She has genuinely tried to understand what I am building and has been helping me think about how to maximize the opportunity around the releases.

For an independent artist and company, having a global partner that believes in the music can make a huge difference. I still want SKS Entertainment to remain responsible for the creative vision and the work we need to do, but EMPIRE gives us experience, infrastructure, relationships, and a wider global reach that would be very difficult to recreate alone.

What means the most to me is that they were willing to listen to what I was creating and give me a chance very early in the journey. I do not take that for granted. I am excited to see where the partnership can lead, but I also know it is still my responsibility to make music worth pushing.

Given that your music is self-produced, would you be interested in creating music for other artists in the future?

Definitely, but probably more seriously later in my career.

After “We Up” was released, I actually had a few artists and people connected to entertainment companies ask whether I would be interested in helping produce music for their groups. That was really encouraging because it showed me that people were hearing something in the production beyond just my own artist project.

Right now, though, my time is extremely limited and I need to focus on building the ALL’N catalog and developing my own sound first.

Long term, I want SKS Entertainment to eventually audition, train, and develop future artists. When that day comes, I would love to take on a producer role and create music for artists under the company as well.

So yes, I can definitely see that becoming part of my future. I just think right now I still need to finish building my own musical foundation before I try to build someone else’s.

In several years for now, what do you want the name ALL’N to be recognised and known for? How do you want the industry to view you?

More than anything, I hope ALL’N becomes associated with having a positive effect on people.

I want someone who hears my music or learns about my story to feel that hard work can actually change the direction of your life. I also do not want to pretend that chasing a dream is easy or guaranteed. It takes sacrifice, risk, time, and sometimes you can give something everything you have and still not get the exact result you imagined.

For me, the point is not that everyone should blindly risk everything for a dream. The point is that if you know you would regret never trying, then you owe it to yourself to figure out what your best honest attempt looks like.

In the industry, I hope people eventually see me as someone who helped expand what a violin-driven K-pop artist can be, and what an artist who also builds his own company can look like. I want the music to be good enough that the story is not the only interesting thing about me.

And personally, I hope people see someone genuine. Someone who is ambitious, but is still learning. Someone who has fallen down before and knows it can happen again. Someone who keeps showing up anyway.

If years from now people can say, “ALL’N changed the game in his own way, made great music, and made me believe I could go further too,” that would mean more to me than any title.

And for anyone discovering me right now, this is still the beginning. If you want to see how far this violin-driven K-pop experiment and SKS Entertainment can really go, I hope you will come along for the journey.