Rising American singer Julian Lerner is gaining buzz among Korean listeners for his English remake of the popular 1999 Korean ballad, “Geudaeman Itdamyeon,” which, in English, means, “If Only I Had You.” In his latest single, “Even If,” the 18-year-old reimagines the ‘90s original as a nostalgic dance-pop track rather than a ballad, giving it a modern twist while still maintaining the longing in its arrangement and lyrics. Considering K-pop has drawn from Western music since its inception, having that influence flow in the opposite direction is resonating with people far beyond what the singer anticipated.

Tracing back to Seo Taiji and Boys in the '90s, Korean music began incorporating genres such as hip-hop, techno, and rock to modernise South Korea's music scene. SM Entertainment founder and former CEO Lee Soo-man was similarly drawn to Motown artists and figures like Michael Jackson while studying in California. Drawing on what he'd absorbed of American music and pop culture, Lee returned home in 1985 and began working as a DJ and presenter, eventually founding SM Entertainment in 1995 and becoming one of the primary forces bringing R&B, funk, dance, pop, and hip-hop to Korea's teenage demographic.

K-pop's interest in Western music has never wavered since, continuously adapting what's popular overseas to fit a Korean context. Even ballads – now a staple genre distinct from the typical K-pop sound – have Western roots, drawing from soul and R&B and popularised by artists like Lionel Richie and Barbra Streisand. Trot, often considered Korea's most distinctly national genre, carries Japanese, American, and European influences of its own. Nearly every major form of popular Korean music since the 1950s has intersected with Western music in some way.

Korean ballads, however, carry a distinctly cultural touch that transforms their American origins into something that feels authentically different. For many Koreans, this is the music they grew up on throughout the 1980s and '90s, passed down through their parents. That's part of why the response to Julian Lerner's remake has been so warm. Originally performed by Korean duo Ilgiyebo (Korean for Weather Forecast) in 1999, "If Only I Had You" has been remade several times since – by rock group Loveholics in 2006, as an OST for the webtoon Soulmates of Past Life in 2022, and by rock band Nerd Connection in 2023. Lerner's "Even If" marks the first time a Western artist has reinterpreted it, approaching the ballad from entirely outside the tradition it came from.

Before his music career, Lerner had his first acting role in the 2017 Christmas comedy Pottersville, followed by the 2021 Netflix film Yes Day and Disney Channel's Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires in 2025. "Even If" marks his fourth single since shifting focus toward music.

Korean response to the remake has been notably warm. One YouTube commenter praised the arrangement for preserving the original's feel while giving it pop sensibility, calling it the most perfect reinterpretation they'd heard in years. Another noted how unusual it felt to see a Korean song reimagined by an artist from outside Korea, thanking Lerner for the gesture.

K-pop songs sampling or interpolating Western music are nothing new – LE SSERAFIM's "BOOMPALA" recently sampled "Macarena," and MEOVV's "DDI RO RI" reaches back further still, reworking Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor." Lerner's choice runs the reverse direction, and it isn't incidental. He's been vocal about his appreciation for K-pop, posting reaction content and covers of TWICE in the past – this is a fan's intentional engagement with the genre, not a random fusion.

With K-pop's mainstream presence growing and Kpop Demon Hunters drawing global attention, more people are looking to South Korea for inspiration – a sign that the country's influence on global music consumption is starting to flow both ways. Lerner's nod to the past makes the same point from a different angle: K-pop as it exists today is inseparable from the decades of musical exchange that built it.