Singer confronts traumatic childhood
Many singer-songwriters write lyrics based on their own experiences and many of them are about their love stories. Singer-songwriter Cha Jung-won, who performs under his stage name “Car, the Garden,” is one of the rare artists who kept his personal stories separate from his musical life, until his new album.
“Many musicians I respect reflect their own stories into their music but I didn’t,” Cha said during a Korea Times interview at Ilji Art Hall in Seoul. “In this sense, this album is unique in that it is my first attempt for me to put my own story and my identity into the lyrics.”
His stage name is a reflection of his creative reinterpretation of his real name — his surname Cha is a homonym of “car” and his first name “Jung-won” means garden. Hence Car, the Garden.
Cha explained he was not particularly sad or depressed but naturally came to look back on his life and how he had been spending his time up until recently.
“I usually think that I should go with the flow. In order to do so, I had to look back on myself,” he said. In the album, “C,” — which stands for many things, including his name “Cha,” his favorite day, “Christmas” and his favorite thing “cigarettes” — is all about himself, his family and his childhood.
Asked why he decided to sing about his childhood, he said: “There was nothing more to say about love anymore. My love life is usually very simple. If I love someone I just love them, and if I don’t love them anymore, I stop seeing them. And at one point, there was nothing to say and write about love so I started about my childhood.”
For the music video “Dreamed a Dream,” he specifically uses his own family picture.
“Lately I have been thinking about the timing on what is right or wrong. What I thought was wrong may have been right then, and vice versa. I have been thinking of my childhood as trauma but I can face it now. I don’t particularly think that I miss that time or that it is precious but it is there,” he said.
“One day my childhood came up in a dream, and I thought I should make it into a song. If it is going to be there all the time, I thought I should not be tied to the past anymore,” he added.
Although this is his first time using his own experience in a song, he did not feel as uncomfortable as he had expected it to, and rather it felt right.
“Before I became famous through a TV audition show, I had a chance to tour around the country, and that really became my turning point. Although not many, there were more fans supporting me than I expected. That became a huge drive for me and became the motivation to continue making music until now,” he said.
His national tour starts Nov. 8.