From Live to Milan on the return to Europe, the South Korean R&B artist tells Panorama Null, a musical journey between raw emotions, collaborations and rebirth
At the beginning of 2025 he had conquered Milan with a live that seemed more like an open -hearted meeting than a simple concert: soft lights, arrangements with attention to the last breath and that velvety voice that, without ever raising the tones, knows how to impose and stay on. Junny, one of the most elegant and visionary names of the South Korean R & B, now returns to be heard with Null, his second full album, ready to bring him back to Europe for a new tour that promises to mix intimacy and stage power.
Null, in the double meaning of “You” and “Nothing”, is a concept in twelve tracks that reads as a film script: the beginning and end of a love story, but above all the path of return to oneself. It opens with “No Morning”, which is actually the end of the journey, and from there the emotional wire goes up between songs such as “Passion, Pain & Pleasure”, the restless tension of “Sour” and the irresistible groove of “Energy”. Then the fall – “Sweet release”, “Limbo”, “DANGEROUS” – and finally the quiet of “Next to me”, where only the essential remains: a heart that, although marked, started beating again.
It is an album that alternates warmth and detachment, sensuality and melancholy, and which confirms Junny’s ability to transform emotion into sound architecture, merging R&B, funk and electronic shades into a personal and recognizable language. Not only a story of love and loss, but an act of self-regulating in music, where emptiness becomes creative matter and vulnerability is strength.
Panorama spoke exclusively with him.
How are you in this period and how would you define this moment of your life?
At this moment I feel as if I were in the middle of a reset. Everything I lived brought me here, and now it is a question of breathing again, go on with gratitude and welcome the unknown with curiosity.
Your new album is titled null. Why did you choose this title and what does it mean for you personally?
Null It represents both the collapse and the rebirth. For me it is the place where everything collapses and you think it is the end … but in reality it is the point where a new beginning begins silently.
Let’s start with “No Morning”. The song looks like a delicate declaration of opening: what emotions were you channeling while writing it?
It was inspired by that fragile space between dream and reality. Dolceamara quiet after a farewell, when everything still seems unreal.
“Passion, Pain & Pleasure” seems to have a double nature in the title. How did you balance vulnerability and strength in this passage?
I wanted to capture the nature as intoxicating as it is destructive of love. The force arises from admitting its vulnerability, and beauty lies in the way these two emotions coexist.
“Sour” is short but incisive. Was it conceived as a sharp emotional interlude or was born more spontaneously?
It was born completely spontaneously. It was like an explosion of pure emotions, just like when you meet that person who can change your life.
“Energy” has a positive and engaging energy. What has inspired the mood and direction of this passage, and how does your current mood represent?
At that point of the album I wanted a song that would best represent my current state. It is full, but not heavy. It is minimal, direct, with a touch of wit and capable of immediately capturing attention.
“Limbo”, with the colde, has a very cinematographic atmosphere. How was this collaboration born and what brought it is knocked in the universe of the song?
Colled and I have connected naturally. It has a talent in creating atmospheres that seem like a movie. His voice added a dreamlike and surreal layer that made the concept of “limbo” alive. After meetings, conversations and many exchanges of messages, I asked him if he wanted to be part of the album. He seemed enthusiastic and I was simply grateful for his willingness to listen and give his best for this song.
“Null (Interlude)” is minimal but conceptually strong. Why was it important for you to insert this moment of pause in the album?
It’s time for breakage. The end of the relationship. Writing an entire song about it did not seem right to me, and ironically I decided to transform what could be the culminating point of the album history into an interlude.
“Residue” seems the weight of the memories that remain. Was born from a specific personal experience?
Yes. It comes from my memories, from those of others, from all experiences. We all lose people in life and live a certain phase of pain and anger. This is “residual”.
“Weight of Time” is perhaps the most evocative title of the album. How do you bring or let the weight of time go to your music?
Time is both cruel and curative. I take it with me by writing – I have in my songs. I let him go by showing me, because each concert is a way to free him. There are many ways, but these are among the main ones.
The album ends with “Next to me”, with Seori, which has the warmth of a hug. What did you want to leave the listeners in this final moment?
It is acceptance. It is the last letter you send to that person. It is also the perspective of the other that it finally makes itself felt, to discover that after all we are not so different.
2025 was a very intense year for you. Now you are about to leave for your European tour: what can fans expect from the lineup and the atmosphere you want to create?
They can expect a trip. The ladder will cross ups tall, low, silences and chaos – iling the narrative arc of the album. The atmosphere will be intimate but explosive, like entering the heart of history. Without forgetting the songs outside the album, which will complete everything.
How did your relationship with the stage evolved and what do you feel that the public will return you during the performances?
The stage before seemed to me a pressure. It is now home. Fans give me honesty and their energy is a mirror that pushes me to be more courageous every time. It’s an incredible feeling.
Many fans have noticed that on stage it broadcasts much more security lately. How do you personally live this change?
For me it is not so much a matter of security as it was fun. I stopped thinking too much and I started to trust music. That freedom has naturally transformed into something that seems security.
Once you told me in Milan that your artistic path was like a white canvas that slowly takes textures. With nullwhere are we on that canvas?
With nullthe canvas is cracked, stratified, disordered, imperfect – but alive. It is no longer empty, and that’s exactly where I want to be.
