Before @jovenatheart arrived in Seoul, I caught up Lee Sang Bum, a friend and former member of now defunct kpop group Demion. Since their disbandment in October 2014, Lee Sang Bum has ventured into making his own music in the hip-hop genre.

We sat down with Lee Sang Bum/Ve-Known for a chat and he talked about his new album and life beyond being a kpop star.

Lee Sang Bum now goes by the stage name of Ve-Known and he manages All Around Crew, a hip hop and instrumental crew which he is also a part of. All Around Crew has recently released a new album entitled “Never Too Late” on 20 December 2018.

The album and title track “Never Too Late” was written and produced by Ve-Known himself. Ve-Known was inspired to write “Never Too Late” after a conversation with Taeyang/Jenissi, former Topp Dogg member, while they were hanging out. They were talking about life and if it was too late for them to make a comeback in the music scene. And of course, it’s never too late for anything in life so through this song, Ve-Known would like to tell everyone out there that it’s never too late to pursue their dreams.

The second track in the album ‘What you like?’ is for people who are indecisive and can’t make a decision. Hence the song what asks the indecisive people to tell him what do they like?

When asked what is the difference being a kpop idol vs being on his own, he laughed and said that the differences are like the mountain vs the sea. Being a Kpop idol, everything is taken care of by the agency and being an independent, he has to do everything on his own. However, being an independent means he gets to do whatever he wants so that is the biggest difference.

I also took this opportunity to ask him about the rest of the former members of Demion. Ve-Known mentioned that they are still in touch with each other and do meet up frequently as well. He also mentioned that Nakhun and him are planning on creating a YouTube channel that touches on topics about Korea. The YouTube channel would be English based so I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m really glad to hear that Ve-Known and the rest of former members of Demion are doing well and I wish them all the best in their projects and ventures.

Catch the full interview with Ve-Known in Seoul here: