First recognised for his smooth vocals and sharp songwriting, Canadian-born but Seoul-based JUNNY has risen to become one of Korea’s most distinctive R&B voices. He's steadily built a solo career that bridges underground R&B textures with mainstream accessibility, and his music – which doesn’t always fit neatly within K-pop’s expansive framework – carries a cinematic intimacy and emotional honesty that has helped him resonate with audiences worldwide. His latest album, null, is a continuation of that journey, a record designed to speak to listeners across borders.

An album built to be felt as much as heard, null’s twelve tracks unfold like a film, tracing love, loss, and the work that comes with rebuilding after heartbreak. For international listeners who may not catch every lyric, JUNNY sees the emotional story in tones, silences, and shifts in energy – the way melodies rise and fall, the way arrangements breathe. The music is cinematic, but it’s also intimate; the narrative doesn’t need translation, because feelings themselves are universal.

Tracks like “SOUR” embody that turbulence, while “Energy” turns attraction into certainty; softer moments like “residue” and “Next To Me” prove that restraint can carry more weight than sound. “Weight of Time” pushes JUNNY’s sonics even further, bending traditional song structures into a rhapsodic form that mirrors the unpredictability of emotion. Through it all, what’s clear is that the record is built to resonate across languages and borders with anyone who has lost themselves in the aftermath of love.

While rooted in Korean R&B, JUNNY refuses to be pinned down by labels. Some international listeners may first approach his music as K-pop, but he finds they quickly realise that at its core, it’s R&B: honest, unflinching, personal. Touring with null gives him the chance to translate that intimacy to the stage, and his European tour offers the first chance for audiences to experience null live.

null unfolds like a film of love, loss, and renewal. How do you hope international listeners, who may approach the album without understanding all the lyrics, connect with that emotional journey?

JUNNY: Music has always been more than words — it’s tone, color, silence, and energy. Even if someone doesn’t understand every lyric, I hope they feel the emotions in the melodies, in the way the songs rise and fall. null was built like a film, so the story should carry through the atmosphere alone. My goal is for listeners anywhere to close their eyes and feel the journey without needing a translation.

The title carries both the intimacy of “you” and the emptiness of “nothing.” Do you think that kind of duality resonates even more strongly across different languages and cultures?

Yes, because those feelings — closeness and emptiness — are universal. Every culture understands love, and every culture understands loss. The fact that “null” can mean both at the same time makes it even more powerful, because it mirrors how complicated emotions really are. That duality doesn’t need a single language — it’s something everyone has lived through.

You’re rooted in R&B, but this album stretches across genres. Which song pushed you furthest out of your comfort zone?

“Weight of Time.” It was my first time experimenting with a rhapsodic form, breaking away from traditional song structures. It felt risky, because I wasn’t sure how people would react to something that bends and shifts so much. But it allowed me to express emotions in a way that felt raw and unrestrained — exactly what the album needed.

You’ve often been described as one of the leading voices in Korean R&B. Do you feel the global rise of K-pop has helped shine more light on artists like you, or has your path been separate from that wave?

I think both can be true. The rise of K-pop opened the world’s eyes to music from Korea, and that naturally gave more space for other genres like R&B to be heard. At the same time, my journey has been about carving my own lane. I’m grateful that the global spotlight exists, but I also want to show that Korean artists can exist outside of K-pop and still resonate deeply.

When international fans discover your music, do you feel they’re hearing it first as “K-pop,” “K-R&B,” or just R&B? Does that categorisation matter to you?

I think some people first approach it as K-pop, because that’s the biggest entry point to Korean music. But once they dive in, they usually see it’s R&B at the core. For me, categories aren’t as important as connection. Whether someone calls it K-R&B or just R&B, what matters is if they feel something real when they listen.

You’re about to head out on your Europe tour. What excites you most about bringing null to a live audience there?

The thought of sharing these songs in rooms full of people who might be hearing them live for the first time is so exciting. null is very personal, but when it’s performed, it transforms — it becomes about everyone in the room. I’m looking forward to seeing how European fans react, how they sing along, how they make the music theirs.

R&B is often seen as an intimate, personal genre. How do you translate that intimacy onto a stage in front of thousands of fans around the world?

For me, it’s about being honest in the moment. Even on a big stage, if I can lock eyes with the crowd, let silence breathe between songs, or sing a line as if I’m speaking directly to someone, the intimacy is there. R&B doesn’t lose its closeness just because the room is bigger — it just means more people get to feel it together.

With null being such a personal album, how do you see your next steps as a global artist? Do you want to lean deeper into storytelling, or push further into musical experimentation?

I think both paths are connected. Storytelling is always at the heart of my music, but experimenting with sound gives me new ways to tell those stories. Moving forward, I want to keep challenging myself — deeper narratives, new genres, unexpected textures. I never want to repeat myself, and that’s what keeps me growing as an artist.

Having taken your music to audiences around the world, what has stood out to you most about how international fans connect with your songs?

What stands out is how personal the connection becomes, even across languages. Fans will tell me how a song reminded them of their own heartbreak, or how it gave them comfort during a tough time. Sometimes they interpret the lyrics in ways I didn’t even think of, and that’s beautiful to me. It shows the music has a life of its own once it leaves me.

If someone’s first encounter with you was seeing you perform on this tour, what would you hope they understood about JUNNY as an artist?

I’d hope they see that I’m someone who puts honesty first. Whether it’s through R&B, pop, or something experimental, the goal is always to make people feel something real. If someone walks away from a show thinking, “he meant every word he sang,” then that’s all I could ask for.