Dean

Instagram

by Federico Romagnoli

Dean – “Instagram”

(digital single, 2017)

Kwon Hyuk (권혁), known artistically as Dean, is one of the most important names in contemporary South Korean music, even though his output has gradually dwindled, in direct proportion to his own retreat from the media spotlight.

Having emerged from behind the scenes, after working from a very young age as a producer and songwriter for other artists, Dean ultimately withdrew back into the shadows, likely having realized that the spotlight simply wasn't for him. South Korea, after all, is one of the countries in the world that places the most pressure on its major entertainment industry names, as already recounted on OndaRock in the recent article "The dark side of K-pop": it's understandable not wanting to remain entangled in that mix of hysteria, performance anxiety, relentless work schedules, loss of privacy, the fear that every word spoken and every single move could spark a scandal, plus the possibility, in the worst-case scenario, of suffering mistreatment at the hands of managers, record labels and other people in positions of power.

In 2017 the artist made a song that fully captured his unease with this world, pointedly titled "Instagram". At the time his name was already fairly well known to the general public: the previous year his first EP, "130 Mood: TRBL", had reached number 10 on the Gaon albums chart, and a few months later the track "Come Over" had climbed as high as number 6 on the singles chart.

Helped along by a videoalready regarded as one of the classics of K-pop, and by lyrics that clearly struck a chord with many of his young peers, "Instagram" went straight in at number 1, racking up two and a half million downloads over time, as well as drawing attention beyond national borders (to this day it boasts 184 million streams on Spotify and 166 million views on YouTube, combining its various videos).

Given the discretion he has always tried to maintain, there is some confusion as to who helped Dean make the track: according to the credits on streaming platforms such as Tidal or Spotify, the song was written by Deanfluenza, Highhopes, 2xxx!, Chekparren, Jusén, Miso and Reone.

Deanfluenza is simply another alias of Dean's, while the others are his fellow members of Club Eskimo, a collective of independent musicians working across r&b, hip hop and indie pop, supporting one another on their respective releases.

2xxx!, aka Kim Han-sang, is a producer with two albums and two EPs to his name, released between 2017 and 2023.

Chekparren, aka Cho Dae-hee (also known as moniker Daehee), is a DJ with no releases under his own name, aside from the featuring made with the various musicians he's lent a hand to.

Jusén, aka Kim Juseon, is a producer who made a tentative attempt at singing before returning behind the scenes (the only track released under his name, co-written with Dean, is titled “Dust”).

Miso, aka Kim Miso (not to be confused with the influencer of the same name), is a singer and producer with an album, an EP and several singles released from 2016 to the present day.

Reone, aka Lee Won-seok, has worked as a producer since 2013 (his stage name often appears in the graphic variant Re:one) and has no releases of his own.

The mystery remains around Highhopes: the only source available on the matter, in the Nautiljon's database, lists them as a group of producers made up of the already-mentioned Chekparren and Re:one, together with Jeffrey Yoo. This is probably incorrect information, since Yoo isn't a musician but a manager (he's the one who helped Dean break through and sign to Universal). The most sensible theory is that Highhopes is a front name used by the members of Club Eskimo, and it's no coincidence that searching for the track in performance rights organizations' archives turns up only the six credited names already mentioned.

There's no way of knowing to what extent each of them contributed to the track, the production of which is in any case credited solely to Dean, further proof of his need to exercise absolute control over his own work (understandable, in a world like K-pop, where many artists are little more than puppets).

The track, one of contemporary R&B's gems, opens with the chirping of crickets, setting its nighttime mood, while in the first minute Dean sings gently over a clear-toned electric guitar, tinged with jazz nuances. After a few seconds of a lo-fi interlude, where the sound turns crackly, the rest of the arrangement kicks in: programmed rhythm, hand claps and a bassline hold up the structure, leaving a considerable amount of empty space, filled in by small sounds tucked away in the background, such as vocalizations (some filtered, some echoing, others cut short and sent into loop), electronic whistles, buzzing and ambient noises.

Thanks to these touches, to the rises and falls in intensity of Dean's voice, streaked with soulas well as to the shifts in tempo (small accelerations, pauses, restarts sometimes gradual, sometimes sudden) and to the elaborate composition [note], the track develops a surprising dynamism, while remaining essentially stark in its sonic impact and never giving the sense of overreaching, as noted at the time by journalist Austin R. Ryan for Lemon Wire.

It’s a choice that perfectly suits the melancholy of the lyrics, which describe the insecurities and anxieties that image-based social networks, like Instagram itself, have instilled in an entire generation:

I know tomorrow's coming,

but I can't put my phone down,

sleep won't come,

so I'm on Instagram, Instagram again.

So many cool people here,

some of them went on vacation,

I didn't hit "like",

because it feels like I'm the only one

in here, on Instagram, Instagram.

It's a problem, a problem

all over the world,

it's the same love song,

but it can't reach me,

inside my night

there are too many thoughts.

It's complicated

changing so often,

I want to stop,

this damned information age

has really gone wrong,

lately it seems like knowing more

is painful.

The further I go,

the harder it gets,

I wonder if it's just me.

Besides clubs,

besides movies, is there nothing else?

In the end, [I stay] in my neighborhood.

There's a hole in my heart,

nothing can fill it,

I'm sinking now

inside a square sea.

All night wasting time like this,

in here, on Instagram.

[I'm] alone, alone, so alone,

it's always this hard,

it's not possible, it's not possible, inside this feed

there's only a world far from me.

Photos uploaded for nothing,

my feelings are hidden behind them,

but nobody knows,

I'm wandering again

in here, on Instagram.

Well, how have you been lately?

I still can't sleep.

Your short hair looks really nice,

but I didn't hit "like"

because it seemed a bit odd.

All night wasting time like this,

on your Instagram

The track was meant to be part of an album, announced and then repeatedly postponed by Dean, until news of it simply dried up. Today, eight years on, Dean has only released a scattered handful of other singles, which nonetheless takes nothing away from his weight within the local scene: artists like 4bout and Aleph are clearly his offshoots, carrying forward his ideas with great creativity, while he, the source of it all, has chosen to step back into the shadows.

[note] A whole separate article could be written on this alone, covering harmonic tensions, slash chords, suspended cadences, chromatic transitions, and so on.

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30/04/2026

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Federico Romagnoli, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Dean on OndaRock

Go to artist page

Discography

Composition and arrangement:
Dean (Kwon Hyuk), Chekparren (Cho Dae-hee), Jusén (Kim Juseon), 2xxx! (Kim Han-sang), Miso (Kim Miso), Reone (Lee Won-seok)

Lyrics: Dean
Production: Dean
Label: Universal
Release date: December 26, 2017
Length: 4'15''

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