Ryu Ji-gwang releases folk rock single 'The Boxer' on October 13

Ryu Ji-gwang steps outside his trot lane

Ryu Ji-gwang released the single The Boxer (더 박서) on October 13 through online music sites. Folk rock. A deliberate departure from the trot-adjacent image he built after appearing on TV Chosun's Tomorrow is Mr. Trot in 2020, where his signature "cave bass" (동굴 저음) voice made him one of the show's most recognizable contestants.

Analog instruments and a spare band arrangement carry the track, with Ryu's rough-edged, warm baritone on top. Life as a boxing ring: everyone gets knocked down, the song is about getting back up. The production team describes it as a song of encouragement aimed at no specific generation or genre—just anyone grinding through their own daily fight.

The composer's intent, in his own words

Singer-songwriter Lee Dong-eun (이동은) wrote the track. He put it plainly:

"I think everyone experiences a moment in life where they feel they've lost everything."

Lee added that he hopes The Boxer becomes "a small comfort to those going through difficult times and conveys the courage to stand up again."

A career built on restarts

The song's theme maps onto Ryu's own biography pretty directly. He was street-cast in his third year of middle school to prepare for an acting debut, but the agency's representative died suddenly and the plan collapsed. At 19, he joined a major entertainment company to train as an idol singer, then left without debuting when the company ran into its own problems. He eventually made his industry entrance through MTV Korea's rookie development program Ryu Ji World (류지월드).

Since then he has worked as a singer, model, and actor, performing at venues and festivals across the country. His most recent TV appearance was on KBS 1TV's National Song Show (전국노래자랑). The gap between his origin story and this folk rock release is a lot to pack into one single.

With The Boxer, Ryu is leaning into a more candid vocal tone than his existing catalog has shown.