Chang Kiha, “Envy None”

Earlier this year Chang Kiha, the former leader of the legendary K-indie band Kiha & The Faces, took South Korea’s music scene by storm with the release of his first solo EP Levitation. The album’s lead track “Envy None,” with its quirky yet strangely addictive tune and incisive, relatable lyrics, became an instant hit among Korean millennials and Gen Zers, who even turned it into a meme song. In his trademark spoken word-style of rapping, Chang asserts that the way to one-up everyone else in a bragging contest is to, well, brag about not feeling jealous. “If you have something you want to brag about, brag as much as you want / I’m fine with that / Because I’m not jealous / I’m not jealous at all,” Chang raps, later adding, “There’s someone in the world who doesn’t know what envy is / Do you know who that is? It’s me.” “Envy None” exemplifies Chang’s subtle creativity, masterful wordplay and distinctive flow that have endeared him to many Koreans. Not to mention, the song’s trippy, hypnotic music video is performance art at its finest. 

Read the full article on Teen Vogue.