Maps of Music

My Stay in Sendai (2002)

Where the lyrics of My Stay in Sendai take you, and where it was really made.

The jacket shows an old house in Sendai, but the music has nothing to do with the city.

Place unknown

Do you know where this album was recorded, or where its cover was shot? Tell us and we will add it to the map.

My Stay in Sendai: fourth album by Lee Soo-young
Released 11 September 2002
Jacket shows Lee Soo-young in front of a lyrical old house and a lotus pond in Sendai
The music has no connection to Sendai

Recorded right after the promotion for the third album, made in Winter, ended
The short production period raised doubts about the album's quality
The album nonetheless brought Lee Soo-young unprecedented popularity
Mostly lyrical ballads, with some faster tempo songs mixed in
First single is the ballad "Lalala", built on acoustic guitar and a mid-song orchestral section
Second single is "Debt", which charted steadily for a long time

Lee Soo-young (Korean: 이수영; born Lee Ji-yeon, 이지연 on April 12, 1979) is a South Korean ballad singer.
She debuted in 1999 with the hit album I Believe and quickly gained popularity due to her strong singing skills.
During the mid-2000s, she was one of South Korea's best-selling singers, selling more than 700,000 albums in 2004 alone despite a recession in the music industry at the time.
In 2001, she sang the official Korean version of the Final Fantasy X song "Suteki Da Ne", titled "얼마나 좋을까" ("Eolmana Joheulkka").
She released her seventh album, Grace, on January 21, 2006; it performed very well and shot straight to the top of the charts.
The album's popularity led to a limited edition repackage of Grace, of which only 30,000 copies were produced.

She married her boyfriend of one year in October 2010 and has one son, born in July 2011.

Tracks from track 12 onward, which include remakes and OST contributions, were pointed out as making the album feel dull
A remake of "Goodbye" drew comments that its lyrics did not fit Lee Soo-young's image
The dance track "Do Geun Do Geun" was a bright number with a rap-style feature from Kim Dong-wan of Shinhwa in its interlude

The album's overall colour is centred on lyrical ballads, with a few fast songs included
"Lalala" won the song's first chart-topping result and kept the singer's name in the public eye
"Lalala" was widely popular from the moment it was released and is one of the songs she sings most often on stage

Became the best-selling album of all Lee Soo-young's records
"Lalala" reached number one on the chart
"Debt" ranked on the charts for a very long time
"Lalala" and "Debt" were hits in succession, followed by the single "Goodbye" from the 2003 best album Sweet Holiday in Lombok
"Eol-ma-na Jo-eul-kka" charted high even though she did not do broadcast promotions for it

"Lalala" was used as an insert song in the Hotel Venus drama
"Do Geun Do Geun" was a bright dance number with a feature from Kim Dong-wan of Shinhwa in its interlude
"Eol-ma-na Jo-eul-kka" was on the OST of the PS2 game Final Fantasy X, and the game became better known to the general public in Korea through the song
The jacket photo shows Lee Soo-young in a lyrical old house with a lotus pond, though the music itself is not about Sendai