Nearly three years after the release of his last album, popular ballad singer-songwriter Lee Juck has returned to the music scene with the release of his fifth studio album, “The Meaning of Solitude.”

The entire 10-track album was written and composed by the artist and features the sweet and soulful melodies that fans have come to expect from the singer; however, this time around, Lee has also decided to delve into new waters by taking on a number of hip-hop and even club-style tracks in keeping with today’s music trends.

“You know, ever since I debuted, I had never really tried out any trendy sounding tracks,” said Lee during a press conference held in Seorae Village in Bangbae-dong, Seoul on Wednesday.

“I think part of it is because I don’t really see myself as that kind of a fun and youthful person,” he said laughing. “I just got really curious about how it would sound.”

One of the singer’s takes on more youthful sounding tracks includes the single “Sarangi Mwogillae,” a hybrid track of rock, rap and electro featuring Korean hip-hop icon Tiger JK.

“I started thinking whether or not I could actually incorporate my sound well with more hip sounding music,” he said. “In terms of how well these songs will do on the music charts or how well the young kids these days will enjoy it, I’m not quite sure. But I just wanted to try something a bit different this time.”

In the past two years, Lee had written around 60 different tracks and after much deliberation and editing, the singer eventually selected the 10 tracks that he would feature on this album.

“As difficult as it was to create these songs, all the ones that I listened to and thought they were too common I just tossed out,” said the artist. “Overall, the songs that I have selected are songs that are full of life and ones that don’t lose their strength even if they are heard repeatedly.”

The album’s lead track is titled “Before Sunrise” and features singer Jung In. Lee explained that the single was “just like the movie ‘Before Sunrise,’” in that listening to it would give one the feeling of when a man and a woman are taking a simple stroll down the street and conversing with one another.

As one of the few singer-songwriters in today’s exceedingly performance-heavy music industry, the 39-year-old Seoul National University graduate made his debut in 1995 as a member of the duo “Panic” with his friend Kim Jin-pyo. Four years later, Lee released his solo album “Dead End.”

By the time his third album, “Songs Made of Wood,” rolled out in 2007, the artists had made a commanding sweep and nabbed “Album of the Year,” “Best Pop Album,” “Song of the Year” and “Best Pop Song” at the 2008 Korean Music Awards.

“I am already 40 (Korean age) now and sometimes I think about closing my eyes and waking up one day only to realize that I’m already 60 years old,” said Lee.

“Whenever I work on an album, I always look at it as though this one could very well be my last,” he went on to explain. “I always make an effort to put my all into my songs and I hope that people will be able to hear that when they listen to this album.”

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)