At a very young age, a will to convey feelings through music

Cheon Seung-Hyun was born on April 24th, 1993, in South Korea, where he had a pretty normal youth. His parents were pretty strict and wanted him and his sister to succeed both in school and socially.

However and very quickly, Cheon Seung-Hyun started to question this conformism and strived to show his parents that there was no one right way to live one’s life, no one right path one would have to follow, and music helped him a lot to come to this conclusion.

It was in 8th grade, so around 14/15 years old that his relationship to music truly changed. Like most of the people, he was casually listening to music when one day, a track from Akon deeply affected him. He loved that track so much that he finally came to wonder if he could manage to convey such emotions, not to be a simple listener anymore but to create his own sound.

“I listened to his song and it was so good, that moment I was like ‘These kinds of songs, how do you make something like this’ It just came into my head so I thought ‘Should I try making a song?”

Millic in an interview for HIGHGRND

Motivated by this new aspiration, the teenager started to visit online musical platforms, especially the Jungle Radio community, in which amateurs meet and perform. One figure was especially standing out in this community: DEAN, who was only 17 back then and was at the time known as a rapper. Millic, aged 16, decided to contact him to share his will to become a rapper too.

He had relatively standard adolescence. In an interview, he admitted that younger, he tended to have a strong temper and that he particularly liked to just hang out with his friends. 

The United States, a decisive break in the artist’s life

In 2014, aged 20/21, his life took a turn as he went to the US to study. MILLIC explained that this time abroad practically made him. From a personal viewpoint but also as an artist.

Back then, the goal was mainly to live a new experience, to challenge himself. In this way, not only did he left Korea even though his English was rather broken, but he also went there without even a place to stay. He just had two suitcases and one big bag. Therefore he admitted that at the moment, without any place to live, he kind of questioned his life choices.

However, he managed to find a solution; life got back to normal. After classes that he found more and more boring, he started to hang around in the neighborhoods. He liked it so much that he eventually stopped going to school and instead began to visit the country. He even did a two-weeks trip alone for instance. 

But besides these discoveries, it’s also at this time that he genuinely met Dean, who was in the USA as well as a Joombas producer. Not only did they become real friends, but after some time, they came up with the project to create an artists collective aiming to bring a new color to the Korean scene.

This project came true through the CLUBESK*MO, which was launched between 2015 and 2016 and made of artists from diverse backgrounds such as Crush, the duo OFFONOFF, Punchnello, 2xxx!, Campergraphic (or Rad Museum), Miso and Chekparren.

The HIGHGRND recognition

It’s complicated to follow the producers’ activity as they aren’t always credited, or it takes a lot of researches to find about it. Hence I must admit that when it comes to Millic, I don’t really know what he might have produced before joining HIGHGRND. Especially as these days, his Soundcloud account is purely decorative.

Or, well, after some researches it seems that in 2014 he seemingly did a remix of La La La by Naughty Boy featured by Sam Smith. MILLIC’s remix is on a slight alternative EDM atmosphere. But he also did a remix of Faded by the English/American House/Electro producer ZHU in 2015 or even one of Bouquet of Love by the singer Sherry W. Both are already more on a hybrid vibe.

But let’s go back to HIGHGRND, on March 29th, 2016, he was the last out of three artists to be announced during the HIGHGRNDWEEK, where the label presented its recruits. Beside Millic, HIGHGRND also counted Punchnello and the duo OFFONOFF; the three of them were members of CLUBESK*MO as well.

Millic would have helped Punchnello a lot during his negotiations with the label by the way. Both are very close, and Millic even produced all the tracks from Lime, Punchnello’s mini-album released in September that same year. Millic’s musical identity is really recognizable. This time he opted for both quite a Jazz vibe tinged with some zesty sonorities.

Before this, he also did a remix of Oasis, a collaboration from Crush and Zico, but he also remixed Apachi’s Toujours Youth featured by Xin Seha.

VIDA – An artistic and personal outcome

In 2017, he contributed the production of Outside, a song from Crush’s eponymous triple single released in June and featured by Beenzino.

However, 2017 was above all the occasion for Millic to unveil in July his first album VIDA. Made of nine tracks this album includes an MV for the track Paradise. With this song, the producer confirmed that he was now a member of the crew Fanxy Child. In this way, he joined Zico, Crush, Penomeco, Stay Tuned, and DEAN.

The title of the album comes from the name of a place he used to stay when he was living in L.A: “Vida Hollywood”. He simply shortened the name. More generally the album is about happiness, happiness in all of its forms, a reflection about happiness. He explained staying in the USA, changed his view on happiness. 

This album has also been an opportunity for him to refine this reflection about happiness since every artist featured in this album also had their own perception of the concept. Fanxy Child, CLUBESK*MO, Jang Pil Soon, HAN but also international artists like the Australian Ta-ku, the American Julius, the Irish rapper Rejjie Snow (Ed. an excellent artist, his projects are really interesting) or the Filipinos singer (((O))). The exchange dimension has been really at the heart of the creative process of this album, you can see it through the [MAKING FILM] series available on HIGHGRND YouTube Channel. It’s thanks to his collaboration with Jang Pil Soon that he realized that happiness wasn’t only about happy moments but that it was a very more complex state.  

« Lonely and empty feeling is also… That is also happy »

Jang Pil Soon – [MAKING FILM] for the DOOR track

Consequently, the track which marked him the most is none other than TREASURE ISLAND featured by HAN. Treasure Island is a place in San Francisco where you can admire the looming coast of the city. So happiness is also this moment he just stayed at this place for 4 hours, simply contemplating the view.

“It’s a song I wrote being inspired at that place. I think that track is meaningful for me because I remember every detail about that place”

Millic in an interview for HIGHGRND

A mosaic of emotions, that’s how the album VIDA can be described. Millic wanted VIDA to be an album that could be comforting but which also would be suitable for moments of joy.

In July 2018 Crush unveiled his album Wonderlost and Millic would have contributed.

Millic – An artist just like his music

Therefore, when Millic has been asked to describe himself in a word, the producer simply answered “Millic”. For those who would have been wondering, it’s worth noting that Cheon, his family name, means a thousand in Korean. In this way he just took the Spanish translation of the number, which is to say “Mil”, and he made his stage name from that.

But what is the meaning behind this? His motto might be more clarifying:

“Let’s not put a limit on something. Whatever it is”.

His career is also driven by this same unwavering determination and it’s thanks to it that he managed to become the artist he is nowadays. Still in the interview for HIGHGRND, he explained that before going to the USA, moved by that will to develop his own musical flavor, he was already producing. However, it had hardly been without effort. For a whole year, he had relentlessly listened to sounds of all sorts, even while eating. At the time he used to sleep only 4hours a day. And, if it had probably been hard, as much physically as mentally, he admitted that this experience deeply marked him and that he feels that it helps him a lot for his productions today.

More generally, Millic seems to be a paradoxical mix of hyperactivity and calmness. The artist is indeed pursuing very simple things. In that same interview for HIGHGRND he also explained that for him, heaven would just be to have a drink on the beach; contemplating the water while listening to music. As for music, he would just love to have the opportunity to go on a tour with people who matter to him, first in South-Korea and then abroad, to spread his music. He was already aiming for that when he was younger, and he is still striving for it.

Sharing is also an important notion for him as all the work of research behind his album VIDA shows it, but he also wants his stage performances to be about sharing. To be able to provide a performance that would entertain the audience. Hence he works a lot for it.

In this way, Millic seems to be on the right track for showing that no, life isn’t limited to the conventional path. Millic is an artist who is constantly challenging himself while making a point to stay in tune with who he truly is, to stay in tune with what drives him, and the messages he is striving to convey.

“What I really wish people would strive for a bit more is looking for what suits them, what they like… Being able to take extra step and look for, that is what I want from people.”  

HIGHGRND