When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and that is exactly what Korean singer, violinist, former survival show contestant, and current SKS Entertainment label owner ALL’N is doing with his latest second single, “Dream Higher.”
Before debuting as a K-pop artist, ALL’N held ground as an award-winning, classically trained violinist. After leaving school to pursue music full-time, he gained experience as a trainee in China.
Now, he returns with his second single under his own label, sharing his story through music, lyrics, and social media. Raw and authentic, ALL’N gives us an inside look at the journey behind the artist.
In lyrics that boldly state, “My idols are my rivals too,” ALL’N reframes the idea of competition, not as disrespect or shade, but as a commitment to keep working until the distance between inspiration and possibility no longer feels permanent.
Visually, the music video for “Dream Higher” is just as striking as the song itself. ALL’N is washed in rain as he dances and performs with instruments, including guitar and violin, creating a powerful sense of solitude and self-reliance.
In our conversation with ALL’N about his new release, “Dream Higher,” a track that reads like an autobiography set to music, we explore his evolving sound through the violin, his commitment to authenticity, and the journey that continues to push him to dream higher. Performing on Music Bank and M Countdown was once the goal, now, those milestones have only inspired him to set his sights even higher.
And, of course, we had some fun chatting about ALL’N’s love for Korean BBQ!
My name is Emma Salehi, and I’m from The Knockturnal. When I heard your story, I was immediately drawn to your dream and your journey. I’m so excited to chat with you about your second single, “Dream Higher,” because I believe the combination of your sound, violin, and deeply personal storytelling makes this track especially powerful. Let’s get into it!
Let’s start with “Dream Higher.” This song is a hard hitter, but more importantly, it tells a deeply personal story, your own. Lyrics like “Then one day, a spark lit up… Then I fell back down again” speak to the vulnerability and challenges of your journey toward becoming a K-pop idol. How do you tap into those personal experiences when writing your lyrics, and why is it important for you to tell your own story through your music?
For “Dream Higher,” I didn’t really have to invent a story because the lyrics came directly from my personal experience, from different chapters of my life.
When I say, “Then one day, a spark lit up,” I’m thinking about the moment I went from entering a survival show in China ranked near the bottom to being promoted into A Class and suddenly trending number one on Weibo. For a moment, I really thought everything I had sacrificed was finally paying off. And then when I say, “Then I fell back down again, silence hit me like before,” that is what it felt like when that future disappeared and I had to start over.
I think telling my own story is important because I don’t want to make motivational music that sounds like I’m giving people advice from some perfect position. I want people to know that when I say “dream higher,” I’m saying it because there were many times when continuing to dream was the only thing I had.
Another key element of “Dream Higher” is your brilliant violin playing throughout the song. You’re an incredible violinist, and you’ve also shared violin covers on social media too! What inspired you to incorporate such a personal part of your identity into your second single?
The violin gives “Dream Higher” another emotional voice. The song has futuristic synths, electric guitar, trap/rock inspired drums, vocals, melodic rap, and a big, chantable K-pop chorus, but the violin gives it that cinematic and emotional layer that connects everything together. I never want the violin to feel like something I added just because I happen to play it. I want it to be part of the DNA of the song.
With “Dream Higher,” it can feel vulnerable in some moments and then powerful and almost triumphant in another. That contrast hopefully matches the story of the song.
Do you see the violin continuing to be a defining element of your music, and when did your journey with the instrument begin?
Absolutely. I started playing violin when I was nine years old, long before I ever thought about becoming a K-pop artist.
Before singing, dancing, producing, or performing as ALL’N, violin was the first way I learned how to communicate through music. It is also built directly into my artist name. My English name, ALL’N, represents my mentality of going “all in” and giving everything I have to whatever I choose to pursue. But in Korean, my name is written 올린, which are also the final two syllables of 바이올린, the Korean word for violin.
So the violin is not something I plan to move away from as my music evolves. Every ALL’N song will include violin in some form. Sometimes it may be the main focus of the track, sometimes it may support or embellish the production, and other times it may appear through a solo or instrumental moment. I don’t want every song to sound the same, though. The violin can be emotional, aggressive, cinematic, futuristic, or delicate depending on the story I’m telling.
That’s what excites me about building violin-driven K-pop. The violin will always be there, but I still have so many different ways to use it.
The entire time I was listening, and re-listening, to the track, I kept thinking that “Dream Higher” feels like a stadium-worthy track. When you were creating the song, what emotions did you want listeners to feel, especially when it comes to the idea of dreaming higher?
I wanted the verses to feel almost lonely, because that is what chasing a dream can actually feel like before anybody sees the result. Then when the chorus comes in, I wanted that loneliness to turn into something people could shout together.
“Dream, dream, dream higher.” I wanted it to feel like thousands of people could eventually sing those words together at a concert. The emotion I wanted was not just happiness. It was more like determination turning into hope. You can be tired. You can be scared. You can fail. But you can still decide to take another step. That is the feeling I wanted the chorus to give people.
One lyric that really stood out to me was “My idols are my rivals too.” Rather than being a statement of competition or shade, I see it as a promise to yourself to keep working until the distance between inspiration and possibility no longer feels permanent.
What idols have inspired you throughout your journey, and how has this saying motivated you to keep pushing toward your own goals?
That is probably one of my favorite lyrics in the song because I know it can sound a little provocative at first. But I don’t mean “rival” as disrespect or as saying I’m already on the same level as the artists I admire. I mean that I refuse to believe the distance between inspiration and possibility has to stay permanent. Artists like Jungkook have inspired me because of the level of performance, discipline, versatility, and global impact they have achieved. And there have been many other artists throughout my journey who showed me what was possible.
When I was younger, I could only look at people like that and think, “I want to be like them someday.” Now I think differently. My idols can still inspire me, but they can also become the standard that pushes me to keep improving until hopefully one day I can stand beside them as a peer. That’s what “my idols are my rivals too” means to me.
Your journey has also involved the less glamorous side of pursuing a dream, the lonely nights, long hours, empty rooms, and the unseen or unheard sacrifice you faced while continuing to believe in a future that no one else could see yet. What kept you going during those moments when the dream felt the furthest away?
I think part of it was that I knew I would have a harder time living with the question “What if I had kept going?” then I would live through another failure. There were definitely periods when there was no audience, no company preparing something for me, and no proof that any of the work I was doing would lead anywhere. So I focused on what I could control.
I trained. I kept producing. I practiced. I started lifting seriously. I learned how to build and operate businesses. I saved money. I kept developing myself even when I didn’t know exactly where all of it would lead. That’s why the opening says: “Lonely nights, long hours. No lights, just faith. Unseen, unheard.”
At certain points, faith really was the only proof I had.
You’ve established yourself as a violin-driven K-pop solo artist while also building and managing your own company, SKS Entertainment! Why was it important to you to create your own company and have that level of control over your career and creative journey? How has sharing your process and experiences on social media shaped the way you connect with your audience?
I had already experienced what it felt like to have very little control over my time and my future while pursuing this industry. So when I decided to seriously return to K-pop, I knew that if I was going to take this risk again, I wanted to build a structure where I could take responsibility for my own decisions.
No K-pop company ever debuted me. Eventually, I built the company that would. Through SKS Entertainment, I have had to find the teams, fund the projects, make creative decisions, negotiate, plan releases, and then somehow switch sides and still be the artist who has to sing, dance, perform, and stand in front of the camera.
It is much harder than simply having creative freedom, because freedom also means responsibility. Social media has helped me show people that side of the journey. I don’t want N’CORE to only see the final three-minute performance. I want them to understand some of the work, mistakes, injuries, uncertainty, and decisions that happened before those three minutes existed. I think that honesty has made the relationship much more personal.
ALL’N, you’ve had so many chapters in your journey, you’re a violinist, writer, DJ, and now you’re living the K-pop dream that inspired “Dream Higher.” Now that you’re actually living the dream you once imagined, how does it feel? Has the dream changed now that you’re inside of it, or has it gotten ‘higher?’
The funny thing is that achieving the dream did not make me stop dreaming. It just moved the finish line.
Before debut, I thought, “If I can just stand on Music Bank or M Countdown as a K-pop artist, I’ll have made it.” Then I actually stood there. And almost immediately I realized: this is not the ending. This is the beginning. Now I want to become a better vocalist, performer, producer, violinist, and CEO. I want to take violin-driven K-pop much further. I want to perform on bigger stages around the world, build a real long-term career, and grow SKS Entertainment into something much larger than one artist. So yes, the dream definitely got higher.
You’ve been incredibly open about your journey, and “Dream Higher” feels like a testimony to your ability to keep believing in yourself through both the highs and the lows. Now that you’re living this reality, what do you want to do next to continue growing and thriving as an artist? What does the rest of 2026 look like for you, and what are some of the goals and dreams you’re still reaching for?
Right now I want to keep building. Dream Higher is only my second single, so I still feel like people are just beginning to understand who ALL’N is. For the rest of 2026, I want to continue releasing music, developing my sound, performing more, and showing different sides of what violin-driven K-pop can become.
On the business side, I also want to keep strengthening SKS Entertainment and building a stronger world around the music and N’CORE. I’m ambitious, but I’m trying not to rush past the stage I’m currently in. I spent a long time dreaming about having this opportunity. Now that I have it, I want to build it correctly.
Image Courtesy: SKS Entertainment & 주용균
I want to do a bit of a fun question! Your name reads as “All In,” so let’s put that to the test: what’s one thing, whether it’s a song, food, hobby, or dream, that you will always go “all in” for?
I love to go all in on Korean BBQ. These days, I have maintained a very strict diet of chicken breasts, brown rice, lean beef, fruits, and veggies, but if you take me to an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ, that business is in some real trouble! I eat quite a lot compared to my size and my appetite is insanely high because I love to work out in the gym, dance, and play sports like basketball.
Now before we cap off the interview, I would love to know if there is anything else you’d like to say to new listeners, or N’CORE? Thank you so much ALL’N, and we are so excited to see where your journey takes you!
To anyone discovering me for the first time through “Dream Higher,” I hope you don’t only listen to the song. I hope you follow the story behind it too, because almost every lyric came from something real.
And to N’CORE, thank you for believing in something that is still being built. I know we are still very early in this journey, and there is so much I haven’t accomplished yet. But that is also what makes this period exciting. “Dream Higher” is not me saying, “I made it.” It is me saying, “I’m still going.” And wherever your own dream is right now, I hope you keep going too.
Let’s dream higher together!
ALL’N plans to continue building on this new chapter throughout the year by developing his sound, releasing more music, performing, and creating a stronger world around his music and N’CORE, his fans.
His message remains simple but impactful: “Dream Higher” isn’t saying, “I made it”; it’s saying, “I’m still going.” And he hopes N’CORE, and anyone chasing a dream of their own, will keep going too.
