Cover Lee Hyo-ri has been going viral again for her hit single ‘10 Minutes’ (Photo: Instagram/@lee_hyolee)
Lee Hyo-ri has been going viral again for her hit single ‘10 Minutes’ (Photo: Instagram/@lee_hyolee)
1 / 1
Lee Hyo-ri’s hit song ‘10 Minutes’ from 2003 has recently exploded on Instagram reels, but she has been a powerhouse in the South Korean music industry for decades. We look back at her career highlights
If you’ve been on Instagram in the last month, it’s likely you’ve come across a reel—whether it’s a make-up tutorial or styling video—with the audio titled 10 Minutes. The artist behind this music is K-pop idol Lee Hyo-ri, who, now in her 40s, has been a force to reckon with in the South Korean music industry from the late 1990s. Tatler takes a look back at her illustrious career and highlight the milestones along the way.
In case you missed it: Xiaolin on her latest vinyl release celebrating Anita Mui, the Canto-pop golden era and her favourite songs from that time
1. Lee Hyo-ri debuted with girl group Fin.K.L
Lee Hyo-ri was the last to join K-pop girl group Fin.K.L in 1998 and, as the eldest, was designated the band’s leader. The group got successful quickly, releasing hit singles such as To My Boyfriend, Eternal Love and Now, as well as winning major awards at the 1998 Golden Disc Awards, 1999 Seoul Music Awards and the 2000 Mnet Music Video Festival for their first album, Blue Rain. The group parted ways in 2002 to launch solo careers, although they came back briefly in 2005 to release the single FinKL. They reunited in 2008 and again in 2019 to perform together during one of Lee’s concerts as well as for television.
2. 2003 was dubbed ‘the year of Lee Hyo-ri’
Lee debuted her solo album, Stylish, in August 2003, and led with the single 10 Minutes. It quickly became a commercial hit thanks to its flirtatious lyrics, eye-catching choreography and RnB vibes, spurring many a music and fashion trend at the time. The song went on to sweep major awards in the Korean music industry, and elevated Lee to a national level of fame, cementing her status as a heavyweight in the Korean music industry.
3. Animal activism is her passion
Lee has expressed her love for the animals a number of ways: she recorded a song in 2011 to help support animal shelters (which is also how she ended up meeting her husband, guitarist Lee Sang-soon); she published a photo essay book in 2012, Closer, in which she shared her views on not wearing fur and snippets of her life with her adopted dog Soonshim. In 2017, her collective work for animal shelters led her to interview Jane Goodall for a story in Korean magazine Singles.
4. She formed a supergroup with other K-pop icons
Lee regularly appears on Korean variety shows and on an episode of Hangout with You in 2020, she discussed the idea of forming a group with the likes of Mamamoo’s Hwasa, rapper Jessi and legend Uhn Jung-hwa, who is nicknamed “Korean Madonna”. They formed a group called Refund Sisters and released the single Don’t Touch Me in December of that year.
5. Lee’s popularity has spanned other industries
In addition to writing, producing and performing hits, Lee has also made a name for herself in fashion and beauty. During the height of her fame in the mid-00s to mid-10s, she worked with brands such as Adidas, Calvin Klein, Biotherm and even starred in a commercial alongside Jessica Alba for the cosmetics company Isä Knox. Most recently, she did a campaign with cosmetics company BBLab and attended a Burberry event in Seoul last October.
Topics
Amalissa Hall was the style writer at Tatler Hong Kong. Primarily focused on writing digital articles, she covers news, tracks trends and interviews experts from the fashion, beauty and wellness industries, as well as entertainment spheres. Interview highlights include Formula One driver Alex Albon, award-winning costume designer Jany Temime and prolific make-up artist Lisa Eldridge.
She has also produced print stories featuring make-up artists, perfumiers and other upcoming figures discussing Asian representation on social media, sharing industry insight and trends as well as explaining new approaches to wellness in Hong Kong.
