Before 'All Of My Life': a MAX CHANGMIN starter guide, from 'In A Different Life' to 'HYBRID' and the road in self-written lyrics

MAX CHANGMIN releases the third mini album, 'All Of My Life', at 6 p.m. (KST) on Monday, October 19. It's the first mini album in four years and nine months, since the second mini album, 'Devil', on January 13, 2022. In the meantime, May 2023 brought the SM STATION release 'HYBRID' with Ha Hyun-woo of Guckkasten, and Japan got Japanese versions of 'Fever' and 'Maniac' and the digital single 'My Bad'. According to SM Entertainment, the agency, the new title track's lyrics show someone moving forward 'calmly walking one's own road at every moment'. That road feels familiar. Lay the songs MAX CHANGMIN wrote the lyrics for side by side, and roads keep turning up. We followed that road to pick five songs. Lyricists and song notes come from Bugs, quoted lyrics from the lyrics registered on Bugs, and scene times from the official music videos.

At a glance

Year	Song	The road in the lyrics MAX CHANGMIN wrote	Start here
2017	'In A Different Life'	"삐뚤빼뚤 못생긴 이 길" (this crooked, homely road)	3:06 a figure walking alone on a sunset beach
2020	'Chocolate'	Chocolate instead of a road; the road is in the B-side 'No Tomorrow'	1:52 a glass case holding a green crystal
2020	'All That Love'	"끝도 모를 이 길" (this road with no end in sight)	3:04 a yellow notepad with handwritten lyrics
2022	'Devil'	"길 잃은 아이처럼" (like a lost child)	0:08 a deer with antlers glowing gold
2023	'HYBRID'	"고개를 들어 걸어가" (lift your head and walk on), written with Ha Hyun-woo	3:51 a drawn figure running toward a glowing sphere

2017 · 'In A Different Life'

A song released on September 28, 2017, through SM STATION, SM's digital single project. It closed 'TVXQ! WEEK', when TVXQ! released solo songs one after another. Bugs describes it as warm acoustic pop and a gift for fans who waited a long time. MAX CHANGMIN wrote the lyrics alone; the Korean title, '여정', means 'journey'. From the first line it asks, "아주 오래부터 얼마나 온 걸까" ("how far have I come, since so long ago"), and it draws near to you "삐뚤빼뚤 못생긴 이 길을 따라" ("along this crooked, homely road"). At 1:22 in the music video, a hand holding a pen writes its way down a notebook page. From 3:06, the camera lingers from afar on a figure walking alone on a beach at sunset. Apple Music

2020 · 'Chocolate'

The title track of the first mini album, released on April 6, 2020. It's a pop dance song, and the lyrics MAX CHANGMIN wrote liken being drawn to someone to a craving for chocolate. There's no road in this song. Instead, "Shock me" repeats. The road is in 'No Tomorrow', the last track on the same album, a folk-rock song with lyrics that are also by MAX CHANGMIN. It hopes your steps will reach "하늘 아래 낯선 땅 먼 곳까지" ("faraway, unfamiliar lands under the sky"), and the Bugs notes describe its message as 'keep moving forward steadily, without stopping, enjoying the journey called life'. At 0:22 in the 'Chocolate' music video, MAX CHANGMIN sits in front of two cameras, wrists bound with rope. At 1:52, in a hall crossed by lasers, MAX CHANGMIN stands beside a glass case holding a green crystal. Apple Music

2020 · 'All That Love'

A song released through SM STATION on November 13 the same year. Bugs says house rhythms and analog synthesizers create a dreamy mood. House is a club dance rhythm that stamps out four even beats: thump, thump. MAX CHANGMIN wrote the lyrics again. On a sleepless night, the song keeps repeating "What am I supposed to do", then asks "어디쯤 온 걸까 / 끝도 모를 이 길" ("how far along have I come / this road with no end in sight"). It's almost the same question as "얼마나 온 걸까" ("how far have I come") in the first line of 'In A Different Life' three years earlier. The music video opens by deleting 'what am i suppos', typed into a phone's notes app, one letter at a time. At 1:56, MAX CHANGMIN, in a coat, walks a dirt road lined with autumn leaves. At 3:04 the camera comes close to a yellow notepad where '눈을 감아도 마주치게 돼' ("even with my eyes closed, I run into you") is handwritten, with a few lines above it struck through hard. Apple Music

2022 · 'Devil'

The title track of the second mini album, released on January 13, 2022. It's slow R&B laid over a grand bass riff and a heavy a cappella chorus. MAX CHANGMIN wrote the lyrics this time, too. The 'I' in the song, unable to take a single step "길 잃은 아이처럼" ("like a lost child"), hears a devil's whisper. Still, in the second half, the song "빛을 향해서 걸어가" ("walks toward the light"). Alexander Holmgren, who composed and arranged it, was also credited for composing and arranging 'In A Different Life'. MAX CHANGMIN wrote 'Alien' on the same album, too, and it has the line "빛을 따라서 길을 잃었어" ("I followed the light and lost my way"). The music video opens at 0:08 on a deer in a dark forest, its antlers glowing gold. At 3:10, a giant boulder floating over a misty field shatters in midair, and at 3:42 MAX CHANGMIN stands alone on a forest path tinged with red light. Apple Music

2023 · 'HYBRID'

A song released through SM STATION on May 4, 2023. MAX CHANGMIN sang it with Ha Hyun-woo, the vocalist of Guckkasten, and the two wrote the lyrics together. Bugs calls it 'symphonic rock pop', a heavy band sound with dramatic strings added. At 4:56, it's the longest of the five songs here. The word '길' (road) never appears in the lyrics. In its place are "고개를 들어 걸어가" ("lift your head and walk on") and "나도 모르지만 멈추진 마" ("I don't know either, but don't stop"). At 2:05 in the music video, people in white stand in a long line across a field of reeds. From 3:44, for about 30 seconds, it turns into animation, and at 3:51 a drawn figure runs along a white path under a starry sky toward a glowing sphere. That December, on TVXQ!'s ninth full album, '20&2', MAX CHANGMIN alone wrote the lyrics for 'Promise', a confession offered to fans. Apple Music

October 19 'All Of My Life'

The new mini album holds six songs, including the title track of the same name. The agency describes that track as pop rock driven by an emotional electric guitar and powerful drums. The album message SM announced on September 28 was 'let's keep moving forward without stopping'. It faces the same way as 'without stopping' in the 'No Tomorrow' notes and "빛을 향해서 걸어가" ("walk toward the light") in 'Devil'.

The schedule video released on September 29 flashes the dates one at a time on a billboard with a clock. From October 5 to 7, one teaser clip went up each day. In 'Daily Life', MAX CHANGMIN crosses a crosswalk with a coffee carrier on a street with a newsstand. At 0:29, the front-page headline of the open 'MAX Daily News' reads 'BREAKING NEWS! IT'S MONDAY'. In 'Sunday Morning', MAX CHANGMIN, in a striped robe, dashes around a mint-tiled bathroom tossing a green shower puff, and in 'Escape', sits on a rooftop in front of a set painted with sky, then leaps up. At 0:05, a white airship floats by with 'ALL OF MY LIFE' written on it in three lines. According to the schedule, the album and music video come out together at 6 p.m. on the 19th. On November 6–8, 'MAX CHANGMIN LIVE SESSION : RESONANCE' takes place at YES24 Live Hall, followed by shows in Macau and Taipei in January 2027 and in 12 regions of Japan from February to May.