Partial Nudity To Sensual Songs: “Doctor Cha” Actress Uhm Jung Hwa’s Controversial Album Was Also Her Biggest Hit

Uhm Jung Hwa has cemented her name in the Korean entertainment industry as one of its iconic figures. Though currently, she is most well-known for her leading role in Doctor Cha, before establishing herself as a powerhouse actor, she was one of the country’s most famous soloists!

Uhm debuted as a singer in 1993 with her first studio album Sorrowful Secret. In the next few years, she delivered hit after hit, with singles like “Sad Expectation,” “A Love Only Heaven Permits,” “Rose of Betrayal,” and “Tell Me.” By the time she released her fourth album in 1998, she was already moving upward in the music industry. But with Invitation, her status as the top singer solidified like never before!

Uhm Jung Hwa released her fourth album, Invitation, in July 1998. Among the eleven tracks on the record, two singles became her most popular hits in the country. Those two songs were the lead single, “Poison,” and the title track, “Invitation.” A third single from the album, “Finding Hidden Image,” also performed well commercially.

The entire album reflected a more mature image of Uhm, but the title track, “Invitation,” garnered quite some attention, both positive and negative. The song was written by songwriter and producer Park Jinyoung, better known as the founder of JYP Entertainment. He had initially composed the song for another top female soloist, Kang Susie. During a radio interview in March this year, Kang revealed that Park had suggested she transform her image into a more mature one and gave her a fitting song to sing. But she said she couldn’t “digest” the track’s sexy and sultry vibe. Additionally, the piece required choreography, and she was unsure of her dancing abilities. So, Kang passed on the song, which ended up becoming Uhm Jung Hwa’s biggest hit of her career.

The song and its accompanying music video are both pretty suggestive. Uhm sings some bold lyrics like “Softly and moistly/ I’ll go into your arms while being wet/I’m thirsty for your love/ Let your love rain fall,” as she moves sensuously to the beat, expressing an intense longing for her lover.

As a largely conservative country, South Korea’s initial reaction to this song and the entire album was along the lines of expectations. There was some controversy around the singer’s explicit boldness. But the criticism quickly gave way to commercial success. The album ended up moving more than 450,000 copies and was followed by Uhm Jung Hwa’s first live concert, Temptation of a Thousand Years, in November of the same year. This concert also drew a lot of curious eyes for showing the uncut version of the “Invitation” music video, where there were quite a few scenes of Uhm’s upper body nudity. Cable channel Catch One broadcasted the concert on November 30, 1998, and it was later released on VCD as well.

Both “Poison” and “Invitation” became milestone songs for the singer, proving their timelessness in the coming years as well. They reappeared on the Gaon Digital Chart in 2015 at number one and number nineteen, respectively. In a retrospective article, Billboard magazine ranked “Invitation” at number 49 in its list of the “98 Greatest Songs of 1998.”  In 2021, Melon and the newspaper Seoul Shinmun collaborated on a “100 K-pop Masterpieces” special feature, which listed “Invitation” at number 67. “Poison,” on the other hand, was sampled by the American rock band Rage Against the Machine in their 1999 single “Sleep Now in the Fire”, after the amplifier of their guitarist, Tom Morello, picked up from a local Korean broadcasting station. Both of these songs are still frequently covered by new K-Pop idols.

Uhm Jung Hwa also made a big impact on the fashion and styling industry of Korea with Invitation, and apparently, cosmetologists around the country started studying how to cut short hair well due to the immense popularity of her hairstyle during that era.

After Invitation, Uhm Jung Hwa continued to see success as a singer and released her fifth studio album the very next year. So far in her career, she has released ten studio albums, two compilation albums, and one extended play, all the while establishing herself as a successful actress simultaneously. She also overcame thyroid cancer in 2010, and during her more recent musical projects, she expressed her insecurity over the damage the cancer caused to her vocal cords. However, she is still releasing new music, with her most recent releases being “Don’t Touch Me” (released by Refund Sisters, a project group she was part of) and “Hop In (Feat Hwasa and DPR LIVE).”