BTOB's Lee Changsub Photographed Real Families for His New Single — and the Results Are Stunning

BTOB's Lee Changsub is returning with a new digital single on April 23 — and the way he built the visual identity for the release is unlike anything he has done before.

The single, titled Our Fairytale (우리들의 동화), was announced through a series of teaser materials released between April 15 and 17 on Lee Changsub's official social media accounts. The campaign began with a prologue video that opened on a single empty chair in a still room, the camera slowly pulling focus as a shutter sound effect played and the song title text appeared. The aesthetic was deliberately analog: grainy, unhurried, and quiet — a deliberate contrast to the polished visual language that dominates most K-pop release announcements.

The Fairytale Photo Studio Concept

The poster campaign that followed expanded the concept into something more unusual. Rather than styling sessions with professional models, Lee Changsub framed Our Fairytale around the idea of a family portrait studio — with real families, recruited through a public application, as the subjects.

Each poster features a different household photographed in black-and-white, accompanied by a caption written in the first person that describes the specific fairytale that family lives every day. One poster carries the note: a family whose 12-year fandom shared with a daughter. Another reads: the most beautiful today, with our four sisters and mom beside us. A third describes colleagues who cook for each other and argue like siblings — another kind of family. A fourth features a family described as the everyday fairytale of Bova and Shuni, apparent references to family pets.

All of the portraits were shot by Lee Changsub himself. The disclosure adds a layer of personal investment to the project: this is not a promotional concept built by a label creative team and executed by a photographer-for-hire, but a body of work that the artist gathered and composed directly. The handwritten song lyric that closes his own self-portrait poster — fly high, fly high, oh the dreams of youth — functions as both the single's thematic statement and a note about his own relationship to the project.

Lee Changsub's Position as a Vocalist

Lee Changsub (이창섭) debuted in 2012 as a member of BTOB, a seven-member boy group under Cube Entertainment that has maintained an active fanbase — known as Melody — across more than a decade. Within the group, he has been recognized primarily as its lead vocal, a reputation built on a clear tone and an unusual degree of emotional control in live performance settings.

His solo discography has developed gradually alongside BTOB's group output. Our Fairytale is described as a ballad built around the concept of the fairytale that everyday life becomes when shared with people who matter. The song is designed, according to promotional materials, to speak across generations — connecting listeners of different ages through a shared emotional register rather than a specific life stage.

The track will be distributed across major streaming platforms starting at 6 PM KST on April 23. The release arrives during a period when BTOB's members — several of whom have completed their mandatory South Korean military service — have been returning to solo activities and group appearances with renewed momentum. Lee Changsub's timing with Our Fairytale positions it as a mid-April release that arrives before the summer activity season, when competition for streaming attention is typically highest.

What to Expect

The combination of a family portrait concept, self-directed photography, and a ballad with cross-generational appeal suggests that Our Fairytale is aimed at an emotional rather than a trend-chasing space in the market. Lee Changsub's most commercially successful solo work has generally leaned in this direction — music that asks for sustained attention rather than immediate energy.

The teaser campaign's analog aesthetic — black-and-white photography, handwritten lyrics, prologue videos that unfold slowly — signals that the song itself is unlikely to arrive with the high-production promotional push that typically accompanies idol singles. That restraint may work in its favor. For listeners already familiar with BTOB and Lee Changsub's output, a quieter release built around something as universal as family and shared life has the kind of emotional specificity that tends to generate word-of-mouth over time.

Our Fairytale by Lee Changsub will be available on all major streaming platforms from April 23 at 6 PM KST.