WINNER’s Kang Seung Yoon has revealed that he gave up playing the guitar after hearing YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun Suk’s criticism of his songwriting.

On the May 12 episode of JTBC’s “Ask Us Anything,” the cast members asked Kang Seung Yoon to perform his famous cover of Yoon Jong Shin‘s “By Instinct.” The singer shot to fame in his pre-WINNER days after covering the song on Mnet’s “Superstar K,” leading “By Instinct” to become one of Yoon Jong Shin’s most popular songs.

Kang Ho Dong asked, “Shouldn’t we start things off by having Kang Seung Yoon play the guitar? [I want to hear] ‘By Instinct’ from ‘Superstar K.'” Super Junior’s Kim Heechul chimed in, “I still listen to Kang Seung Yoon’s version of ‘By Instinct.'”

Kang Seung Yoon responded by revealing that he no longer plays the guitar. The WINNER leader shared that Yang Hyun Suk had criticized his music style for being too old-fashioned, explaining, “Yang Hyun Suk had some complaints for me. Since I was playing the guitar all the time at the company, he said, ‘Kang Seung Yoon, how come whenever you write a song, it’s always ‘7080’ [in the style of the 1970s and 1980s]?”

The idol went on, “So after hearing his complaints, I received a huge shock. I had the thought that I shouldn’t touch the guitar while making music with WINNER. So it’s been a fairly long time since I’ve played the guitar.”

Visibly shocked, Kang Ho Dong asked, “You don’t play the guitar?” Kang Seung Yoon replied, “I almost never pick it up.” As the other cast members expressed their dismay, Kang Seung Yoon said, “It’s because the direction that WINNER is going in is a little different.”

Song Mino added, “After that, [Kang Seung Yoon] ended up writing the song ‘Really Really.'”

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