ALL’N has finally dropped his second digital single, Dream Higher, on August 14, 2026. Under his self-funded label, SKS Entertainment, and distributed by YG PLUS, this release means a lot to him. In a recent exclusive interview, he shared the story behind the song and spoke about the mental pressure he felt during his time away from the spotlight. Read on!
1. What personal moment inspired the perseverance in ‘Dream Higher’, and how do you hope listeners feel when the drops hit?
A: “Dream Higher was not really inspired by one single moment. The verses, pre-choruses, and bridge are basically me telling my real comeback story: losing my way, falling down, having to start over, refusing to give up, and eventually developing a different mentality toward failure.
Some of those experiences were honestly very dark, but I did not want to tell them in a way that made people feel hopeless. I wanted to turn something painful into something empowering.
That is why the chorus becomes much bigger and more uplifting than the verses. In my head, I imagined performing this in a stadium one day and hearing thousands of people chant “Dream, dream, dream higher” together. When the drops hit, I want people to feel release. I want them to feel like whatever they are going through right now does not have to be the end of their story.
The personal story is mine, but I want the feeling of the chorus to belong to everyone.”
2. When you stepped out of the spotlight, how did you handle the mental pressure of everyone wondering when you would return?
A: “At the time, I did not handle it perfectly at all. I was mentally broken. I was in panic, I did not know what I was supposed to do next, and I was very close to falling into depression. What was difficult was not only losing a career opportunity. It felt like I had also lost the identity and future I had spent years building toward.
But one of the biggest lessons I learned from that period came later. When you are inside a terrible moment, your mind can make it feel permanent. You start believing that this is simply what your life is going to be now. Looking back, it was not as final as it felt in my head. I lost what I thought was everything, and somehow I still started over and eventually reached places that people around me would have considered impossible at the time.
That experience changed the way I respond to difficult moments now. If something collapses, I do not automatically think the story is over. I try to ask, ‘What can I control? ‘What can I learn? What is the next move? I did not have that mental strength before the experience. I think I developed it because of the experience.”