Over the past nine years, Doyoung has built a career as the vocalist of the popular K-pop boy group NCT.

But it was just a year ago, as NCT embarked on a world tour and released various albums, when Doyoung realized he was ready to debut as a soloist.

“Last year, I released three albums as a member of NCT when one of our vocalists Taeil took a break due to health concerns. I felt pressure in having to fill in his void. But after having overcome such challenges, I thought I had improved my vocal skills to the point where I was ready to sing alone,” Doyoung said during a group interview with local reporters at SM Entertainment’s headquarters in Seoul on Friday.

Doyoung was set to release his first solo studio album, “Youth,” on Monday at 6 p.m.

Through the 10 tracks in his first solo album, Doyoung has tried to convey how he pictures his youth.

“This album is my youth. My youth is filled with memories of performing in different places around the world and traveling with my group members on our days off between our world tour shows. With these memories, I was able to make this album,” he explained.

The album is led by the track, “Little Light,” a band music song that accentuates Doyoung’s powerful yet delicate voice.

“I was in a band in high school as I loved band music since I was very young. Growing up, I loved local bands like Dear Cloud and Daybreak. Now that I get to do band music, I am looking forward to my performance with a live band on stage. I think doing performances that I’ve never done before might impress listeners in a different way,” said Doyoung.

Doyoung also took part in writing the lyrics and composing two of the eight B-side tracks in the album to present his raw and genuine thoughts about youth.

“I think ‘youth’ is a period in life filled with beautiful memories. But these beautiful memories are the results of small and big incidents in our lives that sometimes are the difficulties that we face while pursuing our dreams. I wrote down what I wanted to tell those who are in their youth,” he said.

Doyoung worked with many renowned artists for this album including Taeyon of Girls’ Generation, Mark of NCT and producer Seo Dong-hwan.

“I made up a list of artists I wanted to work with for this album to my agency. I wanted Taeyeon and Mark to feature in my lead track. Taeyeon gladly agreed to help and I really appreciate her help,” said the artist.

Doyoung says that he is satisfied with how the album turned out.

“I want to give it a 100 out of 100. I am so satisfied with the result that I think I would not mind if the album does not do well on major music charts,” he said.

He added that his experience as a member of NCT expanded his musical spectrum.

“There were definitely songs that were not my taste among those that I did as a member of NCT. However, I was able to experience diverse genres because of NCT. If it weren’t for these experiences, I would have been an artist with a narrow spectrum.”