[article] PRIVATELY SPEAKING

By: LazerKim                

  Don’t you miss this laughter from Kim Hyun Joong after his three months filming for Inspiring Generation? At last I have seen him on stage again joking with his fans, and I would say he had relaxed after taking a break spending his days at Jeju Island scuba diving and hitting the golf course. This photo above was taken yesterday April 12th at a fan meet in Seoul, and here he emphasized his future plans before his date with the military camp as he was asked by the show MC and responded as follows:

• Release an album in Japan (He already finished recording)
• Release another album in Korea
• World Tour
• Act in another drama (he would like to show his acting again)
• If there is an occasion, Japan tour next year
• Charity concert (no fee) for which I will raise the fund (laugh)

In another interview, Hyun Joong mentioned that this will be the last dance music album that he’ll be doing which shall be released next month in May this year. It seems Hyun Joong shall be resigning as a dancer, but not as a singer. It’s in his time-table that once he reaches the age 30, he’ll eventually stop from doing dance music. Fair enough since Hyun Joong had been doing dance music for almost 10 years of his career. I know everyone would miss his dance moves and dance music, but knowing the guy, he loves changes, re-inventing and developing himself into something new. And besides, of all his talents, it’s dancing that is first to expire, whether we like or not, that’s reality among dancers.

KIM HYUN JOONG TALKS

I read this interview with Hyun Joong which I have been wanting to share my views about the Kpop idols, and I’m glad he opened up this matter. I would like to point out some particular lines from his statement and share my own opinion. Here it goes, as Hyun Joong stated:

“If I had to become an idol once again, I wouldn’t be able to do it. There’s a strong belief that idols aren’t singer ‘N sync in America is considered an artist, but in Korea and Japan idols aren’t seen as artists, and their image is limited.”

“Idols can be in relationships too, but at one point there was a time when they said that idols shouldn’t date. When idols act, there’s an uncertainty just because they’re idols. Even when they buy cars, the public turns it around and says that ‘the idol brought a car’. There’s a pre-fixed notion about idols. It’s true that idols are young, but they’re also cultured people in this land. It’s unfortunate.”

The rest of the interview can be read at kpopstarz for those who have not read the article, here’s the link below.

(source: http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/87702/20140412/kim-hyun-joong-gives-opinion-dating.htm)

LAZERKIM’S THOUGHTS

I’m not be a fan of any Kpop idol group, it was only Hyun Joong who introduced Kpop music to me since he was with SS501 which was categorized as Kpop idol group band. As his fan, I came in when he was already a solo singer, but have seen him first from BOF as an actor. It was only when I started researching and writing all about KHJ that I knew he started from SS501 as a singer.

I have read a lot of comments from other sites that there are people who seem to be “allergic” to Kpop idols who goes for acting in dramas. Comments such as “I would watch this or that drama so long as the lead is not an idol”! Well, we have different opinion, we have our individual choice what drama to watch or what music to listen to, but I feel the anti-Kpop are so unfair in their way of thinking! Or this may not only goes to drama fans but also to producers! I just don’t get it as to why can’t idols be called singers or actors? If they have actually performed professionally on stage as singers or dancers and have acted in dramas, then definitely they should be called artists. They may not be that excellent, but still it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have the right to called artists.

And yes Hyun Joong is right, there may be a stereotype concerning idols that some people does not even consider them artists. And this is just so painful to these idols. As I myself is an artist too, I do believe talents can be developed, the fact that it can also be acquired so why can’t these aspiring artists be given a room to develop themselves? They cannot be developed if they are not given the chance to do so. I think this is just a matter of being open-minded instead of immediately closing doors to these artists specially the deserving ones.

Legitimate agents do sponsor training for aspiring artists and before doing so, they screen these artists, evaluate whatever they got, be it in singing, dancing or acting, of course with consideration of looks or there are even artists who are not so good-looking but they have great talents. BUT majority of these artists started from zero, not to mention there are artists with gifted talents, they too started from somewhere down below. Admittedly there are Kpop idol groups with larger members and some of these members may not be that good (at present) but we may never know what’s in store for them in the future. They might be even greater singers or actors than expected in the future.

DATING GAME

It’s true that there are entertainment agents in Korea or Japan literally discourage their artists in dating, as a part of preserving or protecting their artist’s image whether the artists keep this dating in private or go public and this is so sad, because it’s natural for human to have relationships. For obvious reasons these agents of course earn through their artists and idol groups do have a large fan base consisting of teenagers. These young fans dwell on having “imaginary relationship” with their most admirable idols, that they do not allow their respective idols to have any relationship with other girls or they walk away from their idols! It’s like tying a knot with huge number of strangers on the part of the artists!!

I couldn’t forget a case filed in S.Korea which I have read few years ago, that a Korean female celeb was thrown soy sauce to her in a public restaurant by a jealous fan of her rumored celeb boyfriend!! This was just one incident showing how jealous some young Korean fans were. It’s like these idols are becoming slaves of their own fans, then I would say this entertainment world is somewhat scary!! In reality, we can never even own anybody in this real world in fact, not even our own life time partner, they too have their individual mind!!

It’s different with the westerns, that even artists go public with their personal affairs, their fans stay with them and remain unchanged. Why is it have to be different with Koreans?? I do hope with what Hyun Joong opened up about idol life can enlighten people out there living in primitive age would change their views about reality in showbiz. Artists are not your slaves, they too deserves what relationship you got with others.

HAPPY AND CONTENTED

At the same interview Hyun Joong stated this:

“There’s nothing that I’m lacking because I’ve never had a proper relationship. Although my personal life has been somewhat violated, I was fortunate enough to get chosen among 1 million people who auditioned. I’m in the so-called 10% that became a celebrity. That’s the reason why I should think about this matter and be happy regardless.

I’m not sure if I got the right understanding from what Hyun Joong was trying to say. But for me it seems Hyun Joong made a lot of personal sacrifice to be where is now. I couldn’t say he never dated anyone, I’m sure he did, as he admitted in the past, it’s just that he haven’t had a committed relationship. If Hyun Joong is not a big star and he’s just an ordinary man, it should have been easier for him to have a normal relationship, with his good qualities, who wouldn’t grab him? What’s the difference? Well, he haven’t found her!! That’s the big difference!!

I remain consistently truthful to what I write that no matter how other fans encouraged me to talk about his private affair, I prefer to respect his privacy and to defend him from others who maliciously create links between him and his co-celebs. Hyun Joong denied having dated with Uee, and so be it, put an end to the rumors. We have known him to be that honest, so why else others has to insist on something that is not true? And no matter how much we wanted him to go out dating around or keep his privacy to himself, that’s gonna be his choice and not ours, we’re just his fans staying behind him.

HOPES FOR ENLIGHTENMENT

Korea should be proud that they do have great artists from the idol groups to look up to, how much these people brought the country to the top A global popularity in showbiz entertainment and I think the Kpop idols should be given enough room in developing their craft by giving them chances instead of discriminating them or being out-cast from the rest of the actors and singers. The idols deserve the same respect as other professional artists do.

I would say Hyun Joong is a very good example of history in the entertainment world. He started with an idol group band, and I would say he was also a victim of being badly criticized, but where is he now? He’s up there on cloud nine being loved by millions globally! Fine, being criticized is also a challenge in proving oneself, but come on, even Hyun Joong came from an idol group, he is an artist by all means. And just the same with other idols, they too should be treated with proper respect.

May I just mention this fact, that I think the showbiz producers should be the developers and the builders of entertainment, that I’m hoping it’s not only money that matters to them. Business may be a hit or miss kinda thing like a gamble, but values do matter a lot.

I’m so proud of Hyun Joong as he stood up behind the idols and speak up what he truly think and feel being one of them in his past. Indeed he’s a true leader, defending those who deserves equal respect. I got high hopes that the people concern would hear him out and be enlightened.

And with that, I end my article from here as I bid everyone a pleasant day! I do hope we learned something from the interview with Kim Hyun Joong as he shared with us his thoughts and feelings.

                                                                                          LazerKim here writing

Photo credits as tagged, thanks Ms.D