He’s been an idol for 9 years, but the word “artist” suits this man better. Singer Jun. K is thoroughly creating his musical world as a singer-songwriter, producer, and 2PM’s main vocalist. Soon, he will come to us with his solo album. The music and time Jun. K has accumulated this far.
No Love. No Music. If there’s no love, there’s no music, too. As I listened to his solo song “No Love” that unravels like a majestic epic-like drama, I tried to imagine the haggard perfectionist Jun. K. Because if you listen to the song that is full of the music he wants to show, you can’t help but feel his passion towards it. Then what about “Go Crazy” and “Hot,” the songs with exploding beat and a rising rhythm that excite us in an instant. There’s no doubt that he’s an intelligent musician who definitely knows how to entertain people through music. Yet again, if you listen to the calm and sad ballad “Suddenly,” you will automatically imagine the lyrical Jun. K, who expresses his pure and noble love. I searched for “Jun. K” through a music streaming app, and as I listened to the songs composed and sung by him, I ended up being really curious about Jun. K. His musical world, which Jun. K has accumulated over all this time, is too wide and deep to just know him as 2PM’s main vocalist.
- It’s been a long while. How have you been?We have completed an arena tour in Japan quite recently, and I also appeared as “Dream of the Square” in “King of Masked Singer.” Right now I’m really busy preparing a new album.
- Your face grew thinner, and your body got nicer.I think it was around January this year. I felt that my stamina got a lot worse. I’m already at that age, you know (laughs). I’ve had a surgery before because of my weak knee, and it would hurt every time I went for dance practice. I realized this couldn’t continue, and I began training my lower body. As I was doing aerobic exercises, I simultaneously began working on muscular strength, too. I started working with weights only around two months ago. As I was concerned about my health, I ended up cooking my own meals and eating at home. To the point that I found a sweet potato bread recipe on the Internet and made one myself. My stamina has really improved. Shall I say that it feels like the overall energy got healthier?
- When you look at it, you’re pretty close to thirty.
If you can explain your 10s in around three colors, your 20s could be expressed in around 30,000 hues and tints. I’ve been that busy. I’ve learned a lot and I have lost a lot. As far as it goes for the things I’ve lost, that would be the time with my family, the memories with my friends and other trivial details from your everyday life. As for the things I’ve learned, it’s music and experience. Also, I’ve gained another family called 2PM.
- I suppose reaching thirty feels different.All this while, I haven’t tried planning and doing something on my own. I was too busy following the arranged schedule. And even so, since I tried protecting my own things, there was a lot of confusion. When I turn thirty, I want to personally take control of my life and live it, while painting the life’s bigger picture in my head.
- 2PM members are famous for their close relationship. Lately, there are a lot of groups that disband, so you look even more special.
We went through a big incident in our early days, and it made our personal bonds stronger and, strictly speaking, the time we’ve spent together has been really long. I have personal reasons, too. A few years ago, when my father passed away, I couldn’t believe it and I didn’t even cry. But when the members arrived at the funeral, the moment our eyes met, suddenly, I burst into tears. That was when I realized how much I relied on my members.
We went through a big incident in our early days, and it made our personal bonds stronger and, strictly speaking, the time we’ve spent together has been really long. I have personal reasons, too. A few years ago, when my father passed away, I couldn’t believe it and I didn’t even cry. But when the members arrived at the funeral, the moment our eyes met, suddenly, I burst into tears. That was when I realized how much I relied on my members.
- As years go by, just like that, various opportunities arise to reevaluate your surroundings.When a person, whom I expected to be always next to me, disappeared in a blink, I realized I couldn’t take anything in this world for granted. Everyone looked different. I grew to be more thankful about the special time we spend together.
- I suppose by now the 2PM members have become your unparalleled friends.How should I put it… We’ve met through our job, but we’re stuck together like high school friends. Wooyoung and I share a similar sense of humor. We often work on music and we go out so we spend a lot of time together. Chansung is the funniest and the most interesting one. He’s my endorphin. Junho is younger, but he’s an assistant-like friend who helps me stay calm. Khun is kind and lovable. He supports everyone quietly thus becoming our strength. Taecyeon is level-headed with leader qualities.
- The fans know you as Kim Dajeong (T/N: Kim Warm-Heart). What kind of person do you think you are?I do have a warm heart. (laughs) It is important what kind of energy a person oozes, but, if anything, I want to become a person with a positive energy. For example, when you have a filming early in the morning on the weekend, you get tired even more if you meet people with tired faces. Then I spark the atmosphere with a joke. And of course I fail first.
- Is your character originally bright and positive? There’s this preconceived notion that musicians are lonely and melancholic.I think as a tried, at some point, I did attain such a character. If I send positive energy, the people around me get happier and, likewise, I feel better too. I write music together with my composer friends, and they sometimes say that I have so much energy it drains them (laughs).
- Even so, what do you do when you feel lonely and depressed?I’d be lying if I said I don’t have days like that. Usually, when I work on a song, I go to the company, and give it for the company’s monitoring personnel to listen. A 30-member monitoring board decides whether the song gets released or not. It’s hard to hear your music judged when you’ve gone through great pains to make it. I used to relieve that stress by having a drink, but if you drink it’s only temporary: the next day it’s just as hard. Lately, I just stay calm and go back to my composing room. I quit drinking, too.
- However, eventually, your songs “Go Crazy” and “My House” became title songs for 2PM’s albums. You could say you’ve won.
With these two songs, I went to the company just having a sketchy feeling about it, but the reaction was really good. From the musical perspective, “Go Crazy” is better; looking at the music video or choreography and the outfit, taking the entire picture into consideration, I think “My House” suited 2PM’s image better. With both songs, all the members together decided upon the concept after three or four meetings each. At first, “My House” had a reggae melody, but as we created the choreography and shot the music video, it switched into the house style. Although it’s a song I composed, it’s also a song all of us created together.
With these two songs, I went to the company just having a sketchy feeling about it, but the reaction was really good. From the musical perspective, “Go Crazy” is better; looking at the music video or choreography and the outfit, taking the entire picture into consideration, I think “My House” suited 2PM’s image better. With both songs, all the members together decided upon the concept after three or four meetings each. At first, “My House” had a reggae melody, but as we created the choreography and shot the music video, it switched into the house style. Although it’s a song I composed, it’s also a song all of us created together.
- When I listen to the songs with your lyrics, the words “No Love” appear quite often.
It’s somewhat of a symbol I made. When you love and go through breakup, you get hurt by the other person, and yet you also hurt that person, too. Every single time you decide you will never love again. I had such thoughts when I was younger, and I thought that later on, if I make my own songs, I will turn “No Love” into a symbol.
It’s somewhat of a symbol I made. When you love and go through breakup, you get hurt by the other person, and yet you also hurt that person, too. Every single time you decide you will never love again. I had such thoughts when I was younger, and I thought that later on, if I make my own songs, I will turn “No Love” into a symbol.
- Which self-composed song do you like the most?My Japanese solo album title song “No Love” and 2PM’s song “Suddenly.” “Suddenly” is the song I have composed the fastest. 2PM was promoting “Again & Again” back then, and I made it all in a go, recording an audio memo on my phone in a car, improvising the melody and the lyrics. I came up with the lyrics without thinking what I should do, without calculating how I should mix all the musical aspects; I just did what I felt like. Out of all the songs I’ve written so far, that’s the song that contains my most honest feelings. On the contrary, “No Love” is the most calculated song. In this one song, I tried to play with musical, pop ballad, and R&B variations. I was very meticulous up to the stage lighting and performance.
- Just like every child is dear to their parents, you must have a song you feel strongly about.It’s “Go Crazy.” It’s because it was the first time in JYPE’s history that an artist-composed song (and not Jinyoung hyung’s track) became 2PM’s title song. When it was picked as the title song, I called my mom crying. It felt like a dream when I remembered my father who was against my musical path, my mother who supported me in secret and myself who would go to study music clenching the textbook on composition in my high school days. I was happy. However, the results didn’t match the expectations, so it’s a shame.
- I’m curious about the title song for the next 2PM album.
All the members are working hard on it right now. We’re considering what the general public would like to see from 2PM and what we would like to show everyone.
All the members are working hard on it right now. We’re considering what the general public would like to see from 2PM and what we would like to show everyone.
- What do the 2PM members want to showcase?
If we have displayed the wild sexiness by ripping our shirts, now that we’re in our late 20s, I think we can showcase a little bit more skilled sexiness. The homework for our members is to figure out how to express such sexiness through music and stage performance.
If we have displayed the wild sexiness by ripping our shirts, now that we’re in our late 20s, I think we can showcase a little bit more skilled sexiness. The homework for our members is to figure out how to express such sexiness through music and stage performance.
- Where do you usually get inspiration for your music?
Whenever I get ideas, I record memos on my phone. If a word comes to mind, I write down a few sentences that fit the word. Some word may have more than two hundred lines of thoughts added to it. I also save a picture or a photo. Later I organize my thoughts looking at it. Ah, last December I went through a crushing calamity when I accidentally deleted the memo in my phone. I was so devastated I drank for two days straight.
Whenever I get ideas, I record memos on my phone. If a word comes to mind, I write down a few sentences that fit the word. Some word may have more than two hundred lines of thoughts added to it. I also save a picture or a photo. Later I organize my thoughts looking at it. Ah, last December I went through a crushing calamity when I accidentally deleted the memo in my phone. I was so devastated I drank for two days straight.
- Were you inspired by something lately?
There’s a playground in front of the composing room, and as I stared at the slide closely, I thought it would be fun to try and express it musically. It’s also a medium that helps you remember your childhood. The slide’s form is also a little bit like woman’s curves, you know. I think it would also be interesting to associate it with the English word “Slide.”
There’s a playground in front of the composing room, and as I stared at the slide closely, I thought it would be fun to try and express it musically. It’s also a medium that helps you remember your childhood. The slide’s form is also a little bit like woman’s curves, you know. I think it would also be interesting to associate it with the English word “Slide.”
- I think the fans are always curious about trivial details. Like, whether your dogs are doing fine, or what kind of coffee you like.A while ago, I’ve sent them to a training facility for some potty training. Also, I used to drink a lot of coffee, but it felt like my throat was getting drier, so I quit it. Lately, I boil calamondin and drink it. It’s a fruit from the Philippines that contains more Vitamin C than lemon, and it’s really sour. However, now that I drink it constantly, even if I sing a lot, I don’t have a hoarse throat.
- What are you hooked on lately?Living according to a plan. I’m absorbed in making daily plans and sticking to them. When I exercise, when I should sleep, stuff like that. However, there’s a problem. If I stick to the plan, composing gets cut off abruptly.
- I suppose following a tight schedule is not an easy task for an artist.
I once started composing at around seven in the evening and then completed it at 11 PM the next day. It’s not good for health, but it feels great to be so much into music. Last year I led an irregular life like that, just following my gut feeling, and because of that I lost my stamina. It’s hard to find the golden mean.
I once started composing at around seven in the evening and then completed it at 11 PM the next day. It’s not good for health, but it feels great to be so much into music. Last year I led an irregular life like that, just following my gut feeling, and because of that I lost my stamina. It’s hard to find the golden mean.
- How do you spend your day when you are off work?
When I don’t have any shooting or concert, I spend my time working on music. Say, if I don’t have anything to do, I want to go to a swimming pool. Ah, I also want to travel. To Switzerland.
When I don’t have any shooting or concert, I spend my time working on music. Say, if I don’t have anything to do, I want to go to a swimming pool. Ah, I also want to travel. To Switzerland.
- There are many fans who are disappointed about the lack of your activities in Korea.
Last year I released solo album “Love Letter” in Japan and had a concert tour. I had more chances to show my music. I also worked a lot with other artists, but I think that in Korea there are still many people who don’t know what Jun. K’s music is like. I must try and showcase myself more in the country.
Last year I released solo album “Love Letter” in Japan and had a concert tour. I had more chances to show my music. I also worked a lot with other artists, but I think that in Korea there are still many people who don’t know what Jun. K’s music is like. I must try and showcase myself more in the country.
- I heard you’re about to release a solo album in Korea.
How do you know that? It’s still a secret.
- Please introduce your new album.
It has an R&B base, but it’s a style that no one really tries in Korea. When I first went with it to the company, mostly the reaction was that it’s unfamiliar and strange, but Jinyoung hyung really liked it. He said it was excellent to the point he had nothing to add from the musical perspective. I am confident because it’s a song that contains my individuality, music, and the view of the world. And I can’t tell you anything else. They asked me repeatedly not to spoil anything at the company. (laughs)
Kor-Eng: Egle0702
Pictorial: magazineO
BONUS TRACK INTERVIEW
Q. When will you have your solo?
Jun. K: As I'm preparing for it, I think I'll be able to give you some good news later
Q: Willl you reveal your upper body?
Minjun: Actually, right now, the photo shoot... is kind of clothed and not. Please look forward to it.
Q: You are the sexiest when...?
Minjun: After I take a shower.
Minjun: I meet Wooyoung in the recording room often. I especially get to watch him sleep there. A lot.(Wooyoung has been going to Minjun's house often to compose... and to sleep)
Minjun: Yes I did lose a lot of weight, but my stamina got a lot better. I realized that I got weaker in February, so I began working out.
JK:It'll be very hard, but it the age of 19 that won't come twice. This age will determine the 20s, 30s and 40s so I hope you guys work hard
To 3rd yr HS students
JK: If you don't have anything you want to do, you have to make it happen. you pursue into what catches your interest.
Q: You're good at cooking, so how about going on cooking variety shows.
JK: How did you know I was good
JK: I cook according to my taste.... Normal people would think it's too bland.
Q: You're very humorous but why aren't you on variety shows?
JK: Please call me.
Denver, Noopy, and Audrey are still in rehab at Busan
Minjun promised that all of the 2PM members would have an Allure Korea photo shoot when they make a Korean comeback.
source : http://egle0702.tumblr.com/post/147611035755/trans-allure-august-issue-16-jun-k-interview ; http://onehallyu.com/topic/358287-jun-k-on-allure-korea-facebook-live-he-is-gonna-be-in-allure-magazine-august-issue-too/
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