[Star Interview] JYJ Kim Jaejoong, “Loneliness—Overcoming it with Music.”
JYJ’s member Kim Jaejoong. The expression on his face, whom I met prior to the (actual) interview, was bright, and his voice was cheerful. He said that he “drank a few glasses of beer” on the interview that took place immediately prior to this one and suggested that this interview also double as a second round.
The place in which Jaejoong finished his interview with the other paper was a café in Shinmunro, Seoul. We moved to a pub in Samsungdong, where he used to live once. Inside of the car with which we moved together, he started to talk about his recent interests in order to ease the atmosphere (T/N: presumably, the reporter and Jaejoong are strangers). Actually, the talk was on the misunderstandings and the truths that mire Japan’s earthquakes and radioactivity. He struck me as a man of considerable insight. I asked him: “do you read a lot of newspapers and books?” The response that was passed to me was: “I learn more things from people than books.”
When we arrived to the pub, he poured out a few cell phones onto the aluminum table. There were six cell phones, and among them were some models that he used to use in Japan. Apparently, he does not differentiate between the cell phones as “for work” or “for family.” He also deleted many of his contacts, which at one time numbered over 1,000.
“As we push through on (only) our own strength, there was a person or two who drifted away. And, as I refrain from contacting them because I felt sad (T/N: literally, “disappointed”) (at their drifting away), it seems that the people around me are reducing (in number)… But even so, to me—I have the Members and the Fans.”
Inside Kim Jaejoong’s words were complexity. He wrote on his twitter profile “JYJ from TVXQ,” and on the day of the interview he posted a tweet reading “JYJ.” Could it be that the past and the present, the dream and the reality are muddled together?
“That TVXQ is my beginning is obvious and is unchanging. I didn’t put any other special meaning into it (T/N: changing his profile to “JYJ from TVXQ”). On posting the (tweet) that read “JYJ,” it was because upon waking up in the morning I all of a sudden felt that the whole of my life was “JYJ.” The period (at the end)? Um, that really had no particular meaning… Haha.”
In the interviews that he had with a few media sources, Kim Jaejoong brought out even private stories, such as “I’ve dated 4 women,” without concealing. He confessed his complicated and intricate family story and other things, but he said that the story that he really wanted to tell was on “music.”
“I learned so much by taking charge of all of the directing of the stage for the Thailand concert. As I took on the title of “executive director,” there were many worries. If it goes well, then it’s thanks to the staff, but if it does not go well, then it’s my fault—I had such worries too. Since I’d already made up my mind, I wanted to be responsible for everything. I went (to the venue) earlier, prior to the concert, and checked detail by detail from the placement of the stage to the routes of movement. It’s fortunate that it ended will, but in truth, it’s largely thanks to Junsu and Yoochun. Haha.”
The past 2nd and 3rd in the concert hall of Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, JYJ met with 22,000 or so fans through their World Tour 2011. Kim Jaejoong, with the staff, made everything—from the lights, movement paths, costumes, and the like. To check the time that it takes to move under the stage in order to prepare for the next stage, he took at stop watch and ran (the distance) himself.
“Because I am a singer who sing songs, I’ve often thought “ah, what would it be like if there was this such part.” If I come to direct often in the future, wouldn’t I be able to create a more perfect stage?”
This World Tour will cross major cities of Asia and North America and will decorate its splendid finale on June 11 and 12th in Korea. Kim Jaejoong is a beginner director but he was confident that he will improve little by little and will become complete in the future. The surprise revealing of the self-made songs of JYJ members through the concert was also a novel present for the fans.
“As the fans also probably felt, I think that nowadays our musical color changed slightly. In the past, we didn’t have songs like “Fallen Leaves.” It is true that we wondered whether we could do a song that did not have a beat. In order to keep pursuing change, I am thinking about studying harmonics. As I create songs, it seems, also, that I need the theoretical background as well.”
As time passed, as the glasses of soju emptied, inside his words was his inner heart rather than jokes. Jaejoong talked about his inner heart that he felt while looking at the incidents relating to his former agency, the few colleagues and juniors who are changing little by little, and the wall from the world that is becoming erected without his knowledge as he receives hurt. Most of all, he repeated, over and over, that he wished to do activities that are varied, like the other members.
That he had a swelled heart that hoped that when the conflict with the former agency died down, he would be able to meet with the fans often through TV– is his revelation of his true feelings. The image of Jaejoong who sometimes shows tears during fan meetings floated to my mind. At my question that asked whether he was lonely, he instead responded with laughter.
“Where and how shall I meet with fans? Actually, the majority of recent worries is precisely that. I believe that everything will be okay. I plan to sing for all of my life, I can’t become worn out. Haha.”
Source: Hankook Ilbo
Translation Credit: JYJ3
Shared by: ourJYJ
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