Friday 16 March 2012

Kim Hyun Joong… [article] WEAK & STRONG

Credit & Wrote by LazerKim

 

By LazerKim:               Kim Hyun Joong has been called by the title given to him by media as Mr. perfect, Walking Statue, or simply Leader as his fans called him. But why was he given such title? They said he’s called Mr. Perfect because of his outlook and as being a multiple talented artist. He is called a Walking Statue because of his perfectly cut features, his tall height, long legs, with a well built strong muscles, clear smooth fair skin and a perfect proportion physique. He’s called Leader for obvious reason, he was the Leader of  SS501, from the time he started with the group till the end, he was being responsible as a leader to his members.
No matter how others called him Perfect, Hyun Joong humbly accepted the praises to him but he still believes he’s not perfect. As he always say, he will work harder to be worthy of the name given to him as Perfect. Hyun Joong admits his weak points and so he never stops from learning. He aims to have more opportunities to be able to develop himself, and while opportunity comes along his way, he never waste time, as he always say, he would rather work than taking a long holiday that would only make him lazy.
Every individual has his own personal weak and strong points, just the same an artist has his weak and strong points in his ability. I would say Hyun Joong is one unique artist blessed with many talents in singing, dancing, acting and an instrumentalist. He’s like a jack of all traits, that he wants to develop each and every talent that he has, and Hyun Joong is taking one step at a time. You can see improvements in a person once you have compared his past and his present. Hyun Joong had been very honest about what is missing in his ability. At this point let’s see how much he had improved from his weak points when he was still with SS501 and when he debuted as solo artist.

 


Dancing:
I watched and scrutinized Hyun Joong’s video clips during his SS501 days, and I can’t help laugh at some videos I’ve watched!! There are some performances, that Hyun Joong forgets his dance routine and trying to catch up with the group’s back up dancers! If you’re a choreographer or director, you’ll be disappointed in him. But then, Hyun Joong just look so cute when he makes a mistake, because he was full of smiles and yet looks so innocent about catching up with his dance routine!! And then he had a habit of turning his head to glance to the dancer next to him specially whenever he’s at the back or at the far side of the stage!! And then he can not maintain an eye contact with his audience, shyness can still be seen in his eyes!! But whenever he has a part to do by himself on stage his routine was always perfect.
As Hyun Joong did Breakdown on his debut as solo, I’ve seen a totally different Hyun Joong, from head to foot. He had develop his high precision in movements from his head, to his arms, down to his foot works in executing his dance routine. When he was with SS501, he’s the best dancer among the members despite of his lapses in movements, he was a bit frail back then. But now I would only say Lyle Beniga his choreographer did a very good job on Hyun Joong, and my hats off to Lyle. And Hyun Joong evidently worked so hard in learning a totally different style in choreography, by exerting all his strength and putting his heart to dance, that made a lot of difference in him.
Hyun Joong was saying, what SS501 missed back then was showmanship. At first I didn’t get what he meant. And when he did Lucky Guy, I fully understand what he was trying to say. It’s the characterization of every music that they did with SS501, and variation that the group had missed. In every music a dancer performs, there has to be change in character portrayed whatever the music concept dictates, which Hyun Joong had finally fulfilled. He had improved a lot, the changes which I have not seen from him before with his group, suddenly surfaced, and had brought a strong impact on his every performance.

 


Singing:
Hyun Joong had admitted that he still lacks technique in singing and his problem was his breathing and pronunciation, although he’s working on it. Actually it’s not his voice which has a problem, but his breathing. Most of his songs are sang in falsetto, meaning he sings not in his ordinary speaking voice, and this is not easy if he’s moving as he dances while singing. But I have seen a lot improvement in his singing, during his SS501 days there are time his heavy breathing can heard over his microphone, specially on mid-part of their concert. But now that heavy breathing had been minimized.
Since he dance and sing at the same time, his choreography has to be toned down just a little bit, until such time he can easily carry on. But Hyun Joong took it as a challenge, he did what Lyle Beniga choreographed for him and as everyone would say, practice makes everything perfect. And so he sang and dance Breakdown consistently. His improvement was quite obvious if you compare his singing performance before and at present which has a big difference. I have seen a much improvement when he sang Love and Fortunate. I have never seen that emotion from him before, the way he communicates with his audience through his music and the way he looks at his audience when he sings is something that wasn’t there before. He is a totally different Kim Hyun Joong at present.
Acting:
Watching Boys Over Flower as Yoon Ji Hoo, which I didn’t realized it was his first acting project because I think he portrayed the character perfectly. With Playful Kiss I think he did portrayed Beak Seung Jo as a genius excellently, and yes I’ve seen improvement since he has more lines delivery in that drama. Although Hyun Joong was saying he has to improve his memorization, since he had lots of NG doing Playful Kiss!! He was saying that scripts for the drama will only be given to the cast on the day of filming. I think this is normal in Korean dramas production, specially on mid-part of filming the drama. Script writers does a lot of adjustments with dialogue and sometimes even some parts of the plot.
I think we can see more improvements on Hyun Joong on his next acting project. Since it’s been a while since the last time we have seen him doing drama. So let’s just wait for it.

 


Working Attitude: 
Kim Hyun Joong had changed a lot, it’s like 190 degrees change in his working attitude. Before Hyun Joong was so playful even during work although when it comes to rehearsals, he remained focus but his childishness had always been there. On break time he and his members would really play!! He was restless, you just can’t put him in one corner to rest, because he’ll be joking around instead!! But this time, even his little time to catch his breath after dancing he would be there at the monitor to check on his moves. He simply sits on the floor holding his lyric guide, while resting. He may chat with Artmatic but no play, as far as I can see from his rehearsal video clips.
When he did his first album he was 100% hands on even with the album preparation like the jacket, logo, photos to used for the album ect. He was saying he hadn’t done this when he was with his group, that he was aching to do. Hyun Joong had matured not only in his work but even to himself as a person. The only thing that didn’t change in him is his candid honesty, modesty and the way he talks!!!
Personal Behavior:
In one of his interviews in Japan and in Taiwan, he admitted to the fact that airport scenario was something strange to him, like meeting a crowd of fans at the airport even at wee hours at night. He actually mentioned that incident at airport with his boss Bae Yong Joon, that he wasn’t sure if it was his fans or BYJ’s fans, who were there at the airport and so he doesn’t know how he would respond. In Taiwan, he admitted that he was quite surprised when he had seen a crowded airport solely occupied by his fans to welcome him, and it was rather late when he arrived so he wasn’t expecting a crowd of fans. Hyun Joong was saying that he has to get used to airport scenario that his fans will welcome him.
I think he had already gone used to it and had improved, now he would walk a bit slowly or pause for a while to wave, bow and smile to his fans. I have noticed this when he was in Japan for his debut album and concert at Yokohama Arena last January and the other day  for AEON, and a crowd of Japanese fans were at the airport to welcome him. He smile, he waved and bow to his fans even he was in a bit hurry. Another is his relationship with his fans I think had improved, since I think Hyun Joong is much closer to his fans when he started doing solo.
Personal Relationship:
Since Hyun Joong is currently uncommitted, and base on his past relationship, he was saying he’s always been dumped by his girlfriend. I may consider this one of his weak point as of now. He was saying he spends more time with his male friends than his girlfriend!! I would say, maybe it’s because he had not found the right person who will make him stay put!! Or maybe it’s just too early for his biological clock to start ticking. It’s because he’s still so much engross with his career, so no matter how much he wants to fall in love, it may not be possible if his mind is occupied by his dreams to be fulfilled.
May I just mention this, yesterday I posted my article Jealousy, which talks about the natural instinct of fans jealousy and most of the fans commented positively that Hyun Joong’s fans naturally get jealous about his personal relationship. I appreciate their honesty and so I had certain conclusion that fans do get jealous in reality that answered my question as to why Korean male celeb do get married at later age. And I think Hyun Joong had accepted this reality about his fans and remained uncommitted to any personal relationship.

 


Strong Points:
I think the strongest point of Hyun Joong is his natural personality in reality as a whole. He’s beautiful inside out, what more is there to look for?
The strongest point in Hyun Joong is his honesty, he admits and embraces his weakness and takes the initiative to improve, rather than being defensive. Another thing is, Hyun Joong listens without getting offended. He takes his critics as a challenge, to prove them wrong. That’s a very positive attitude which I admire from him most. He is very optimistic just about everything. And of course his remarkable modesty that everyone likes about him.
We have already witnessed Hyun Joong’s power to conquer a huge audience all by himself. Although he had experienced a lot of concert performance during his time with SS501, doing it solo is not that easy. But so far he showed what he has got and his success was overwhelming. His strong charisma is so undeniable that he has the power to pull people towards his side. Hyun Joong’s talents can be improved further than we expect from him, but his natural charisma is something that he can not be faked.
I couldn’t figure out further on his weak points, Hyun Joong stated in one talk show that he made a lot of mistakes in the past, and would try to improve it. I think he was pertaining to his playfulness during work when he was with SS501, well I’ve watched lot of those. And that was one obviously a drastic change in him. At present, he really takes his work very seriously. He’s 100 percent focus during his rehearsals and even on break time, he sits quietly, taking time to catch his breath and proceed again.

 


If I’ll be asked, what I want to see in him more, I would say I want to see the same scenario at the Premium Live Concert at Yokohama Arena with a huge crowd of fans enjoying his performance. Hyun Joong was right when he stated that he would like to concentrate on his singing career, to solidify his status as a solo singer before getting to acting again. But if a drama project comes along, then it will be great too, since there’s a high demand for him to do drama. Whatever Hyun Joong does for his career, I would continue supporting him all the way. 
Hyun Joong’s strong determination, dedication, passion to his craft and his hard working attitude, these are his strong points that lift him up. He has so many good quality that are natural in him. As he said, no one is perfect, but whatever weak points he has which I consider to be minor that can be improved, and he had taken the initiative to do so. I couldn’t even consider his 4D to be a weak point because every time it strikes, he’s so cute in it. If he commits a mistake, it even makes him specially funny!!
Kim Hyun Joong is a one of a kind individual, with his weak and strong points, I’m thankful for knowing a person like him…………                                  LazerKim here writing.

 

Photo credits as tagged, thanks.


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