NEWS
1) Rain Vows to Take the World by Storm
It looks like at any moment the pink T-shirt holding in his bulging muscles will be able to contain him no more: shoulders that look as if they have spread another 10 cm in the last year from a new and deeper confidence in his words and ways. K-Pop's brightest star Rain, who will kick off a world tour at a release event for his fourth album at the main stadium at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium on Oct. 13., agreed to a chat with the Chosun Ilbo.
"What happens now will determine whether I'll be taking a big step forward or staying where I'm at," he says. "If you just grasp a handful of sand, it will only slip through your fingers. You need to sprinkle water on the sand to make mud, which can then become cement and be made into a building."
"This world tour is the biggest opportunity I've ever had in my life," says the pop star, who has prepared for it as much as humanly possible. The biggest difference between this and his last tour is that a top crew that has worked on the shows of all the top U.S. and U.K. stars has been assembled for the show. "Things that no Korean musician has yet been able to do are happening now," he says. "Even when those who come to the show reach their 40s and 50s, they will automatically think of it whenever it rains, that's the kind of masterpiece that I will make. When I was drinking with (tour) producer Jamie King, he said, 'I'm the best there is. If I can't make your stage the best, there's no reason for me to be here.' It was like a spark."
After wrapping up his Madison Square Garden concert back in February, Rain had two choices. There was the perhaps too hasty fast track: putting together an album in English and heading guns blazing into the U.S. market. And the slower and surer option: heading back to Asia to cement his popularity with a world tour first. He went with the second option. "I thought that the first order of business should be giving a big gift back to the audiences in Asia. Towards the end of next year, I'll officially release an album in English, and then I'd better get up on those Billboard Charts," he says.
"I don't have the words to express how ready I am for battle. Usually, once the curtain goes up, the roars of the audience shake me like a wave and electricity surges from head to toe. But now I'm in that state of excitement even though the concerts haven't started."
Rain's ambitions as an actor are not too modest either. He recently finished work on the latest film by director Park Chan-wook, "Cyborg Girl." In the midst of all that, he has also been putting together his fourth album and preparing for the tour, putting his daily schedule a long way from comfort. "I sleep for one or two hours," he admits.
"In my days as a backup dancer, a mentor of mine who was the drummer said something that always stayed with me: 'When you lie down in bed at night, if comfortable sleep doesn't come to you, you haven't put everything into your work that day." These days, when I lie down for bed, I am often uneasy. I struggle to think of just what it is that I've done wrong, then finally, I just get back up and practice dancing and singing again. It seems like I may have some kind of an obsession."
Even though Rain lives as though there are 48 hours in a day, he still meets his friends from time to time. But he confesses, "After just the first shot of Soju, I start asking myself, 'Is it really OK for me to be messing around like this now?' and then it is difficult for me to just enjoy small talk." His "obsession" with work is more than your garden variety self-motivation. "Yes, I'm a workaholic."
"When I think of how I wasn't able to even buy a meal, or a bouquet of flowers, for my mother who left this world after she couldn't get adequate treatment for her diabetes, I realize that I can't spend one minute or even one second in vain," the singer says. "People who have gone five days without food see the world with different eyes. A lot of my older friends tell me that I should spend more of my money."
The album, to be released at the event on 13th, has his fans all over the world on pins and needles. "In places that have been ravaged by war and starvation, the falling Rain brings the sprouts of peace and love," is the theme that was chosen to base the album around, explains the singer.
In August last year, Rain donated enough to have 50 wells built in Kampot, Cambodia. "It was such a small thing, but many people helped, so we had good results." Recalling the Time 100 party last May, where the singer rubbed shoulders with some real big-timers, he says, "I was introduced with the phrase, 'In North Korea there's Kim Jong-il, in South Korea there's Rain,’ and I was together with Condoleezza Rice and Jerry Bruckheimer, it was like a fantastic dream. I was infused with a new energy when I returned home." Back in my days as a dancer, whenever things became overwhelming, I used to head up Mt. Namsan, he says, closing his eyes.
"Then I said to myself, 'Someday every single one of those people down there will know my name.' These days, when I think about the U.S., it brings back those memories. Now is only the beginning. Soon the day will come when everyone in the U.S., the home of pop music, will also recognize that Rain is the top star.”
Source: Soompi,englishnews@chosun.com
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200610/200610040008.html
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2) A concert featuring a number of top hallyu stars was held Oct. 2 in Shanghai, China at the closing ceremony of a Formula 1 Grand Prix competition. Performers included Kang Ta, Chang Nara and Bada, among others.
Formula 1, which Korea will host in 2010, is held by the International Automobile Federation in only 17 or 18 countries. The Shanghai competition first opened in 2004. This year, the Chinese authorities organized the hallyu concert and a vast array of other cultural events after the competition.
It was the first time that several hallyu artists staged an exclusive concert in China. The concert was held at a large soccer stadium where American diva Whitney Houston once performed. It was attended by some 20,000 people.
The concert was opened by the performance of Bulgarian-born electronic violinist Diana. Singer Bada, who performed afterward, introduced herself in Chinese, and sang her hit songs "Music," "V.I.P." and "I Will Love." Despite a lack of promotion in China, Bada received a warm welcome from Chinese fans.
Ha Ri-su, who has been stepping up her advancement to the Chinese market recently, hosted a lottery drawing event at the concert and called out the lucky numbers in Chinese.
The male duo Tree Bicycle sang two songs, including the theme song of the movie "Classic." Chang Nara, who has gained popularity in China as both a singer and an actress, sang three songs with Chinese vocals and one song in Korean.
The highlight of the concert was the performance of singer Kang Ta, a former member of the group H.O.T. Kang, who sang three songs, received more applause and a warmer welcome than Chinese singer Chen Kunhou, who performed before Kang. The audience even sang a Korean song along with Kang.
MMG, which co-organized the concert, said similar hallyu concerts will be held on the sidelines of Formula 1 events in the future to promote cultural exchange between the two countries.
The winner of the Formula 1 competition that just closed in Shanghai was world-acclaimed car racer Michael Schumacher from Germany.
SOURCE: Soompi, KBS global
http://english.kbs.co.kr/mcontents/entertainment/1418685_11692.html
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3) The five-member boy-band TVXQ has introduced its third album at a showcase that was attended by some 40,000 people on Sept. 30.
The group, which has mostly been performing abroad this year, including Japan, Thailand and Malaysia, showed off a more mature image to domestic fans after ten months.
SBS TV will broadcast the band’s showcase in October, which is quite unprecedented. At the recent showcase, TVXQ sang six songs, including “Get Me Some,” “I'll Be There,” "O," “Rising Sun” and “I Wanna Hold You.”
While singing their dance songs, the group members displayed impressive and dynamic dancing skills on the T-shaped stage. The beautiful melody of their ballad song “I’ll Be There” enraptured the audience.
TVXQ also held a charity campaign at the showcase by selling luminous bracelets and donating all proceeds to the needy.
Throughout the showcase, the band members chatted with the emcee and told interesting stories. Asked to describe a charming aspect about each member’s voice, TVXQ members praised each other’s singing skills by descibing Yuno Yun-ho’s voice as “profound,” Choi Kang Chang-min’s voice as "clear," Mickey Yucheon’s voice as "soft," and Shiya Junsoo’s voice as "husky." The audience was amused to hear Shiya Junsoo mimic a dolphin’s voice.
The band also showed its photos that had never been disclosed to the public on a large screen.
The audience asked TVXQ to sing the song “Sky” during the finale of the showcase. “Sky” was originally released in Japan and became a big hit.
The showcase was postponed for an hour because a large group of TVXQ’s fans from provinces arrived late. Some one thousand foreign fans from Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, the United States, Australia and Hong Kong also attended the concert.
SOURCE: Soompi, KBS Global
http://english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/1418116_11858.html
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4) The five-man group SS501 will release an album in Thailand. The group’s agency, DSP Entertainment, said Friday that it had made an agreement with KTCC, a Thai company focused on introducing Korean pop culture to the country, to release the group’s first feature album there. The group is enjoying great popularity there, with its local fan club numbering 20,000 despite the fact that the group has never been in that country.
SS501's first feature album is scheduled to be released domestically next month, and the one to be released in Thailand will contain its previous singles as well as new music videos.
“Although SS501 has never been to Thailand, it is quite popular through music channels like MTV, so we decided to sign a license contract,” a KTCC source said.
But DSP Entertainment said, “It would be impossible to conduct promotional activities for the group in Thailand immediately after releasing an album because it has to focus on promoting the album in Korea first.” The group may work in Thailand from next year.
Making its debut last summer, the group has only released single albums, including “Snow Prince,” “Fighter,” and “Warning.” It has recently given a concert in Osaka, Japan and will hold another concert in Tokyo next January.
SOURCE: Soompi, KBS Global
http://english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/1417823_11858.html
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MUSIC
my background music!! DBSG's 3rd Album!! 'O' Jung Ban Hub.
nice song isnt it?
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