Rocker Jung Joon-young does music ‘raw and free’

Rocker Jung Joon-young: ”My music does not yet have a concrete identity, but I want it to stand for something, to be free and to be raw.”

By Kim Ji-soo

Singer Jung Joon-young for his second mini-album “Teenager.”

Last Thursday, as the music program “M! Countdown” was under way in Sangam-dong, western Seoul, multinational reporters ― including reporters from China and Australia ― were interviewing Jung, 25.

Such speed interviews might usually be reserved for actors from major blockbuster films. But since the June 26 release of his second mini-album “Teenager,” the rocker is in demand. It helps that the doleful-eyed performer was one of the most visible contestants at a survival audition program.

Since then he has been featuring on popular television entertainment programs such as “One Night Two Days.” On July 7, he also started working as a DJ on a two-hour midnight radio talk show, previously helmed by Shin-dong of Super Junior.

How is the rocker holding up with such a busy schedule?

“I can feel my mood deteriorating as I move from one schedule to another,” Jung said. “I might confidently say that my emotions fluctuate high and low more so than anybody.”

This type of honest answer is what reporters look for, but when it comes out directly it can catch an interviewer off guard. Jung seems genuine in expressing his fatigue, but dressed casually in black shorts and top, he looks bright and energetic.

“Oh, that was because there was the camera,” he said. “But soon, I will get away from all this ― get on a plane and go somewhere.”

Jung wrote one of the songs from the second mini-album titled “Sailing Boat” while he was strolling in Paris.

Asked how the album was doing, Jung said: “It’s the pits. That’s the reality.”

Jung wrote the six songs from “Teenager” – “To Myself,” the title track “Teenager,” “Teeth,” “Friend,” “Hold On” and “Sailing Ship. ” The songs are in the alternative rock genre ― easy to listen to, especially during these summery days.

Jung enlisted several of the music industry’s hottest names, such as Junggigo, for the album.

“Teenager” album cover.

He had better luck with his debut album “Ten Minutes before Good-bye” in October 2013, which topped the charts Jung said the album was a lot like himself as well as a reminder of how he felt when he started making music.

He has lived in Indonesia, the Philippines, France, China and Japan. He spent the longest time, five years, in Qingdao, so he is fluent in Chinese as well as English. His musical influence, however, came from MTV Unplugged and the late Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.

“I was watching him perform, and he said ‘f–k you all,’ and I liked that, the attitude,” Jung said.

Cobain inspired Jung’s interest in the music of Guns ‘N’ Roses, Skid Row and Pearl Jam. They have influenced Jung’s music and his songs for “Teenager,” although they are a little more cheerful.

“Of course it’s different. I cannot do their music,” Jung said.

He said he also enjoyed paying and performing in Japan, where he spent three months involved in rock band activities. One of his favorite Japanese rock musicians are L’Arc-en-Ciel.

Such nonchalant, free-spirited ambience and his frank and quirky conversation have given Jung a solid place on the Korean entertainment map. When Jung decided to pursue music as a career, his parents cut off financial aid, so he held various jobs, including modeling. Jung said that his parents were not necessarily opposed to his choice for music career but wanted him to be independent and a responsible musician.

“Now, they are really happy for me,” he said.

His fortunes changed when he auditioned for the survival show “Super Star K” in its fourth season in 2012. He finished third, behind Roy Kim and the band DickFunks.

But during the competition and afterwards, he was always at the center of attention — and he knows it, too.

“I started to sing at karaoke to get the girls,” he said. “I wasn’t the best singer, there was always someone who was No. 1, but I did get the girls. Maybe it was then that my fate as No. 2 was sealed,” he said, perhaps in reference to his second mini-album on the charts.

Jung is popular in Asia and his recent promotional show in Taiwan was successful. He is also very popular in China. Asked in which foreign place he would like to perform soon, Jung said “Tokyo.” Immediately after the interview, he said he was going there to sing the original sound track for the Korean drama “Pretty Man.”

“But that’s immediately after I finish filming ‘One Night, Two Days.’ Will I be able to get on the plane?” he asked himself and his publicist. After that, he performed at a concert in Seoul.

Did participating at the survival audition help him handle the hectic schedule and stress of the entertainment industry?

“I don’t think so, but I am sure that unknowingly it is helping,” he said.

Where does he seem himself in five years?

“Married and doing music with joy,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know a lot of things. I only wanted to do music.”

He said he always does think about forming a rock band, too.

Asked to define the essence of his music, he joked a little, asking, “Isn’t essence what you put on your hair?”

Then he said: “My music does not yet have a concrete identity, but I want it to stand for something, to be free and to be raw.”

Currently, he is into piano sounds and if possible would like to work with DickFunks and Kim Hyeon-woo.

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