Having just clinched the Star Century Popularity Award for TV at the recent 53rd Baeksang Arts Award, Korean actress Kim You Jung brings her "First Memory" fan meeting from Taiwan to Singapore on 20 May 2017!
Clad in pastel yellow with baby pink hanbok (Korean traditional costume), Kim strolled into the ballroom singing "My Person", the OST from her 2016 hit drama "Love in the Moonlight", originally sang by her co-star, Park Bo Gum.
With her left hand clearly in bandage, Kim explained that she accidentally hurt herself while exercising, not that serious an injury that her fans should worry about.
Being her maiden trip to Singapore, the food she most wanted to try is satay and chilli crab. Surprisingly Kim claimed to have tried durian previously, but it's not one of her favourites although she likes fruits.
When asked what makes "Love in the Moonlight" so popular, Kim's candidly answered "I think the actors are really handsome and nice looking, (hence) won many ladies' hearts". While jokingly declaring that she's the most handsome of the lot, she admitted that she was comfortable cross-dressing as a guy in the drama; she could easily spread her legs apart and she could eat whatever she wants, in any manner she chooses. The hardest part for the role as eunuch Hong Ra On, was her upper torso constantly wrapped in bandage, and with the drama being shot in summer, it was difficult to breathe at times. To prepare for her "male" role, she discussed a lot with the director, whom incidentally told her male lead, Park Bo Gum, who acted as the Crown Prince, Lee Yeong, to treat Kim as a male.
The young actress felt embarrassed when shown a scene of the Crown Prince feeding a Korean snack to her eunuch role in the drama. She revealed that they prepared quite a fair bit of the Korean snack for the scene and she finished all of it for the shoot.
Her happy pills are her fans, whom she thinks about when she is down. When shown a scene of her dancing, she graciously accepted the fans' request to perform a small part of her favourite dance from the drama.
Kim shared with fans that the team took 2 days to film the "Lantern" scene where the Crown Prince wrote his wish "May eunuch Hong's mother be found". The 3 main leads (including B1A4's Jinyoung, who played Kim Yoon-sung, a minister who is interested in Ra On) had a hard time practising their lines, hence the lantern releasing scene was shot first before they backtracked to the dialogue scene. Wishes written on the lanterns which are released to the sky symbolises the wish being brought to heaven, hence will be fulfilled. When asked what is her wish, Kim revealed "I have a lot but for now, I wish to get a driving licence."
Kim claimed to dislike a sad scene where the Crown Prince back hugged Ra On. She felt embarrassed as she had to cry a lot in that scene and with her co-star standing behind her, it made her eyes and face looked swollen and big on the screen.
To build rapport with her co-stars, the director encouraged the main leads, who are around the same age to spend time together. After numerous meals together, the cast became better friends and 5 of them went for some water sports during their off days. They had a lot of fun to relieve the stress, although it meant a tired and sore body when they had to continue with the drama shoot the next day. Throughout the drama shoot, Kim has built a good relationship with Park Bo Gum, with both of them encouraging and cheering each other on.
3 lucky fans were then drawn from the audience to go on stage to a Polaroid each with Kim. The fans need to copy exactly the same pose from the drama in order to have their photos taken.
After this segment, Kim went backstage to change to a modern dress before coming back on stage to perform a song "Tian Hei Hei", originally sang by a Singapore singer Stefanie Sun. Kim "I tried to practise along with the original song but it was difficult. In the end I practised using Roy Kim's version"
During the game segments, 2 of Kim's ardent fans who wore a Pikachu and a panda outfit were chosen to go onstage to compete on who is a bigger fan. When asked who she preferred, the sweet actress chose both, whom were then given personalised autographed photo attention to their names.
When asked of hardship she encountered during the past 15 years where she acted in many dramas, she confessed that although there are many challenging and hard times, there are also happy times such as the current fan meeting session.
The next section of the fan meet featured a quiz to test if her fans know about the dramas that she had previously participated in. Having acted in many historical period dramas, where she is usually casts as goody "goddess" roles, there had been one where she was caught in a love triangle "Moon embracing the sun" Kim shared "I had a lot of fun shooting because I got to work with a lot of actors around my age. There was a love triangle. 2 guys actually like me so it was a really happy time".
A drama where Kim was featured with a crazy curly hairstyle where she shot at age 9 in year 2007, comparing the image then and now, Kim claimed that it does not really look like her.
On the hairstyle that she will want to experiment with or try one day, Kim said "the hairstyle that I have now is the one that I want. I want to try a really short hair, chin-length, but I was worried that I will shock my fans, hence I only trim a bit of my hair".
The student character that she has acted in that resembles Kim the most will be the character from her recent movie "Because I love you". "Scully" was a high school student who guides Lee Hyeong, played by Cha Tae-Hyun, whose spirit, after an accident, started entering the bodies of people struggling with love. Kim explains that when she gets comfortable with her friends, she will do the same (ie go all out to help her friends).
Regarding the web dramas (Love Cells & Love Cells 2) that Kim had previously done, Kim felt that it was a very unique drama since she acted as a cell, with the aim to make people laugh and have a good time after watching the drama.
On winning her recent popularity award, Kim immediately thanked her fans "I thank you all for voting for me. When I went on stage, I was really nervous. I don't know what to say, but I really want to thank all of you".
More games with fans took place, including food tasting session. When asked if she likes kaya toast, the cute actress replied "I like toast. I really like it. I heard it was good and I want to try tomorrow morning". Kim claims that Teh Tarik also tastes good. In return, Kim recommended her favourite Korean snack "Yakgwa" which is a very traditional Korean cake made mainly from honey, sesame oil, and wheat flour.
The last segment of the fan meet was a drawing session where she and a chosen fan drew portraits of each other. Following that, a fan-made video from the fan club was screened. Kim was touched and intends to watch it again to gain strength when she is down.
The kind actress walked down the stage to take group photos with all the fans before sharing her plans to do another drama on movie in the near future, so that her fans can see her on screen again.
Kim performed a final song for the night before ending with a hi-touch session and group photos with her fans.
Watch Kim You Jung performed "My Person" below:
Special thanks to KMTV Asia for inviting KpopStarz.com to cover Kim You Jung "First Memory" Fan Meeting in Singapore.
Writer: Wang | Photo Credits: KMTV Asia and Ong Melin
