Part 1 : “Youngjae the ‘game maniac,’ his dream was to become a professional gamer”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is B.A.P’s “brain” Youngjae, who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma.
After Daehyun’s interview was Youngjae, who had an enthusiastic introduction and greeting the interviewer with his round eyes. In maintaining his “brain” image of the group, he logically began unraveling his past.
“I was born in a hospital in Bangbaedong of Seoul on January 24th, 1994. When my mother was pregnant with me, she had a precognitive dream of my birth where a chili pepper was dangling and the night sky was in view. Siblings? I have an older brother with the age gap of eight years and I think I grew up without much trouble.”
Youngjae was born into a fairly wealthy family that wouldn’t trade what they had for others, but it was when the IMF hit that his lifestyle changed into a more difficult route. However, the young Youngjae never lost his smile despite the sudden change he faced in his life.
“When I was younger, my mother ran an apparel business but with the IMF, our family’s situation wasn’t at its best, even going into the extent of us living inside a container home from the factory of my uncle’s construction company. I never felt inconvenience, although my mother and older brother did. It was a rough time in my life but I always tried to think optimistically and I worked harder then (laughs).”
Due to financial issues, Youngjae had to live with his mother while his father moved away and the time Youngjae was alone increased. During that period of time, his friend was none other than computer games.
“I lived in a villa with my mother in Yongin and with her working, we moved to Seoul. At first, we lived in a small basement room in Bangbaedong and my mother worked at a shopping mall, so I would spend a lot of my days wholly alone. Since I liked playing games, I remember going to the internet café every day. Maybe it’s because I’m friendly, but I got along with the middle school and high school kids then (laughs).”
Youngjae reminisced as he said, “Although I lacked a lot, it was a time filled with happiness also.” Despite spending not a lot of time with his mother, he knew that it was all because his mother loved him. The interviewer was able to feel how much Youngjae thought of his mother.
Since kid Youngjae liked games, it was in 6th grade that he had the dream of becoming a professional gamer.
“In 6th grade, my dream was to become a pro-gamer. I liked Starcraft so much that I fell into the game every day. In 2002, I was playing that game despite it being the year of the World Cup (laughs). However, my parents weren’t so against the idea either, but that didn’t dream didn’t change till I was in my second year of junior high.”
The dream of becoming a pro-gamer didn’t last long for Youngjae as a certain event in his school trip during his second year of junior high routed him into a new dream.
Part 2 : “Junior high student Youngjae, he begins to have a new dream”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is B.A.P’s “brain” Youngjae, who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma.
Youngjae’s dream of becoming a professional gamer when he was younger drastically changed when he went on a school trip in his second year of junior high.
“In my second year of junior high, our class went on a trip and I had the opportunity to stand on stage for the talent show. Then, I sang a song from SG Wannabe with my friends and our peers cheered for us lots. In hearing the claps from my peers, I felt really good. It made me think, “The stage is a nice place” (Laughs). Although we placed third, the cries for an encore were only for me.”
Maybe it was because he couldn’t forget the exhilaration he felt from the stage, but he lost the excitement he felt for playing games soon afterwards and poured his focus into studying music in having a dream of becoming a singer instead,
“After the talent show from our class trip, I couldn’t play games and my dreams of becoming a pro-gamer changed. Instead, I requested to my mother to send me to a music academy that emphasized in practical music in my third year of junior high, however I couldn’t enroll right away as my mother said if I focused on my studies, then she’d send me (laughs).”
Since then, Youngjae decided to become a book worm and studied late into the night during the time for exams and with the sole passion for music that drove his studies, Youngjae eventually averaged higher than 80 for all his exams, especially math where he beat a lot of the studious people in his class in receiving a 100. Eventually, his mother approved of him attending a music academy but he tried his best to not have his mother help out too much financially.
“At first, I would save up my allowance and use it to pay for the expenses of my academy and at the time, it was about 100,000won (roughly $85.97 USD) and I didn’t use a single cent uselessly. But it wasn’t really music studies, but more so receiving lessons and it’s true that I did lose a bit of focus.”
However, it was in his first year of high school that Youngjae began changing in earning support from those around him as he began truly enjoying music.
Part 3 : “Joining JYP and placing first in the auditions…I felt dazed”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is B.A.P’s “brain” Youngjae, who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma.
Youngjae officially fell in the charms of music after he entered high school and in getting closer to his peers who attended the same academy he did, they would exchange their knowledge of music with one another.
“When I was a first year in high school, my teacher was very understanding of me in placing me with the hyungs of our academy and I spent a lot of time with the hyungs singing. I think it was a time where i9 was so into music that I didn’t even go home – I had a lot of fun playing and learning music at the same time (laughs).”
It wasn’t just Korean music that Youngjae was into, but he came across American music as well in broadening his music spectrum.
“When I first came across American music, I at first had revoked it and there were lots of moments where I listened to it due to it being required in our lessons, but I started growing onto it once I kept listening to it. Since then, I started liking pop to the point where there weren’t much Korean music on my MP3 player.”
And Youngjae lived in going crazy over music, yet he never had the intention of becoming a singer from the start.
“The more I thought about music, I started growing greedier. Instead of a singer, I had the thought of wanting to become a true musician. I thought that I should just naturally pursue in my own kind of music and it was stubbornness like none other (laughs).”
And it was during this time also that Youngjae began going to a lot of auditions. Many entertainment companies that one can recognize just by the name recognized Youngjae’s talents and had recruited him, even an offer from a male idol group of whom is promoting actively today. However, after much dilemma, Youngjae entered JYP Entertainment as a trainee and officially prepared for a debut, his age being 17 at the time.
“After 10 months of discussing with JYP, I ended up being a trainee and I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to dance at the time (laughs). But later on in time, I poured my entire focus into practicing dancing and that’s how I spent my time until the people around me told me to audition for JYP’s 6thAudition. After auditioning by myself, I even advanced into the final round of auditions. Thirty teams competed and I placed first. I really didn’t know what to think of then (laughs).”
It was an anecdote of which his music skills were so advanced that it had shut down the other contestants from keeping up with him.
Part 4 : “I felt that I’d be able to achieve something with Bang Yongguk”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is B.A.P’s “brain” Youngjae, who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma.
In raising his dream to become a singer in JYP, Youngjae left the company due to personal reasons after a year.
“I joined as a JYP trainee in my end of my first year in high school and spent a year since then just training. However, due to personal reasons, I left JYP and I think the mindset of wanting to do music became stronger. In putting behind me everyone’s disappointment, I made this decision.”
With having time to relax his body and heart for a while, a person he knew introduced him to his current company, TS Entertainment.
“There were a lot groups that were supposed to make a debut in TS Entertainment at the time. Of course, I knew Yongguk hyung was promoting at the time too and I auditioned during my time off, receiving a phone call from TS Entertainment soon afterwards. My mother was against me becoming a trainee for this company but as time passed by, she began to recommend me to take the offer in seeing the family-oriented atmosphere that drew her in (laughs).”
However, Youngjae signing with the company and becoming a member of B.A.P tied back down to leader Bang Yongguk’s unknown strength playing a big role of it all.
“When I came here, I saw Yongguk hyung practicing and he was so good. I think I worked harder with the thought of, “If I’m in a team with that hyung, I feel like I can achieve something.” I think all six members of B.A.P had a bigger desire to being recognized for the occupation of being a singer rather than gaining popularity for being a singer, so that’s why our friendship is even greater (laughs).”
However, as his trainee days swept by, he was chosen as B.A.P’s representing vocal and the pressure was higher than none other, he confessed. What put the pressure off of him was Daehyun who had joined later in the group.
“In my trainee days, I was in charge of high notes and I’m not the type to use my vocals in a strong manner and there were lots of pressure with people telling me, “As a main vocalist of an idol group, you have to execute your high notes well.” However, when Daehyun joined the group, all the pressure for high notes disappeared and with us two sharing parts, I was happy that I was able to follow through with the kind of vocals I wanted to do (laughs).”
And Youngjae slowly adjusted to the position of a dependable vocalist in B.A.P, preparing for the day he’d meet with his fans. Youngjae, who was able to lead a two hour interview without any rest, wrapped it all up with wise words.
“I don’t believe that the person I am standing here today is all because of what I did by myself, but through the love of the people around me and my fans, I’m able to be B.A.P’s Youngjae. I’ll become a singer that never loses his roots, so look out for me (laughs).”
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