The band Jaurim shared the close friendship they have built over nearly 30 years.
On the 18th, Jaurim, a 28-year veteran and a rock band iKON in Korea, appeared as guests on KBS1's Morning Yard Tuesday invitation segment.
That day, when Kim Yuna was asked about her thoughts on participating in the Morning Yard recording, she said, "I was a little worried. I was afraid I might be tired. But when I entered the studio, everyone here had such good energy that I felt energized too," she said. In response, announcer Eom Ji-in said, "I was a bit worried because there have been so many recent articles saying Kim Yuna was sick, about her health, so are you okay?" Kim Yuna said, "I saw that too. But what I was sick with was something from more than 15 years ago, and lately articles keep coming out. I was wondering whether I should go around packing lunch boxes saying 'I'm not sick, I'm healthy, I work the most' while going around," she said, expressing her distress. She, who has a congenital immune deficiency, had previously battled cerebral palsy.
Kim Yuna repeatedly clarified, "Morning Yard viewers, I, Kim Yuna of Jaurim, am really healthy and doing well. I'm very active in performance activities, I released a new album, so there's no need to worry. I'll do well."
In fact, Jaurim made a comeback after releasing their 12th album, LIFE!, on the 9th. Performing the live stage for the title track "Life! LIFE!", Kim Yuna said, "It's a song I created and performed with others," adding, "There is an exclamation point after 'life.' Life is life, right? With an exclamation point it feels like 'It's life!' It's a song like 'Life, why are you doing this to me, answer me!' I kept performing and working and wrote many pieces and released albums, and then it was time for a Jaurim album. But I had worked so much that I felt like I might go a little crazy," she recalled, describing the burnout she experienced.
She said, "Don't you have times like that? 'When do I rest? What will happen to my life?' But what would happen if I don't work? I have to work. At those times I couldn't stand it anymore and wrote a song with the meaning 'Life, don't do this to me. Do I look like I'm dancing? I'm writhing right now.' But it wasn't just my story. It seems like everyone feels the same thing while living their lives. That's why many people seemed to empathize," she said. Kim Jin-man added, "When I first heard this song I thought it might be the album title track. It progressed naturally and the album title was named 'Life!'," sharing the behind-the-scenes story.
Afterward, Jaurim members shared stories about their path to debut. Kim Jin-man recalled the start of Jaurim, saying, "It was 1996. I was in a band. The vocalist of that band was Lee Seon-gyu. We were working hard, and by chance I went to see an amateur performance where a woman sang two songs and left, and she sang so well. Common sense says what would happen if you sang with Lee Seon-gyu in a band and then heard Kim Yuna sing. I went to see if we could work together."
Kim Yuna said, "There was a mutual acquaintance in the middle who introduced me, saying I wasn't a strange person. When we met and talked, the two of them said they were aiming to become professional musicians. They dressed like very kind, studious students, wore glasses, and their appearance was far from that of professional musicians. I had never once thought I would become a professional singer. I had been cast before, but I thought it was unrelated to me, and when we debuted and the reaction was good, I was more surprised than anyone. 'People like this?' That was the feeling."
When asked if he felt a sense of crisis at the time, Lee Seon-gyu said, "The reason I ended up singing in the beginning was that between Jin-man and me, I was a little better, so that happened. Actually, I found it very difficult when people stared and showed interest. I wanted someone else to take this attention, and then I met Kim Yuna," he said with joy. Kim Jin-man said, "At first, because we were an amateur band in the Hongdae club scene, we were active under the tentative name 'Ugly Duckling.' Then suddenly we debuted. Debuting under the name Ugly Duckling felt strange, so we made a new name," explaining that they changed the band name to Jaurim.
They said the reason they debuted was thanks to the proposal of a suspicious producer. Kim Yuna recalled, "He was so suspicious. He was a producer who made me not want to go near him." She explained, "Originally, the club where we played had many senior excellent musicians. We were a young band that played on Thursday evenings. Since Thursdays had few customers, we sometimes played even if there was just one person. At that time we learned something precious: even if there is one audience member, it's the same as having 100,000 audience members, and we have kept that in our hearts. Anyway, there was a very popular and musically good team that played on Saturdays, and that team went out for TV filming and stood in for the Saturday stage. We were so excited. On Saturdays the club was packed. We thought we could also play on Saturday and went to the club with our guitars excitedly. After playing joyfully, we were sitting at a table used as a waiting room having beer when a table full of men over there told us to come over," she explained.
She said, "But you shouldn't go if some unknown man from a music club tells you to come over, right? So we said no, we wouldn't go. The manager sister went to talk and heard that their identities were certain people and told us to go. What could happen if the three of us went? We went and they handed us a business card; it was the MBC film production team. They said they were producing a film at the time and asked if we could make a title song. Isn't that like something out of a movie? Us? Putting an original song in the ending credits? They said if we wrote something within three days and they liked it, they'd use it, so we made four songs. They said the film had a romantic comedy vibe, so write songs that fit that mood. One of those was the debut song 'Hey, Hey, Hey.' That became a mega-hit. We have many hit songs, but this one was the only one that became a candidate for number one. It climbed to the highest rank. It was the number one candidate only on KBS. I'm grateful," she said, taking a moment to express thanks.
Having debuted that way, Jaurim has been known as a band with no internal splits for 28 years. Announcer Park Cheol-gyu asked, "That's not easy. Your teamwork is solid. Whose influence played the biggest role?" Kim Yuna explained, "I think each of the three roles contributed. Before we debuted we had already deepened our friendship as friends, so we're still best friends. We respect each other as people and keep just the right slight distance without interfering too much, which I think is important."
Announcer Eom Ji-in asked in surprise, "You've never fought even once?" Kim Yuna began, "We really have never fought, but to be honest..." Then Kim Jin-man looked like he had something to say, and when asked, he said, "It's not so much that we fight; among the three members, Kim Yuna, who takes on the mother role, gives lectures and instructions to the other two members. They accept it without getting upset because what she says is 100 percent right." He added, "The most recent thing was telling us to brush our teeth after eating," he confessed, prompting laughter.
Announcer Eom Ji-in then told Kim Yuna, "If there are things you want to openly request of the two of them, you can give orders," and Kim Yuna shot back, "So far, the number of works I've registered with the Copyright Association is very large. Relatively, the number of works by the two of them is much smaller. That means they've worked less. It means they've been lazy. I had a bit of expectations for this album. While I released a solo album and performed at festivals and solo concerts for two years, the two of them had a lot of time, but out of the 10 songs on this album I wrote seven," she said, taking a jab, then enlivened the mood by saying, "Fun, right?" which drew more laughter.
The two members seemed at a loss, and announcer Park Cheol-gyu said, "Lee Seon-gyu sat up straighter," asking, "You'll work hard from now on, right?" Announcer Eom Ji-in suggested, "I think we should end by hearing a word about your determination," and Kim Jin-man said, "Whether it's creation or activities, I will build a lot of muscle and become a muscular man," expressing his resolve. Lee Seon-gyu also concluded warmly, "You have to get into the habit of working to keep working. But since we've been resting for a long time... we'll start little by little," he said.
[Photo] KBS1
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