Singer Lee Ji-hoon expressed his feelings on finishing as the runner-up in The Ballad of Us.
Recently, an interview with SBS The Ballad of Us TOP6 Lee Ye-ji, Lee Ji-hoon and Song Ji-woo took place at the OSEN office in Mapo-gu, Seoul.
Lee Ji-hoon earned the opportunity for an official debut by finishing as the runner-up on SBS's survival program The Ballad of Us, which concluded last December. When asked how he felt when the final rankings were announced, he said, "I didn't care about the rankings at all. I didn't pay attention to them throughout the competition, and I thought, what a great result this is," he said.
He also recalled his family's reaction: "From the first time you appeared on The Ballad of Us, you didn't think about the rankings at all, and my parents respected that. Then after I made the TOP6, they said, 'Isn't it okay to start caring about the rankings now?,' 'Try aiming for first place.' So I insisted, 'I'll do what I want to do until the end,' and the result of that stubbornness was the runner-up, so my mother was very proud. She said, 'It's very proud to insist on doing what you want and achieve results like that,'" he said.
In particular, during the semifinals he won first place with a tribute song for his mother, who came from Kazakhstan. Singing Lee Moon-sae's 'Only the sound of her laughter,' which turned the venue into a sea of tears, Lee Ji-hoon said, "Actually, my mother was worried at first. When preparing, we weren't sure whether this song could move people that much, and I couldn't be certain it would have that much impact on the main stage," he admitted.
He continued, "As I prepared, the original song is about holding on to a departed lover, but I interpreted it differently and sang it as a son's unwillingness to leave his parents. That got a strong reaction from people, and my mother watched that stage and cried. She said, 'I'm proud of you,'" he recounted, moved by the response.
Asked about memorable moments during the competition, Lee Ji-hoon said, "My college entrance exams overlapped with the broadcast. During the fourth-round semifinals I took entrance exams at two schools and then went to the set. The song I joined at the end to sing was 'Only the sound of her laughter.' As soon as I sang it I got first place, and since I was last in the order, wasn't first place already decided? So my legs and body all went weak and I remember being exhausted," he revealed. He added about his entrance exam results, "I was accepted to everywhere I applied. I enrolled at Seoul Institute of the Arts," he said, drawing admiration.
However, after facing elimination once in the third round, Lee Ji-hoon recalled, "Our opponents then were older sisters Choi Eun-bin and Kim Yoon-i. The four of us—my partner (Kang) Ji-yeon and I—were so close that we hung out together even when off duty, but when we found out we would compete that day, we told each other, 'We'll be the ones eliminated.' We naturally expected to be eliminated, so we calmly accepted and waited for the results. But I went up alone and felt a little sorry for (Kang) Ji-yeon," he said, adding, "(Kang) Ji-yeon told me to definitely win. Since I had gone up, she asked me to win and perform well for her as well," proudly showing their strong friendship. (Continued in interview ②.)<
[Photo] OSEN reporter Park Joonhyung
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