Even today's hottest stars and artists have had moments of "firsts" - their first appearance, first event, first live show, etc. "My Firsts" is a program where they look back on those thrilling moments that only come from inexperience. This time, Jiyoung, who announced her resumption of activities in Japan in November last year, talked about the time she auditioned for KARA as a teenager.
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At the recommendation of my cousin, who is a showbiz artist in Korea, I auditioned for KARA when I was 15 (according to Korean age). It was the first audition I had ever taken. At that time, I sang Girls' Generation's song "Kissing You."
Apparently, the older members of KARA were a bit surprised by that. At the time, KARA and Girls' Generation were like "rivals" working hard together. I heard later that everyone was surprised and said, "You sang Girls' Generation's songs so well."
For me, it was a popular song at the time, and I was asked to prepare an upbeat song, so I chose it without giving it much thought. I never expected that people would be surprised by it.
When I passed the audition, my family, including my older sister, were overjoyed. But I cried in front of my mother and said, "I don't want to go." Because I had to leave my parents and go to Seoul by myself.
I lived in a place called Paju, not far from Seoul, about an hour and a half by car, but we had to have training camp in Seoul, so I said, "I'm scared," "What will your friends do?" and "I don't want to go."
At first, I didn't find the training camp fun. It's a tough world, and we practice every day. It was more like I was desperate than having fun. I had no choice but to do my best because I was already a member of KARA.
My older cousin, who gave me the opportunity, is still working as an actress in Korea, and when I see her working hard even after getting married and raising a child, I think, wow, that's amazing and cool.
I will be appearing as a judge on "Utauma Queen Japan-Korea Showdown JAPAN ROUND" (Fuji TV, January 16th, 8pm) which will be broadcast on January 16th. Although this show is called a "showdown," it's not a battle. The contestants from both the Japanese and Korean teams are friendly with each other, and they showed us how they came together in song, which I thought was wonderful.
The Korean team sang in Japanese, and the Japanese team sang in Korean, so I thought that there is no language barrier in singing, and that we can live without worrying about language barriers. I want everyone to see the wonderfulness of being united through song.
We pioneered K-POP, but I think today's kids are really amazing. They sing and dance in a style that's different from our generation, their performances are really cool, and K-POP is being played not only in Japan but all over the world, so I'm really proud of them.
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JYON Born January 18, 1994, from Korea. The youngest member of the K-POP girl group "KARA". Since 2014, she has been active as an actor in various Asian countries, mainly in Japan, under the name Jiyoung. In the same year, she appeared in the drama "Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube" (Nippon TV). In 2015, she played Irina Jelavic in " Assassination Classroom". In 2016, she debuted as an artist "JY". In 2019, she starred in the movie "Dosukoi! Sukehira". In 2021, due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became difficult to travel frequently between Japan and Korea, and she announced that she would focus her activities mainly in Korea. She resumed her activities in Japan in November 2024. In the same month, the series began serialization in the web version of the fashion magazine "FRaU" (Kodansha). At the end of last year, she appeared in "Run for Money - New Year's Eve SP" (Fuji TV).
