╳ JUNG SANGHWAN is a FREELANCER
Jung sanghwan
the chill musician
basic profile.
me, me, and me.
personality traits — Shameless, honest, daring, adventurous, laidback, dismissive, individualistic, shameless
personality —
Laidback, charismatic, and dismissive - Sanghwan is chill. He's just a laid back kind of guy who goes with the flow and keeps things light. He's always making jokes to light the mood, making light of any kind of situation is simply how he rolls. He's serious about music, but even when doing serious work Sanghwan will be quipping jokes left and right. It's what he does best. This isn't always a good thing, traits always have two sides and Sanghwan is often too chill. He's impersonal and doesn't make lasting relationsihps, he goes with the flow and is like water, never permanent and always content to flow from one thing to another, or from one person to another. Sanghwan is the kind of guy who can talk to someone and make them feel like they're the best of friends, only to then flow to the next person the next day.
He's very 'don't worry, be happy' but fails to realize others aren't the same way. Just because you don't really mind when you get criticized doesn't mean others are the same way, Sanghwan, and it wouldn't hurt for you to show compassion. But that's just not him. Sanghwan doesn't really care about the other contestants. Again, it's not malicious, it's just that he doesn't really take this whole competition thing seriously and thus he doesn't really take the contestants seriously either. He's not an idol. He never wanted to be an idol. He's trying to advance his career by prancing around on stage a bit, and when he's obviously eliminated he'll take his guitar and his songs elsewhere, no biggie! Don't forget to buy his new album at the door!
Daring, individualistic, and creative - Sanghwan has something that can be quite rare to find in Korea: a deep appreciation for the individual. Sanghwan thinks that you should always be yourself, and he'll be the first to encourage that in anyone even if it might not be in their best interests. He values honesty, and that includes being honest with oneself. He's also daring in that he's not afraid to go against the norm, and will inspire that in others as well. Sanghwan respects his seniors, but that doesn't mean the he has to bend over backwards and do everything they say he should.
Bending the rules isn't a biggie for Sanghwan, if he'll get better results bending the rules to suit him then he'll do that. He won't cheat, mind you, but loopholes are loopholes. He's very good at finding creative solutions to problems and thinking outside of the box to facilitate this. You can count on Sanghwan to get you out of trouble as long as you let him do his thing, and hope he doesn't piss too many people off by bending a rule or two to do it. Hey you didn't specifically say they couldn't call for help?
Shameless, honest, and slightly scandalous - Sanghwan values honesty above all else. Honesty with himself and honesty with people. It's a good thing he's so chill and generally a goodnatured guy or that trait could really bite him in the . As it stands, he can be pretty blunt and cheeky in what he says, but he never means harm. He doesn't take life very seriously and tends to turn everything into a joke, and when he can't be honest (career suicide is a thing) he's an expert and making a joke out of things and smoothly segueing the hell out of those troubled waters. He's just saying what he thinks and is always ready to help you with the awful technique that will definitely harm your vocal chords, and please stop abusing that poor guitar do you need him to show you how it's really done? Some peope appreciatele his honesty, and many people do not, but Sanghwan won't be bothered by it. He can take critique, and would much rather you told him straight what has to be fixed, and shouldn't we treat people the way we want to be treated ourselves?
He's also rather shameless. It's impossible to embarrass Sanghwan, honestly. He doesn't know what that means. Want him to dress up in overalls and sing Candy? Bring on the overalls! He's always up for trying things even if he's atrocious at it (see: aegyo), and he'll put his all into whatever interests him. Hey, even if it's terrible it might just end up being a riot! Make him do a weird aegyo song once and he'll be intrigued and have the time of his life. Make him do it twice, however, and it will have gotten old.
He can also be rather scandalous in his humour. As mentioned before, he's a lighthearted fellow who likes to joke, and sometimes those jokes don't fall very well. He's definitely not above making a dirty joke here and there, or making a joke at the expense of someone esle, and much of the time the showrunners would really rather he not. Too bad though, Sanghwan does Sanghwan and there's no stopping him.
MISc junk —
x He can play piano as well as guitar, but the guitar is the love of his life. He hates it when someone else is playing guitar in a performance of his, it just doesn't feel right if he's not the one strumming those strings.
x He has extensive experience with rearranging and composing music, but it's all either indie/folk style or rock style. Pop? Nope.
x He was raised a buddhist. He likes to meditate every morning when he has the time, even if it's just for ten minute, and recite a mantra to start the day. He's certainly not the most devoted buddhist, nor the most effective (he definitely does not practice all kindness at all times), but he tries.
x He takes his guitar with him everywhere and feels without it. You never know when it comes in handy or when you'll get inspiration for a song! It's a custom one too, and he's been collecting decorations for years. There's some autographs (including one from Hyuk Oh that he cherishes more than he'd cherish his own children, probably) and some custom sketches from artist friends, as well as some stickers from events he's performed at.
background —
Sanghwan grew up in a small coastal city in the very south of Korea, quite isolated from everywhere else. His parents owned a local fish restaurant and life was simple. Sanghwan developed a love for music early on, it all started when he got piano lessons from an early age, much like most of Korea, as well as getting taught how to play guitar by his father. Guitar is where his passion truly was, and it got to the point where little Sanghwan was hardly ever seen without his guitar. He took it to school with him and played in the breaks. He took it to the harbour and played on the docks. He took it to the temple and played for the monks after saying his prayers. He took it to the restaurant and played for the customers. Sanghwan was always playing guitar one way or another.
Singing became an obvious extention to his love for the guitar. He'd strum those strings and make simple songs about life around him. Songs about working in class. Songs about crushing on that one cute girl who sat two seats behind him. Songs about the fishermen going out onto the water. Songs about praying to the Buddha. Songs about how much he loved making songs. He never got formal singing lessons, but learned as he went.
Always with his head in a cloud of music, he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life strumming that guitar. It was a no brainer to study applied music. Not wanting to stray too far from his home, he went to Chonnam University in Gwangju as soon as he graduated high school at 18 taking classes in music theory (which he found pretty boring), educational theories (not so boring), and composition (the best). He wanted to become a music teacher, share his love for music, and make his own songs on the side. A simple life. Until one of his friends begged him to audition to Kpop Star season 3 with her cause she didn't have the courage to do it on her own.
So they travelled to Seoul, and Sanghwan had never been to such a big city before it was really intimidating. He went on to audition for the show with a simple song accompanied on the guitar that he wrote himself. And they loved him. He went round after round on the show and developed from chill student just strumming his acoustic guitar to a stage beast. Sanghwan found that he really loved the stage, and also he really loved rock music. JYP was the one who instilled that love in him when he recommended a rock song for Sanghwan to perform, which is why, when Sanghwan got eliminated in the third to last round, bummer. Just like that, that adventure was over.
Sanghwan ended up getting signed by some small company for indie artists. He got to release a single, It Rains, with the promise for more if it saw success. It was decently succesful for coming from a well-liked KPop Star contestants but not enought for the company to saw fit to invest more in him. Sanghwan just worked on graduating from university and writing songs, hopefully he'd get to release more music in the future. After uni he started teaching music here and there to pay the bills while he engaged in the indie scene. The company wasn't doing much for him so he released music on a sound cloud, played at some festivals, lit up the stage where he went but with such a small audience it didn't do much of note for him. It wasn't enough, it wasn't really getting anywhere. Sanghwan wanted more. He'd let countless of survival shows pass him by out of disinterest only to see their participants shot to fame and finally he thought this is it. it. The next one I'm jumping aboard for that little piece of fame! And there came Big Shot.
Mind, he has zero ambitions of actually making it into the group, he just wants to come as far as he can so people will know his name again and maybe he can get signed and get back to making music for the masses, get them to listen to his creations.
family & friends —
▪ Producer Kim - Does Not Like Him (see: interview)
▪ Yuk Hansae - They don't know each other yet, though Sanghwan knows of him, but why do I have the feeling that Sanghwan does nothing good for Hansae's lust for trouble?
My feelings are the most sincere.
opinion on the bighit boIs — If they want to the very best like no one ever was, who's he to stop them? He doesn't really give them much mind honestly. They embody everything he's not and he's cool with that. He doesn't want to be a picture perfect dancing machine, he wants to stands on stage and strum his guitar and sing his lungs out. He's as amicable to them as he is to the freelancers, ain't nobody got time for this rivalry bull. He knows he's not really their competition anyway, nor does he want to be.
opinion on the freelancers — They're cool! He enjoys getting to know people, any people, and doesn't discriminate between Big Hit Bois and freelancers. They're all cool dudes to him until proven otherwise. He's supportive of the ones who want to get more musical and will help if they like! If they don't have an interest in music then that's cool too, this is an idol show after all you do you, you definitely don't need music there. Sanghwan just does what he does and let others do what they do. Doesn't really matter to him.
interview time !
"hey, please introduce yourself."
▪ "Yoooo!" Sanghwan says with his usual goofy grin as he sits down on the chair provided. "I'm Jung Sanghwan, you may know me from Kpop Star 3! I guess you could say I'm back again!"
"what made you want to become an idol and why did you apply for this show?"
▪ "Aren't survival shows all the rage today?" he asks innocently, avoiding the idol question like a smooth . "I thought it'd be time to join one, try one out for size, I've missed the stress, the cameras, the controlling staff members, oh hi there producer Kim I didn't see you there!" He grins more and waves at a person off-camera.
"how long have you already trained and have you been signed under another entertainment before? if yes, how was it there and why didn't you stay there?"
▪ "I've been signed to Orbit Entertainment for three years now," he says, still cheerful. "They picked me up right after Kpop Star 3 finished, dusted me off long enough to release a single song, and booted me right back to dungeon. Not very exciting, honestly, I don't know why they had to dust me off if they just wanted to let me rot anyway but hey, I'm not some big CEO guy now am I? I wouldn't really call it training though, that'd be implying they put in effort." He says it all with the same cheerful amicable tone, with the same cheeky grin that tells you he knows exactly what he's saying.
"what would you say is your biggest strength and your biggest weakness?"
▪ "Wait, wait, hang on I've got this." He gets up, almost trips over the wires, and disappears off-screen for a moment before he returns with his guitar in hand. He takes a moment to settle as his face gets completely focused before he stars playing softly and launched into the chorus of Someone Like You. When he's done the playful smile immediately returns after he carefully sets the guitar down next to him and focuses back on the camera. "Oh don't look so cross, producer Kim, it was only a short cover, I'm sure it didn't mess up your schedule too much. Where were we? Oh, right, weaknesses! Well I mean I sort of know how to dance to Pick Me but it pales in comparison to the Master, Hugo, so I'd say that's a pretty glaring weakness."
"how far would you go to become an idol?"
▪ The cheeky glimmer is back. "Why, are you asking me How Far I'll Go, producer Kim? You could say that I've been standing on the edge of the industry as long as I remember, never really knowing why. I wish I could be the perfect music teacher, but I come back to the promise of fame no matter how hard I try. Every turn I take, every trail I track, every path I make, every road leads back to the place where I cannot go, where I long to be. See the line where the mundane meets the stars? It calls me, and no one knows how far I'll go. If the spotlights-"
That's enough, Sanghwan," a strict voice off-camera says.
"Are you sure?" Sanghwan asks. "I know all the lyrics. I could go on- okay okay no need to look at me like that!"
"what do you have that makes you a standout? why should we pick you for the show and not someone else?"
▪ "Should I sing again?" he asks innocently, feigning a grab for his guitar.
"that's it so far. do you want to add anything else?"
▪ He leans forward toward the camera and stage-whispers: "if I don't return after this interview: assume producer Kim killed me. Always assume it was producer Kim. She's sneaky," He ends his statement with a wink at the person off-screen. "I love you, producer Kim, please don't murder me in my sleep <3" he closes by making a heart with hands, presumably at producer Kim.
the one and only.
Strength — Sanghwan lives and breathes music, he's got every part of the art covered to a T, and the stage is his oyster. Let Sanghwan loose on a stage and you'll have someone who is completely at ease and in his element. He connects and interacts with his audience and puts on a show like none other. Sanghwan simply has stage presence for daaaays.
Then there's the fact that he's a great singer, even if his voice doesn't always work well with others. He's got a rough, deep voice (#justiceforbaritones) with good control and is great at expressing emotion. He can go from a lighter swaying ballad to a wild rock performance in a heartbeat and nail the mood for each of them. As long as he feels what he's singing he's got this.
Performing? Singing? Writing music? Playing guitar or piano? Sanghwan is your man.
Weaknesses — First of all he's got a very unique voice. He's honestly much more a rocker than an idol and it shows. He's not very good at harmonising because his voice stands out too much. He's also just not good at dancing, he's never really danced before aside from the basics. He's got stage presence for days but stage presence means nothing when dancing in formation and smiling at the camera whenever it's your time. Such is the structure of idol performances.
Sanghwan is also used to working alone or with a band, this whole idol business is totally new to him. He knows how to work the cameras, the stage, how to sing, but the whole mess about leaders and centers and rubbing lips and giving aegyo?? That's all new. He's also used to a great deal of creative control, and having that taken away will not make Sanghwan a happy boy. Putting Sanghwan in an idol pen and telling him to sing about a teenage heart throb for 4 lines in a song while dancing and you basically kill every bit of life that makes Sanghwan's performances so mesmirizing. But here he is anyway.
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