OK MUSIC

On March 16th, Korean artist Kim Hyun Joong held a special encore performance “Cherry Blossom Season, Our Graduation Ceremony See You Again” at LINE CUBE SHIBUYA (Shibuya Public Hall) in Tokyo. The performance was different from the additional performance of the world tour “22/23 KIM HYUN JOONG WORLD TOUR ‘The end of a dream’ in Japan” held in Osaka on March 11th and 12th, and will include an encore. Almost all of the 23 songs were delivered with Japanese lyrics, making it a premium live show full of affection for Japanese fans.

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When the curtain rose on the stage, Hyunjun, wearing a black tank top and a silver sequin blouson, appeared leading a five-member band. The sound of the school chime echoes, and the first track is the c/w song “Chime” of the Japanese single “Hanaji” that was just released the day before. When he sang the song, which has both an uplifting feeling and a sadness, with a soft smile on his face, he started singing “Save Today” and at the same time, a grand singalong occurred from the audience. In response to the reaction, he also pointed the microphone at the audience with “Stay here” and enjoyed communicating with the audience through singing.

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Hyunjoon checks the expressions of the fans from time to time, and does a lengthy MC in Japanese on his own. And he revealed his desire to convey his thoughts in a language that the audience is familiar with, just like the songs, saying, “I’d like to speak in Japanese rather than Korean as much as possible.” He called out, “Please, loud, big action,” and he performed the heavy rock ballad “Wake Me Up” and the epic middle number “Your Story.” He himself continues to sing with a loud voice and big action as he asks the audience. After he finished singing, he gasped and said, “Next is the last song.”

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“Four Seasons” enhances the sentimental mood, and “Tsuki to Taiyo to Kimi no Uta” captivates with vocals that gently snuggle up to your heart. section. From the intro of “BINGO”, a bright singalong erupts, and Hyunjun jumps and actively stirs up the audience, further solidifying the sense of unity. After that, the stage was filled with passion, such as “Hot sun” with bright red lights that further heightened the wild mood, and “Super fire” with exciting band sounds and powerful vocals. and showed a strong guts pose with both arms.

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After putting his sincere affection into his songs with ‘Pure love’ and ‘Love song’, he asks the audience, ‘How was the last two songs after a long time?’ Then, through an interpreter, he explained in detail why he sang in Japanese, saying, “It’s not perfect, but I’ll sing in Japanese. I want to convey my love to all of you who give me precious love.” There was a big round of applause and cheers.

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In the English lyrics song “Song for a dreamer”, beautiful high notes resonate on top of the acoustic tone, and in “Wait for me”, which is sung slowly and carefully, the appearance of raising the voice while squeezing the body is approaching. After that, according to the MC, singing the same song now reminds him of his deceased friend. After he said, “‘Lonely’ is also love, isn’t it?” he said, “This is also a form of love, isn’t it?” The audience gave him a loud singing voice with his singing voice that put all his strength into it.

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Touching on the fact that it has been 13 years since he started his solo career, he confesses that there are moments when he worries about whether he will satisfy his fans and whether he made the right choice. But the cheers from the crowd, he said, put him at ease, as if they were telling him that he was on the right track. At the end, he smiled, saying, “I’m not perfect, but I’ll be a good person.” Wrapped in a natural and sunny atmosphere.

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The first song of the encore was “Hanaji”, the title song of the latest Japanese single, written by Fumiya Fujii, while pink confetti reminiscent of cherry blossoms was falling. Furthermore, when he sang “Re:wind” as if to savor every word of the lyrics, he enthusiastically said, “I will continue to deliver good music and beautiful stories to everyone,” and performed the rock number “HEAT” provided by B’z. Picked at the end of the day.

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From the beginning of the song, a loud chorus broke out in the audience, and when the energetic song once again formed a strong bond, the audience shouted, “Thanks to all of you, my heart is full. Thank you. As the audience chanted the word “see you”, which is also used in the title of the live performance, he folded his shoulders with the band members and bowed, saying “see you again!”, vowing to meet again. A special encore performance that emphasizes “delivering in Japanese” above all else. It was a moment where you could feel Hyunjoong’s deep affection for his Japanese fans.

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Text by Sayako Oki
Photo courtesy of (c) Birdman Co., Ltd. / 2023 HENECIA Co., LTD.