Seeing singer Kim Jong-kook for the first time on television, people often wonder how such a beautiful, high-pitched voice comes from such a hyper-masculine body.
In fact, the two seemingly contradictory features are what gave him the current star status as a singer, but with them, he has also been going through a minor identity crisis recently.
With his sad yet rhythmic "Still there (Jejari Georum)," which was first aired on July 9, topping a few different pop music charts already, Kim wears a long-sleeved shirt whenever he sings the song on television, to hide his muscle-bound torso. "My new song just doesn`t go well with my body, I guess," Kim said.
It`s not easy to guess his age from his high tenor voice. Kim, 28, however, has been a pop star for the past 10 years, since he debuted as the vocalist for dance duo, Turbo, back in 1995, pairing up with rapper Kim Jung-nam, who was replaced by Korean-American Mikey after their second album.
<**1>"Still There" is the first track off his new album "This Is Me," which means much to him because it, though not officially, was meant to celebrate his 10th year in showbiz. "I didn`t expect this great reaction, because the last album was a massive success," Kim said. "I just tried to make a sample of my musical style with the album."
After Turbo, one of the most successful male duos in local pop music history, dissolved five years ago, Kim made his solo debut in January 2001, which gave him the biggest disappointment ever in his career. "I think I trusted fans too much then," Kim analyzed.
According to Kim, he thought that Turbo fans would like his singing Turbo-style music, even without the rapper, which turned out to be wrong. Consequently, he has tried to forget about his style in the duo and experiment with a new style, which pushed him back to the top of major charts when his second solo album, "One Man (Han Namja)" came out in June 2004.
In the title song of the album that was one of the biggest hit singles through last year, Kim proved that his voice is as charming in lower keys as in his trademark high notes. "I tried to make my voice unrecognizable even to my old fans, which worked quite well."
In spite of the almost unexpectedly huge success of the last album, Kim tried not to remain musically unchanged for his new album, and thus he picked somewhat rhythmic "Still There," instead of a slow-tempo ballad like "One Man," as the first track.
"I had long been considered as a dance musician with Turbo, and it took me a large amount of time to get out of that mold," Kim said. "As `One Man` became a hit last year, I started to worry that I might be stuck in ballad music."
Like in the previous album Kim spent a great deal of time on the lyrics of the songs for "This Is Me," great enough to delay the original release schedule. "Falling in love with someone and breaking up again... What the lyrics of the songs say is something universal, though it might sound too worn out."
As he plans to carry out the two-year mandatory military duty beginning sometime next year, the new album feels even more special to him. "I wish I could sing as much as I`ve done for the past 10 years, until then," Kim said.
To the disappointment of Turbo fans, Kim doesn`t consider teaming up with Mikey again for another Turbo album. "We could sing together sometimes as we did for my first solo concert last fall," the singer said.
"It`s not that we are on bad terms or something. Actually we still talk on the phone almost every other day, but Mikey and I have many more things to do for now," Kim added.
Ten years is not a short time. It is even more the case in the local pop music market, where a countless number of overnight stars are born and then quickly fade from the spotlight. With that in mind, the singer`s wish must be way too simple: "I wish my songs could make people comfortable for a long time," Kim said.
(danlee@heraldcorp.com)

By Lee Yong-sung