Kim Hyun Jung

Infobox Korean name
hangul=김현정
hanja=金賢政
rr=Kim Hyeon-jeong
mr=Kim Hyŏn-chŏng

Kim Hyun Jung (born April 4 1978) is a Korean pop singer. Commonly known as the Korean dance-pop queen, she is most famous for energetic dance tunes with influences from traditional Korean melodies. She has a record of selling more than 500 000 copies of each of her albums and has won more than 30 musical awards.

Biography

Before her musical breakthrough, Kim Hyun Jung originally wanted to become a ballad artist. However, her first release "그녀와의 이별" ("Breakup with Her") with its strong dance beat became such a hit in 1998 that she decided to build a career in dance instead. To date, she has only released two ballads as singles: "거짓말처럼" ("Like a Lie") from her third album and "떠난 너" ("You Who Left") from the fourth. In addition to her powerful voice, live singing abilities and dance talent, Kim's trademarks include her particularly long legs that tend to get mentioned in just about any context, earning her the title "Miss Long Legs".

The successful first album further produced the second singe "혼자한 사랑" ("Lonely Love"), and the following year saw the release of Kim's second album "A Sea Gull of Dream", continuing with the style she had become known for. The singles of the album were "되돌아온 이별" ("Recurring Breakup") and "자유선언" ("Declaration of Freedom").

"The Third Eye", Kim's third album, is widely considered her best effort, and has so far been the most popular one. [http://www.asiamusic.net/magazine/onzine.asp?mode=view&num=3618&part=gayo&search=%C2%B1%C3%A8%C3%87%C3%B6%C3%81%C2%A4&start_num=] The album promotion began with the song "멍" ("Bruise"), which is still her biggest hit to date. "멍" was followed by two other tracks: "너 정말?" ("Are You for Real?") and "거짓말처럼" ("Like a Lie").

For the fourth album "Wild Beauty", Kim took a more experimental approach. The release was a critical success as well as a commercial one, with the popularity of the songs "놔" ("Let Go"), a rock-flavoured dance tune, and "떠난 너" ("You Who Left"), a power-ballad with Irish sounds. Overall, the album's unusual style was reminiscent of that of the innovative Korean techno artist Lee Jung Hyun. In 2001, Kim also won a Bonsang award at the annual SBS Gayo Dae Jun Award Ceremony and the honor of Best Female Soloist in M.NET Music Video Award Ceremony for "떠난 너".

2001 was not, however, only a year of success for the dance diva. First, her album release was delayed by a leg injury that also forced her to postpone her promotion tour to Taiwan and Hong Kong scheduled for July 2001. A month later, she further suffered an even more serious accident. During the shooting of a variety entertainment show, she fell upside down from a slide while dressed up as a tomato and trying to catch a ball. She was hospitalized with disjointed neck bones and strained shoulder ligaments, forcing her to cancel her already delayed promotion plans.

Kim Hyun Jung's first return to her roots came with the fifth album "Diet" in 2002. Some critics labelled the album as "eclectic" while its variety of styles was applauded by others. Nevertheless, the song "단칼" ("Swift Slash of the Knife"), which is included on the album in two differing versions, became a major hit, and the R&B-spirited "현장" ("Scene") a minor one. The special feature of "Diet" was its title track, a megamix of almost 18 minutes including different mixes of most of the album tracks. In 2002, she also won another Bonsang award, this time at the SBS Awards.

Kim launched her sixth album in 2003, which had the single "끝이라면" ("If It's the End") that was a throwback to her classic style, even bearing a distinct resemblance to "어쩌면" ("Maybe") from her third album. Exceptionally, almost half of the tracks on "Hit for 6ix" were ballads.

"I Love Soul", Kim's seventh album, was in contrast even more experimental than "Wild Beauty", not containing any techno-dance tracks. The album is made up of various styles including R&B, jazz, swing, gospel and soul, as the title suggests. The two singles were "B형 남자" ("B Type Man") and "태양 에너지" ("Solar Energy").

In 2005, the dance-pop queen made another return to her roots with the special dance remake album "Fun Town 20". The album comprised eighteen cover versions of well-known Western, Korean and Japanese dance hits from the 70's, 80's and 90's as well as a Russian folk song. The leading track of the album was "Funky Town", originally performed by Lipps Inc. Other revisited classics included Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" and Enrique Iglesias's "Bailamos".

She returned in May 2006 with "Dance with Hyun Jung", an album that continued her dance traditions. However, it has not been as popular as previous albums, last seen on the charts in July, where it only sold one thousand copies; at that time, her album sold 11,232 copies [http://www.miak.or.kr/stat/Kpop_200607.htm] . On the November 26th episode of "New X-Man", a SBS variety show, other celebrities voted her as the one most needing an image change, and Kim has said that she will take that into account.

Recently, Kim Hyun Jung has gone to United States for couple months and she made a statement that she will become an actress soon. In addition, she worked very hard to get into shape and to lose weight.(July, 2007)

Kim Hyun Jung's "8th" album was released June 9th, 2008 with her title song being 살짝 쿵 (Small Boom). The music video for her new single Small Boom (살짝 쿵) is being directed by the same person that created SS501's 'Deja Vu' music video as well as Epik High's 'One'. The album has been said to lean over to a modern rock sound instead of her usual dance music.

Trivia

* Kim Hyun Jung entered the entertainment industry when she was spotted by an agent on the street.
* She is highly popular in Hong Kong, where her fans call her Amy Kim.
* She was the first Korean pop singer to be interviewed by TIME.
* Some months before the release of her third album, Kim Hyun Jung had her teeth aligned.
* In 2002, Kim wrote the storyline to the cartoon "T.R.Y" illustrated by Park Moo-jik and published in the comic magazine "Cake".
* Kim wrote the lyrics to the former Korean boyband Sechs Kies member Kang Sung Hoon's song "Because I Love You" included on his second album.
* Kim was planning a special ballad album to be released during the winter 2002-2003. The release was delayed until autumn 2003, but in the end, it never took place.
* Apart from her legs, there is an another fact that is often mentioned in conjunction with Kim Hyun Jung. In July 2003, she and more than ten other South Korean celebrities entered the island of Guam in order to film an episode of the famous South Korean TV show "Rose War". However, they were denied entry and held in detention on suspicions of "attempting to immigrate and work illegally" at the Guam International Airport by U.S. immigration officials. Kim was held in confinement apart from her crew for more than six hours and deported back to her country the following day while the rest were admitted to stay. Later on, she received a formal apology from the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
* The song "Like a Virgin" from the album "I Love Soul" was banned by the Korean Broadcasting System for sexually explicit title and lyrics.
* Kim Hyun Jung now has a piercing on her upper left eyebrow.
* Kim Hyun Jung is one of the tallest female singers in Korea and she often recognizes as "Long Legs or Dance Queen."
* She will be releasing her eighth album on June 12th 2008 called "In and Out". Her title of album is "살짝쿵".

Discography

그녀와의 이별 (1998)

Wild Beauty (2001)

I Love Soul (2004)

In N Out (2008)

Filmography

* 2000: Bloody Beach (해변으로가다)
* 2001: Yesterday (예스터데이)
* 2005: 안녕 프란체스카 (TV)
* 2006: My Lovely Sam Soon (TV)
* 2007: Profit! (TV)

External links

* [http://www.kimhyunjung.com/ Official Homepage]
* [http://www.cineseoul.com/movies/people.html?peopleID=101759 Cineseoul profile]