OK so I haven’t blogged in a very long time, but this guy has gotten me all excited about Korea and Korean stuff all over again (not that it went away completely), so I have to blog about it.
I love watching singing competitions. I’ve watched about 8 seasons of American Idol; I’ve seen many versions of the X-Factor (UK and US); I’ve followed a few seasons of The Voice; and I’ve watched Kpop Star since the tail end of season 1. But Immortal Songs or 불후의 명곡 is a singing competition that I currently love more than the rest.
First of all, the show only invites singers/groups that have proven that they are good singers. I like this because I don’t want to hear bad singing like in some shows with auditions. I think that’s one reason why The Voice is more popular. The concept of Immortal Songs is pretty simple. The performers that are invited each week (many of whom come on the show week after week) do covers of old songs to a live audience. The order in which they perform is usually determined by the host drawing their names. After each performance, the audience members give the performer a vote if they enjoyed it. The performers go head-to-head with the next performer and whoever gets the most votes from the audience wins. As you can see, it’s advantageous to perform last because some audience members don’t vote until later or until they are really moved by a performance. I don’t know how many audience members there are, but the record vote so far is 447, given to the amazing ALi.
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But on to the main topic of this post: 황치열, Hwang Chi Yeol. This guy became very popular very quickly through this show. He was unknown to most people before his first appearance, but has quickly gained many fans. He is an amazing ballad singer with a deep husky voice and good looks. He also used to be a B-boy, so he’s got an amazing body and can show off some pretty sweet moves. But besides all the outward stuff, above all that, I think what captivated the audience and made people root for him is his story. His story is a story of perseverance. For nine years, he tried to make it in the industry, but for some reason or other, he never could. He performed on the same stage nine years ago and was recognized by famous rock ballad singer Yim Jae-Beom. Their husky voices are very similar. Still, he had to wait nine long years to finally make it big. Despite disapproval by his father for choosing this career, he persevered. I don’t know much of what he did during the nine years yet, but I know he did some OSTs for dramas and was also a vocal coach for members of the boy band INFINITE. Some people would question his decision to pursue his dream while his father was battling cancer, but perhaps even his parents approve of what he is doing now. In his third appearance on Immortal Songs, he had a very emotional performance of 아버지 (Father) by 인순이 (Insooni) in front of his father and mother, who were in the audience. His parents have never seen him perform before, so it was a really special moment for the family. He was last to perform and managed to take the win with 425 votes. What an appropriate time to get his first win!
He has since become one of super rookies of the year and took the sole title on a special episode for super rookies. There were some tough competition in the running and even though he went third, he garnered 430 points and was able to win 5 times in a row to win the trophy! I loved his reaction every time he won ㅋㅋ
Another amazing thing about him is that he was born in ’82 which would make him 34 in Korean age I believe. He still looks so young! 동안이에요. It’s not too late for him to realize his dreams. I always look forward to his performances, even though some of his hand gestures are so cheesy haha…I love it though! 황치열 파이팅!
Becoming Multilingual 