KOREAN boy band Wanna One had 11 members and since its disbandment in January, two of its members already held fan meetings in Manila — first was Park Ji Hoon and followed shortly by Bae Jin Young.
While the 19-year-old Park boldly took over the Araneta Coliseum for his first solo fan meeting, his contemporary, Mr. Bae, opted to have a more personal event by choosing a smaller venue, namely the New Frontier Theater in Quezon City, for his I’m Young: Bae Jin Young 1st Asia Fanmeeting Tour in Manila. A bit reserved yet entertaining, the Produce 101 Season 2 10th placer appeared to still be warming up to a solo career when he faced his Filipino followers last month. However, since it was subsequently announced on May 20 that he is now part of C9 Entertainment’s new five-member group CIX (short for Complete in X), his “alone time” was short-lived.
Though brief, the 20-year-old singer said it was fun to be able to show a different side of him to his Philippine fans as a solo artist. No longer a teenager, he shared that he has more leeway to present a “more mature” side and try a diverse genre.
“Nothing much really changed (now that I am 20). Whereas I was ‘cute’ before, I am more confident to show a sexier and ‘manlier’ side,” he said, to the delight of the fans.
When he covered “Move,” a cut from the album of Taemin, a member of the popular K-group, SHINee, the audience caught a glimpse of the sensual Jin Young. However, he immediately reverted to his cute persona when he also danced to Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” His repertoire also included The Weeknd’s “The Hills.”
Mr. Bae used to be part of Wanna One, a phenomenal boy group put together by Korean entertainment company CJ E&M, made up of the top performers from season 2 of the Korean talent competition, Produce 101. The temporary team was launched in August 2017 and had its final concert last January. It was a huge global success and the group performed a sold-out concert tour and dozens of fans meetings worldwide in the 18 months that they were together.
The I’m Young fan meet opened as a two-day show in Seoul and it was eventually brought to various Asia countries including Manila.
It has all the standard features of a K-pop fan meeting including a question-and-answer portion, a mini-concert, games, and close interaction with fans. The event was hosted by video jock Sunny of MYX.
While the number of attendees of the Manila leg was decent considering that Mr. Bae has spent only a few years in the entertainment industry, it was evident that the newbie has to continue sharpening his skills to draw fans other than those garnered from his Wanna One days. The stage was visibly hollow with only 1/11 of the former group entertaining the crowd.
As he is still young and his looks are definitely within K-pop stardom standards, Mr. Bae has a long way ahead of him. But youth and beauty alone will not cut it — pure talent will catapult someone to fame.
