jinwoo / press interview

" Kim Jin Woo, 'Finding The Charm Hidden' By His Looks "

 

"I know that I have a pretty, handsome, and decent face."

 

The corners of his lips curling up like he's smiling even though he's staying still, the long lashes with the big eyes, the white skin. If I were to explain my first impression of WINNER's Kim Jin Woo, this one sentence used to be enough. That is, back when I only judged him based on his looks as though he himself agreed.

 

There was a time when I rationalized his silence with the so-called saying, 'If you're good-looking, you're all set.' This was because during official schedules in the past, every time I saw Kim Jin Woo I would wonder, 'Why is he so quiet?' Especially in every round interview for WINNER's new albums, Kim Jin Woo would be the member who used his words the most sparingly, and even the few answers he shared was close to being very short, brief responses. 

 

Maybe it was because of this, but as I was heading to the location of our interview, all I could think in my head was, 'How will this shy person lead and continue this interview on his own?'

 

However on the 14th, in a cafe somewhere in Seoul, Mapo-gu, Hapjeong-dong, the Kim Jin Woo I met gave me answers that were the exact opposite of my worries, and consequently showed me an unexpected side to him.

 

"I actually wanted to personally reach out to each media outlet and conduct a one-on-one interview with them. But due to the nature of my work I couldn't do that,  so I told the company that I wanted to do a round interview instead. It reminded me of when we were debuting as WINNER five years ago. It somewhat felt like I had returned to my rookie days, so I wanted to personally meet and speak with all of you."

 

[...]

 

Kim Jin Woo revealed that he had decided to pursue solo activities because he wanted to show new charms about him that he couldn't display previously. 

 

He also casually tossed out something that others  might've thought of as self-praise by asking, "I know that I have a pretty, handsome, and decent face, right?" Despite everyone on the scene being surprised he didn't mind, continuing "But I couldn't help but wonder for how long I had to stay locked in this 'pretty' image. I actually do have the charms of a 'tough guy', and bits of a 'shy guy' too. It doesn't have to be a wild transformation, but I do have a wish that people will be able to rediscover who Kim Jin Woo the person is."

 

The fact that he was ‘alone’ played a part in changing him too. Kim Jin Woo said, “I leaned a lot on the other members when we were doing activities as WINNER, since Seung Yoon is good with words, Min Ho’s good with rap and song composition, and Seung Hoon is good at dancing. But now that I was doing everything alone while preparing for my solo activities I realized, ‘I’m actually good at this too! I’m not bad at it, I just wasn’t doing it.’ I think I was generally feeling fear, and through preparing for ‘CALL ANYTIME’, I broke that fear.”

 

Though he is now a Kim Jin Woo who has experienced walking down the path of ‘solitude’, he cannot ignore how the lessons learned through working as a group have contributed to his making. To mention his personal strong point that was made over the course of 5 years of group activities, Kim Jin Woo said, “I know myself the best. There’s no one who knows me better than me,” with confidence before looking around him for a moment and asking, “But this is pretty obvious, right?” and created a wave of laughter throughout the scene.

 

He went on explaining, “But I really am like that. I’m proud of the fact that there’s no one who knows my charms better than me. For example, when it comes to styling, I know well what I need to do and how to dress to appear attractive to the general public, or I guess more commonly, I have a very good idea of what kind of concept will fit me the most. That’s how well I know myself. It’s also why I consistently self-monitor and self-regulate."

 

Towards the end of the interview, he showed an unexpected side to himself with a ‘surprise comment’ he hadn’t previously consulted with his company about. When asked what he wanted to experience during the ‘CALL ANYTIME’ promotional period, he responded, “I want to personally go and meet the fans. But I know realistically it’s not possible, so I want to take a ‘selfie’ with all the fans instead. I’d take a selfie with every single fan that comes to my fan sign, one-on-one.”

 

I smiled and said the probability of actualizing this could be hard because of how tiring and pressuring it could get with the crowd of reporters, but Kim Jin Woo didn’t give in: “I don’t think it would be all that difficult. I’ll just say hi, sign, take a picture, and done! If you started it you need to see it through ’til the end. I wish I could do it every fansign but…” and glanced over at his company staff members.

 

He wasn’t joking when he said “I know myself better than anyone.” In a way that some might’ve seen as ‘self-pride’, Kim Jin Woo continued what he was saying without any hesitation.

 

He chose his management of personal relationships as one way he self-cares. “I want to live right, so I try not to be lazy. I don’t like gaining weight, so I always regulate it too. Aren’t I really pure? And even from my point of view, I’m a really nice person,” he said with a nod.

 

It was clear that Kim Jin Woo began to show his natural colors once he left the fenced-up territory of being in a group. As his modifier shifted from ‘WINNER member’ to ‘solo artist’, the Kim Jin Woo who was always quiet had changed to a remarkably natural artist full of ambition.

 

"As much as this is the last album I'll release before I turn thirty, it's all the more meaningful to me than ever," said Kim Jin Woo. It's why I'm looking forward to the infinite charms he'll show 'again again again' from here on out.