Storming ahead

Never mind his bland personality, Rain works hard to present nifty footwork and washboard abs

By TAN DAWN WEI

IN February 2005, a shy, reticent young man entered a press room backstage at the MTV Asia Aid concert in Bangkok for his 10 minutes with journalists. Rain had just bagged the Favourite Artiste (Korea) award but not many in the room knew who he was, or cared. They were busy thinking of what to ask the more famous names to come: Hoobastank, Kelly Clarkson, Jay Chou and Namie Amuro.

After a few polite questions posed mainly by Chinese-speaking reporters, he got up, gave a small smile and took a slight bow.

He left more than just the room, he left no impression.

Check out the muscles and the glove (very likely inspired by Rain's favourite performer, Michael Jackson)!

Rain? More like a mere drizzle, remembers Singapore's The New Paper reporter Jeanmarie Tan about her one-to-one interview with him before the event. The man, in her words, was soft-spoken, reserved and had nothing much to say. Back then, Rain (Bi in Korean) was a singer-actor who, while on the fast track to fame at home in South Korea, was hardly known abroad. He had just scored significant success with a TV series, Full House, and his third pop album, It's Raining, in 2004.

The romantic comedy, in which he paired up with the hugely popular Song Hye Kyo, became one of the highest-rated Korean dramas of all time. By the time the rest of Asia caught up, Full House had become a hit, from China to the Philippines. By the end of 2005, It's Raining also sold over a million copies in Asia.

His first world tour in the same year was sold out in eight Asian cities.

Clad in a spiffy Rain-coat, the pop star posing with flight attendants in front of a Korean Air planebearing an image of him upon his arrival in Hong Kong, the first Asian stop in his current Rain's Coming world tour.

Last year, Rain finally went from who? to being among the Who's Who in Asia superstardom.

Time magazine called him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world. His concert at the 5,600-capacity theatre in Madison Square Garden last February was also the largest Korean concert ever in New York City, with hip-hop gurus P. Diddy and Omarion in attendance.

Today, it's near impossible to get even five minutes of Rain. Unusual Entertainment, the concert organiser for the Singapore stop of his current world tour, Rain's Coming, was gunning for a phone interview with a few journalists.

Sorry, no time, said his management. We'd entertain only e-mail interviews.

Sales of the 7,000 tickets to the concert, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium today, have been brisk. They cost between S$188 and S$488 (about RM420 and RM1,100), putting him among the most expensive in concert history in the city-state. The much-touted S$888 and S$688 tickets were in fact given free to Rain’s management and concert sponsors.

Travelling with an entourage of 80, he is hauling some 30 tonnes of equipment, including a life-sized mock submarine, a conveyer belt, a bed and rain machines. The 12-country tour, which costs US$5mil (RM17.4mil), also boasts big names like choreographer Jamie King, who produced Madonna's Confessions Tour last year, and visual director Dago Gonzalez, who directed some of her music videos.

Punishing schedule

But not everything about Rain has changed. That dullness in personality witnessed by the media just two years ago hasn't gone away with fame and confidence, it seems. Maybe its the language barrier. Maybe it's his age he is, after all, just 24. Maybe it's his punishing schedule.

But its hard for one to get excited over an e-mail response like: "I hope that I can do my very best all the time and my dream for my future is to do the right thing," which is his reply to a question about his biggest wish in life. Such statements typify his answers to the 12 questions we posed him. Still, fans can't care less whether he's Mr Personality or bland as boiled chicken especially not for someone who's created an entire stage persona based on his nifty footwork and killer washboard abs.

All they want to see when the 1.84m-tall dynamo takes the stage are his slick dance moves and some very dramatic shirt-ripping. There's also that distinctive low, husky voice that has surprised critics who once thought he was nothing more than a dancing machine who couldn't hack it without lip-synching. Stephanie Loh, 34, one of the founding members of his 4,000-strong Rain Singapore fan club, calls the Rain dance a drug. He has this onstage presence that you can't describe. You just want to see it again and again.

Rain with Song Hye Kyo in the hit series Full House, which was partly shot in Thailand. The singer-actor was romantically linked to the actress briefly.

Yes, it really gets the girls hot and bothered, and that's enough to convince his management company, JYP Entertainment, that he has a shot at cracking the American market a decision bolstered by his two sold-out New York concerts.

So he's earnestly studying English, making appearances on American TV like MTV's popular live show Total Request Live, and talking about working with Omarion. But with the little success other Asian crossover artistes have had in the United States CoCo Lee and Hikaru Utada's English-language albums didn't exactly fly off the shelves there why is Rain so sure his fate will be any different?

The US market is the most attractive market, which I'd like to challenge. There might be more variables, but still, the most important things are complete preparation, effort and confidence, he says in his e-mail.

If those things are harmonised, there will be something good, adds the singer who names Michael and Janet Jackson as his favourite performers.

But not everyone has been swept off his feet. An unimpressed The New York Times, for one, labelled his New York concert a nostalgia act, for what it saw as a poorer cousin to America's pop culture.

He doesn't have the tormented charisma of (Michael) Jackson, the relaxed sex appeal of Usher or the quick pop reflexes of Mr Timberlake, lambasted the reviewer. So far, there's still no sign of his English-language debut album, which was supposed to have been launched late last year.

And his much-touted movie debut in the quirky romantic comedy I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, has done poorly in South Korea despite the hype and a big-name director Old Boy's Park Chan Wook.

It was pulled from theatres just before Christmas after disappointing box-office results in the first two weeks when it was released last month. Some also feel that he didn't deserve that Time magazine honour.

What has he invented or created that was truly his or made an impact? He's just emulating the Western acts, from his music to his moves, says Singaporean teacher Tan Bee Leng, 32.

Even Rain acknowledges that he isn't quite worthy of the canonisation.

"I see it as an encouragement for me. I'll work harder to have real influence," is his modest reply.

Lucrative deals and that torso

Still, bad reviews and box-office takings may not prove to be much poison.

Besides snaring lucrative endorsement deals from brands like BMW, Pepsi, Ralph Lauren and DHC skincare last year, Rain flies around in a special Airbus 330-300 plane with his bare-torsoed image on it sponsored by Korean Air for his current world tour. It is costing US$193,000 (about RM670,000), and the airline hopes to leverage on the singer's hip image to reach out to younger travellers and the Chinese market as well as promote Korean culture.

If whatever this seemingly ordinary young man has negotiated for himself today can be described as phenomenal, it isn't the work of sheer luck or looks but hunger literally. Dancing came early to Rain, born Jung Ji Hoon in 1982 in Seoul. He was in sixth grade (equivalent to Year 6) when he joined a talent show in school and discovered he enjoyed performing and was good at it.

He went on to peddle himself to various artiste management companies but all rejected him because his mug was deemed "too ugly". I've never thought about plastic surgery, he says of the seemingly easy solution something a few of these companies had advised. In fact, he rates his own looks a respectable 70 points, and his best assets, his eyes. One person, at least, saw past the unremarkable face. When Rain was 18, he auditioned and got accepted to JYP Academy, a performing arts school run by hip-hop performer and impresario Park Jin Young who had groomed popular boyband GOD.

Park said in previous interviews that when he first met Rain, he felt there was something sad about the boy. He quickly learnt that his new student went hungry sometimes because he didn't have money to eat. He lived with his mother and younger sister in a dilapidated single room in Seoul. His father, who was working in a bakery in a town three hours away, wasn’t making much.

Rain's mother was also suffering from diabetes and the family had no money for her treatment. She died a year before Rain's 2002 singing debut something that hit him quite hard, but which also spurred him to succeed.

My mum always taught me: Work hard, be humble, and be patient. That has become my motto.

To this day, the introverted, once poverty-stricken teenager still lives like a monk. He doesn't smoke, drink, do drugs or drive a car. His idea of fun is hanging out at his management office, watching DVDs and listening to music.

His drive and discipline are also pretty legendary by now. He once jokingly said his workload was equivalent to five people's.

For his last drama series, A Love to Kill, in which he plays a bodyguard, he skipped rope 2,000 times a day and ate only chicken breast and mackerel to get a lean and toned physique.

After doing time as a backup dancer to Park, he released his eponymous first album in 2002, under his stage name, Rain because his dancing apparently reminded people of a rainy day.

It didn't exactly create a storm but TV, as it turns out, would provide the wide exposure that he needed.

From his TV appearances to the concerts and even those figure-flaunting moments, Rain's every career move has been a calculated stroke. In the past four years, he's kept himself largely scandal-free, except for a brief rumoured romantic link with his Full House co-star, Song, which fizzled after repeated denials on both sides.

Still, he knows when to deliver the occasional tease telling his fans at concerts that he longs for a girlfriend; going on a TV show recently to say he already has his eye on someone. Yet, when asked about it in the e-mail interview, he chooses not to answer. But when it comes to his concert, that humility takes a backseat. It will be beyond expectation. You will go home with such a great feeling about me.

The Straits Times, Singapore / Asia News Network

Weather Pattern
1982: Born Jung Ji Hoon in Seoul.

2002: Released first album, Rain, and starred in the TV series, Orange.

2003: Released second album, Rain 2, and starred in TV drama, Sang Doo! Let's Go to School.
2004: Released third album, It's Raining, which sold more than one million copies in Asia, and starred in TV drama Full House, which was a hit in Asia.

2005: Starred in TV drama A Love to Kill; won Favourite Artiste (Korea) at MTV Asia Aid awards; and embarked on his Rainy Day world tour with dates in eight Asian cities and New York, where he performed for two nights at Madison Square Garden.

2006: Named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World; released fourth album Rain's World; made film debut in romantic comedy I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK. Also kicked off Rain's Coming world tour in Seoul.

source: The Straits Times, Singapore / Asia News Network

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