Hyun Juni is a former rock band singer who has been making the transition to an acting career gradually, and her latest role in SBS’s I Am Legend has garnered her the most attention to date. The following is a profile and interview with the actress.

SONG OF THE DAY

Bella Mafia – “소리없이” (Without a sound), a repost. Bella Mafia is the four-member girl rock band that Juni fronted. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of My Name Is: Juni (1,654 words)

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Post tags: interviews, Juni

The drama I Am Legend has made it a point to feature real musical performances from its lead actresses, who comprise the Comeback Madonna Band in the show. The foursome rocked out again in a live stage performance on August 12, at the Jecheon International Music Film Festival’s opening ceremony.

The band members are Kim Jung-eun on vocals and rhythm guitar, Juni on lead guitar, Hong Ji-min on bass, and Jang Shin-young behind the drumset. They’ve performed live before, at the Pentaport Rock Festival, footage from which was used in the drama. At Jecheon, they performed the songs “Comeback Madonna,” “Killing Me Softly,” “Love Love Love,” “A Million Roses,” and “A Fine Day.”

One thing I particularly like about the drama is its use of the music; it doesn’t merely form a background score, but often echoes an emotional beat. It’s why I think Kim Jung-eun’s voice works really well for the part; it’s a little rough, but she’s not supposed to be a polished idol star and she has a great ability to convey her character’s emotions while performing, which isn’t an easy feat.

The song selections are mostly modernized rock versions of famous old pop songs from the ’80s or ’90s, which makes sense if the band was popular in their high school days. One example is “A Fine Day” (or “A Day I Feel Great”), which was prominently featured in Episode 4, sung by Kim Wan-sun in 1989. (The drama’s rendition seems to be borrowing Loveholic’s remake, however, down to the guitar riffs.)

The tune that the band played in Episode 1 at the outdoor stage is “황홀한 고백” (A Blissful Confession) by Yoon Su-il, also from the ’80s. “백만송이 장미” (A Million Roses) (below) is another old pop hit, which ended Episode 4:

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Read the rest of I Am Legend’s band performs live at Jecheon (116 words)

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Post tags: Hong Ji-min, I Am Legend, Jang Shin-young, Juni, Kim Jung-eun, Lee Jun-hyuk

Okay, that’s cute, right? Now we get our first peek at the backstory for Juni‘s character in I Am Legend. She was a former idol-in-training who had a little “accident” with a fellow idol-in-training that turned her into a young single mom.

Her character Ah-reum has barely been onscreen so far and pre-show press materials hadn’t really described her, so she’s been a bit of a mystery till now. This also explains why the Ah-reum character, a talented guitarist, would join up with the ajummas’ Madonna Band instead of pursuing her own career. She had been a trainee in high school until she got pregnant (baby daddy is Kim Joon-hyung of Jejoongwon, Wife Returns), after which she gave up dreams of a music career to take care of her child. The baby is said to be featured in a good number of scenes.

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Read the rest of Juni is a young mom in Legend (176 words)

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Post tags: I Am Legend, Juni

I Am Legend kicked off this week to a fairly good start, both in story and in reception. The first episode had a decent 10.1% rating, which the second episode improved upon it with an 11.7%.

I’d been interested in the premise from the start, back when it starred Kim Sun-ah, and was game for the lead change to Kim Jung-eun. I was hesitant, however, because there’s such potential for it to go awry. Thankfully, I think the first two episodes were solid, and I’m still in for the ride as long as they keep up their mix of drama and humor.

[Watch the series at DramaFever]

SONG OF THE DAY

Bye Bye Sea (안녕바다) – “별 빛이 내린다” (Starlight falls). This band makes an appearance in both episodes, although the song they feature is a different one than this. (I’d already posted that song in a previous recap — it’s this one, for the curious.) They’re a great up-and-coming rock band. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of I Am Legend: Episodes 1-2 (4,107 words)

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Post tags: first episodes, Hong Ji-min, I Am Legend, Jang Shin-young, Juni, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Seung-soo, Lee Jun-hyuk

If I Am Legend‘s last set of stills weren’t rocker enough (they were rather retro-glam), the maybe these new ones will be more befitting the term.

In addition to performing in the drama, the four actresses who comprise the “Comeback Madonna Band” — Kim Jung-eun, Hong Ji-min, Juni, and Jang Shin-young — will be taking the stage for real at an upcoming music festival.

The Pentaport Rock Festival takes place from July 23 through 25 at Incheon’s Dreampark, and hosts a number of Western acts (Stereophonics, LCD Soundsystem) as well as Korean rock bands like YB (Yoon Do Hyun Band) and Hot Potato. The actresses will make their first appearance to the public in a 20-minute set at the festival. Their performance is on the 23rd from 5:40 pm to 6 pm.

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Read the rest of I Am Legend’s rockers prepare for real stage performance (200 words)

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Post tags: Hong Ji-min, I Am Legend, Jang Shin-young, Juni, Kim Jung-eun

These are much more fun than the first set of stills from I Am Legend, which showed series lead Kim Jung-eun as a posh city wife. She starts out as a “Cheongdam-dong daughter-in-law,” which is a description in Korean that immediately evokes the image of a well-maintained wife; Cheongdam-dong is an upscale neighborhood of Seoul, so the term is similar to saying “Park Avenue stay-at-home-wife.”

But her character soon leaves that world behind, and here’s a look at the women who comprise the rock band she fronts. The drama makes it a point to note that all four actresses — Kim Jung-eun, Hong ji-min, Jang Shin-young, and Juni — decided to act without doubles and therefore perform everything themselves.

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Read the rest of The rocker ladies of I Am Legend (188 words)

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Post tags: Hong Ji-min, I Am Legend, Jang Shin-young, Juni, Kim Jung-eun

Actress Juni of IRIS and Beethoven Virus has been added to the cast of I Am Legend, the SBS drama starring Kim Sun-ah as an ajumma turned rock singer. The drama also has cast Jang Shin-young as the band’s drummer and manager, and now Juni will become another of the band’s members.

Juni’s a bit younger than the others at age 25, so she wouldn’t be considered an ajumma rocker, but in all other respects she seems a perfect fit for the part. As the singer of rock band Bella Mafia (listen below), Juni has strong vocals and experience performing, and was also its guitarist. On the acting front, she has a few drama roles under her belt, for which she earned generally favorable responses.

I Am Legend tells the story of a rock band composed of women who use the music to overcome their personal pains, and plans to air at the end of May.

Via Mk.co.kr

SONG OF THE DAY

Bella Mafia – “널 기도해” (you pray), a repost. [ Download ]

RELATED POSTS

• I Am Legend has its drummer in Jang Shin-young
• Kim Sun-ah returns to television in I Am Legend

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Post tags: I Am Legend, Juni

Ouch. Jang Nara‘s latest film, Sky and Ocean [하늘과 바다], hasn’t just flopped at the box office, it put in a decidedly miserable showing in last place in its opening week. It seems these days we’re hearing about new films breaking records by bringing in millions of viewers in a single weekend (examples: Take Off, Haeundae, Chaw), but Sky and Ocean fell short of even 10,000 audience members in its first weekend. To be specific, it drew 9,952 viewers.

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Read the rest of Jang Nara’s Sky and Ocean flops big at box office (303 words)

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Post tags: box office, Jang Nara, Juni, Yoo Ah-in

Sky and Sea [하늘과 바다] is the new music-themed film for Jang Nara, wherein she plays a violinist who befriends other young musicians. On the 17th, reporters were invited down to the filming location at a university campus in Ansung, Kyeonggi province.

The cast also features singer Hyun Juni playing a rock-band vocalist, which isn’t too much of a stretch for the actress (of Beethoven Virus) who is also singer of the band Bella Mafia (listen below).

SONG OF THE DAY

Bella Mafia – “소리없이” (Without a sound), a repost. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Bonding through music in Sky and Sea (194 words)

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Post tags: Jang Nara, Juni, press conferences, Yoo Ah-in

Singer-actress Jang Nara hasn’t been that active in the Korean industry in recent years, focusing much of her career in China instead. (She was also burdened with several planned projects failing to come together.) Now she’s making her film comeback in the movie Sky and Sea, in which she plays a violinist.

Directed by Oh Dal-kyun, the movie also stars Yoo Ah-in (Antique Bakery, Strongest Chil Woo) and another singer-actress, Hyun Juny (Beethoven Virus‘s flutist).

On February 5, the press was invited to the set as the cast and crew underwent a test shoot.

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Read the rest of Jang Nara is back in Sky and Sea (286 words)

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Post tags: Jang Nara, Juni, Yoo Ah-in