Han Ji-hye’s Olympic “Friends”
by javabeans
On August 9, actress Han Ji-hye took her place in front of the mic at Intersound recording studio in Seoul.
She was there to sing the (or should I say one of many) Olympic theme song “Friends” with a guy identified merely as “Chinese star William.” (Using those details, I’ve been unable to Google anything more relevant than William Hung — and Naver gives me, alternately, Prince William or Tony Leung — and I know that’s not right. Anyone got more info on the guy? Thanks for the identification, he is Leon Jay Williams.)
Han was brought to this project via a proposal from the Chinese Olympic committee to sing “Friends” as the official swimming theme (er, is this new? Does each event get a theme song? Cuz I’d like to hear what they’d call the theme for boxing (“Hit Him”? “No Longer Friends”?) or, say, badminton). The song will mark the men’s 400m freestyle event taking place on August 10, at which 18-year-old Korean swimmer (and gold-medal hopeful) Park Tae-hwan is to compete.
Han isn’t a total rookie in the recording studio — she surprised with her singing for the OST of her recent movie Humming. She says, “Do you know that my dream as a child was to be a singer? I’ve always loved dancing and singing, so there was a time I briefly thought, ‘I should become a singer.’” She put those dreams away when she became an actress instead, but sees this as a chance to do something new.
“I’d love for this theme song to cheer on our athletes even a little. I hope that they meet with good results befitting the amount of hard work they’ve put into this,” she said.
The recording session was rushed, as Han Ji-hye is in the midst of filming East of Eden. Finally — can’t wait for that show to start airing so we can stop hearing about how it’s about to start airing.
Via My Daily
Tags: Han Ji-hye, Park Tae-hwan, star extracurricular activities
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1 Annie
August 9, 2008 at 11:40 AM
She looks like she's having alot of fun. I'm glad she's given the chance to live her childhood dream. Oh and the guys pretty cute. LOL dramabeans. You're gonna have to hear about East Of Eden about to air for a couple more weeks. Oh well. Hopefully it'll live up to its expectations.
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2 shay
August 9, 2008 at 11:44 AM
The guy is Leon Jay Williams.
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Leon_Jay_Williams
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3 Javabeans
August 9, 2008 at 11:48 AM
thanks, shay! i looked all over but sometimes the korean press can be really retarded. talk about losing something in the translation, eh?
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4 RR
August 9, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Google turned up this article: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/17/content_8559925.htm
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5 fizzle
August 9, 2008 at 11:55 AM
Am I the only who thinks that first picture of Leon Jay looks like Daniel Henney...?
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6 K-lover
August 9, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Oh I thought his face looked familiar. Didn't he starred with Yoo Ha Na in the cheesetastic TW drama "My Lucky Star"?
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7 choram
August 9, 2008 at 2:46 PM
Yup, he played the role of Zhong Tian Jun, supporting Jimmy Lin in the drama. :)
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8 orangemania
August 9, 2008 at 8:35 PM
wow, han ji hye's hand looks kinda scary in the fist pic. and wat does friends have to do with swimming.
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9 belleza
August 9, 2008 at 11:58 PM
[QUOTE]“Do you know that my dream as a child was to be a singer? I’ve always loved dancing and singing, so there was a time I briefly thought, ‘I should become a singer.’[/QUOTE]
The irony there is that Ji Hye is often asked to sing on variety shows and interview spots. Because she's good? No!! Because she's one of the most reliably (and adorably) tone deaf of actors. She'll do okay for about 15 seconds, start getting shaky for the next 10 seconds, and then it becomes free jazz after that. Laughter and good naturing wincing (though wincing nonetheless) from all! :D
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10 Jane
August 10, 2008 at 2:10 AM
Just had to post this..
FIRST GOLD SWIMMING MEDAL FOR KOREA!! :]] All due to Park Tae Hwan, of course.
(In case you can't tell, I'm about to burst with pride for us Koreans. :]] )
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11 belleza
August 10, 2008 at 2:17 AM
@Jane,
And it wasn't even close. He was the clear front runner into lap 3.
Big time redemption for him too. Also, congratulations to the Chinese swimmer for finishing silver, the first swimming medal for a Chinese male as well.
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12 bird
August 10, 2008 at 4:33 AM
aww, leon's singaporean! ((: go leon!
sorry had to boast about that, because given our athletic track record (our last medal was a bronze. in 1960 HAHA), he'll probably be the only singaporean gaining any attention this olympic season ):
still, keeping my fingers crossed for us! now if only park tae-hwan wasn't so cute..
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13 jenjen
August 10, 2008 at 6:41 AM
park tae hwan won his goldddd
gah he's so cute
and fast...
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14 Yang
August 10, 2008 at 9:45 AM
He played many roles in Taiwan Drama.
He is mixed blood, 1/4 UK, 1/4 Germany, 1/4 Japan, 1/4 Singpore. But actually he can not speak fluently Chinese.
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15 Marzy
August 10, 2008 at 9:31 PM
lol william.. he has a drama role his character is named william..
one of his more popular leading role ones..
but yeah like they said.. his name is Leon..
singer actor guy.. i think from singapore?
but i know him from taiwan stuff
ohhh i cant wait for east of eden too!
oh and han ji hye isnt a naturally gifted singer..
better at acting for sure
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16 m
August 12, 2008 at 11:03 AM
"He is mixed blood, 1/4 UK, 1/4 Germany, 1/4 Japan, 1/4 Singpore. But actually he can not speak fluently Chinese."
& as a result also has weirdly accented english
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17 bobbie_L0u
August 20, 2008 at 8:20 PM
I remember the guy in a Taiwanese series entitled LE ROBE opposite Cyndi Wang.
=)
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18 Michael
August 13, 2009 at 11:50 PM
does anyone know where to get this song? and the mandarin version of it too? im desperate for it. i cant find it anywhere!
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