【TRANS】Interview: ②Jaejoong who is active lively in the Japanese entertainment world(weekly Asahi 20

Q: What led you to think like that?
J: There was a time when I thought about quitting my job in the entertainment industry. I wasn't having fun every day. And I thought why I lived so desperately or that if I cling to the entertainment world, my life would be wasted. My priority is work, but people around me don't think so. If there is too much gap, we have to go different way each other or I have to give up. It was a time when there was such a conflict. About two years ago. That was recent. At that time, “Anyway I'll do my best today. And then maybe a good day will come.'' I tried to think like that.

Q: How did you recover from that?
J: The fact that I was able to become working in Japan greatly affected. From that time on. I started thinking about doing my best again. Now I can plan what I will do. Recently, there is a person who says “I returned to your fan for the first time in 10 years”. Very welcome. If I'm doing my best, there are people watching. I don't want to quit the entertainment world and music now. Because I am very happy now.

Q: You will release your first cover album “Love Covers” on September 25th. What are the criteria for selecting songs?
J: I chose songs that I originally liked and sang, and songs that are widely loved in Japan.

Q: You performed Yutaka Ozaki's “Forget me not” at the FNS Song Festival last year. That got favorable reviews, by not only Jaejoong-san's fans, but also Ozaki-san's fans, as “I feel a respect for the original song”.
J: Really? Was good! I became to sing the song when I went to karaoke with a Japanese friend, he recommended "it would suit Jaejoong". Actually, I change keys up by 4 steps than the original song. Looking at Ozaki-san's concert video, it was very cool to sing without hesitation even if the voice was broken. However, even if I sing with the key of the original song, that feeling does not come out. I felt that the harder to sing, the more I sing at the limit of voice, the more you feel it, so I changed the key up daringly.

Q: What do you care about when singing cover songs?
J: There are many ways to sing a cover song, such as interpreting the original song using your own characteristics, or making it completely resemble the artist of the original song. I want to sing as much as possible to get closer to the feelings of the original artist and make you feel "the smell". For example, I think it's good that you can see Mika Nakashima in "Aishiteru", or you can smell Hikaru Utada from "First Love".

Q: Which song did you struggle with during the recording this time?
J: "Chicken rice". I had an opportunity to talk with Downtown-san on "HEY! HEY! NEO! "(April 1 broadcast), that's why I decided to record this song. This song is very difficult. It does not apply to normal pop song theory at all. What should I say...It's very free. It's more important to say what I want to say than to match the number of melody and lyric sounds. There are some dialects or suddenly speech too fast....

Q: Anyway it was difficult.
J: Yes. Very much. I still don't know what is right. Lol. The reaction of the listeners is also uncertain.

Q: Does Jaejoong-san have food for memories with family like “Chicken Rice”?
J: Maybe steak. However, it was a tough steak of a common restaurant. My third sister is 10 years older than I. (He is the youngest with 8 older sisters) When I was little, she was already independent and living near Seoul. She returned home once or twice a year. At that time, she always took me to a steak restaurant. My parents were working together and I often cooked and eat by myself at home. My family was not wealthy, so there were few opportunities for eating out. So I was looking forward to my sister coming home. No matter how delicious the steak is, it can't beat that steak. I still remember that whenever I eat steak.