Singer and actor Rain (Jung Ji Hoon) recently caught up with BIGBANG’s Daesung.
On May 15, a video titled “Mischievous Expression Red Red Performance Ji Hoon Green Green” was uploaded to the YouTube channel ‘Zip Daesung,’ featuring Rain as a guest to promote his new song ‘Feel It (너야).’
After listening to the new track, Daesung noted, “It has everything. There is city pop and slow jam. Hasn’t it been a while since you did something like this?”
Rain replied that it was “almost the first time.” When Daesung teased him, saying, “Your voice has a lot of R&B in it, but back in the ‘Rainism’ days, there were so many ad-libs,” Rain countered, “Even Michael Jackson doesn’t do that in the chorus. You guys didn’t do it either, right?” Daesung laughed, responding, “That was the trend back then.”
Rain recalled the time Yang Hyun Suk introduced him to BIGBANG when they first debuted. “Back then, synchronized dancing was the trend. So when I saw BIGBANG, they were so free-spirited. I felt like, ‘Is this a different world?'”
Daesung sparked laughter by claiming, “I say this every time, but we always aim for and practice synchronized dancing. We practice as if it’s perfectly synchronized.” He explained, “We match everything during practice, but we don’t call it a mistake when it changes on stage. We just accept it as ‘your own feeling.'” Rain agreed, admitting, “That’s why it was really cool.”
Rain also mentioned Daesung’s appearance at Coachella, expressing admiration: “I don’t remember other people who performed, but I definitely remember you singing trot. I had no idea you’d perform that kind of song there.”
Daesung laughed, saying, “I was actually surprised that people were so shocked.” He added, “When the audience saw the screen saying ‘Hello, I am Daesung,’ they looked quite bewildered.”
Rain, who watched the performance, asked, “Did you burst out laughing while doing it?” Daesung admitted, “Yes. I feel a thrill in moments like that, thinking I could break expectations and become ‘One Of A Kind.'”
Rain then reminisced about his first world tour, where he showed his unique class by wrapping his image on the airplane. Daesung remarked, “Wow, I thought if we worked hard, we might be able to do that too.” Rain joked back, “I feel the same. After seeing you put ‘Hello, I am Daesung’ on the LED screen, I want to try ‘Hello, I am Rain Jung Ji Hoon’ in Korean.”
Rain also joked about Daesung constantly appearing in his YouTube Shorts, saying, “I wish you wouldn’t show up on my YouTube. I’m the number one contributor to your view count!”
Talking about his friendship with Seven, Rain shared, “I call Dong-wook ‘Bung Bung.’ He’s two years younger than me and my direct junior. He’s cute, and I still can’t believe he’s married.” He added a heartwarming story about the “Anyang Arts High School tradition,” where seniors never let juniors pay. “Even when I didn’t have much, I always paid for Dong-wook’s taxi and subway fares.”
Regarding the “Legendary Trio” of Anyang Arts High School—himself, Seven, and Boom—Rain recalled, “The teachers back then hated it when we danced. So I suggested renting a container box to use as a dance club room. We made a small dance department and practiced in front of a mirror. I was in the first class, and Seven was in the third. Boom practiced there with us.”
Rain also shared an anecdote about a song camp in the US. “Right after my first album, I went to a song camp in the US, but there were no other producers, just JYP (Park Jin Young). It was a song camp with just the two of us. Being in the same space felt suffocating.”
He recalled hearing the intro to what would become the title track ‘It’s Raining’ (태양을 피하는 방법). “I’m a dance singer and I need to crush the stage, so I thought, ‘How am I supposed to dance to this?’ and said I wouldn’t do the song. I was being stubborn, and ‘Dad’ (JYP) was shocked. A power struggle began.”
After the clash, Rain went to the beach and got inspiration from someone dancing with sunglasses, which led to the choreography for ‘It’s Raining.’ However, JYP reportedly told him, “Why are you doing choreography with glasses? For a dance singer, the gaze is everything. Change the choreography.” Rain laughed, recalling how he told JYP, “Just this once, don’t trust Jin Young hyung, trust me,” even though it was JYP’s company. Once the choreography became a hit, JYP began to trust Rain’s instincts.
Regarding his role as the villain Im Baek-jung in the drama ‘Bloodhounds 2,’ Rain explained, “The character needed to be atrocious without a specific reason. The director wanted a villain without a backstory, so I bulked up like a monster.”
He added, “Since I have a kind face, I had to do a lot of makeup. I trimmed my eyebrows and made my jawline sharper. I even skipped meals the day before filming.” He then confessed with a laugh, “I actually got scolded by Kim Tae Hee because I kept that same scary gaze at home.”
When asked about ‘Bloodhounds’ Season 3, he stated, “Nothing has been decided yet. I am sincerely grateful to everyone who loved ‘Bloodhounds.'”
