Singer Jung Ji Hoon, known popularly as Rain, was one of the biggest K-pop stars at one time, with South Korean media even dubbing him a “world star”.
His album It’s Raining sold more than a million copies in Asia and he acted in two Hollywood movies. However, his career began to go downhill after the release of his 2014 album Rain Effect and went down further with the release of the 2017 single Gang and 2019 movie Race to Freedom: Um Bok Dong.
The singer recently made the headlines again but not for the right reasons. The Gang music video became popular for its over the top production, embarrassing choreography and self-absorbed lyrics. The word “gang” means audacity in Korean.
Late last year, a student started a parody dance video and called the movement 1 Gang A Day. The viral video led people to the original video by Rain.
The original video is expected to garner more than 10 million views, while a variety of parody videos have been circulating on the Internet.
People haven been leaving comments — from sarcastic to entertaining — in the video’s comment section. One person said the original song was a vaccination for K-pop. Another said that the title “Gang” sounded corny and that nobody used the word any more and that it was like returning to 2006.
Last weekend, Rain appeared on the variety show Hang Out With Yoo, which led to more comments and parodies. The singer said on the show that one should do 3 Gangs a day. According to Rain, artistes in the past had to have a confident attitude, smashing things onstage and shoot lasers from their eyes.
He added that gazing at the camera while dancing well is old-fashioned now. TV host Yoo Jae Suk asked Rain how he ended up with the Gang video as a savvy artiste and Rain responded that he only realised that after Gang.
Rain has also made a comeback as a producer for I-Land, a reality show in search of the next K-pop band. BTS label Big Hit Entertainment and entertainment giant CJ&EM have formed Belif Lab to produce I-Land.
Rain is not the only K-pop artiste to have made a comeback recently. Yang Joon Il, a Korean-American pop singer, made a return this year after his 1990s videos became popular on YouTube. Yang had retired from the industry and was living in the US. He had a concert and appeared in TV ads. /TISG