Kim Bo Kyung - A Diamond in the Rough

I've got to give it to Kim Bo Kyung... she's an amazing singer, and she's got a success story that would make you cry a river full of tears. What makes the situation dire though is that not a lot of people know about her outside of Korea, eventhough she is probably one of the best female vocalists there are around.

Sony Entertainment Korea, her signing agency, has just released her latest single titled "Even If I Forget and Erase" (yeah... it's a rough translation, but it sounded worse through Google Translate, trust me!). Her first mini-album release last January, "Haru Haru", was a tremendous success, and she's had a cult following since then.

Kim Bo Kyung first came into the spotlight because of M-NET's "Superstar K2" --- which is pretty much Korea's answer to American Idol. With high profile judges, and recording contracts at stake, it's established a very strong reputation among it's viewers.

Kim Bo Kyung was once of the strongest contenders in the competition, and what made her even more popular is her unfortunate family background which endeared her to the audience. It was sad though that she was cut early on in the competition, and didn't make it into the Top 11. Her elimination sounded a lot whistles considering that she has REAL talent to begin with (she's got a marvelous alto voice with unbelievable range --- which is perfect for pop rock and acoustic songs, plus she plays the guitar and composes her own material... beat that, right?!?!?). Lucky for her though that the ensuing controversy made her popular enough to make Sony Entertainment Korea snag her up immediately as a contract star.

Her first single, "Haru Haru", is a favorite of mine. Here's the video, so that you can understand why I love her soooo much...

"Haru Haru" by Kim Bo Kyung (MV only)

For her latest release, "Even If I Forget and Erase", she's going through the R&B ballad route once again. The track is characteristically melancholy and has a laid-back vibe owing mostly to the theme of the song. The song talks about remembering a lost love, and letting go of the past. Bo Kyung's nailed the delivery of the song by not overdoing her vocal rifts, and focused on controlling her range in most parts of the song. It's nice to hear that her voice still sounds good even when she's singing a low pitch tone (which is characteristically harder compared to belting out a high note since it take more control so that one's voice doesn't break and go all pitchy). She starts going at it in the most emotional parts of the chorus.

Unfortunately, since it's a really new song, there aren't a lot of videos out there with English subs that we can enjoy (which I'll post as soon as they come out!), but here's the audio of the vid, and a link to a page with the romanized hanggul lyrics and a rough translation (the best I could find at this time) just in case you want to sing along (which I love to do hehehe!).

"Even If I Forget and Erase" by Kim Bo Kyung (Audio only)

For the romanized and translated lyrics, click here

It's sad that Kim Bo Kyung is not enjoying the kind of popularity that other artists from  major record labels have --- like SMEnt (Super Junior, DBSK, SHINee, f(x), BoA), JYPEnt (2PM, 2AM, Miss A, Wonder Girls), YGEnt (Big Bang, 2NE1, Se7en), or CUBE Ent (BEAST, 4Minute). Smaller management agencies usually lack the resources and the machinery to go up against releases from these major entertainment firms. But then again, true talent, wherever it is, shines on its own like a star.