hankyoreh

By Kim Do-hyung, Senior Staff Writer　

As soon as the song finished, the judging teams in the audience rose to their feet and gave a standing ovation. Middle-aged women could be seen weeping at his song, which seemed to let out a scream that had been locked in his chest, in a unique and deeply appealing voice that alternated between low and high pitches. His place in the competition seemed to be already decided.

On May 22, Lim Jae-bum, 48, appearing on broadcaster MBC’s survival audition program “I’m a Singer,” broadcast on Sundays at 5:20 p.m., received an overwhelming 28.9 percent support rate from audience judging teams, putting him in first place among seven contestants.

Rapidly approaching his 50th birthday, this veteran singer is emerging as the star of the show, receiving more passionate support from the public in the course of his three weeks on the program than ever before in his 25-year career. All the songs he has presented on “I’m a Singer,” including “Neoreul wihae, For You”, “Empty glass” and “All of you” have monopolized the No.1 spot in various music charts as soon as they were broadcast.

As of the night of May 22, the number of searches for Lim’s three songs on internet portal site Daum, which holds a monopoly on unedited video footage from “I’m a Singer,” passed the 10 million mark. When this is combined with those watching video content on other portal sites and viewers of “I’m a Singer” on TV, an estimated 20 million people have watched videos of Lim.

This is easily enough for the phenomenon to be labeled a “syndrome.” “There are epic elements to the way Lim’s image is handled by the media,” says pop music critic Kim Jak-ga. “It seems that the process of a master singer coming back from the wilderness and proving once again just what he’s made of, together with his painful personal history, is fitting well into the framework of a heroic tale, producing a dramatic effect.”

In other words, Lim’s rocky life history, including the four years for which he grew up in an orphanage when he was young (according to the memoirs of heavy metal group Black Syndrome vocalist Park Yeong-cheol), and the fact that he has suffered from manic depression for the last six or seven years, living off royalties of one or two million won and having to take the bus whenever he goes out with his daughter, as he confessed on “I’m a Singer” on May 15, have brought sympathy, compassion and devotion from the public.

According to the analysis of Kim Eo-jun, head of the Ddanzi Ilbo, it seems that aversion among adults to “idol music” is embodied through a figure with the rough image of Lim Jae-bum: “Those in their 30s and older may enjoy watching the idol stars that have dominated the pop music world for the last five or ten years, but it was hard for them to connect with such idols on an emotional level. I wonder if Lim Jae-bum’s injured beast-like image, unlike the squeaky-clean pretty boys and urban hipsters found among idol stars, stimulates a girly sensibility on the part of females, regardless of age, making him look sexy, while making males feel something akin to the flames of life, connecting on an emotional level such that people identify with him.”

Other analysts claim that what puts Lim head and shoulders above the competition is not only his pure singing ability or his life story, but the quality of his performances.

“There is a very showman-like aspect to Lim Jae-bum’s songs on ‘I’m a Singer’,” says Kim Jak-ga. “Clearly, he is singing a song, but it also seems as if he’s orating.” In other words, as well as his basic singing, Lim regards his performance on the stage, including pronunciation, facial expression and the light in his eyes, as important.

After making his debut in 1986 as vocalist with the rock band Shinawi, Im became highly popular in the 1990s with hits such as “Gohae” and “Neoreul wihae.” He was largely inactive in the 2000s, due to a combination of his uncompromising, reclusive character and personal hardships such as his wife’s struggle against cancer.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]