EXCLUSIVE: Kim Woojin Is ‘Ready Now’ As He Talks About His Solo Debut, His Past, Cubs, India And More

 

KIM WOOJIN is back and ‘Ready Now’ as he drops his solo debut album, ‘The moment: 未成年, a minor’. The title track ‘Ready Now’ was pre-released a day prior to the album release. He had earlier released, ‘Still Dream’ as a pre-debut single, which tells his story of daring to dream and hope, despite everything.  Kim Woojin makes sure that his fans get to see his bare sides as he sings about what he went through and the affect that it had on him, while also assuring them that he is ‘Ready Now’ to face the world. With his debut album, the idol continues to show his strong vocals while portraying deep emotions and also executing great choreography.

 

 

The debut album consists of 6 songs, all co-written by him with other songwriters. Each track in the album tells its own story and mirrors his thoughts to the world. Both the music videos has its own distinct shades, with common elements of Black, Blue and White, perhaps as an indication of his emotions and past experiences.

 

 

In a normal day, Woojin spends most of his time at home watching Netflix, playing games, and using his phone to shop. When he is working, he is busy practicing his vocals, dance, writing songs or shooting cool concepts/videos for his fans as he likes to keep in touch with them through various SNS. Days before his solo debut, Woojin shares his story on preparing for the album and credits the debut to his CUBS (fandom name) as he says, “I spent so much energy on preparing for my debut. The work was hard, but I also had fun thinking about showing my music. When I was preparing for the album, I was worried about whether I could do it well or not, but I cheered myself up thinking about CUBS who have been constantly supporting me.”

With over 2 Million Views, Kim Woojin’s pre debut single, ‘Still Dream’ resonated with a lot of fans and the new album has brought about a lot of interest as well. The journey for him from his trainee days to now has been a rollercoaster and he is now back to the K-POP scene with a bang and when we say so, he expresses, “Wow! Thank you for the expression ‘bang’.”   In the past, the artist had shared that ‘Still Dream’ is a creation of his life’s experience, Woojin thus shares the story behind it and what he wants his listeners to take away from it, “When I was a trainee, and even after I became a musician, I’ve always had concerns and struggles in my place and position. And I guess it works the same way for everyone, so, with this song, I wanted to say that we should always keep going for our dreams to make it real someday.”

 

 

 

For Woojin, not only the story but the song and the performance is something that he has always wanted to do. ‘Still Dream’ is definitely very close to Woojins heart as he sings with very powerful emotions and he further shares the kind of an impact it has on his life as he says, “There’s a lyric ‘I won’t give up, for you’re far away’ in “Still Dream”. I felt like I was getting closer to CUBS as I prepared and practiced this song. That feeling helped me to do my best, so I don’t wanna lose it.” This was Woojin’s first-time writing lyrics and he thus shares his experience, “It was my first time to participate in detail when it comes to writing lyrics, and to be honest, it was such a struggle. But I was so satisfied after the whole lyrics was made and so, I want to keep writing lyrics.”

It is no secret that the artist has faced some harsh times that altered many things in his life, especially his career but he is back with much force and passion which we can clearly see in his debut album.  When asked about his source of strength that urged him to become stronger than ever, the artist says, “It’s CUBS obviously. They believed in me and waited for me. How could I not become stronger as they send me their messages everyday, to cheer me up.”

 

 

Before his solo album release, fans of Woojin got to listen to a lot of his song covers from various K-POP to international hits and that too, with his own acoustic touch. He even collaborated with Gaho for ‘Driver’s License’, orginally sung by Olivia Rodrigo and some of his cover songs has over a Million views. Woojin shares the reason why he started doing covers and artists that he would like to work with, “I couldn’t upload it often while preparing for my debut. I started uploading it to let fans know about the songs that I like and to show my different images. There are lots of songs I want to play and I’m gonna show you time to time. And I’d love to do a collaboration with some artists who goes well with me just like I did with Gaho.” Woojin expresses that Bruno Mars is one of his musical influence and as the conversation shifts to genres or elements/concepts that he would like to explore in future, he says, “I’d like to try rock music like the song ‘That’s what I like’ by Bruno Mars. I don’t know when it’ll come out, but I hope you’re looking forward to it!” 

Woojin has been known for his love of watching horror movies and action movies and we were curious if the love of watching would shift to being a part of a movie or drama in the future and if yes, what kind of role he would like to play. The artist confesses, “I’m studying acting step by step. Who knows? Maybe one day you would see me in a movie or drama. Hmm… If I could play any role, I’d love to try fight scenes in a movie like the actor ‘Won Bin’ did.” Woojin further shares his vision as an artist as he says, “I want to be an artist who can give a positive influence to the fans who love me. It’s like my life goal.” He also talks about the future as he shares what he might be doing five years from now, “I think I’ll be doing a concert surrounded by CUBS.”  The artist then reflects back on what has changed the most for him from his time as a trainee to now as he says,

 

“I haven’t changed much from how I was before. I think I grew up with lots of experiences.” – Kim Woojin

 

He also adds what he would say to himself if he could give his old self a piece of advice, “I’d like to say to try harder to myself in the past.”

 

 

If he had to pick only 1 song from his album as a recommendation to the new listeners, Woojin says that it would be, “In my space” and he explains the reason behind it as he adds, “‘Space’ could be ‘my place’ or ‘the universe’. So It’s about all the various thoughts that I get after a rough day. I love this song because it’s very calm and emotional, and the lyrics are beautiful.” 

His fandom, ‘CUBS’,  have consistently proved to be a very strong fanbase and has always shown their love and support to Woojin and the artist also reciprocates it by constantly crediting them for his debut and strength. Besides Korean fans, Woojin also has a lot of international fans, and he shares how he plans to stay connected with them,  “I’m studying English so that I could stay connected with international fans and I’m also going to study more languages like Spanish as well, to communicate with more people.”

He then sends a special message to his Global CUBS as well as his Indian Cubs, “Thank you CUBS for believing me and waiting for me always! It is your love that made me who I am and helped me to make this album. And Indian CUBS! Thank you for supporting me all the time! Though we are apart, our minds are close. I can’t wait to see you soon! I love you!”

 

 

For the former idol group member, this is only the beginning as he leaves behind the past and moves ahead with his solo career. With the album co-written by him, the album gives the fans insight on his thought process, feelings and what he had gone through as each song is packed with an emotional depth. The past cannot be re-written or changed but with this album, Kim Woojin is definitely ‘Ready Now’ to leave the past behind and is set to march ahead to a bright future.

 

Find us on Instagram Twitter   YouTube for more content & news