So I know I promised Part 2 of my series on Korean actor, model and musician Kim Jae Uck this week — ‘Why Kim Jae Uck is My Interview Goal (or is it “God”).
But the thing is, I never write until I am absolutely sure about what I want to say, or what I think about someone. And, with Kim Jae Uck at the moment, my thoughts are just not solidifying.
In other words, it may be a few days (weeks? months?) before Part 2 exits my brain and ends up on the page.
During that solidifying process, though, I have been watching and re-watching Kim Jae Uck YouTube videos.
And that brings me to today’s topic — Yes, Kim Jae Uck Can Sing, and He Can Also Break Your Heart — which came about after I discovered a video from back in 2016 of Kim Jae Uck singing at a fan meet.
A video that surprised me.
Not because Kim Jae Uck can sing, as I already knew that, but because he is singing a Japanese track I have been listening to on Spotify for most of this year.
Not the song’s original version by a Japanese singer called Yutaka Ozaki who tragically died at the age of only 26 (listen down below), but a cover by another Japanese singer called ZERO.
Kim Jae Uck’s ‘I Love You‘
But, after discovering Kim Jae Uck’s cover of ‘I Love You‘, I like the Korean musician’s version even more as his is much more raw, his voice has a gorgeous husky tone to it, and his emotions sound much more desolate and lonely than the others.
Causing the song to grab onto my heart just that much harder.
Especially when he sings the lyrics:
それからまた二人は 目を閉じるよ
悲しい歌に愛がしらけてしまわぬ様に(in romaji — “Sorekara mata futari wa mewotojiru yo
Kanashī uta ni ai ga shirakete shimawanu yō ni“)
or
Then the two of us will close our eyes again
So that sad songs don’t turn off love
During those lyrics, he hits those high notes with those husky vocals that sound like the saddest of whispers. Whispers that beg for the loss of the person he loves not to happen.
Yes, there is something devastating about the way Kim Jae Uck sings ‘I Love You‘ — a deceptively sweet song that is tragic really, as you realize the love he is singing about will soon be coming to an end. (English lyrics here).
Because I have always thought, when it comes to men and love, they are much more breakable than women. And, unlike women, when broken, men are sometimes impossible to mend.
And that’s how Kim Jae Uck sings ‘I Love You‘. As someone who knows, when he eventually loses the person he loves, he will drown in his grief.
The way this song should be sung. I believe.
Listen to Kim Jae Uck sing his version of ‘I Love You‘ in the video, but take my advice — watch him first, because I know you think he’s beautiful, so it would be a shame for you to miss those cheekbones.
But then listen to him again on headphones, so loud that his voice soaks into your soul, and with your eyes closed. Because that is when you will hear the emotions he rips from deep inside himself.
And that is when he breaks your heart.