Where in the world is k-pop singer and actor Kim Woo-jin? He was recently in Brazil to film a TV show called Beyond The Wardrobe, an HBO/MAX production in which a teen girl travels through a magical portal to meet a k-pop band. Now Kim Woo-jin, known simply as Woojin, is back in Korea preparing for a multi-city tour of India.
In Beyond The Wardrobe, Woojin plays Kyung-min, a member of the fictional k-pop group ACT. Jin Kwon, Lee Min-wook and Jae Chan play the other members of the group while Korean Brazilian actress Sharon Blanche plays Carol, the girl who learns more about her Korean heritage after entering the portal. Filming Beyond The Wardrobe in Sao Paulo offered Woojin a welcome opportunity to learn more about Brazilian culture.
“It is an honor to participate in such a huge project,” said Woojin. “And it was a valuable experience to shoot in Brazil, which is the opposite of Korea.”
The k-pop group he belongs to in Beyond The Wardrobe is fictional, but Woojin was actually a member of the popular real-life k-pop group Stray Kids. He sang with the group from 2017 to 2019, before leaving to launch his solo career. Over the past few years he’s continued to work on different facets of his career and this year he’s garnering positive attention for his acting, singing and songwriting.
While he was happy to act in Beyond The Wardrobe aka Magic Closet, music is what matters most to him.
“I’ve never thought about my life without music,” said Woo-jin. “Also it is a big part of my life. Singing and being on stage is precious, but the happiest moment is when I sing my story to the fans who love me.”
Woojin recently contributed a song to the soundtrack of the 2023 k-drama King The Land. The song, titled Dive, musically expresses the romantic chemistry between the drama’s lead characters, played by Lee Jun-ho and Im Yoon-ah. Woojin likes watching dramas and it was rewarding to see how well his song worked within that drama’s storyline.
“If there is a drama that I like, I enjoy it,” said Woojin. “When the OST that I sang came out in the drama, I felt so proud of it if the drama story and song were to go together.”
Dive is not his first drama contribution as he sang on the soundtrack of the 2021 drama Let Me Be Your Knight and contributed the song In The End to the 2022 drama Reborn Rich. That’s not the only music he’s been making. His first album, The Moment: A Minor, was released in 2021. It features the pop song Ready Now, in which lyrics about powering through adversity are set to an exhilarating beat.
Woojin’s voice is often described as angelic, but his lyrics don’t shy away from difficult down-to-earth subjects. When writing songs he says he’s most inspired by his fans who are known as Cubs.
“I usually think about the topic that I want to convey to Cubs and work on it and what people think these days and what are the difficulties,” said Woojin. “I wish the Cubs happiness when they listen to my song.”
He’s fond of singing ballads and they are perhaps the best way to appreciate his vocal skills. Consider his tender song Say Something To Me, which was released on Aug. 4 as a preview of his second mini-album The Moment: Bounce. It’s a dreamlike emotional melody about how hard it is to be alone. Still, while he likes to sing ballads he also enjoys the energy of pop songs.
“I used to listen to a lot of ballads,” said Woojin. “That’s why I enjoy that genre, but I like listening and singing pop songs the most.”
The Moment: Bounce was released on Aug. 30. The upbeat title track On My Way declares that Woojin is on a musical and personal journey, with no intention of slowing down. His career is seeing a bounce and gaining momentum. If the album was a Broadway show this would be the energetic opening number in a coming-of-age story about finding your own way. The mini-album also includes Song of Icarus, Telepathy, Drive Away and Tryin.’
“The album expresses the positive dynamics of coming of age with many different emotions,” said Woojin in his album notes. “The will to live life by my own rules with individuality. The dynamic energy to realize my own dreams, the first heart fluttering feelings for someone, the freedom to leave wherever the heart desires, in the midst of that a complicated feeling that’s hard to grasp, and my deepest and honest story that I could only share with you.”
To celebrate his new music and meet more of his international fans, Woojin will visit India in October on a tour organized by Pink Box Entertainment and his agency 10x Entertainment.
“Through this tour, I want the fans to know what kind of music and performances Kim Woo-jin likes and wants to show,” he said. “And I hope the fans get my overflowing energy on stage and have a great time together!”
His goals as an actor and musician are pretty simple.
“I want to show myself to more people and give strength to those who listen to my songs and watch my acting.”
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