If this was an American drama, she might have played the role the ‘queen bee.’ Her slender height, unrealistically glamorous body, small face as well as her slightly upturned eyes would give off that kind of first impression of G.NA. She was born and raised in Canada and in her high school days, was the captain of both the volleyball and cheerleading squad. She would have been the pretty, blonde cheerleading captain and honor roll student who dated the football captain in the movies. Her hit debut track was ‘I’ll Back Off So You Can Live Better.’ It wasn’t even ‘leave’ or ‘break up’ but ‘back off,’ which is a rather strong character. However at the time, when a photographer asked G.NA who took her eyes off the camera to “Please look to the side,” she asked for assistance. “What is cheuk-myun(side)?”, her pronunciation of ‘mwo(what)’ more like ‘mo,’ seeing as to how her lips made a round shape while saying it. Her cat-like eyes became round like a puppy’s. And that is G.NA’s real face.
A Time Where Music And Hardship Came Together
“Since I was in diapers, I loved to sing. If someone said ‘It’s Grandma’s birthday so sing a song,’ I would get on the dining table and sing. When I was five years old, we went to Disneyland. My parents were mindlessly looking for me when they found an Asian baby in a hanbok, dancing between Snow White and the beast from ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Haha! Whether it was the church choir or the school band, there was never a time in my life where music wasn’t there.” After she graduated high school, she confessed in her awkward Korean that she wanted to live in Korea and that she wanted to make conversation with anybody who sat across from her like a friendly next-door lady. Her grandparents anticipated that she would go to college and take on a good occupation but she secretly sang and received business cards from companies. She persuaded her family that on the condition that she went to college, she could go to Korea to take auditions. Even with that, she diligently passed the first part of her life.
However, her hardships would continue. After passing her auditions, she had already given up on college and came to Korea. She was to be in a girl group called ‘the Five Girls’ when the company dispersed the group right before their debut in 2007. This group consisted of Wonder Girls Yubin, After School’s UEE, SECRET’s Hyosung and former T-ARA member Jiwon. While receiving training, she studied elementary level Korean and taught English in cram schools to pay for the living fees. But she doesn’t tell of how she dreamt of becoming a singer, the time she didn’t know where to spend every morning or the time where everything just became hard for her. Really, all she said determinedly was, “Back then, I worked really hard, you see. The things I’ve showed those friends weren’t everything. I really want people to know that I have much more to show.”
”I’m Happy That I Can Finally Bring My First Album”
After a long end of complications, G.NA released her debut track ‘I’ll Back Off So You Can Live Better’ and this year, her first full-length album
<10Asia>
Writing. Choi Jieun five@
Photos. Chae Kiwon ten@
Editing. Jang Kyungjin three@
CREDITS: NATE NEWS (SOURCE); hyunnypoo@ROYALGNA (TRANS)
Post a Comment