Have you ever heard the acoustic version of Juliette? Juliette, the first song that Jonghyun penned the lyrics to. The song that was probably their least popular, the song that inspired god-awful tie-die outfits. The song that I now can’t get enough of and now am considering to learn the Korean so I can sing along with Jonghyun in the acoustic version.
If you have not heard this performance, you are dreadfully deprived. Dreadfully, miserably so.
Jonghyun has remarkable talent, in all the performances I’ve watched, he’s never off-key, at the most, a little sharp, but that comes from the (beautiful) wailing that he does. He is never flat and horrible and embarrassing like Taemin in the great majority of the “Love Like Oxygen” live performances, which frankly is a little sad. The live performances are pre-recorded, so Taemin has no excuse to be continually flat. Which he is. Onew’s voice has gotten a lot stronger; I suspect mainly because of his participation in musicals, his voice is no longer smooth and thin, it’s starting to gather a richer quality.
It astounds me to think that in any other country, Jonghyun would be the solo star. He wouldn’t even be Rain. He would be Usher.
Why is SM hiding him within a boy group? Why is Jonghyun’s career slated to die once he reaches a certain age?
Li Yundi. perfection.
I don’t know why this version of Juliette is so moving to me. The subtle and controlled inflections in his voice reflect an artist in growth, so full of potentials and so full of love for his line of work. This is the glimmer of godliness. This is the glimmer that I usually reserve for Li Yundi. However, Jonghyun has quite a ways to work towards becoming brighter than the Big Bang.
Jonghyun has the tough guy, softie marshmallow on the inside working for him. He is the man that girls want to show off to their girlfriends as being a bad boy, and the man that they’ll take to see their parents.
If Jonghyun’s voice isn’t enough to make you pee in your pants, maybe you can watch Key touching Taemin’s butt during the performance.
—-
Update: 24 Aprile 2011
This is a bit late, but I was following S.M. The Ballad’s promotions, and Jonghyun’s live performances on music shows were all rather disappointing– the radio shows were much better, but I noticed Jonghyun has a recurring problem landing on the pitch directly. For high notes especially, he usually starts flat and then slides into it. I can’t lie, this is disappointing. Especially so since I’m a pianist and I usually cannot tell pitch problems, but when I can, that means pitch problems are pretty bad.
So, Jonghyun better get back to his singing lessons.
A little explication on my comment about Jonghyun as a parallel to Usher, I meant not in terms of popularity but in terms of vocal talent. I think Jonghyun would not be as wildly popular, but he definitely has the vocal chops to meet Usher.
I hope that clears some things up :) I am, after all, somewhat rational..
