FT Island Lee Jaejin, Musical Challenge

Playing the role of a young boy in his first love in "Sonagi"

A dark face with a bashful way of talking and a bright smile. Lee Jaejin (18), who I met in the practice room of the musical, "Sonagi," in no time was changed into a pure country boy of the story.

"I'm actually a native of the countryside. Until the end of elementary school, I lived in ChungJoo, where the paddy fields were spread out everywhere. When I was in 1st grade, there was this little girl I liked so in order to look good in front of her I would follow her around everywhere and even send letters to her and then run away. As I remember those memories, I am practicing for this musical."

Lee Jaejin, who is the bassist of FT Island, was also casted in the sitcom, "Unstoppable Marriage" last time but it is his first time being in a musical.

After being suggested to audition for the musical, he thought "First off I'm not even that good at music, so would it be okay to challenge myself with something else" and was hesitant but then after thinking "When I get chances like this, I should just go for it," he said that he eventually had the desire to do it.

"And even after I made that final decision to audition and heard that I made it in, my future was desolate. Although my title is a band member, since I play the bass, I never had the experience of singing or dancing before."

He is "however carefully and step by step learning and gaining courage and self-confidence now" and said that the greatest earnings from doing the musical is how his expectations for himself while seeing himself change has grown.

"Through this musical, I am really changing as I am learning many new things. Usually my posture, which wouldn't be upright, has been fixed and my acting and singing skill, compared to before, have definitely improved. (Jokingly) Now people are saying shouldn't they replace me as the vocal of FT Island (laugh)."

Musical "Sonagi" is a dramatized version of Hwang Soon Won's story, which is even in schoolbooks, too.

Last year when the play was first performed, Big Bang's Seungri played the role of the young boy, which lead this musical to become big.

He, who has taken over the spot that Seungri had before, when asked if "won't it be a burden since you might be compared," replied, "I will try to make the audience feel Lee Jaejin's own color and energy."

"Honestly when I first learned about "Sonagi" in school I didn't get that sad feeling in my heart, but after reading it again I thought to myself and wondered why I couldn't feel it then. While it's a short story, the pureness of first love makes it a piece of work that really touches your heart. In the performance, you will be able to feel that same charm of the original work."




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Credit: naver news + cliche <3>