Within five years of his debut,
Super Junior’s
Kim Heechul has not only skyrocketed to fame, but he’s also become a formidable star in the celebrity stratosphere.
Heechul first debuted as a member of Super Junior back in 2005, and caught everyone’s attention with his pretty boy looks. Producers from the acting industry were quick to cast this handsome rookie, which eventually landed him a role in KBS’s “
Banolim.” From the start of his career, Heechul doubled his potential by walking on dual paths as an actor and a singer.
But it’s not only his career choices alone that made his star rise.
Perhaps it’s because he was born in the natural and carefree city of Kwangwon-do, but Heechul has never hesitated to express his thoughts nor compromise his bright and outgoing personality. Although this soon became the reason why he’s developed a strong fanbase, it’s also given birth a lot of anti-fans as well.
Despite it all, he’s managed to reach the sixth year of his career today, and is still the same confident person fans fell in love with from the start; now the general public is finally beginning to recognize his genuine merit.
He’s managed to turn his antis into fans, all the while breaking the taboos laid against idol singers.
Star News came up with the ‘Top 5′ taboos that Heechul’s moved against, which are as follows:
1. He calls himself the ‘Big Space Star,’ and managed to go up against gagman Kim Gura.
Before the arrival of Heechul, the virtue of idols was strict modesty. Idols were expected to scream “
No!” once complimented, whether it be for their looks, talents, or whatever else was being referred to.
But Heechul was different. He confidently declared, “
I am kind of handsome.“ Although this statement brought him many antis, his ‘consistent cockiness’ through the past five years has ironically engrained a sense of sincere honesty; something that even antis couldn’t argue against.
Now, when he declares himself as a ‘big space star’ on broadcast programs, nobody crinkles their face in disagreement, but laughs along, amused.
His confidence was even seen before Kim Gura, who’s notorious for his harsh remarks. Heechul regarded him with respect, while at the same time, expressing all that he wanted. Such confidence earned him an honorable high five from the gagman.
Heechul commented,
“I’m not really a respectful child, but I never hide myself from others. It’s the same from when I addressed Gura-hyung. He does give way for me a lot, but what I think is personally weird is that I’m a great fan of the harsh criticisms Gura and Myungsu-hyung dishes out. Maybe because they’re confident as well? (laughter)”
2. The first voice imitation of SM’s Lee Soo Man, was of course, done by none other than Heechul.
Heechul’s fearlessness has made even SM representatives surprised over his actions. Moments after his debut, Heechul did a voice imitation of SM’s producer, Lee Soo Man, that not only surprised his manager, but representatives alike, as it was the first time any star attempted such an act.
He explained, “
On a broadcast show, I did once imitate his voice. I did it to have some fun, but my manager hyungs acted really shocked and discussed in length with the PDs about whether to let it go out on broadcast or not. I called Lee Soo Man and asked, ‘I imitated your voice in a positive way. This can be aired, right?’ He said, ‘Sure, I trust that our Heechul is a respectful child. I could say no, but that will make you do it more, so just let it air.’ Ever since then, many different SM stars have imitated his voice (laughter).”
3. Despite being an SM star, he’s often seen on broadcast programs saying, “YG and JYP, fighting!“
The rivalry between the top three, SME, JYPE, and YGE, is known by any Korean music fan. Although it’s a competition created with good will, artists have always been seen rooting for their own labels in public programs.
Asked about his favorite girl group member, Heechul didn’t choose an SM labelmate, but the
Wonder Girls‘
Sohee from JYPE.
SNSD’s
Yoona later retorted, “Oppa, why do you only like Sohee?” He replied back, “
You’re closer with 2PM than you are with me!”
Recently, at his “Young Street” radio program, he even sang a song from
1TYM and shouted out, “
YG Family, peace! Fighting!“ Because fans know that he loves the SM family more than anyone else, they’re able to laugh off such cute antics in good humor.
4. Being an idol himself, he once claimed, “There’s too much idol music. I hope band music makes a comeback.“
Although he’s nearly 29 years old now, Heechul is still one of the representative idol figures. But for such an idol to exclaim on a radio broadcast, “
In our country’s broadcast industry, idol music is too strong. I hope band music and other varieties of genres will receive much love as well.”
As a radio DJ, he comes across not only popular music, but a wider variety of genres as well. Through his experience, he claimed that he realized the only way for people to genuinely love and become interested in idol music is for other genres to receive just as much love.
5. The public easily understands why he calls himself BoA’s brother and labels IU as a “singer song student.”
It’s rare to see anyon treat Asia’s star, BoA, with such fearlessness because of her stature. As you’ve guessed by now, Kim Heechul is the exception. He once claimed on a radio show that BoA has impressive drinking skills, which BoA was able to laugh off because she knows his personality better than anyone else. To music fans, they’ve become affectionately known as the ‘angry siblings.’
Heechul’s fearlessness doesn’t end there, though; his new target is the nation’s new little sister, IU. Before IU hit it big with “
Good Day,” she used to appear as a fixed guest on his radio program. She received the nickname “singer song student” by Heechul, which he explained to mean a high school student with exceptional talents in music.
Heechul commented, “
BoA is like my little sibling. When we’re together, we treat each other with both warmth and swears (laughter)
. And IU used to have a difficult time regarding me, but now she’s become a great little sister. It might be hard to believe, but I do get shy around new people. Even so, once I get close with someone, I stick by them until the end. This personality has worked well in getting close with BoA and IU (laughter).”
