South Korean singer Jihyo has opened up about the criticism she received when she first debuted in TWICE.
On August 22, the K-pop singer appeared as a guest on music talk show Leemujin Service to promote her debut solo record ‘ZONE’. During the episode, Jihyo shared that she had struggled with her vocals early in her career.
Jihyo opened the episode with a performance of her new single ‘Killin’ Me Good’, followed by a cover of John Park’s ‘Thought Of You’. After her performance, host Lee Mu-jin praised the idol’s vocals, which he felt would also be suited to genres besides K-pop.
“I suffered a lot when I first started my career in TWICE,” she shared. “When I was a trainee for 10 years, all we practiced were pop songs, and just two or three Korean songs. So for me, this kind of song was very familiar, but the songs I had to sing were like ‘Cheer Up’ or ‘TT’.”
The singer added that she was “scolded a lot” as a result. “Many people said to me that I can’t sing that well. So while I heard those words during the recording process, the vocal tone [required of me] as an idol and the vocal tone of the singer I wanted to be collided so much,” Jihyo explained.
She added that she felt especially nervous about her solo record because it was an opportunity to explore her vocal tone. “I really want to do well, and I think I can. That’s why I’m nervous,” said Jihyo.
Later in the episode, Jihyo also performed Abir’s ‘Tango’ and ‘Inevitability’ by Urban Zapaka. She also spoke about meeting SZA at the Billboard Women in Music awards earlier this year, and went on to sing a short snippet of her single ‘Kill Bill’.
Jihyo is the second member of TWICE to make her official solo debut, after vocalist Nayeon released her debut EP ‘Im Nayeon’ and its lead single ‘POP!’ in June 2022.
Additionally, member Chaeyoung hinted during a March 2023 interview that the group and its members would be releasing more solo projects moving forward.
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