SHINE NOW 2019 – Organised by Gushcloud and powered by the National Youth Council, the 2-day "unconference" was put together by a team of passionate individuals who wanted to have a conference that did not come across as intimidating. Basically, think TED Talk but in an entirely chill and informal setting with bean bags aside from the usual seating arrangement.
Through the various panel talks, keynote sessions and workshops, the SHINE NOW aimed to encourage youths to step out of their comfort zones and connect with people that inspire them. Reason being, through a prior conducted survey among their targeted audience it was found that youths were not confident about chasing their dreams and were not keen to attend conferences due to its intimidating nature.
Through the various panel talks, keynote sessions and workshops, the SHINE NOW aimed to encourage youths to step out of their comfort zones and connect with people that inspire them. Reason being, through a prior conducted survey among their targeted audience it was found that youths were not confident about chasing their dreams and were not keen to attend conferences due to its intimidating nature.
Spread across 8 different verticals – Music, Business & Entrepreneurship, Technology, Art & Design, Sports, Food, Dance or Lifestyle – there was something for everyone to attend.
Each day was packed with insightful sessions with big names from the local industry and around the region. To name a few, there was Sing China 2016 runner-up Nathan Hartono, Jon Chua from The Sam Willows, Sylvia Chan from local YouTube channel Night Owl Cinematics (NOC), Nas Daily, and K-Pop star Park Ji-min (also known as Jaime).
We attended several of these sessions and they were really eye-opening, leaving us inspired thinking more about our own dreams too.
But we must say, Park Ji-Min’s keynote session on the second day was of another level. It is not every day that you get to be in the same room, seated less than two-metres away from a K-Pop star and hear them share their story in such an intimate space with no barriers.
Ji-Min had one of the most unassuming and quick-witted personality. The 23-year-old was wise beyond her years, all earnest in sharing and giving advice to attendees during the hour long session.
She spoke about her journey to becoming a K-Pop star which started thanks to her mum’s white lie of recording an audio of her singing supposedly for her grandmother, when in fact it was later submitted as her audition clip for the first season of KPOP STAR – a 2011 South Korean reality television competition series to find the next K-Pop potential.
Well, like they say the rest is history. Ji-min won the competition and was offered the opportunity to sign on with any one of the Big 3s, SM, YG and JYP (three of Korea's top entertainment companies). She eventually chose JYP Entertainment and later debuted in the duo project group called 15& alongside same-aged member, Baek Ye-rin.
The reason behind her choice? “I really liked all three of them (the companies), but at that time Wonder Girls were like my big girl crush and 2PM, my big boy crush. It was that simple, and I wanted to see JYP smile,” she gushed about it like any typical fangirl would when talking about their biases.
To that last statement, she revealed how she thought JYP (Park Jin Young), singer-songwriter and founder of JYP Entertainment was the scariest judge out of the three as he always had a straight face on. “He never smiles, so we (the contestants) had this thing. It was to make JYP smile,” she shared animatedly in the facial expression he would have on while judging - and when they do make him smile, they would think that they already won that day’s stage. It was a big thing to them.
Being exposed to the industry at what would be considered a relatively young age of 13 here in Singapore, one cannot help but imagine the amount of pressure or stress she has been through. Though we were pretty sure in Korea it would be the norm because of the infamous competition within its music industry.
Park Ji-min said: “I wanted more time to train as I was a student with no experience. (Just so happen) I joined the audition and was lucky…” She went on about how she only had about 3 months to prepare prior to the debut with the expectation that she would be somewhat prepared and trained from the competition experience already.
On the brighter side of things, she really loved how everyone in JYP felt like family. To the extent that when her contract of 7 years had expired this year and she chose not to renew it in the hopes of pursuing her own path, JYP was really supportive of it.
Naming her reason for leaving JYP Entertainment: “I like journeys, experiences that are not stable. I like to try new things – that is how I feel I am alive. As strange and dangerous I might sound because people would rather have stable and income positions, I think that it does not motivate me to try new things; it is really dull.” Ji-min felt that continuously being in that safe space would hinder her growth as an artiste. On the contrary, she now gets to try out new things, things that she was not able to previously when she was under an entertainment company and she loves it.
Fans would already know that apart from music as her main profession, she dabbles in various fields such as co-hosting After School Club (ASC), a live-music television talk show that features various K-Pop acts targeted at the international audience. With her latest venture, her very own podcast called “What Would Jamie Do (WWJD)” under DIVE studios that happened after she was egged on by fellow idol friend, Eric Nam who suggested the name for it as well – ingeniously inspired by the same original abbreviation of “What Would Jesus Do”.
She even has her own self-managed music crew that goes by the name of M.O.L.A (Make Our Lives Awesome) that fans were really excited about. It was formed back in 2015 starting out with three and they released their first song “My Way”. To date there are a total of six members on board, including herself. Namely: Seungyeon, better known by his stage name WOODZ and a member of Produce X 101 project group, X1, Nathan and Hoho. Vernon from SEVENTEEN, Kino from PENTAGON joined later on.
She describes themselves as “normal friends coming up with music ideas” and they do not have any specific music genres, stating that it comes naturally. “We are playing while we are working, you cannot do that when you are in a company. You need to be dead serious,” she named this as another difference of being your own musician versus being under an entertainment company.
With this amassed repertoire, where does she see herself 5 years from now? “Maybe I am gonna be married, maybe I am not gonna sing, maybe I will open a bakery? I do not know, but one thing is for sure is that I will be happy for what I'm doing. You will never know, it is unpredictable and I love things that’s unpredictable. For me, I love doing what makes me and I am going to be really good at what I choose. But I do not think I will forget music.” Kudos to you Ji-min!
Apart from noting how effortlessly she injects witty remarks to into her responses, Ji-min seemed to be a young feisty confident lady who seems to know what she wants for her future or if not has definitely given some thought to it well.
Everyone was so immersed in it that before we know it, it was time to wrap up the session. She ended with words of encouragement or rather some food for thought with regards to the drawn parallels of the competitive music industry in Korea and the education system here in Singapore: “I do not know what your goals and dreams are but I just want you to remember that once you get there, there is going to be so much more that you gotta achieve too. There are a lot of people that only think about good grades, good scores and once they achieve that, they are done. They do not know what is next, so those things are just small bits of goals.”
That was not the last we saw of Park Ji-min that day. The 2-day conference ended with a closing plenary, concert liked, celebrating the inaugural event. Apart from her as the headliner that evening, the lineup featured top and rising local acts as well, namely RRILEY and Narelle from The Sam Willows, and hip-hop/rap collective, YASAI.
When it came down to the last performer of the night, Ji-min, it could easily be assumed that she was the act everyone had been waiting for. She performed “Stay Beautiful” and “Young해” – which she thought was the perfect song for Singapore. Fans were also treated to special cover of Frozen 2’s “Into The Unknown” which drew the loudest cheers as she effortlessly belted out the song, hitting all the high notes – as expected of a vocal powerhouse. Promising that she will definitely come back to Singapore and with the emcees probing about a possible full show here, perhaps we can expect it the next time she is here?
Big thank you to the team at SHINE NOW for having us!