Heejun, Don't Make It Bad

I'm switching my fan mode back on.

I was coasting through TV channels a few days ago when I stumbled on Fox. So, it is that time of the season again.

And I saw this Korean guy - I don't know. I just know when an East Asian is Korean even before they open their mouth - facing the formidable trio of Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson, and Jennifer Lopez. Then he started singing Michael Bolton's "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You," the song that used to be a sound track of my early twenty's broken heart. That stopped me on my tracks, and channel-flipping spree. No, not the song, but the voice of that Korean guy! My God! Where did that voice come from? You look at this guy and you'd say, "Oh, he kinda look like that Baker King dude from that Korean soap." But not as a singer...until he opens his mouth to sing.

And I forgot all about him with all the lazy things I had to do.

This weekend, he came back for the top 24 and sang "Angels," not exactly spectacularly, but there's something about him that makes me love him. Yeah, that's the word.

Fess up time. Heejun, that's his name, looks and sounds like my boy Seok Hyun, one of the two best male people I've met in my life. (I could have just said "men." What's my problem here?) He's got Seok Hyun's nuances. The way Heejun intersperses American English and Korean dictions is just too painfully familiar. His verbal and facial expressions pull some strings out of my memory bank. Getting corny. Getting there. Nearer. Nearer. STOP!

I couldn't help it. But God bless Youtube! I watched all his previous AI videos and I was just blown away. By his charm, his story, his wit, his honesty, his humor. He is just adorable in a kind of easy, laid back way. The way he bends and bows to the judges and the audience speaks more than cultural behavior. There's the classic sincerity of gratitude, that ennobling feeling of unworthiness. You just want to hug him and have him as your best friend.





Another reason Beatles is timeless and universal. They have predicted the coming of Heejun Han.

Hey Jude

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jude, don't be afraid.
You were made to go out and get her.
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better.

And any time you feel the pain, Hey Jude, refrain
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.

Hey Jude, don't let me down.
You have found her now go and get her
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

So let it out and let it in,
Hey Jude, begin.
You're waiting for someone to perform with,
And don't you know that it's just you.
Hey Jude, you'll do;
The movement you need is on your shoulder.