'Rainism': Profiling the awe inspiring career of the multi hyphenated artist in showbiz over the years
We take a look at Jung Ji Hoon aka Rain's impressive career, choices and how he's been an inspiration for upcoming artists.
One of the first things that struck me about this talented artist is his name - Rain! Now, it isn't out of the ordinary for artists to have a fancy stage name, but his name particularly struck me as an interesting one and hence I dived into the 'Rain' phenomenon!
Rain, also known as Jung Ji Hoon is a talented, multi-hyphenated artist. He is a singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, performer, record producer and entrepreneur. Fans are in awe of his phenomenal talent, but at one point he was rejected because he wasn't perceived as good looking! Eventually, he was recruited by J.Y. Park and he became a trainee for his company, JYP Entertainment.
Rain first debuted as a member of the boy group Fanclub, which eventually disbanded because of commercial failure. However, despite the setback, Rain rebranded himself as a solo artist and debuted with his first solo album titled 'Bad Guy', where he was introduced to the media through his stage name Rain! Rain's third album, 'It's Raining' topped music charts in Korea as well as throughout Asia. To promote the release, Rain then embarked on his first tour, 'Rainy Day 2005 Tour' which spanned a total of 14 concerts in 8 countries. The album went on to sell over a million copies in Asia, cementing Rain's position as one of the region's top musical acts.
Post the amazing success of 'It's Raining', Rain followed up with alum releases matching his name - 'Eternal Rain' and 'Rainy Day'. He eventually left his home agency JYP Entertainment to launch his own company - J. Tune Entertainment, maintaining a collaborative effort with his previous mentor J.Y. Park. He also signed with CUBE Entertainment.
His solo career took flight with international tours, concerts, talk show appearances and global presence. In 2005, Rain left CUBE Entertainment to establish his own one-man agency along with his long time managers - R.A.I.N Company. But music isn't the only thing that has kept the star interested, Rain has tried his hand at acting and the other side of showbiz as well. Rain made his television debut in the KBS drama, 'Sang Doo! Let's Go To School'. The drama achieved good ratings and he won the Most Popular TV Actor award at the 2004 Baeksang Arts Awards.
However, it was the hit romantic comedy series 'Full House' opposite Song Hye Kyo that established him as a pan-Asia star! His performance in the drama won him the Best Actor award at the KBS Drama Awards. He has also starred in Hollywood films - 'Speed Racer', wherein he played racer Taejo Togokahn and his starring debut role 'Ninja Assassin', for which he trained extensively for over six months.
Rain was a mentor of BIGHIT MUSIC and CJ ENM‘s joint company BELIF+ Lab's survival show 'I-LAND'! The show gave us the monster rookie group - ENHYPEN! Also, he decided to turn mentor to a group of young, aspiring idols personally handpicked by the artist, most of whom had been previously on survival shows such as 'YG Treasure Box', 'No Mercy', 'Produce X 101' and 'Under Nineteen'. Rain formed the seven-member group Ciipher, which debuted on March 15, 2021, with their debut EP 'I Like You'.
Besides a thriving professional career, Rain has a well-balanced personal life as well. The talented artist has been married to Kim Tae Hee, one of the biggest actresses of the country and one-third of the troika - 'Tae-Hye-Ji'. The couple have two children together.
Through my discovery of the talented artist, I perhaps realised why he chose the stage name Rain! Rain symbolises calm yet ferocity, force yet sincerity, storm yet fertility - qualities duly possessed by a top-graded artist festering within him and continuing to inspire the same in his audience as well. Rain, we hope your 'Rainism', continues to shower its awe-inspiring magic, upon us for decades to come by.
We are happy to share some of our favourite Rain songs, that you must add to your playlist now!
1. Rainism
2. It's Raining
3. Switch To Me
4. I Do
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ALSO READ: WATCH: Ciipher get their hearts taken over with a BLIND love in new music video teasers
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Journalist. Perennially hungry for entertainment. Carefully listens to everything that start with "so, last night...". Currently making web more
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