LOADING INFORMATION ON XLNC’S MAIN VOCAL, RHYTHM GUITAR LEE YEONGSHIK…
IDOL DETAILS
STAGENAME: King CURRENT AGE: 25 DEBUT AGE: 22 indie / 24 at KJH TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 21 COMPANY: KJH ETC: This member is involved with producing
IDOL IMAGE
“Aren’t you that kid from Hongdae?“ “Wait! He’s the guy that got kicked out of KJH!”
The frequency in which Yeongshik performed on the streets of Pohang and Seoul would certainly not go unnoticed. However, that does not mean he was popular or successful. In fact, any pre-debut images or videos of him on the internet cater more to his looks than his performance ability. Since his official debut as a member of XLNC, some of those images have resurfaced. KJH uses those pieces of media as a means to paint him as XLNC’s King: a passionate hard-working young man who is trying to redeem himself within the idol industry, and with a dream to change the idol music industry for the better.
KJH knew that asking Yeongshik to alter or fabricate a persona for the sake of the band would be more trouble than what it would be worth. Instead, they decided to use his troublesome trainee past, self-important personality in juxtaposition with his tenderness for fans, and a hard-working Northern Geoyongsan country-boy past to push a “tsundere” image. While some of the members were given the permission to keep their own names, KJH felt that if they kept Yeongshik’s very old-sounding name, it would not be easy to market to the younger generations. Instead, the company decided to take his calloused image in contrast with his love for his fans and gave Yeongshik the stage name “Young King” using the “Y” and “K” in his name, but later decided to shorten it to “King”.
KJH has given him permission to openly discuss his past life experiences, even that of his time in KJH if only for it to make the company shine brighter for mercifully allowing the poor misguided youth to return with all quandaries forgiven.
“But you never wanted to be an idol. That’s why you left KJH before, right? So why the sudden change of heart?”
When asked in their earlier interviews what changed his mind about being an idol, his answer is always very frank and honest: the support from fans. Whenever XLNC’s fans, XL-ENTs are brought into the interviews, King cannot help but become soft and a little emotional. He also admits that the hard-working attitude of his fellow members inspires him and keeps him accountable. KJH thrives off of this genuine part of his personality as a means to market his ‘calloused but softening heart’. Very rarely will King ever openly discuss his relationship with the company outside of expressing his gratitude for their resources. However, he has yet to publicly thank them for “saving his band from disappearing”.
“He’s the strong silent type.”
On stage, King exudes confidence and passion behind his guitar and his husky singing voice. However, the second a camera pans in his direction, his newly-discovered case of stage-fright causes him to close his eyes for the majority of the performance. When asked about it, or teased about it on variety shows and interviews, he tries to make jokes about him trying to appear more passionate. However, producers and bandmates find frustrating and annoying when they are trying to film. A lot of apologies are made throughout pre-recording and filming. Some of his fans try to defend him as they see it as a small peek to the softer core of his personality and the “true” Lee Yeongshik.
Generally for interviews and variety shows, the members of XLNC are given leniency as to how they are allowed to act. King willingly developed the persona of being the “black hole” of the group when it comes to variety. It seemed to come naturally with the group’s obvious emotional distance with King and Kings’ general lack of tact and awkwardness in front of a camera. He doesn’t know where to stand, how to stand, which camera to look at, and actually stare at the camera and not meander his eyes elsewhere. The few times that he does talk it usually involves his knowledge of music and fish– at which point it’s nearly impossible to get him to shut up. This has become the butt of many variety jokes and even further decorated his strange variety persona. He has opted to take an even further step back on more recent variety shows and silently encourages his members to be the star variety personalities. However, when it comes to playing games or physical activities on variety shows, he’s suddenly very involved and excited!
“We love ourselves a thoughtful King!”
With their fanbase in Korea, Yeongshik does what he can to support the people that have supported them. He likes to organize small gifts for the few fans that come to their events (usually using money out of his own pocket). At fansigns and fan meets he is very kind to fans, but in a very genuine way that often shocks the fans and the company. He hates acting cute for the sake of being cute and calmly refuses to do aegyo with a tight smile. Even though he likes to treat his fans with care, he also maintains a professional and conservative distance from them. For example, if fans try to act too familiar he gently tries to set them straight. Or if fans try to confess their love to him, he gently turns them down. His unwillingness to conform to these usual idol roles, while being completely within the bounds of his real personality, further feeds into the image that the company has carved for him.
When it comes to interacting with international fans, King absolutely cannot do English. He didn’t study it at all in high school, and can only introduce himself and his role within the band simply because the company forced him to memorize it. His pronunciation is hardly inteligible and he makes no effort to try and improve. This aggravates some of their international fans, but King has no problem playfully shrugging it off and insists that he’s simply not smart enough for English. He has made an effort to study beginner level Japanese before their promotions in Japan and is able to write in Hiragana and Katakana on his social media pages.
“Which member are you the closest to?”
Suffice it to say that the members’ relationship with their main vocalist is rocky at best. Despite sticking through the debut, Yeongshik’s impulsive and selfish behaviour has been the cause of a lot of discomfort and awkwardness between the members. While he apologized for his past behaviour, and is currently making efforts to prove to his band mates that he is here to stay, the process is hard and grueling. The 25 year old, who has always been an independent lone-wolf, is now struggling to learn what it means to become part of a team; and while he doesn’t want to falsely force himself on the others, he is trying to do what he can in private and in the eyes of the public to show his appreciation and support to them.
In their behind-the-scenes footage on their group’s Youtube or live channels, King is more off-to-the-side and observant rather than participating in antics with his members. A lot of fans at the beginning of their debut interpreted this as him trying to appear “mature”, when in reality, he just hadn’t developed that level of closeness with his members. However, as time has worn on, King makes a little more effort to participate in videos with his members usually as the victim of their antics as he is often caught asleep on camera.
On his personal Youtube channel, King tends to primarily share covers of songs that he enjoys. The company allowed for this as a means for him to "release” the rock-side of him that gets repressed form the music he’s forced to do professionally. He has recently started to do reviews of music that has been released within the idol industry (again) as a means to develop a stronger understanding of the genres that he generally wouldn’t listen to. Of course, these videos are heavily edited and reviewed and monitored by KJH. He has asked permission from his company to have guest idols show up on his channel during these reviews to give more insight on the music, and, in the eyes of their respective companies, build partnerships and mutual advertisement opportunities.
Shortly before debut, he opened a Twitter and Instagram account to document his journey within XLNC and to interact with fans and other celebrities within the industry. On Twitter he often writes to his fans expressing his thanks, spams the promotional music show hashtag and shares snapshots of him working. On Instagram, King rarely posts pictures of himself, much to the disappointment of his fans. However, he often does live videos where he will do monitored Q&As, or will share sneak peaks of the latest Youtube video that he’s working on.
“You call yourself a King? Disgusting! Throw yourself back under the rock you came from, Faker!”
Despite his active online presence, hard-working image and rapport with fans and a handful of idols, there is a lot of negativity that still needs to be filtered. There are a handful of XL-ENT fans, as well as aggressive anti-fans that leave hateful comments on his social media pages. Some of these anti-fans suspect that something may have happened before their debut with KJH, given the sudden lack of closeness and chemistry between him and the other members. Some even go so far as to blame King for XLNC’s lack of success and popularity within the idol industry. For now, Yeongshik has been able to maturely avoid lashing out at these fans. But given his impulsive past, KJH is constantly on edge and have been trying to filter out those hateful comments.
IDOL HISTORY
1994 – Born in Pohang 2012 (Age 18) – Tried to promote independently in Pohang while working for his parents. 2013 (Age 19) – Moved to Seoul. 2014 (Age 20) – Tried to promote independently in Hongdae 2014-2015 (Age 21) – Applied and accepted as a trainee at KJH, but was kicked out; started his Youtube channel 2015-2016 (Age 22) – Successfully picked up by an indie-laebl; debuted with XLNC 2018 (Age 24) – XLNC signed with KJH; King threatened to leave the group, but ultimately decided to remain with the group
The Boy Who Would Be King:
Born in the popular port city of Pohang to a fisherman and his wife, Lee Yeongshik spent his entire life by open beaches and bringing his father’s catch to his mother’s stall in the famous Jukdo Market. Music was always tightly woven into Yeongshik’s life: from the music his father would sing while at sea, to the music played on television and radio. But nothing struck his heartstrings or energized him more than that of the rock bands Nell and YB (then known as Yoo Do-Hyun Band).
During his elementary and early high school years he would write lyrics about his life at school or the life of a fisherman’s son, and would remix these lyrics into his favourite existing songs or adjust the composition slightly. While in school, all of his efforts were put into his music classes. He learned how to read sheet music and how to play basic piano. As many teenagers his age tend to do, he challenged social constructs and would write poems or quirky songs that mocked the school system. More than once, his antics caused him some form of detention or other forms of acceptable punishment from his teachers.
For his birthday during his second year of high school, his parents gifted him with a second-hand guitar. Between work in the early morning, school throughout the day and remedial school during most of the early evening, the majority of his free time was spent learning how to play his guitar. Predictably, his grades began to slip and his parents encouraged him to find a tutor: a senior from his school. She appealed to his creativity and was able to make learning fun for him again, and he suddenly felt as though he could understand the meaning to the love songs he had been listening to most of his life. His mind wandered throughout the day at work, school and even tutoring to develop the perfect song to confess his love. When he was finally confident and proud of his creation and performed it to her, his feelings were not reciprocated and weren’t treated seriously. The broken-hearted boy immediately became jaded and bitter and deliberately filtered romance from his life entirely. Any confessions he received were met with cruel shutdowns. The once class-clown became the introverted, crass and outspoken loner.
The Call to Adventure:
As graduation drew near, he and his parents struggled to find a direction for Yeongshik’s future. Between a serious lack of financial security and Yeongshik’s terrible high school grades, post-secondary school simply was not an option. His parents knew he wouldn’t be happy taking over their business so they suggested that he try to pursue music. After graduating by the skin of his teeth, he worked for his parents in the morning and spent his afternoons and evenings busking on the busy streets of Pohang where tourism was the thickest. He would hit the markets and the beaches during the summer, and deeper into the city inside of bus and train stations during the winter. His music was a mix of his own prose as well as remixed covers of existing rock songs. Once he had made enough money, he moved to Seoul to live with his father’s estranged brother.
Yeongshik’s uncle was rarely home and made no effort to manage his small apartment to accommodate his guest. Yeongshik felt more than uncomfortable with his uncle, and would only go home long enough to bathe, sleep and occasionally eat the food his parents sent them. The rest of his days were spent busking in the afternoons and working in convenience stores in the late evenings and early mornings. He attended as many local indie rock events as he could afford, and even attempted to audition to perform. However, as a very young and inexperienced soloist, gigs were impossible to come by. One of the venue owners suggested that he apply to an idol company if only to utilize their connections and resources. “You have the face and the voice to get in. Make the most of it and go.”
The Refusal:
Feeling desperate, Yeongshik looked into each of the top tier companies within the industry and felt that KJH was the best fit, as they were well known for their artistic freedom and generally produced high-quality music as was proven with the debut of Atlas. KJH told him to leave his guitar at home and to come to vocal lessons and idol training. The vocal lessons were certainly helpful and it was here that he really seemed to excel and was praised for the unique husky and deep quality of his voice that was absent in most current idol groups. Here he learned how to control his voice more and began to push the limits of his overall range. However, his dancing lessons were an entirely different story. His entire artistic career had been behind the security of a guitar and never before had he ever tried to do any kind of dance. His lack of skill and very vocal stubborn unwillingness to learn marked him as a trainee with a poor attitude. His poor attendance for both dance and idol behavioural lessons had him threatened to be kicked out of the company. Yeongshik decided that his pride and integrity as a rock artist was worth more than the resources that KJH had to offer, so during his final review and threat to be kicked out of the company, Yeongshik uncouthly vocalized his desire to quit and dropped out of the company. Even though Yeongshik’s connections and friendships within KJH were very few (given his aloof personality), he didn’t realize just how badly he had burned some of those bridges. Rumours spread like wildfire about his poor attitude and laziness as an idol.
Meeting the Mentor:
Once again, Yeongshik returned to busking on the streets of Hongdae. During this time he had decided to open up a Youtube account to hopefully reach a broader audience. With his uncle rarely home, he had the ample quiet space to work and record. His channel featured some of his best street-performances as well as recordings in the apartment of songs he wanted to share in higher quality. The comments in his videos were met with a mixture of praises and firey insults from those who had heard about his departure from KJH. Any of his rock covers that featured Atlas’ songs or any idol group were immediately flagged and reported by his ever aggressive antis, and at that point he decided to abandon the idea of gaining views with pop-covers and became a fully-fledged rock cover artist while sharing a few snippets of his own lyricless compositions.
After some time, he was approached by a familiar-looking representative of an indie-label that Yeongshik had attempted to audition for during his first few months in Seoul. The agent had said that with his talent with a guitar and husky voice, he would make a great candidate for their new band that they were hoping to debut in the following year. Yeongshik immediately agreed to participate in the audition for the band. He wasn’t even remotely hurt by the fact he had gone unrecognized by the agent. He was ready now and that was all that mattered.
Upon his arrival, the judges were very quick to praise him for his perseverance in trying to make it in the industry both on the streets and online. They also complimented him on his improved vocals and talent with his guitar. However, his reputation with KJH had left a very dark mark on his resume. They still presented him the opportunity to audition and after hearing him sing a cover and then share one of his own compositions with his guitar, they decided that they would allow him to join the other candidates for the band to test his chemistry and work ethic.
When he was introduced to the other members of the band that were present at the time, he found that they were already quite close to each other. Yeongshik visibly struggled to make an effort to connect with the other members, though not because he didn’t want to. The musician had been so engrossed with his own personal success that he had never had to consider the thoughts and opinions of others before this moment. However, gradually over time he started to open up a little more and was more approachable. His rough Kyungsan-do exterior and accent still painted him out to be aloof and unfriendly, but his bandmates started to understand him a little more and eventually their openness began to reflect in their chemistry when practicing and training together.
Crossing The Threshold:
The following 2 years were a trying but glorious time for XLNC. Their fanbase was small, but they were undoubtedly recognized for their talents within their small indie empire. With their constant performances and appearances around the country, Yeongshik’s Youtube presence started to dwindle due to a lack of time to edit his videos and was focusing more on producing. He adopted instagram and while he didn’t necessarily post many pictures, he would use the platform for live streams to openly interact with fans. Yeongshik’s relationship with his fellow band members seemed to solidify itself a little more. He was still the strong silent type, or the type that said a little too much at the wrong time. The lifestyles of the other members were very different from his own– but all was forgotten and forgiven the second the group was behind their instruments.
Ordeal, Death and Rebirth:
As luck would have it, the indie-label was unable to financially keep themselves stable and they presented XLNC the opportunity to sign with KJH. With the skyrocketing success of Atlas and rise of Jawbreaker, Yeongshik theorized that the indies’ fall was entirely KJH’s fault; that the idol company had bought out the indie-label in order to easily acquire what success XLNC had built on their own. Yeongshik spared no one’s feelings when he told his bandmates about what he had experienced in KJH and threatened to leave the band if they agreed to join KJH. The company was more than familiar with Yeongshik’s explosive nature and had come prepared with the proposition of producing opportunities, unlimited resources and higher quality marketing to reach a broader audience. They allowed him time to think it over before officially signing on with the rest of the group. Eventually, after a few long arguments with his band members that lasted late into the night, Yeongshik begrudgingly agreed to sign with the the rest of the group.
KJH spared no expense in milking the purchase of an indie group and they were even more excited to promote their edgy rebirth into the idol industry. Yeongshik was renamed King, much to his disdain, and while he was given production rights he had no where near the freedom that they had allegedly promised. Each of his creations were immediately shot down and rejected claiming that they didn’t fit the new image and that he needed to try harder. There was little to no support given to him from other people within the company as they all took this opportunity to extract their revenge on his poor behaviour in the past. His bandmates held a grudge against him not only for his past that was affecting their future opportunities within KJH, but they were also still very burned by his threat to leave the group.
King began to relapse back into himself again and kept himself busy by reopening his Youtube account. It is tightly monitored by the company and a few videos were forced to be removed because of whatever excuses they decided to throw at him. He was lucky enough to have been given the option to turn his instagram account private and opened a new one under KJH’s strict supervision. His anti-fanbase resurfaced, angrier than ever at Yeongshik’s return to KJH. The company was kind enough to take on the task of constantly monitoring his accounts to try and remove as many of the death threats as possible, but it didn’t stop fueling the anger and disappointment within the musician.
Reward and Seizing the Sword:
While things are still rough now within the company, a year after their debut under KJH, King was able to acquire a few small victories. His first victory was in finally receiving his first production credit for the song ‘Still’. With KJH dangling their carrot of production credits in front of his face, and giving him the occasional pat on the head for his good behaviour, King’s temper and bitterness began to simmer. He grew to realize that he had no one to share these victories with. He longed for the days when he and his bandmates had good chemistry on stage and were able to actually stand being together and share in their victories. After opening up to one of the few seniors he knew within the industry, at their suggestion he began to slowly attempt to mend his relationship with his bandmates and other idols within KJH. It’s far from perfect, but the effort he’s putting in has some people scratching their heads and wondering if it’s worth giving him a second chance. KJH suggested that he start opening up his cover projects to feature other artists as a means to share promotions for each other, while they secretly hoped it would paint him in a brighter and more idol-friendly image.