Wax

She came in with a cool fall breeze and a laugh when we met at a café at Apgujeong-dong, Seoul. Is she really Wax, who had been singing the song ‘Fixing my make-up’?

“This is how I am, simple and active. You think I am like a sorrowful poet always singing sad songs, don’t you? Now I finished with my sixth album, and only thing I wish is to go on a stage. You know, I’m kind of impatient.”

Is she hasty because of the fifth album released on February 2005? After the debut album in 2000, albums like ‘Fixing my make-up’ (2001) and ‘Relationship’ (2003) have been major hits in a row. However, the response of the fifth album did not meet expectations.

“It’s going to be difficult to put out songs like ‘Fixing my make-up’ again. The song was good and the music market was better than it is now. It’s obvious that whatever song I sing, it will be compared to that song. Personally I don’t feel sorry for my fifth album, but I couldn’t make the situation better.”

She told us she clenched her teeth and dug into the job. She mentioned taking 2 years and 9 months off, “Although it was upsetting to see many people growing indifferent to music, it pushed me to focus on the perfection of my album.”

To reach perfection, she tried to break out of her mannerisms. Unlike previous albums that had a ballad opening song following several dance songs, which gives little unified sound, this album had a smooth flow like a story.

Title songs like ‘Love Is Like That’, ‘Fat Wallet’, and ‘Looking For a Person’ are typical Wax-style ballads. Songs like the reggae-style song ‘Wine Lover’ and Folk Rock song ‘Cheongdam-dong, Mokpo City’ do not interrupt the album.

“I really like Rock music, but it is a fact that my hit songs are always ballads. As a popular singer I can’t always do what I want to do. It has already been eight years since I lived with these kinds of worries.”

Jo Hye-ri, the female vocalist of the modern rock band ‘Dog’ who sang ‘A day of Kyeong-a’ eight years ago, says “I got more used to the name ‘Wax’ than my real name now.”

As they say, singers live by their titles. Today, she’s still becoming the tragic heroine singing ‘Love Is Like That’. I threw her a question: “Aren’t you worried about marriage?” she answered, “It really is like that. The person Jo Hye-ri used to be the lively girl like in the song ‘A day of Kyeong-a’. But I’m becoming more and more like ‘Fixing my make-up’. Though my fortune did say I’m getting married next year. When I do, I’ll sing ‘oppa’ as my nuptial song.”

bsism@donga.com