Kim Hyeong Jun, better known by the stage name JUNNY, is a Korean-Canadian singer-songwriter under Mauve Company. He moved to South Korea to pursue his dreams, hoping to share the message conveyed by his timeless, golden music with people worldwide. JUNNY, who has now been in the industry for several years, always learns something new from every step he takes in creating music and collaborating with other artists. The singer has already made significant contributions to his own and other artists’ works, such as EXO Kai's "Mmmh," Baekhyun's "Privacy," WayV's "Action Figure," IU's "Troll," and NCT Dream's "ANL," to name a few.
With his latest release being “Color Me,” JUNNY reveals an entirely new side of himself and continues to raise anticipation as it is the second pre-release from his forthcoming full-length album that fans have been eagerly awaiting since his debut, with “Get Ya!” featuring pH-1 serving as the album's first pre-release track. "Color Me" appears to be something new in his discography, with a distinctly retro-pop sound; the song will make you groove to the beat and be fascinated by the rhythm on the first listen. On this single, JUNNY collaborated with Chung Ha, showcasing both of their enthralling vocal prowess – making the song flow perfectly with their voices blending. Striving to lead off with a new sound every time he releases music, JUNNY has so much more in store for his listeners.
To commemorate his new single, JUNNY spoke with allkpop to talk about “Color Me,” his experience working with Chung Ha, his excitement about his upcoming full-length album and tour, and more. Keep reading to know more about JUNNY!
allkpop: Congratulations on the release of your new song! You're one of the songwriters for "Color Me"; could you please tell us more about the track?
JUNNY: I was one of the people who wrote the song. I wrote it with the long-time K-Pop songwriter, a friend of mine, minGtion. She’s like one of the most talented songwriters that I’ve ever seen. We’ve been working together for a long time, and we wrote a lot of NCT songs together. It was like the first time working on my own. The song itself… I wanted to give a different sound and visual, too, because I’ve been pushing a lot of bright and very soft sort of images for my previous releases. But on this one, I wanted to show my fans a different side of me – and you can tell it by the song and the music video itself. It was a great time, and I am very proud of the song actually; it’s one of my favorite songs.
allkpop: Which color, in your opinion, best represents yourself and your musical personality, and why?
JUNNY: The whole time I was writing the song, I was thinking of the dark red image or just the red color. But you know, we change every day; I feel like I change day. After preparing for this song, after releasing the song, and then preparing for the album, I feel like my color has become more of a blue for some reason. I’m always switching, and it’s constantly changing. I feel like “Color Me” represents more in a red sort of way.
allkpop: What role has art played in your life, both growing up and now? Was there a particular artist who inspired you to pursue a career in music?
JUNNY: Art is very big in my family. On my dad's side, they are very musical. I've heard that he used to sing with his guitar since he was young. My oldest brother is actually a painter, he is heavily into art, and I've been very influenced by him growing up. And my second brother…he’s actually a chef. I don’t know how it happened...just growing up watching them pursue their dreams and go get what they want, I figured, “Oh man, I really got to do this with music.” (laughs) I flew myself out to Korea, and here I am. My whole family is very musically open. They always listen to music. My mom is a great dancer, not like a professional dancer, but she has so much fun dancing at parties. Our whole family has just this interesting, musical vibe, and I think that’s where I get my thing from.
I try not to be really geared towards one person. I love many artists, and I’ve listened to so many different genres over the years growing up. I’ve listened to K-Pop ever since I was a baby back in Canada, but at the same time, I listened to the mainstream, like radio hits in the western part of the world. I’m just influenced by both… These days I’m really into artists from Europe, even artists from Asia right now — they’re killing it. I’m just influenced by everybody. For me to come to Korea to pursue this was because, to be honest, when artists like Crush or Dean would be doing Korean R&B, they would kind of make a platform for others to make their own music and put it out there. I think I’m someone influenced by them. But I’m still trying to find my own color, trying to make pop music at the same time, so I’m just like a mixture of everything – everything that I like.
allkpop: How did Chung Ha become the featured artist for "Color Me"? Why did you think she was a good fit for this collaborative single? Could you also please tell us about your experience working with her?
JUNNY: When the whole demo was finished, I automatically thought, “Wow… This would be great for a female vocalist,” and I wanted a female vocalist to feature on the song. minGtion worked with Chung Ha before, and she mentioned her name. So I tried to imagine her in the song, and it felt so perfect and right. Luckily, she has Chung Ha’s number, and we’re able to send the song directly to her; she listened to it, loved it, and wanted to be part of it. It was a smooth sail. Like, making the song, sending over the song to Chung Ha, getting the response saying she wanted to be part of it, and we would record in the studio. She’s very sweet, very kind, and humble. The recording part was very fun, and she said a lot of fun things like she’d bring her dog into the studio and introduce to me her dog. She also told me, “Anything you need me to do, I can be here for an hour,” she was open to anything. We’re very happy and thankful about that. It was a great time, and I’m happy that she’s on it. And I’ve been a fan of hers ever since I was in Canada, so it’s a dream come true.
allkpop: You've worked with well-known artists such as EXO's Kai and Baekhyun, NCT, JAY B, IU, and many more. What did you discover and learn along the way? What development from yourself do you feel the most since your debut?
JUNNY: I’ve always thought music would just be music. If I made music, that was it. If I made a good song, that was the end of my job. That’s what I thought. But after coming to Korea, meeting these artists, and being able to work with them, I realized that there’s so much more that comes to play in this art. I am trying my best to become someone that would be involved in all sorts of extra stuff outside the music, and I realized how important that was. I’ve changed a lot ever since coming from Canada. Back in Canada, I had no care about visuals like music videos; I had no concern about it, just the songs. But now, making music, I think about how the album cover and the music video would be and how I would present the song. Seeing these other artists kind of gave me motivation and gave me a thought, "this is as important as the music itself.” I think that's what I've become.
allkpop: What do you consider to be the most crucial aspect of your job as an artist? What are the most important factors for you when creating new music?
JUNNY: As an artist, I got to know what I want. I don’t think anyone else can decide that for me. I need to know exactly what I want, what kind of music I want to make, and what kind of visuals I want to come out with. That’s the most important part, keeping that intact, keeping the force strong, never being swayed, and stuff like that. The most important factor when I’m creating new music is I think about how I’m going to perform the song, especially on stage. Nowadays, when I write a song, I think about the performance part, the visual part. I want to be a whole package. I think that’s how “Color Me” happened. That’s why “Color Me” is such a different song compared to my previous releases. I’m still learning, and I’m still trying to get there, trying to get where I want to be. I’m thrilled with how “Color Me” turned out.
allkpop: You've been involved in a lot of your own and other artists' works, including songwriting and composing, which we know takes a lot of time and effort. How do you feel about contributing to the creative side of being more than just a singer?
JUNNY: It’s a dream come true. I get to write these songs… It’s like giving a gift to someone, and you see them use it in such a beautiful way, and you feel very proud that you were able to be part of what they’re doing. These artists that I was able to write for… They care so much about the songs, every single song in each album. Just to be a part of it, have my contribution, it’s a very amazing feeling that you get. It’s a dream come true, and at the same time, I learned from that as well. I see what they do. I would write a song for someone else, and I see them perform, and I would learn from that. I take notes and be like, “Oh, that’s how they would understand it. That’s cool, maybe I should do it that way as well." I’m being influenced by others.
allkpop: Who is the next artist you'd like to collaborate with?
JUNNY: I’m open to working with anybody, to be honest. I’ll be glad to work with any artist. It doesn’t matter where they’re from, which country, it wouldn’t matter. Anyone that loves music as much as me, I think that would be the best thing.
allkpop: Do you have any goals for this year or the coming years, whether it's career-related or personal?
JUNNY: Career-wise, my number one thing is always that for my music to reach more people. That’s what I always aim to do; that’s what my company always aims to do. They’re doing a great job for me, and I’m super happy with how things are going. I’m super excited about the tour, just being able to perform now in front of my fans. I’m just taking one step at a time. Having that big one goal, and then just kind of doing little things every day… That's what I've been doing, and that's my goal for this year—to be able to perform more.
allkpop: You'll be kicking off your tour in August, and your full-length album will be released soon. Could you tell us about your preparations? Is there anything else that fans should look forward to seeing from you this year?
JUNNY: Well, first off, the tour which I’m very excited about. We’ve been preparing for this for a while now. I’m thinking about what to perform and how I would want to perform it. It’s probably my first time ever being able to actually sing my songs in front of people in Europe, Paris, and London. I don’t want to disappoint them, right? So I gotta give a good show. My full-length album… I’ve been working for this for a year, probably over a year now. A lot of talented musicians, producers, and songwriters are in this. I’m just really excited for it to be released. We are in the process of doing everything outside the music because the music is all done. My fans… You are going to see a lot of me, hopefully, you won’t get sick of me. (laughs) You’re going to see a lot of new music, a lot of new content. I'm going to try and reach the most of my fans in the world as much as possible, and do my very best. My team and I are doing the best we can, so I hope you are excited about that. Album is coming out soon!
allkpop: Lastly, is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers and your fans?
JUNNY: allkpop readers! Thank you for reading this interview. Thank you for having an interest in an artist named JUNNY. I’m trying very, very hard to get my music to reach out there. So glad that I was able to do this interview with you on allkpop. Hopefully, you’re very excited about my new album, too, which will be coming out very soon. “Color Me” is out right now featuring Chung Ha, the music video is out. Hope you enjoy that as well.
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