FT Island
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009I know, I know. I promised last week that I’d come with some hiphop today. But there’s something else I want to write about today instead.
I’ve been a fan of FT 아일랜드 or FT Island since their debut. They’re a five member boyband - and by band, I mean an actual band. They don’t all sing and dance - they actually play their instruments, and generally suck pretty bad at dancing. There’s 이홍기 on vocals, 최종훈 on guitar, 이재진 on bass, 최민환 on drums, and 오원빈 on guitar and backing vocals/’rap’, and my favourite. They debuted in 2007 and since then they’ve released two albums and repackages, and a Japanese mini album and single, as well as performing songs on a couple of drama OSTs.
The above is the first single, 사랑후애, from their second album Colorful Sensibility.
They are also awesome live. This was shortly after their debut, doesn’t 이홍기 have a great voice?
Sadly though today it was announced that 오원빈 has decided that he’ll be leaving FT Island. There’s been a lot of different rumours flying around about it, but the official site mentions musical differences.
They will apparently be replacing him with one of the company’s other recruits, though details about it haven’t been confirmed yet as far as I can tell.
I’m so sad about this, I’ve spent the last few years watching them together and seeing each of them grow into who they are right now, they have come so far since debut and the thought that one of them would leave never actually crossed my mind. But at the same time it doesn’t completely surprise me, and I hope that 오원빈 will do well in whatever he decides to do after this point. I honestly hope though that he isn’t thinking about a solo career, because his voice isn’t strong or good enough to be solo or lead vocals - but if that’s what he wants to do, then I hope he does well.
Posted by Taliana in Korean Music |
January 28th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Somehow I always read “오원비” as Ohbiwan, or however you spell the name. XD
I really like what I’ve heard of F.T. Island, and I think 이홍기 has a great voice.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:25 am
i am so sad about this. i love ft island!!! hongki has an amazing voice. this might sound very strange, but when i first heard his voice, something about the tone of his voice made me think that he must be able to speak english. but he really can’t (i’ve heard him try - haha!). i don’t know why. anyway, random…
they’ve already announced the new member - 송승현 i think. he was a trainee at the same company waiting to debut in “ft island 2″ (not really the name, but that is what people are calling it). it seems like he’s already gone and they are not doing a goodbye concert or anything…… but i am sure they decided this awhile ago.. that could explain why hongki suddenly cried at their last two concerts….. ㅠ.ㅠ
i’m just surprised that he was even able to leave - usually these poor kids have basically sold themselves to their management companies…. i sure do hope the best for him!
January 30th, 2009 at 12:29 am
@holdfast: when I was writing this post, the news about 송승현 wasn’t 100% official yet. But yeah, it was announced shortly after that he’ll be the new member. He looks like he’ll fit in with their image well - I am interested to hear how he’ll do in his spot.
I think this was definitely decided a while ago, or was at least being spoken about. Wonbin’s seemed pretty disinterested at performances for a while now, I always just thought it was just some kind of badboy look he was trying to pull off - but perhaps it wasn’t. It’s hard to look genuinely interested when you’re trying to play music that just really isn’t you.
January 30th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Wow they really do sound good live. Too bad about him leaving :(. Hopefully the new guy can fit in easily :).
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 pm
[…] I mentioned pop-rock group FT 아일랜드 (FT Island) back in January (check out that post if you want to know a little bit more about them!), when it was announced that guitarist 원빈 (Wonbin) was leaving them and that his spot would be filled by 승현 (Seunghyun). I was curious to see how things would go with the new member, as well as being quite sad, since I’d followed FT Island since they were preparing to debut and 원빈 had always been there. It was definitely going to be a change. […]