Song Hye-kyo, easygoing and humane… popular craze
The public went crazy over the ‘Real Song Hye-kyo’. Her appearances in various entertainment shows, which fully revealed the ‘Natural Song Hye-kyo’, became the talk of the town. Song Hye-kyo, who created the ‘Glory Myth’ in 2023, will make a comeback on the screen through the movie ‘The Black Nuns’, which opens on the 24th. Reporter Joo Hyun-hee teth1147@donga.com
She is captivating the public‘s heart by fully revealing the comfortable and familiar human Song Hye-kyo, to the point where we wonder ‘Is this the Song Hye-kyo we knew so far?’.
Following her heyday as an actress through the 2023 Netflix drama ‘The Glory’, she is now increasing her popularity as ‘the person Song Hye-kyo’.
Revealing the ‘real Song Hye-kyo’ has begun ahead of the release of the movie ‘The Nuns’, which will be released on the 24th.
Unlike other actors who have appeared on various entertainment programs to promote their lead works and told various stories, Song Hye-kyo has been avoiding entertainment programs for a long time, but has recently attracted attention by appearing on them one after another.
23 years after her debut, Song Hye-kyo appeared on the tvN entertainment program ‘You Quiz on the Block’ (You Quiz) hosted by Yoo Jae-suk, singer Kang Min-kyung’s YouTube channel ‘Gyangminggyeong’, and Jung Jae-hyung‘s YouTube channel ‘Fairy Jae-hyung’, revealing her easygoing and humane side.
In each program, Song Hye-kyo looked back on her life in the entertainment industry, including the time she spent blaming herself since her 20s and the secret to overcoming it.
Through this, Song Hye-kyo revealed all of the difficult moments due to big and small rumors, and her true feelings, saying, “As a woman and an actress, I have had difficult experiences, and I have also had happy experiences. I think I learned a lot about life through those experiences.”
Fans went wild over the honest confessions of ‘woman Song Hye-kyo’ and ‘person Song Hye-kyo’, not ‘actress Song Hye-kyo’, and the corresponding scenes boasted such a high ripple effect that they even ranked 1st on YouTube’s representative ranking chart, ‘In-geup-dong’ (ranking of videos that are rapidly rising in popularity).
Unlike the entertainment programs she appeared in when she debuted, fans responded that they were happier than ever to see her daily life and everyday appearance being revealed so calmly after becoming a top star, and her fan base has also increased significantly not only among those in their 20s and 30s, but also recently to include teenagers.
Song Hye-kyo continued her unique challenge by releasing a song while she was at it.
On the 10th, she released the digital single ‘After Love’ through various online music sites. This song is a song released by her close senior Uhm Jung-hwa in 1997 and is known to be Song Hye-kyo‘s actual favorite song. Kang Min-kyung, who boasts a strong friendship, stepped forward as a producer, and the proceeds will be used to protect abandoned dogs.
Thanks to Song Hye-kyo’s comfortable appearance, like a ‘sister next door’, she immediately took first place in the topicality survey.
According to Good Data Corporation Fundex, Song Hye-kyo recently caught attention by taking first place in the TV·OTT integrated non-drama topicality (2nd week of January).
Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com
