Vocal Coach Who Taught BTS’s Jin & TWICE’s Jihyo Reveals Their Biggest Strengths

Alongside raw talent and a naturally melodic tone, great technique is one of the biggest keys to becoming an impressive vocalist. To learn that technique, you need a great teacher. Kim Sungeun of WIP Company is one of the biggest vocal trainers in the K-Pop industry, known for giving singing lessons to BTS and TWICE—and she’s very proud of her past students. Here’s what she said about them in an interview with The Korea Times.

Kim Sungeun taught over a year of vocal lessons to three BTS members: Jungkook, V, and Jin.

She said that one of the reasons she fell in love with her job is that she met so many “good people” through it, and one of those good people was none other than Jin.

Kim revealed that, like many beginning trainees, Jin had his struggles. During one singing lesson, Jin practiced “Try” by Asher Brook, a song from the Fame soundtrack. But at that time, he could “barely pull [it] off”.

Then, one day several years later, Jin contacted Kim out of the blue with a recording of himself singing the same song. He asked his old vocal coach to listen to it, asking, “Didn’t I improve?”.

Kim said that not only was Jin far more proficient than he had once been, she was even more touched by his attitude.

Despite being a superstar with hectic schedules, [Jin] still strives for better.

— Kim Sungeun

In an interview with HARU*HANA magazine, Jin named “Try” as one of the songs that’s influenced him, so it’s likely that he continued to practice it often during that time.

Kim Sungeun went on to talk about the strengths of TWICE’s main vocalist too. She brought up Jihyo’s challenging setlist for the group’s Melody Project: “Butterfly” by Rhythm King, “Angora” by MoonMoon, “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor, “Unbreakable Smile” by Tori Kelly, and an acoustic jazz version of TWICE’s own “TT”.

Kim expressed her admiration for how Jihyo successfully performed all the songs live with a band.

I think she pushed the envelope.

­— Kim Sungeun

Alongside her former students, Kim Sungeun also had a lot of praise for IU and Kang Daniel.

Kim’s own definition of a “good singer” isn’t just someone who can hit high notes, but rather someone who can express the emotions of a song well. For Kim, IU is a perfect example of that.

Many people know IU excels in singing high-pitched tones and has a velvety voice, but don’t realize how well she gets into the rhythm or how skillfully she epitomizes her emotions in a song.

— Kim Sungeun

As for Kang Daniel, Kim was impressed to see him go from a rapper and dancer in Wanna One to a talented singer as a soloist.

His sound was so deep and his ability to interpret music was great. Kang is very serious about his music and puts much effort into his work as well.

— Kim Sungeun