If one were to ask K-pop fans whom identifies themselves as Sones – devoted fans of Girls’ Generation – what the saddest day is pertaining to their favorite group, many will bring up an event that happened on September 30, 2014. It was on that particular Tuesday that Jessica Jung, the first member of Girls’ Generation, announced she was “ forced out ” of the K-pop idol group. Since then, it seemed as if Jessica’s music career was on hold, which eventually led to Jessica and SM Entertainment parting ways.
[CAP] 151204 #Jessicajung HIGH CUT #1 https://t.co/5Ydv0a5eVN pic.twitter.com/hGD4iEYyNH
— Le chaton (@Lechaton0418) December 4, 2015
Thankfully, Jessica Jung was preparing for a life after Girls’ Generation through fashion in both modeling and her own clothing line, Blanc & Eclare. The circumstances at the time made such plans happen sooner than expected. Still, many K-pop fans (especially Sones who will always see Girls’ Generation as the original nine members) pray Jessica will still continue her music career. Now, their prayers have been answered as Jessica herself made it known that she is currently working on a solo album.
The news about Jessica Jung’s current solo music endeavors were first talked about in Korean magazine High Cut , as reported by Korean news outlet Nate . During the interview, Jessica clarified where she stands in her music career.
“I never said I was leaving the entertainment industry.”
It should be noted that Jessica Jung does have experience working outside of a K-pop idol girl group. While still signed with SM Entertainment, she released four songs, three for K-dramas. They include “Sweet Delight,” “Because Tears Are Overflowing” (for Romance Town ), “Heart Road” (for The King’s Dream ), and “The One Like You” (for Dating Agency Cyrano ). Jessica also performed three duets too, which includes “What To Do” with Kim Jin Pyo (for Wild Romance ), “Butterfly” with her sister Krystal (for To The Beautiful You ), and “My Lifestyle” with Dok2 (for PYL Younique Volume 1 ).
The last song Jessica officially sung was “Divine” which was released as part of Girls’ Generation’s repackaged version of their first Japanese greatest hits album, The Best . Unofficially however, Jessica’s last song was “Catch Me If You Can,” as shown in the music video attached above. However, the song and music video were both redone after Jessica’s departure. Their actions still didn’t stop the original being released though.
Also, Jessica Jung’s announcement validates rumors that she was pursuing a solo career starting back in February of this year, as reported by KpopStarz . It all started when Jessica uploaded a picture of herself, sitting in a recording studio in New York City (attached below) on her official Instagram, which has been taken down since.
There was also news that Jessica Jung met up with Japanese singer, Itano Tomoni. For those who do not know, Tomoni was a former member of the popular idol girl group AKB48. She was the first in her group to launch a successful solo career starting with her first single “Dear J.” Finally, Jessica started to follow Japanese music producer Hide Kawada on Instagram. Take note that Kawada is the CEO of United Future Creators Incorporated which is a Japanese music publishing company.
As of now, it is unknown when Jessica Jung will release her solo album. It isn’t even known if it will be through the Japanese music industry or through Hide Kawada and United Future Creators Incorporated. All that is known is Jessica is working on a solo album. For Sones, that is more than enough for now.
[Photo by Moses Ng/Getty Images]