The first-ever deaf or hard of hearing K-pop group debuted on April 20 to coincide with South Korea’s Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Big Ocean (빅오션), composed of Kim Ji-seok, 21; Park Hyun-jin, 25; and Lee Chan-yeon, 26; made their debut with the release of their song “Glow.”
“Deaf/Hard of Hearing refers to people with hearing loss, implies little or no hearing/ranging from mild to severe,” according to an administrative order issued by the Philippine Department of Health in November 2019 posted by the Philippine Federation of the Deaf.
Big Ocean members (from left) Lee Chan-yeon, Park Hyun-jin and Kim Ji-seok holding a cake on their debut day on April 20 (Instagram)
Big Ocean (Instagram)
Big Ocean made their first performance of “Glow” on the Korean TV music show “Music Core.” During their performance, they sang and used sign language to convey the meaning of the song.
The group produced the music with the help of AI (artificial intelligence) technology that learned the members' voice data, Yonhap News reported. This was done due to the difficulty of accurately tuning the pitch due to the members' hearing condition.
Kim Ji-seok was born deaf, Park Hyun-jin lost part of his hearing at three years old, and Lee Chan-yeon at 11.
Lee Chan-yeon underwent cochlear implant surgery on both ears while Park Hyun-jin has an implant in one ear and wears a hearing aid in the other ear, and Kim Ji-seok wears hearing aids, according to an article by the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Big Ocean's first performance on April 20
Big Ocean is being managed by Parastar Entertainment, which manages talents who are persons with disabilities.
“Parastar Entertainment builds processes in the disability industry that does not have a system in place, and fosters stars with impairment across various fields, including models, dancers, athletes, and actors. Parastar Entertainment is diligently serving the role of a bridge, so that talented people with disabilities can have access to more opportunities and interested media personnel have an easy point of contact with talents,” according to the agency’s website.
Park Hyun-jin said Big Ocean trained for about a year and a half.
“One of the hardest things was not eating — having to stick to a very strict diet. But the most difficult of all was trying to get our song and choreography in sync with each other, while we were on an empty stomach,” he said in an interview with Korea JoongAng Daily.
He added, “What frustrated me the most was that I knew what I had to do; I knew how I should move my arms and my legs, but they just wouldn’t move the way I wanted them to. The fact that I didn’t have full command over my body really stressed me out.
Kim Ji-seok said, “We all have different hearing abilities, which means that our reflexes and reactions toward the same sound are also different. This made it harder for us to get our dance in sync, but we knew that we couldn’t — and shouldn’t — use our impairments as an excuse. We asked everyone at the agency for every little detail and just practiced and practiced until we shoved all the moves into every cell of our body.”
He added that “singing is really difficult — because you can see how you dance, but singing? It’s entirely up to your hearing and your vocal muscles.”
“There are times when we try to match our pitch but we all hear ourselves differently. Plus, the hearing aids don’t work properly when my own voice is louder than the sound from the outside because the vibrations from my voice affect how it works. So when it’s time for us to sing loudly, it’s really difficult to know when exactly to stop, because we can’t hear the outside music.”
“It’s really difficult for us to ‘feel’ the beat of the music, especially while we’re singing. Dancing’s the easier part, but the vocals really needed the extra practice,” said Park Hyun-jin.
Lee Chan-yeon said before debuting in Big Ocean, he worked as an audiologist at Korea University Anam Hospital.
“But Troy Kotsur, an actor with hearing impairments, became our ambassador and I was invited to talk with him along with Korean hearing-impaired [hard of hearing] actor Kim Il-woo. They told me about the Big Ocean project, and that’s how I came to begin everything. I developed my affection for the genre through all the lessons,” he said.
Park Hyun-jin was a YouTuber while in college. He was cast in a TV show and met model Kim Jong-wook.
“He introduced me to his agency, which was Parastar Entertainment, and I was introduced to the ‘K-pop idol with hearing impairments [hard of hearing]’ idea. I immediately said yes because it was something that I really wanted to pursue, and I craved the challenge,” he said.
Kim Ji-seok was an Alpine skier and became interested in acting and arts.
“I practiced for a year and a half, but it turned out that competing with ordinary people was tougher than I had anticipated. It was difficult for me to communicate with the judges at auditions, which meant that I couldn’t fully show off what I had prepared. But I didn’t give up on my dream of working in the arts for the disabled, and I was cast by Parastar Entertainment’s CEO [Haley Cha] and started my new chapter here,” he said.
The Philippine Federation of the Deaf is advocating the use of the term “deaf” instead of “hearing-impaired,” which it said is “sensitive and offensive” to the Deaf community.