Yahoo! Singapore News
by Ewen Boey – September 30th, 2010
 
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There’s a new K-Pop princess on the block.

Blessed with powerful vocals and tonnes of sex appeal to boot, Gina Choi, or G.NA to her fans, is looking to take the Korean market by storm.

The 23-year-old star, who started her music career as leader of now-defunct Korean girl group Five Girls, got her big break in July this year when she sang a duet with Korean superstar Rain.

“It was an amazing experience for me. I felt really blessed to be able to work with such an amazing artiste, especially someone internationally well-known. It gave me hope to do better for the future,” the Canadian-born siren told Yahoo! Singapore.

Though considered still a rookie in the ultra-competitive K-pop music industry, G.NA is under no illusions on what it will take to establish herself and succeed.

“Besides singing, artistes need to be diverse and versatile through various other media like radio and television,” she said.

“You have to be willing to make many sacrifices, and listen to what your record label tells you to do. You have to be able to adapt to the industry and environment, and that took me a long time.” 

The busty singer also admitted that flaunting her sex appeal helped her carve out a name for herself. Constantly having to fend off media speculation that she underwent plastic surgery to enhance her bust, G.NA insists she is a natural D-cup.

“Having sex appeal definitely helps in gaining popularity, but I wouldn’t say it’s one of the more important factors. I never saw myself as a sex symbol, but because people say I have a sexy side, I guess I do see myself as that,” she said.

G.NA, who also had to watch as all her fellow Five Girls members successfully made it big in the K-Pop world before her — one of whom was Wonder Girls’ Yubin — she admits the road to success has been anything but smooth sailing.

“It was actually a little difficult for me, but it gave me hope to move on each day,” said G.NA, who is a huge fan of Christina Aguilera.

“It took me five years to get to where I am right now, and I don’t regret a single moment. I’m very happy, I think every year that went by has helped me learn new things. Singing is my number one passion and it keeps me going,” she added.

How then, is this down-to-earth star going to differentiate herself from other Korean artistes?

“Probably the different types of genre that I sing. I try to show my audience in Korea,” said the artiste who has dreams of making it big overseas one day.

“For me, my dream is to go international, but my goal for now is to get my name up in Korea,” she said.

[Omitted music video link for "I'll Back Off So You Can Live"]

(Thanks to @gnafacts and @lohkinwah on Twitter for the heads-up! ♥)

CREDITS: Yahoo! Singapore (SOURCE) + ianinna @ royalgna (POSTING)