Who is Jhameel?
Jhameel Kim is a unique performer and musician who gives his part into this world by creating outstanding music style. Born of Korean, Japanese and Mongolian ancestors, multi-faced Indie-Pop artist grew up in Minnesota. From a young age, he felt as though he was different from other people, but for a long time he was just part of the mass. He hated that.
Jhameel, in order to enter into good college he volunteered to become a military officer. He entered into the U.S. Army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program. The program allowed him to attend the University of California, Berkley. But the thought that he needed to commit four years of his life to that kind of structure became torturous to him. After spending a month-and-a-half there, he was exhausted and tired of the verbal abuse. “Being exposed to that culture… I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t do this with my life,” he said.
Even though he dropped out of the ROTC, within two years he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Arabic, changed his name to Jhameel, at age 18 that means “beautiful” in Arabic, with his korean last name “Kim”(he refuses to release his birth name), and embarked on a career in music.
His father was a professional violinist, so he was exposed to a music at early age. Since then, he’s picked up instruments including the cello, trumpet, drums, guitar, and violin, saying he hasn’t come across an instrument he doesn’t know how to play. His parents never forced him to learn how to play music, which made him all the more interested. It’s paid off in the end and taken Jhameel to a new path he never would have known if he didn’t leave the military.
Jhameel’s music style is inspired by Michael Jackson, Prince and high energy, electro pop bands such as Pheonix and MGMT. The singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist self-released his eponymous debut album in 2009, “Jhameel,” followed in 2011 by the “Dance” EP, and his sophomore full-length album, “The Human Condition“. A second EP, “Waves“, arrived in 2012.
Jhameel’s authenticity comes across in everything he does. It’s evident in his lyrics, delivery, his unusual Youtube videos, and perhaps most obviously in the fact that he writes and produces all of his songs and has directed and edited all of his music videos.
He refused to sign with a lot of label offers because he wanted to succeed on his own using social media.
Recently, he appeared on this year’s “American Idol” auditions in Kansas, where he performed his cover of the T-Pain‘s “Buy You A Drink” and amazed the judges by his amazing style.
You noticed his face being painted with black stripes. He explains to the audience about his OCD disorder: “I’m OCD. I’ve gotta have things symmetrical, but what I realized a couple of years ago is that you can satisfy that tick in your brain by accepting asymmetry and keeping it balanced, accepting the imperfection.”
We bring you the audition video, check it out.
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Source: American Idol Koreatimesus
Edited by: KareBare
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