Defying Gravity

Upon her return to the small screen in the drama the king: Eternal Monarch, Kim Go Eun reflects on her breakthroughs as an actress, the meaning of happiness, and how she wants to live her life

- Kim A Reum

Today on the set of this shoot, your Chanel playlist was on loop (available on Melon and Apple Music). The genres and musicians were all different — how did you pick them?

I enjoy listening to music on a daily basis; they are all songs that I really like. As it’s a playlist to be shared with many people, I thought it should be filled with a variety of music.

Rock band Sinawe and artist Kim Soo Cheol were a surprise. Are you very versatile when it comes to things you like?

Nowadays I’m into Chunhyangga pansori Parting Song (laughs). It’s the same with food, I’m not one who draws a line in any direction, and I believe there is a reason for the existence [of all things].

There were multiple movie OSTs too. Between Calm and Passion, Brokeback Mountain, A Star Is Born, and so on. Are these movies that you particularly like?

I used to watch Between Calm and Passion when I was young and I first dreamt of acting. I watched it alone while practising acting and writing reflections. I loved the OST so much that I even uploaded it onto my Cyworld mini homepage.

You’re well known for singing, such that you even appeared in music programmes. You were also cast in a musical movie about the life of a doctor, An Joong Geun, in Hero (to be released this summer). What was it like acting and singing?

I don’t sing professionally so I felt a lot of pressure. Singing at a karaoke session is totally different, so I took singing lessons. My character is the Korean Independence activist Seol Hee, and she has to express extreme emotions. The singing comes out in tiresome and difficult situations, so I really had to be acting aggressively yet be able to digest the song, while maintaining my act — that was extremely difficult.