Dream High 드림하이 became the twenty-first drama I finished. Most of the previous dramas I had watched were already completed by the time I started. Dream High is perhaps the first drama where I watched each episode as it aired in Korea. In fact, it was necessary to keep up each week due to ridiculous amount of spoilers all over the Internet. It was one of the most anticipated dramas in 2011 because of who the actors and actresses were. The six main actors and actresses include: Miss A's Suzy, 2PM's Taecyeon and Wooyoung, T-ara's Eun Jung, solo artist IU and actor Kim Soo Hyun. Park Jin Young, CEO of JYP Entertainment was producing the drama alongside Hallyu star, Bae Yong Joon. It was quite a surprise since I had not seen Bae Yong Joon since his famous role in Winter Sonata. Both producers were also part of the cast in Dream High, increasing the hype for this drama.
Dream High follows the stories of six different students who pursue their dreams at Kirin Art High School. Go Hyemi (Suzy) is a talented vocalist with terrible manners who studied classical music. However, Hyemi needs to put off her dreams in order to pay off her father's debt. After making a deal with a loan shark, Hyemi is desperate to enroll into Kirin Art High School. She and her friend Yoon Baekhee (Ham Eun Jung) attend the annual Kirin Art High School freshman audition. During the audition, the Director only passes Baekhee, causing an outburst from Hyemi and leading to two friends turning into rivals. Alongside both of them are Jin Gook (Taecyeon), Kim Pilsuk (IU) and Jason (Wooyoung). Jin Gook is a great dancer but has never applied himself, only getting himself into trouble. Jin Gook misses his chance to audition when he causes trouble in order to give a friend time and prevent his friend from missing his audition. Pilsuk is a girl with an amazing singing ability and perfect pitch, but is overweight. Jason is a Korean American who excels at dancing, but can also sing very well, putting him at the top of the class. After the auditions, the Director hand picks three other students to join the class. Two of these three students are Hyemi and Jin Gook. The third is Song Samdong (Kim Soo Hyun), a country boy with an talent for singing despite never having formal training. Samdong decides to follow Hyemi to Seoul having fallen in love with Hyemi when she goes out to the countryside to ask him to enroll at Kirin. While attending Kirin Art High School, all six of students face the obstacles of those who hope to become famous singers and dancers.
One of the biggest issues with the drama was that it was filled with idol singers, many of which had little to no acting experience. Some claimed the popularity was only due who the cast members and not their ability. One of the cast members who was criticized the most was rookie actress Suzy. While I do believe that it's clear that she was a rookie actress, I do not think she was an absolutely terrible actress either. Much of the problem stems from the fact her character, Hyemi, is somewhat emotionless and sharp-tongued. The lead female role usually has either a 'bright, innocent charm' or 'fierce tough girl personality'. However, Hyemi is very arrogant with an uncaring attitude, which makes her seem fairly dull. Despite all the hate, Suzy gained more experience as an actress over time with help from her veteran castmates. In fact, with each episode, Suzy's acting ability clearly shows improvement. One problem that I had with this drama was the poor filming locations for Dream High. Dream High was filmed during the winter. Many of the characters are bundled up in large coats during any outdoor scenes. However, during the scenes where the characters were clearly indoors, one can easily see their breath. While I do not know the exact budget for this drama, I would like to question the reason for such lack of heating for indoor scenes. It was simply awkward to see the scene where Jason was dancing in the studio but you can see his cold breath between dance steps.
Of course the best part about Dream High was the official soundtrack. All six members of the main cast contributed a song to the soundtrack. With Park Jin Young as the drama's producer, it was no surprise that the soundtrack featured a large number of JYP artists. The main theme "Dream High" is sung by Taecyeon, Wooyoung, Suzy, Kim Soo Hyun and JOO. The second song "Someday" is by IU during her audition while in a sushi costume. "My Valentine" features both Taecyeon and fellow 2PM member Nichkhun. "Winter Child 겨울아이" is sung by Suzy during her midterm exam early in the drama. "Maybe" is by Wonder Girl's Sunye. "Can't I Love You 사랑하면 안될까" is sung by 2AM's Changmin and Jinwoon. It is the song that Samdong and Pilsuk sing in acapella for an exam. My personal favorite is "Dreaming" sung by Kim Soo Hyun. The scene where he sings this song is absolutely emotional and one of my favorite scenes in the entire drama. There are a number of other songs featured in Dream High that were not part of the official soundtrack because they were other songs that had already been out. These songs include Navi's "Heart Damage 마음이 다쳐서", SNSD's "Tell Me Your Wish", Kim Gun Mo's "Wrongful Meeting 잘못된 만남", Miss A's "Breathe", 2AM's "Can't Let you Go Even If I Die 죽어도 못 보내", IU's "Good Day 좋은 날", Mandy Moore's "Only Hope", Ne-Yo's "One in a Million", Usher's "Lil Freak". There is one song that wasn't out during the time of Dream High, but was released later. That song is one of my favorites, 2PM's "Electricity".
Despite the two issues previously discussed, I found Dream High to be a very enjoyable drama. Dream High tells the story of students aspiring to be artists and the problems they face. The cast was very appropriate because they all know the pressures that come from being a famous idol. Also, unlike other dramas I had previously seen, I could not predict the final outcome of the love triangle between Hyemi, Samdong and Jin Guk. The final couple is usually very clear midway through the drama. While fans were using their favorite pairings, they enjoyed watching the Milky Couple. The Milky Couple is the pairing between Jason and Pilsuk, named after a combination of Wooyoung and IU's names. It was pretty exciting to watch a drama without knowing any spoilers, simply because I too was watching the drama at the same pace as everyone else in the world.
