Review: Cha Eunwoo Surprised Malaysian Fans With Malay Song Cover

Fans of rising K-pop star Cha Eunwoo (차은우) gathered at PGRM Tower, Cheras on Sunday evening for his debut solo fan-meeting “Just One 10 Minute” in Malaysia.

Despite the unwelcoming weather during the day, many AROHAs (fans of Cha Eunwoo and his band Astro) showed undying support by arriving to the venue as early as 12pm. And by 5pm, die-hard fans have filled in of the Dewan Wawasan hall, with some of them bringing along several cute banners and light sticks in support of their favourite K-Pop act.

After everyone was settled down to their seats, the lights went out to play the introduction video. The 22-year-old soon appeared on stage dressed as his Yi Rim character in the TV series “Rookie Historian Goo Haeryung” – wearing a traditional South Korean hanbok complete with its signature headpiece – and opened the show with the drama’s original soundtrack called “Please Remember”. After a nice appetiser to kick off the event, he exited the stage as the emcee came out to officially begin the night.

After hyping up the crowd, the emcee finally officially introduced the star of the evening; none other than Cha Eunwoo himself! He was asked about his feelings on being here in Malaysia without his fellow Astro brothers. He responded by saying, “It feels quite empty and lonely, but seeing everyone here have helped to make all the nervousness disappear.” For those who don’t know, Kuala Lumpur was the last stop for his solo “Just One 10 Minute” show, after successfully wrapping his tours in Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok and Manila earlier this month.

Without wasting any moment, the event proceeded with the first segment of the night called “Challenge: CHA!pago”, which took place in the style of a survival game show, complete with a large bell prop set on stage. Eunwoo and the emcee glanced at the screen which showed a few sets of trivial questions about his drama “Rookie Historian Goo Haeryung”.

Amongst the Q&A session, Eunwoo also managed swooned his fans with an iconic line taken from the Netflix TV series. A surprise in the form of a lucky draw was then announced; with 4 lucky fans winning autographed polaroids of himself as well as the red cap he was wearing during the segment.

Then came the 2nd session; “C.M.I” – which stands for “Cha Eunwoo Much Information”. Named after the popular slang T.M.I (Too Much Information), the segment unveiled everyday lives as well as never-before-seen footages of the rising Korean star, captured by his manager without his knowing.

To add in the kick in the session, the emcee came out with a set of quiz for Eunwoo where he had to guess the item based on the situation given on the screen. “This segment is always difficult for me,” he jokingly commented and proceeded to ask fellow fans for help. The loud cheer of AROHAs was enough to bring the house down during the whole session.

The emcee then continued by asking what songs has he listen to recently. In this case, Eunwoo responded by saying, “I always listened to old songs, for example I’ve listened to Pinocchio’s “Between Love and Friendship”. In addition, he added that he feels “comfortable when listening to music.”

He was also asked about the colour that describes his personality. According to the star himself, he personally felt that blue suits him the most. We couldn’t agree more. We believe the colour really goes well with his cool and easy-going character in person.

So, what colour does he think suits our country the most? “Maybe sky blue, because the city reminds me of warm and calm colour of the sky,” Eunwoo told the MC. He also noted that Malaysia has a lot of tourist attractions, which in turn received loud reactions from fans. The crowd also suggested a few things he could try during his visit in our country.

After completing the 2nd segment, Cha Eunwoo excused himself off stage in order to prepare himself for the next session. After a few moments, he appeared again on stage and went straight to the piano. He performed a cover of Justin Bieber’s hit song “Love Yourself”. “You know this song, right? Then let’s sing it together,” Eunwoo asked the fans to sing-along with the lyrics.

In addition, he also surprised local AROHAs with a cover performance of a Malay language song called “Sampai Ke Hari Tua” which was originally performed by Aizat Amdan! He managed to wow the crowd with the flawless performance of the acoustic-driven song. According to Eunwoo, he prepared the song while thinking of how to make AROHAs happy during the fan-meeting. It was delightful to see everyone enjoying the special stage.

Eun Woo sang in Malay guys!!!!!Pardon my shaky fan cam as I was extremely excited that CHA EUN WOO decided to sing a Malay song by @MuhdAizatAmdan titled “Sampai ke Hari Tua”!!!! ?✨ #hahanyhallyu #hahanyfancam @ERAdotje #chaeunwooinkl #chaeunwooinmy #justone10minute pic.twitter.com/v7PzX3NMeg

— Hani Fadzil (@hanybunch) October 27, 2019

The 3rd session was named “Mission: Cha!possible”, making use of his athletic skills. During the segment, he was challenged to play a set of basketball shooting game as well as a game of archery. Despite a few glitches here and there during the game, fans still managed to receive gifts via the lucky draw.

The games was followed by the last segment, which was called “Made By Cha Eunwoo”. During the session, Eunwoo sat down on the chair and decorated a special hand-made buchae (Korean traditional fan) for lucky draw winners. He also didn’t missed the chance to interact with AROHAs along the session.

For example, he showed off his skills in speaking Malay languages such as “Aku cinta padamu” (I love you), “Sayang” (Honey) and also “Terima Kasih” (Thank you). He even sang along to his band (ASTRO) songs that was used as the background music. The segment was concluded with the lucky draw giveaway.

At the end of the “Made By Cha Eunwoo” segment, the emcee told everyone that the fan-meeting had come to an end. It was clear that everyone wanted more of Cha Eunwoo. However, Eunwoo was told that fans had prepared a special video for him. The lights in the arena were dimmed, as the entertainer turned around to face the big screen.

A video that included clips of the pop star from his fresh pre-debut days all the way up to his current works was played, making everyone there extremely touched. However a lovely twist came in the form of the video asking him to turn around and face the fans. The whole arena was holding up hand banners with warm messages dedicated specially for him.

Eunwoo’s face was filled with gratitude as he expressed his happy feelings towards each and everyone of his fans who came to his show that evening. “I really didn’t expect this. Wow! Thanks for the banner,” he said right after the special video ended. He even jokingly reacted to the words of the fan-made banner by saying, “International. Global” – referring to the instructions written on the rectangular paper that contains 4 different languages.

“Thank you so much for coming today, I will go back to Korea and promise to you guys that I’ll continue to show various sides of me – as both a member of Astro and also as actor Cha Eunwoo,” he said to his fans.

After his heartwarming speech, the arena turned dark as he prepared to perform his next song. A few moments later, Eunwoo came out and started to sing “Rainbow Falling”, an original soundtrack from his hit TV show “My ID Is Gangnam Beauty”. His eyes shined as he sang each lyric to the songs whole-heartedly.