It's B1A4 Sandeul's Birthday today!
Sandeul, whose real name is Lee Junghwan, was born on March 20, 1992 in Busan, South Korea. He is the main vocalist of B1A4, one of the best vocal in the industry, and is also known for having a bubbly personality on and off cam.
On March 16, Sandeul celebrated his birthday with his fans through a fan meeting dubbed as ‘HAPPY SANDEUL DAY’. It was held in Yeongdeungpo Art Hall in Seoul.
The tickets for the 7:00 PM fan meeting sold out fast a minute after its opening so they opened another show. But similar to the first wave of ticket selling, seats were immediately gone after a minute.
God must have heard my prayers when I was able to secure a ticket just few days before for his fan meeting.
Being a BANA (B1A4 fandom name) with Sandeul as my ultimate bias, I had so much excitement when I arrived at the venue seeing his posters, photo wall and and the Q&A board where the fans could write their questions for Sandeul.
INTRO
While waiting for the event to start, his OSTs like ‘Swallowing My Heart’ (Love in the Moonlight) and ‘One More Step’ were being played on the background. The fan meeting started with Sandeul singing my all-time favorite song ‘Crush’ (짝사랑) and guess who was ugly crying all the time? I wasn’t able to capture it so here’s a video when he sang it in the 3:00 PM show:
Shortly after, B1A4 member and BANA’s president Gongchan, went on stage to host the fan meeting. Though Gongchan is the group’s maknae, Sandeul was a like a kid beside him.
Then everyone sang him a Happy Birthday song when he was about to blow the candle on his cake. But of course, being Samdol, he did it with a twist and instead sang a “Congratulations” song.
Q&A
There was a Q&A segment where Sandeul answered some questions from the fans written on sticky notes. The fans started their questions with “산” and “들”.
SURVIVAL GAME
The next segment was the Survival Game called “내.산.잘.알!”. Two different images were shown on the screen and the fans had to choose only one option by raising our hands. Likewise, Sandeul who was facing the screen had to choose between the two images. Here’s a video snippet:
The winners of the game got the chance to ask Sandeul to do “aegyo” and “sexy” dance:
I died mga bes!!! How could I possibly stay calm with my ultimate bias acting cute and sexy at the same time?! It wasn’t my first to witness it but as a Sandeul stan, any actions that he does could make me lost my sanity for a moment (you know what I mean).
After the game, he sang his charming version of Hug Me (안아줘요) by 10cm
SANDEUL STORY
The game was followed by ‘Sandeul Story’ where he shared his personal stories about ‘Family’ and ‘Tears’ and sang songs about it. The first one was his song ‘Home’ from his album Stay As You Are.
Towards the last part, he changed its lyrics from “Thank you father, Oh thank you mother” to “Thank you brother, Oh thank you brother”.
He also sang his heartfelt rendition of ‘술이야’ by Vibe:
Part of the lyrics:
“Sadness overwhelms me
I started hating your leaving self as i poured myself another glass
for teasing me for such a long time
Then one day i imitated your tone
It’s always alcohol for me
After forgetting you i’m always in pain
Now we’re really strangers
After forgetting you we’re always
Strangers”
Everyone could feel his emotion while singing these songs. I couldn’t help but cry a river during this part especially knowing what happened to the group for the past year. It was a painful experience for the members as well as for the BANAs. Sandeul even admitted that he just stayed at home and cried for a month after the news broke out.
It reminded me of the time when I cried a lot upon hearing the news about their contract while I was in Seoul. Even in the train or subway, I couldn’t suppress my tears because I was thinking of them. It also didn’t help that I was seeing their ads everywhere I go. But seeing the remaining members still holding on to their promise is a source of strength and joy.
THANK YOU GONGCHAN
Sandeul gave Gongchan a bath robe as a gift and thanked him for hosting his fan meeting. Afterwards, we posed for a group picture.
A MESSAGE FROM CNU
Before singing the last song, a video greetings from CNU was played:
CLOSING
For the closing, Sandeul sang his song Stay As You Are.
While singing Stay As You Are, we lifted our banners which says: “I’ll be there as it is now” (literal translation)
He bid us goodbye and shared that he will start his nationwide tour for the 50th Anniversary of his radio show – MBC Starry Night. Among the places that he will visit are Seoul, Chuncheon, Daejeon, Daegu, Jeonju, Gwangju and Busan. The song being played on the background was ‘The Road We Walk Together’ from his 1st mini album Stay As You are.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS
It was indeed a #HAPPYSANDEULDAY meeting my ultimate bias once again and be able to greet and sing him a Happy Birthday. It always amazes me how passionate Sandeul is with his craft and how affectionate he is towards his fans. I remember last year, I gave him dried mangoes with letters from Filipino BANAs and we were so overwhelmed that he mentioned it during his VLive with CNU. Isn’t he the sweetest?
Even if he is quite busy these days with his radio show and variety show guestings, he still chose to celebrate his birthday with us. Aside from having superb vocals, he also has a nice and approachable personality which will make everyone fall for him easily. And aside from being a talented singer, musical actor, host and DJ, he is such an adorable person, a thoughtful friend, and a good son and brother to his family.
So today, let us greet him a HAPPY SANDEUL DAY! May everyday be a Happy Sandeul Day for him!
