Jessiis at an inflection point.
Thats way too obvious.
I’m such a perfectionist when it comes to music videos, she remarks.
Courtesy of More Vision
It wont be in-your-face sexy.
Sexy and Jessi have become synonymous in the unofficialK-pop dictionary.
Because of this, Jessi had to teach her makeup artist how to achieve her aesthetic, she says.
Courtesy of More Vision
I have a specific eyebrow and lip that I like, so I do those myself.
I can’t do anything else, like lashes and liner.
Im not going to lie.
Courtesy of More Vision
I think it depends on how you use your body language when you move.
I always show some key in of skin because I’m confident.
I’m not trying to show [it to] be sexual.
Courtesy of More Vision
Jessis mom supports her in doing so for this very reason.
She always tells me, I wish I had the confidence to do that when I was younger.
I love your confidence, Jessi says.
The fact that the mom who birthed me says [that] to me feels good.
Nothing about the way Jessi presents herself visually is about sex itself.
Her perceived sexiness is not an invitation for objectification or sexualization.
And shes definitely not encouraging others to be sexual through her look, she notes.
In fact, I’m actually not a sexual person, she says.
When I make music, Im playing a character.
Its so dope that I can do that.
In Gum, Jessi leans into a character by dressing up as different fruits.
Reason being: Like chewing gum, we all have different flavors, she says.
I’m sweet, I’m sour, I’m bitchy.
There’s a lot of girls like me [in K-Pop] now, she explains.
Before it wasn’t like that.
A YouTube video with the titleJessi’s breast surgery confession has more than 2.2 million views.
People always talk about her behind her back but never to her face, she answers.
For example, they would say, You have fake boobs.
OK, so what if they are fake?
I paid for them.
All of the men on the show were caught off guard by Jessis honesty.
Its 2016…Who doesnt get plastic surgery done?
Jessi asked the stunned male hosts.
I got myeyes and nosedone.
I know people with bigger breasts than me, but they hide them and say theyre natural.
She goes on to say lots of K-pop stars also have gotten implants.
They just choose to pretend they havent.
This is who I am, she declared on the talk show.
Why should I hide that?
I was kind of like, Fuck, why did I say that?
Nobody asked me to, she adds.
I just said it.
We were in a conversation.
I find out herhair extensionera is coming to an end.
She mentions that she wants totake them outand start over.
These days, she prefers to overline her lips with aneutral pink-tonedpencil and lipstick.
Jessi says that she now thinks injectables and plastic surgery are useless.
Dont get her wrong and misinterpret her words here, though.
I don’t regret anything that I’ve done, she says.
But from now on, I just want to age gracefully and enjoy my aging process.
Spending time with her mom has helped Jessi come to this conclusion.
Seeing how beautiful her mom looks in her sixties without cosmetic intervention keeps Jessi from worrying about aging.
She wants to embrace time, Jessi says.
The same for me as well.
Im just going to age the way I age.
Wrinkles are inevitable unless you get hella Botox and surgery.
And, again, neither is on the agenda.
If anything, acne concerns her more than wrinkles at the moment.
Growing up, I had the most perfect skin, Jessi says.
Last year changed everything.I went through a really hard time.
A lot of people fucked me over.
I had no control over anything, Jessi recalls.
That’s one thing that kind of sucks about this life, Jessi says.
They’ll always find something, so it’s a lot of pressure.
Its 9 p.m. in Korea at the time of our interview.
Jessi cant wait to go home and wash her face.
Luxuriating in a multi-step regime is one of her favorite activities lately.
She says she takes her damn time removing her falsies before double cleansing.
Then, Jessi jokes that she looks into the mirror to see if she has any pimples to pop.
Next comes two toners, essence, serum, moisturizer, and night cream.
I’m glazed as fuck, just for when I’m sleeping, she says.
She studied all their labels until she figured out which ingredients agreed with her.
AHA and BHA broke me out, she mentions.
But recently, Jessi has learned to let go.
Normalize acne, she says.
She is still human no matter how many people listen to her music and follow her on social media.
Holding herself to an unrealistic standard doesnt help anyone.
Most of all, Jessi praises herself for her unwavering resilience.
You did well, she tells herself before addressing everyone reading this interview.
The outcome is the most important: I am still standing here strong.
I wouldnt change a damn thing.
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