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A newcomer to South Korea's music industry, young singer AJ has been called by some the next Rain, one of the country's biggest celebrities with an enormous following all across Asia.

AJ, an abbreviation for Ace Junior, simply shakes his head when Thai reporters ask him if he's prepared to make a comparison between himself and other artists, including Rain.

However, he does admit that Rain is his favourite singer and was his inspiration for entering the cut-throat music world.

"I'd love to duet with Rain as well as with other artists such as Usher and Justin Timberlake, who are my favourite international singers," says the 19-year-old singer.

"While I was studying at high school, I used to watching music programmes on TV. I was really  impressed with [Korean] popular artists Rain and S7ven. I wanted to be just like Rain so as soon as I felt ready, I went for an audition at JYP," he says.

AJ, whose real name is Ki-Kwang Lee, was accepted for JYP Entertainment's training course and spent four years learning how to sing, dance and being groomed for stardom. He released his debut single album, "First Episode A New Heroes" on April 2 on the Cube Entertainment label It opens with the R&B-dance-styled first single, "Dancing Shoes" written by producer and songwriter Brave Brothers, the man behind the success of Big Bang. "Dry My Tears" is the second single.

"'Dancing Shoes' is a rousing song on which I show my dancing skills, while 'Dry My Tears' is a sad love song that showcases my singing," he says. "The music video of the first single features ex-Wonder Girl member Hyun Ah, who also rapped on '2009', a hip-hop and electronica-style track."

The cute Korean lad, who says he enjoyed learning dance steps from some of the top trainers on Youtube, is now a freshman at Seoul Art College.

"Much to my delight, Rain also gave me advice on dancing," he says proudly.

A STAR IS BORN

>> AJ was selected to open for

US pop singer Lady Gaga's show

case at the Chung Dam Dong

Club in South Korea last month.

>> The album "First Episode: A

New Hero" was released by GMM

Grammy last week.

>> On the Web:

TinyURL.com/ln4tqa