(i'm posting part 2 first because of cnblue's ^^. cheer's to soompi to asking bout wgm)
by: KisforKARENx3
Just yesterday night, the two idol bands held their first ever joint concert at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
In their first visit to the States, CN Blue shared their impression of America, international fame, the upcoming third album, and their newly-found love for American food (yes, steak and In-N-Out!). While the boys were professional and polished, they occasionally cracked up at each others' comments and Yonghwa's confident English skills.
(Fanlala is an American press outlet focusing on Disney, Nickelodeon, and American pop aritsts. Asia Pacific Arts (APA) is a Los Angeles-based digital news outlet focusing on Asian American entertainment.)
Jungshin: Hi I'm bassist and maknae, Jungshin.
Junghyun: Guitarist and vocal, Junghyun.
Yonghwa: (in English) Hello. My name is Jung Yonghwa. My part is guitar and vocal.
Minhyuk: Drummer, Kang Min Hyuk.
Fanlala: I read online that each of you represents one letter in the word "Blue" -- burning, loving, untouchable, and emotional. How did you decide each of those words for yourselves?
Jungshin and Yonghwa: We first had the team name CN Blue, which stands for Code Name Blue. Then we looked for words that would fit the letters "B, L, U, E." We didn't just pick random words. We thought through the words and the meanings, and so we came up with the words that we thought portrayed our characters.
Yonghwa: We are releasing our third album this month and so we are going to try to concentrate on our stages first. Then afterwards, Minhyuk the drummer is gearing up for a drama in Korea also. So we're going to be balancing a lot of activities, but at the same time, we want to be a band that overall does a lot of shows and performances. Right now too, we are doing tours around Asia. Not just Asia, but if we get the chance we want to do many performances, many concerts all around the world.
APA: You guys are having your third album soon. I know there's a contest going on right now for the title. Do you know any funny submissions yet?
Yonghwa: The way that this works is that the contest isn't for picking the title song of our album. There's already an answer and there's a cube that's rotating on our site. There are letters on it and so the fans have to guess what the title is by looking at that.
APA: Do you know if anyone who has already guessed it?
Yonghwa: We think it's pretty easy, but we don't know yet. But it was a pretty easy question. Someone probably guessed it by now.
Yonghwa: Did you figure it out yet? (Jonghyun and Yonghwa laugh.)
Fanlala: Did you expect to make it this big and find international fans, or are you still shocked by how popular you are worldwide?
Yonghwa: We weren't expecting all this popularity at all. We are always surprised whenever we go to perform. We recently had concerts in Taiwan and Thailand. The venue was about 8,000 seats and it was all filled by our fans, so every time we see such filled seats and the fans, we're always surprised and always thankful. We are always wonder how these fans got to know our music, and about us.
(All the members smirk, and Jonghyun laughs during Yonghwa's response.)
Yonghwa (after hearing "We Got Married," he was quick to answer): The other members were very jealous of me because the show was very popular. They all have really high standards so they didn’t pick a partner they wanted to be with. They were just jealous that I was part of the show.
APA: Going off the third album again, is there something new that you want to portray through this album? Anything interesting that stands out?
Minhyuk and Yonghwa: We always think of what we can do to make the album different from what we had previously. This time we want to put in a more fast pace, upbeat and lively songs so that when we perform on stage, our fans can actually rock on with us.
Yonghwa: The message of this album is that we want to have fans actually not just listen to the song but give them songs that would have the fans take part in the concerts and stages more. The songs will seem more lively in actual stage performances compared to when listening on the CD, so we want fans to come out to these performances and stages where they can enjoy the performance with their whole body and not just through listening to the CD at home.
Soompi: Are there any American artists you would like to collaborate with outside of Korea?
Yonghwa (in English): First, Bon Jovi. Second, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Third, 30 Seconds to Mars. And Maroon 5, and… (he points to Minhyuk for his opinion).
Jonghyun: There's a lot more, but too many to list them all.
APA: If you had to recruit someone from the other group (FT Island), who would it be?
Jungshin: Hongki for vocals because we do a lot of performances so we want another vocalist.
Jonghyun: Jaejin, the bassist in FT Island. I like Jungshin's playing also, but their styles are very different. I feel like Jaejin plays it in a very supportive way so it's easy to play together.
After he said that, Jungshin playfully said, "I want to change guitarist."
Yonghwa: Jonghun, the guitarist. There would be a total of three guitars in the group and the sound will be very plentiful. It would sound much better with a louder sound.
Minhyuk: Jonghun also. There are songs that Yonghwa has to sing and play the guitar at the same time. There are certain songs that we want for Yonghwa to be free and just sing the song. So if we bring Jonghun into the group, we will have two guitarists without Yonghwa having to play the guitar.
Yonghwa: It's better than anything we expected. We've always had a good image, so not that it would be bad, but it's more than what we would have hoped for. We have always watched foreign artists on YouTube, and every time we did, there's that portrayal of foreign artists in big cars, that stereotypical American rock star with the big car. The moment we got off the airport at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), we saw the big car that we always see in videos parked for us! So we jumped in, turned up the music, and cruised through the streets of America. With our sunglasses on -- Rayban sunglasses (laughs), and leather jackets. For overseas artists, to complete the picture, they have the beer or alcohol, but we had coffee instead. That's the difference between us.
Yonghwa: I went to the gym today in the hotel, and felt like I was in a different world, a new world because all the other people are foreigners. While I was jogging and working out, I thought "Is this LA? Is this what I'm feeling? This is what LA is."
Yonghwa: Yeah LA... Westside (tosses his hand up with a sign).
Soompi: I know you recently arrived in America, but have you tried out any restaurants? How do you like them compared to restaurants in Korea?
Yonghwa: We told our staff that we want to eat American food over Korean food because it's easy to get that. We would like to try American food, and so we've been eating American food and we really like steak! We ate steak yesterday too, and want to try In-N-Out today if possible. We've heard about it a lot. It's famous, and people from Korea want to try it. We haven't been able to yet. (Note: In-N-Out is a popular American fast food chain restaurant that is predominantly found in California.)
Yonghwa: While I was cutting up my steak, I thought "this must be LA." (Throws up hand signs again).
Jonghyun: The food is really good here, so we think we're gaining weight already.
Yonghwa: It's dangerous.
Yonghwa: (In English) "Emergency."
Yonghwa: England, France.
Jungshin: New York.
Yonghwa: (In English) East coast (laughter).
Yonghwa: We will go anywhere that we are called to. Even if we're not called to certain places, we will go. We have so much fun performing.
Fanlala: How would you describe your concert to someone who has never been to one before?
Yonghwa: We, CN Blue, are a group that shines the brightest when all four are on stage performing. We would want fans to see us at our strongest point, which is all four of us performing. We want our fans and people who listen to our music to feel the honesty in our music.
Soompi: Have other idols ever confessed that they are jealous of your unique position in the idol scene? Being bands and playing rock music, and the fact that you don't have to dance? Or the other way around -- do you ever feel like singing pop and dancing cool choreography?
Yonghwa: We will never dance (all smile and lightly laugh), and we want our image to not be (dancing)… There are lots of boy bands out there who dance and sing, but we want our image to be a band who plays instruments. We want to have our own color as a band and we want that image to be CN Blue.
(Yonghwa's "Westside" handsign)
---Thank you Mnet for the opportunity to interview FT Island and CN Blue! Also thank you to Soompiers who submitted questions to our interview question bank.
If you haven't yet, check out Part 1 for our interview with FT Island. Also, be on lookout for Soompi's concert converage of FTISLAND & CNBLUE “Stand Up” by M Live later this week.
**********
American Primadonna and Boice fans are in for a treat this weekend! Hot stars FT Island and CN Blue are holding their first joint concert together.
"FTISLAND & CNBLUE “Stand Up” by M Live" will be held tonight, Friday March 9, at the famous Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
The day before the big show, Soompi sat down with the two idol bands for an interview. The boys shared their thoughts on visiting America, their musical growth, future plans, and more! Check our part I of our interview segment, featuring FT Island. Part II featuring CN Blue will be up shortly!
(Fanlala is an American press outlet focusing on Disney, Nickelodeon, and American pop aritsts. APA is a Los Angeles-based digital news outlet focusing on Asian American entertainment.)
Fanlala: Did you expect to make it big and find international fans?
We were surprised and didn't expect this many international fans. It's fascinating for us.
Soompi: Are there any plans for FT Island members to act in dramas or movies this year?
We're currently exploring our options to see what opportunities are available.
APA: As both groups are popular in Korea and overseas, how would you describe your music style to overseas people?
Overall, we think Korean music as a whole is an emotional genre, and very expressive and sensitive. In terms of the music style and genre... in the case of Japan, those groups are already very familiar with the genre like Japanese/Asian rock. In terms of trying out new styles, we're very open to it and we also want to try new things.
Fanlala: Are there any American artists that you are fans of, or would like to possibly work with in the future?
My Chemical Romance, Hoobastank, or Jason Mraz.
Soompi: It's been nearly five years since your debut in 2007. What do you think of your growth musically?
(Hongki calls Jaejin to answer)
One way of seeing this is that when we debuted, we were five years younger than where we are today. We definitely have been able to get more experience performing on stage than most people at their (young) age, and that has helped in terms of our maturation. Also, just spending time together as a band -- it helps us find team unity with each other. That quality of FT Island is our biggest charm.
APA: This is your first concert in the US. What have you done specifically to prepare for this concert?
One thing that we always consider the most in any of the countries we go to is the set list, like what kind of songs will be played. For this tour, this location in particular, we think that the song "Hello Hello" will be enjoyed by fans the most. We want to start out with more well-known songs and then transition into rocking out with fans and having fun. It's our first time having a tour with CN Blue so we're all very excited
Soompi: Seeing that it's the first joint tour with CN Blue, can we expect any special stages?
Due to our schedules with CN Blue being so different (FT Island was doing activities in Korea and CN Blue was doing their tour in Asia), it was really hard for the two of us to find a time to get together and practice. Next time we will definitely prepare. We actually had ideas of switching songs with each other. CN Blue would singing our song and the other way around, but it was not possible for our schedules to work out for that. For sure next time we will prepare a special stage.
Fanlala: What's the message you want to convey with your fans across the world, globe with your music?
(Hongki and Jaejin answer)
One of the most important things we consider with our band is how much emotion we put into our music and songs. We want to be able to make songs that, when a fan or anyone has hardships, listens to our song, they can receive strength, and if someone gets dumped, we have a lot of songs about being dumped (Jaejin laughs).
We're just a band that has a lot of variety in terms of genre and lyrics. Ultimately we want to create songs that people can relate to. If we were better at English, then we would try to sing more songs in English and relate to people that way, (Jaejin nods repeatedly), but that's one thing we want to work on. Instead of being one message, depending on which song, we're changing to meet their fans' needs.
Soompi: Related to that answer, who would you pick as the member who has the best English?
Translator starts "best english…" and Hongki confidently yells "me" while Jaejin raises his hand cooly and says "me."
They take turns saying "Me, me!"
Jaejin: "Oh Jesus."
Soompi: "Can they give us a short phrase or anything?"
Hongki: "I love you!"
Jaejin: "Sorry" and scrunches face.
Hongki: "We're very determined to work on our English. If I'm perfect in English too, I'm too dangerous." Hongki hangs his head laughing while the others grin.
Hongki: "If we were fluent in English too, we don't know what kind of atmosphere this interview would have changed into. We go all out in Japan because we're more fluent and can portray our actual emotions there, but cannot as precisely in English."
APA: Do you have any plans for any future international concerts, just to stretch out to more foreign countries?
(Jaejin nods and smiles a lot. He leans in closely to hear the English spoken.)
Taiwan, Thailand, and Japan
APA: Just to add onto that, any place that you want to go but haven't been able to go to yet?
Jaejin: "Espana!"
Hongki follows with "Spain!"
Minhwan: Germany
Jaejin: "Brazil, Argentina" (Hongki laughs at his pronounciation). "Ah! England!"
Minhwan: "Ah England, England" (in agreement).
Hongki: "We are studying the British accent right now."
Fanlala: How does the US compare to other countries you've been to, particularly the Asian ones?
We really like the freedom and how everything is so big. We haven't been here too long so we don't really know yet. Yesterday we had steak and were so impressed by how big the steak was! Everything is so big in the States.
Soompi: FT Island and CN Blue are friends and like brothers. Do you ask each other for opinions when you compose songs? Do you feel any competition between each other?
Jaejin: "In terms of CN Blue, we're always look at their new material and songs. We are always admiring their work and thinking "We could do that too." The members, overall, are very close to each other. I play the bass, and in CN Blue the bassist in Jung Shin. So when we get together even though our schedules are very conflicting... When we do have the time, we get into groups. We usually sit according to instruments you could say. Bass with bass, vocals with the vocals, and we talk about music mostly all the time. When they compose, it's done by part (like parts with like parts). Like I said, I talk to Jung Shin and we work on songs together."
APA: If you had to recruit one more member from the other team, who would it be?
(Hongki looks around thinking hard with his mouth open.)
Hongki: "Yonghwa because he's the most famous."
(Jaejin laughs.)
Soompi: Who would they pick as the member most concerned with their looks?
(Hongki points at Jonghun without even looking, and Jaejin follows in lead.)
Yes, Jonghun is the one.
(Jonghun always ready for the camera)
---
And that concludes our interview with FT Island! Thank you Mnet for the opportunity to interview FT Island and CN Blue. Also thank you to Soompiers who submitted questions to our interview question bank.
Click here to read Part 2 of our interview segment featuring CN Blue.
Also, be on lookout for Soompi's concert converage of FTISLAND & CNBLUE “Stand Up” by M Live later this week.
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