120718 [TRANS] Girls’ Generation High Cut Interview

Translation done by ㅈㄱㅇ ‏@ch0sshi

Starting with TaeTiSeo, I could feel that you were enjoying the stage whenever I watched your unit activities.

TAEYEON: It was fun because we had more chances to sing differently from Girls’ Generation’s activities.
TIFFANY: At first, the fact that just the three of us had to fill the stage from start to finish was burdensome. Still, because I could take part in singing and the style myself, it was really fun.
SEOHYUN: I’m really thankful that people have been telling me that I’ve matured, putting my usual quiet image behind. I gained a lot of confidence because of the response was so good.


Seohyun, The sticker under your eye was appraised as being ‘provocative’.
SEOHYUN: Normally, it wasn’t a dot, but a shining spangle. I thought it would be good to put an emphasis point on my face during ‘Twinkle’ performances, so I asked for it to be put on. But I didn’t know that would be mistaken as a mole. (laugh) It wasn’t my intention, but it was nice that it garnered attention.

Hyoyeon is currently in the TOP3 of MBC ‘Dancing With the Stars 2’.
HYOYEON: After all our schedules are over, I practice until 3 or 4 in the morning. After learning sports dancing, I think my body line is getting prettier. Your feminine side is emphasized, and you need a lot of strength. I hope there are good results.
SEOHYUN: Personally, I think ‘DWTS’ is a program that does a lot of good [for Hyoyeon]. During our trainee days, when I saw her dancing, I was shocked to the point where I thought to myself, ‘Is that a person (/human)?’. I was sad that she couldn’t show off even 1% of those dance skills through Girls’ Generation’s stages, so I’m glad she can show off her strengths. Aside from dancing, she looks like she’s gained a lot more composure.
TIFFANY: I hope she wins. So far, other than Taeyeon whose schedule did not work out, all the members visited her. If she reaches the finals, all of us will go and cheer her on.
HYOYEON: She gives me this much pressure. Honestly, I made a lot of mistakes during live broadcasts, but everyone said they didn’t notice it. It’s because of the reflexes I gained from Girls’ Generation performances.

Were there any mistakes made during TTS promotions?
TIFFANY: Of course there were. We got the choreography wrong, and we had trouble hitting notes because we breathed smoke from explosions, but we handled them [those situations] well.

Tiffany recently messed up MCing. During MBC ‘Music Core’, she introduced Infinite as ‘seven girls, Infinite’.
TIFFANY: (with a hopeless facial expression) I accidently said ‘seven girls’ instead of ‘the seven boys who run through girl fans’ hearts’. It was my third year MCing live, but I’ve never been that embarrassed before.
TAEYEON: Honestly, I was right next to her, but didn’t hear it. I just felt something weird, so I laughed it off. When I heard the reason later, backstage, I burst out laughing.
TIFFANY: I quickly replaced it by saying, ‘great seven guys’. Thankfully, fans understood with kind hearts. Infinite is a team that I really care for. Through this incident, I realized that a person really should always be on their toes. That happened when the broadcast was about to be over. (laugh)

Now, questions to the ‘actresses’. Yoona and Yuri recently completed KBS ‘Love Rain’ and SBS ‘Fashion King’.
YOONA: I wasn’t hung up on ‘Love Rain’ ratings, and really had fun filming. It’s a work I’m doing for the first time in a while, so I think it was special to me. I felt something that I never felt before. At first, I thought of acting lightly, but the more I acted, I noticed a lot of other things, and it gets harder. After it was over, I got a lot of regrets of, ‘I could have done better’.
YURI: ‘Fashion King’ was agonizing, but it was enjoyable and I was happy. Because I’m usually bright and cheerful, I got greedy with trying to accomplish the dark character of Anna. More than anything, I wanted to try the role because I could relate to the passion she had for her work. As the drama went on, there was disappointment over my screen time from people around me, but there honestly wasn’t any time for me to worry about how my character appeared. I want to show a good appearance in another work as soon as possible. Preferably, a bright character, that is like myself.

I was surprised because Yuri’s English lines in ‘Fashion King’ were so natural.
YURI: It’s embarrassing, but I practiced really hard. Because Anna is fluent in the language, and is a professional character, I had to worry about the pronunciations amongst other things. I didn’t learn from our American members, but I found my own teacher, recorded them saying the lines, and the results were from me constantly listening and practicing it.

Yoona was chosen as Park Ji Sung’s favorite girl group member in SBS ‘Running Man’.
YOONA: I watched the broadcast. While he did just end up choosing me (laugh), it felt really good. When we heard that he liked our group since before, we also gave him an autographed album once. I appreciate it, ad will watch and cheer him on.

Amidst all that, Sooyoung became the new MC for SBS ‘Midnight Entertainment TV’. How is it MCing a live show?
SOOYOUNG: Before debuting (as SNSD), I MCed a live Mnet program called ‘HelloChat’. That experience is helping a lot now. Honestly, what’s embarrassing when people tell me I’m “doing well”, is that there isn’t a lot of things for me to do as a MC. The panel is so good, when I see senior Jo Young Goo, Yoon Do Hyun oppa and I can’t hide our amazement. It feels like the ball returns to the MCs only, so it’s also kind of embarrassing.

During the first broadcast, Sooyoung said that Jessica’s ‘hurling pitch’ is ‘One that won’t happen again during the next decade. I’m proud. I want to hear Jessica’s thought on this.
JESSICA: I was thankful because she was the only friend to say it like that. (stifled laugh)
SOOYOUNG: That was an incident that showed her character very well. Making Jessica pitch made me think our company is doing good marketing. This girl’s true self is like that. While she looks perfect, she’s a bit slow. I think this showed that side of her off the best. It wasn’t intended, but I’m proud that side of her came out.
JESSICA: I actually practiced a lot at the park in front of our dorm, and even got confidence, but it wasn’t easy. I think all my sport skills went to my younger sister (Krystal). I think I’ll look forward to my sister’s pitching. (Krystal showed off her ‘power pitch’ at the Doosan-Nexen match on June 19th, redeeming herself.)

While the members were active on television, Sunny put her all in on stage with the musical ‘Catch Me If You Can’.
SUNNY: There was the closing ceremony not too long ago. It was always fun and I was happy getting on the stage for the musical. While preparing, as it was my first attempt at a musical, I did get quite a bit of stress, but thanks to meeting such a good team and [stage] producer, I received lots of help. They made most of it, so because I just went along with it all, I think I performed safely. I really wanted to join the wrap-up party, but I couldn’t even attend the MT (=basically just like a gathering). I’m still sad about it.

Now that I look at it, a lot of other members have musical experiences. Do you have plans to make another attempt at musicals?
TAEYEON: Hm… Of course I didn’t think of it easily, but because it’s such a difficult area, I honestly don’t know if I will be able to attempt it in the future.
TIFFANY: Because I know how hard members work for a musical they’re in, so I all members will definitely support them. When you go to support Taeyeon, she doesn’t talk to us and constantly focuses on watching her musical videos. I thought, ‘I think she’s going to do well?’, and she really did that day. (laugh)

Which member are you most thankful for, one who you could lean on during a hard time or when you had a worry?
JESSICA: All of them are like that. They listen well no matter who is talking.
YOONA: Worries are usually posted in the smartphone chatroom. In our own chatroom, all 9 of us talk and a lot of different things come and go. If you don’t check it, there are like 500 things posted. Other than that, there are [chat]rooms shared with our managers, and there is one where we talk about outfits with our stylists, and we receive announcements through the rooms, too.

The existence of Girls’ Generation’s personal chatroom is interesting. Who talks the most in the chatroom?
JESSICA: Sooyoung monitors a lot of things (like dramas), and if she’s bored, she just keeps on talking.
SOOYOUNG: I’m bored, but my members won’t play with me a lot. If I post things like, ‘Who wants to go eat right now?’ or ‘What do you want to do?’, they check it, but nobody answers. (pout)

If you weren’t Girls’ Generation, but an ordinary citizen, what do you think you’d be doing in life?
YOONA: I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I met a friend recently, and they gave me their business card for the company they now work at. If I weren’t in this area of work, I think I could have been a company worker. I do think about what I might do living a regular life a lot, but I don’t know what I’d be doing.
SOOYOUNG: But, to be honest, while I do long for that lifestyle, on the other hand, only we can live our life. We’re receiving too much to be jealous of others’ lives.
JESSICA: There are a lot of friends around me who have started work recently, too. I think I’d be an ordinary college student, too. But, rather than wanting to be there, I think the situation would be like, me having to work hard due to the pressure from my parents. (laugh)
SEOHYUN: When I was younger, my dream was to become a pianist. Because my mom is a director at a private piano institute, I listened to a lot of music, and learned violin and ballet. So if it weren’t for Girls’ Generation, I think I’d be studying abroad around this time. I was actually planning on going to San Francisco to study abroad when I was in 5th grade, but I changed my career path after being cast in SM.

Since we’re talking about college, Taeyeon got number one in a survey. The number one celebrity people want as a junior.
TAEYEON: (in a chic tone) Oh, really? I didn’t know. Do I have to attend college? (everyone laughs)
SOOYOUNG: I tell them every time I get the chance, but I wish everyone would attend university. Because it feels like you become a girl in your age group at least when you go to school. Rather than it being good that you learn, it’s good because you can discover Choi Sooyoung, Im Yoona, and Kim Taeyeon from within [the experience].

Last question. What will Girls’ Generation be doing 10 years from now? Can one person speak for everyone?
SEOHYUN: I spoke with the unnies about this, but we think the group Girls’ Generation will still exist then. Like our seniors, Shinhwa, we made a goal not to break the mold that is Girls’ Generation. While we would become an aged Girls’ Generation, we would have concerts every now and then, and some of us will have become actresses. By then, I think some members will be proficient in composing and writing music, while some may stand out in musicals.