140224 STARM MAGAZINE MARCH 2014

Q. You are receiving a lot of love while getting first place on music broadcasts and music charts for your second album. It's a happy start to 2014, how do you feel?

CNU: It's complicated. I am happy and I feel good but I wonder if it's right for us to be getting first place, and I also wonder if this is all just a dream.

Jinyoung: I feel really good since we've had such a good start to the year. I had the thought that we'll have to work even harder if we want to make something out of that start.

Q. Did the feeling of 'this is gonna make it big' come to you when you were composing the song?

Jinyoung: Honestly I was very worried. It was not a fast-paced impactful song but a calm song, so I was worried whether it would be able to give an impact. Thankfully it fit well with the seasons, and the general public and fans listened to it kindly.

Q. Was there no sign that you guys would make it big?

Jinyoung: When we were filming our music video, it wasn't snowing so we had to resort to using artificial snow. But the moment we started filming snow started to fall. Thanks to it the music video came out really prettily. We thought, "Oh? Is it trying to make this album a good one?" because we got so much help from the snow (laugh)

Q. Wah~ Even the heavens helped.

Baro: The heavens really helped!

CNU: We really did not expect it to snow for real (laugh).

Q. The biggest contributor to your first places seems to be your fans. Their support is amazing. When do you best feel the love of the fans?

CNU: Every moment we feel it. Recently I feel it from various mediums such as SNS. I read every mention I get and I really feel the love from the fans. And whenever I see the fans who come support us when we go on broadcasts, I realize that we are receiving love.

Baro: I get a lot of strength reading the messages of support on the Internet.

Q. On the other hand, when is it that you think of the fans the most?

Baro: After we see the fans waiting out front of the broadcast stations when we go in for filming. We're going in after we see how they're shivering from the cold outside so I feel sorry when the filming drags out for too long.

Q. Even right now they're waiting outside with their placards.

CNU: I'm worried that they might catch colds. It's not like we can ask them not to come, so what can we do...

Q. The album this time is like a giftset with its variety of genres and stories. I think it's filled with the stories the members wanted to tell. What was the story you most wanted to tell and show?

Jinyoung: Naturalness. When I write songs, I express the emotions and situations from when the members are discussing about it. Instead of wanting to show or express something on purpose, I wanted to show everyone our natural emotions.

CNU: I wanted to talk about our thoughts and feelings. I wanted to express them in a variety of ways. The reason the album has the concept of a magazine is not only because of the songs but also because we wanted to fill it up with a variety of stories. There are some things that we have written in the form of interviews. Through that we hoped that the fans will be able to know what we were thinking of. The stories of what people our age would be doing now. Because we wanted to talk about what kind of people we are, so we went with WHO AM I for the album title.

Q. There is a definite change in your fashion style too.

CNU: The concepts of the previous albums were bright so we wore clothes with a variety of colours. But Lonely, like WHO AM I, has a serious image to it so we decided to show a simplistic style.

Q. What kind of style do you dress up in usually?

Gongchan: I like achromatic colors so I mainly wear black colors neatly.

Baro: I mix and match what I have. I mix them up according to what I feel like that day.

Sandeul: I like dressing up comfortably.

CNU: He dresses up too comfortably (laugh).

Sandeul: I want to dress up but it doesn't work out well. So I decided to just dress comfortably (laugh).

CNU: I think Sandeul looks better dressing comfortably than dressing flashily. I have a lot of dark colored clothes, and recently I like neat suit styles. I also enjoy dressing hiphop style.

Jinyoung: I like clean styles, like a coat. I am someone who tries out different things. When I was in middle and high school I really liked street fashion. But as I get older I prefer a clean style. But who knows when that's gonna change again (laugh).

Q. Jinyoung and Baro wrote the lyrics to title song 'Lonely'. How did it come about?

Jinyoung: It was a feeling (laugh). When I made that song, the weather was turning cold and my heart was cold too (laugh). I think I felt a little lonely. I made the song by infusing what I felt then, while thinking about past memories.

Baro: Once I heard the explanation of the song from Jinyoung hyung, I immediately knew what to do. I looked out of the window thinking about this and that, and it came out as I was scribbling. There was no pressure of having to write it quickly; I wrote it feeling the melancholy mood.

Q. Jinyoung, you wrote it based on personal experience?

Jinyoung: Yes. But there's a slightly different part. The truth behind the lyrics 'I wanted to eat with you but you're no longer around' is that it was not rice, but pizza. I used to frequent a pizza place with a girlfriend last time. But the second day after we broke up I went to that pizza place with my friends and it felt so different. The person I've always eaten with is suddenly gone and I was so lonely. I had friends next to me but I felt lonely. It was really nice when I ate with my girlfriend... But I'm not saying that I don't like my friends (laugh).

Q. Does everyone have dating experience?

CNU: I do, but it's a long time ago (laugh).

Jinyoung: Only Gongchan doesn't.

Q. What kind of relationship does Gongchan want to have then?

Gongchan: A ordinary love. I want to walk along the streets and watch movies with my girlfriend... That's the hardest thing to do now (laugh).

Q. When is a girl at her prettiest?

Gongchan: When your girlfriend is annoyed, you have to make it better right? I think for some reason she'll be really cute and pretty when she's complaining. Even though I haven't been in a relationship before, it's always so cute in the movies and dramas (laugh).

CNU: I think a lady who is always smiling brightly is charming.

Sandeul: A person who is concentrating on her work, and a person who has a lonely backview.

CNU: That's unique. You actually like a lonely looking backview! (laugh)

Baro: She will look pretty when she has a charm of her own. I find that when a girl does not fake her reactions, actions or words it feels attractive.

Jinyoung: A girl with a beautiful heart.

Q. A girl with a beautiful heart?

Sandeul: For example, someone who gives up her seat in the subway.

Jinyoung: Yes. She will look beautiful if she knows how to respect her elders and have a beautiful heart.

Q. When are you the most lonely?

Jinyoung: I tend to enjoy being lonely. The feeling of being lonely. I like the feeling of being sentimental. I may not be really lonely, but I like the emotions that come from thinking about things from the past.

Sandeul: I am similar with Jinyoung hyung. I really like the feeling of being lonely. You know there are times where one wonders, "what am I doing here?" When I get lonely, I'd rather look out the window than to tell someone that I'm lonely. I like being alone and thinking "What is this? What is this feeling?". I want to feel those emotions often.

Baro: I don't really feel it when we have many schedules, but I feel it often when we don't have schedules or I am on a personal schedule. Usually I'm always with the members, and the staff and fans are around me nearby so I'm not lonely. But I feel the loneliness when I finish a personal schedule on my way back in the car.

Gongchan: I don't think I have ever been lonely. If I'm with the hyungs it's always interesting... Should I call it a happy virus? Unknowingly I laugh and it's fun and interesting (laugh).

Q. Gongchan you must have a very optimistic personality.

Gongchan: Is that so? Naivety (laugh). I'm never been lonely while I'm with the hyungs.

Q. Who is the person who gets very lonely often?

CNU: I think it's me. I am always lonely (laugh). There are times that my heart is just empty. It's not the loneliness from not been able to meet someone of the opposite sex, but occasionally I get the feeling that I am all alone in this world. That is why in order not to feel lonely, I always hold the members' hands whenever we go somewhere (laugh).

Q. What is the secret to your great teamwork?

Baro: I think it's communication. We are talkative, and we like to chat. Before we debut, we would gather on the weekends and talk. But since we don't have time now, we do in whenever we have time. Otherwise we would talk over meat or supper after our schedules, or while watching TV. As time passes I think it gets stronger.

Q. Do you not have conflicts in opinions?

CNU: Of course there are, but we solve all that through communication.

Baro: We try to match each other as we talk. In the past it used to talk a long time, but because we've spent so much time together our thoughts become similar. We now gather opinions very quickly I think (laugh).

Q. There are a lot of schedules now so you spend a lot of time travelling. What do you do in the car, or when you're waiting around?

Baro: In the car we sleep. In the waiting room, we fool around and take. We also talk about things regarding the performance after we get off stage. We talk a lot.

Q. What's the conversation about recently?

CNU: It varies. Of course amongst a bunch of guys we do talk about girls. Recently we talk about games too.

Baro: The movie which Jinyoung hyung participated in was recently released. We talk about the number of people who have watched it (laugh).

CNU: The topics vary. Generally it's about album promotions. We are really happy when the fans monitor our promotions and give us feedback. There are positive and negative reponses, but we discuss them, thinking of it as interest in us.

Q. You said that through this album, you wanted to think about who you are. What do you think of 'WHO AM I'?

Jinyoung: I am a positive person. Whenever I start doing something, I think 'I can do it'. Instead of thinking 'I don't think I can do it', I tend to challenge it by saying 'I think I can do it'. By thinking so I think I get less stress from doing it.

CNU: I think it's still difficult for me to tell you who am I. I think there are still a lot of sides to me that I don't know yet. I think it's difficult to define myself as a person in a sentence.

Sandeul: I think of myself as a person with unlimited possibilities. I feel like I can do well in anything. There are many things that I have not experienced but if given the chance I want to try them out, and I have the confidence I can do them well.

Baro: I am also not too sure about myself, but the people around me usually say that I am delicate inside and I have a lot of affection. I only like the things I like, and I really dislike the things I dislike. I think I am like a blood type B in that sense.

Gongchan: I think I am a person who likes challenges. I want to try the things I've never done before if the opportunity arises, and I want to challenge it and win against myself.

Q. What is it that sustains you to be the person you are?

Jinyoung: Myself. My willpower. The thought that I cannot collapse. I have the thought that I cannot lose my focus. There are times that it is dangerous. But I have the willpower that I can strengthen myself. I like that attitude about myself.

CNU: I think it's music. By a stroke of luck we are able to create an album with the music we make. To be honest, just for this I am very thankful. There is a music for us to express ourselves, and music is a way for us to tell that to the people of the world. I think I am expressing myself well through music so I think music is most like myself.

Sandeul: Mirror. I fall into slumps very often. I get lonely very often, even though that might be even more so because I like being lonely. But during those times I look into the mirror. There seems to be something that I have kept inside in. That's why I get a lot of strength when I look into the mirror.

Baro: Opportunities. I feel that opportunities don't come easily, and that it is also luck that you can make good use of the opportunity. It is all because of opportunities that we are able to do music, become singers, and even go into acting. We don't know what opportunities are going to knock on our doors in future, and when those opportunities will disappear. In order not to miss out on those opportunities we are always preparing. So I consider the thing that sustains me to be opportunities.

Gongchan: Our fans sustains me. Whenever I'm tired and worn out, I gain strength from reading the letters or messages on SNS. Whenever I see people uploading pictures of us or pictures with us, I am so thankful for the love and that helps me gain strength. I am always thankful to the fans. I am so thankful whenever I see from on stage the fans cheering and supporting us, and sorry that I cannot do more for them.

Q. Jinyoung and Baro challenged acting last year and received positive feedback. You're acting and doing music at the same time, it feels like it would have a synergistic effort. How is it?

Jinyoung: I do not think of acting and music as different. On stage, you're expressing the lyrics and emotions of the music. The script when acting is just like lyrics. I am learning acting through music, and music through acting. It's beneficial for both sides.

Baro: Thanks to the movie and drama, the age groups of our fans have diversified and they have given much love to our album this time. I think it is effective in letting more people know about us.

Q. How are the members' reactions when they see your acting?

Jinyoung: They are really good at monitoring. I went with the members to watch my movie once more not long ago. They gave me a lot of honest feedback, so I felt really satisfied that I have so many reliable supporters.

Q.  I think it's awkward for both the person acting and the people watching because you guys are so closed.

CNU: Very awkward.

Baro: It's awkward if I'm watching it.

Jinyoung: There is a scene where I put on makeup, and the members kept laughing at it. I was so embarrassed I couldn't watch that scene (laugh).

CNU [T/N: I believe they labeled it to be the wrong person...]: You cannot ignore the person's image even when they're acting, especially when we are so aware of Jinyoung hyung's image. We were so embarrassed watching the scene where Jinyoung hyung has white face makeup in the middle of the movie (laugh). It was just an element of the movie, but we were so engrossed that we went 'Why is he acting like that?'. We are also very proud of him (laugh).

Jinyoung: (laugh)

Q. Baro got a lot of attention with drama Reply 1994. You have been casted in new drama God's Gift, which is to be broadcasted soon. What kind of image will you be showing us?

Baro: I will be playing the role of a intellectually disabled person in their 10s. Their IQ is that of a 5~6 year old. The director told me to only say this much (laugh).

Q. What kind of preparations have you been doing?

Baro: I prepared to my best ability to show the director, and I got the vote of approval. He said I could do it the way I am doing now. For more details, please watch the drama... (laugh).

CNU: I think Baro has felt a great sense of responsibility after being casted for this role. He is taking a lot of caution not to cause any inconveniences to the intellectually disabled. We're looking forward to it because he's preparing so hard.

Q. What do you want to challenge to do in 2014?

Jinyoung: I want to go to every member's hometown and do a hometown concert. Firstly, we have confirmed our Busan concert to be in March. To have a concert tour around the members' hometowns has been a dream that we definitely want to try so I hope it becomes reality.

CNU: Last year we worked hard towards concerts, so we have not been able to greet everyone with albums more. I want to meet everyone with more albums this year. It was really interesting to take part in lyric writing for this album, and I feel really satisfied. It makes me want to try a variety of genres every album. Please look forward to it.

Sandeul: I want to find an instrument that matches well with me and learn it. I feel that it will help me with promotions if I knew how to learn an instrument. There are many fans who want to see me handle an instrument too. I want to learn an instrument and show it to everyone during our country-wide tour.

Gongchan: I want to meet our fans overseas regularly. A few days ago on TV I saw that people in Chile gather to make friends and talk about us. I was so amazed that there are people who love us even in places that we have never gone to before. I want to hurry go meet them.

Baro: Every year I plan on something but I fail to do them. I want to study English hard this year. I really want to do a world tour. I intend to study hard so as to be able to communicate with the overseas fans more naturally.

Q. From when onwards?

Baro: I will start immediately after we end this interview (laugh).

Q. Finally please say something to your fans.

Jinyoung: I don't know how to repay all the love you always shower on us. I think we can only work even harder to show you a better side of us. May everything work out well for you in 2014, and please always be healthy.

CNU: There may be things that will occasionally cause the fans who like us to get hurt. We're not going to see each other just once or twice, but we are lifetime companions so please stay strong and overcome those things. I hope we can do so together for a long long time.

Sandeul: I'm very worried about the fans who wait for us in this cold weather till wee hours at night. Please dress warmly if it's cold when you come see us. Because I want to see you too (laugh). I want to show everyone the side of us on stage, so please come and see our performances often.

Baro: These are all things that we did not expect: win first place, attain triple crown, have the movie and dramas we were casted in do well, have a follow up album. Because there have been only good news, I think our fans are even happier than we are. Those who have been with us since debut say it feels like they're raising children. I think The future will also be filled with such good things too. And for that to happen, we will work hard. We will show you even better things and make it so that there will only be happy occasions, so please trust and follow us.

Gongchan: More important than anything else, health is the most important so please eat 3 meals every day. Please stay healthy!

Source: blog.naver.com/montazzang

Translation Credits: skipfire.tistory.com

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