● "Bipolar-idol" "Talkative-idol" "Beagle-idol"? Titles gained from variety programs.
● They approach variety programs in honesty, but faces pain from the exaggerated articles.
● Won the first place they hoped for, next goal is "first place in album sales"
Pictures Yang Heesung Reporter yohan@donga.com
Seungho(23) GO(23) LeeJoon(22) Thunder(20) Mir(19), there are a lot of similarities between these five men of MBLAQ. All their blood types are A, and all of them have an older sister except Seungho. And also, all five of them are not very talkative.
The MBLAQ we met at the studio located on the 21st floor of Seoul Saejongro DongAh Media Center on the 22nd was different from any other groups. For most idol groups, there was one member who answered all the questions given to them, but for them, there was no representative. Whenever someone started to talk, other members added their own voice, finishing up an answer. Talking like that made us go off topic a lot of times, but that was attractive point for MBLAQ.
▶ "Isn't there a dorm with a good water system, but no bugs?"
- You guys are gaining even more popularity with the second album 'Y'. How do you guys feel?
"Great!" (All members)
- Earlier in June, you guys even won first place on a music program. If you look at past interviews, you guys stated that you wanted first place many times.
"Any singer would be greedy about winning first place." (GO)
"Honestly, our management told us that they will give us a new dorm if we win first place." (Seungho)
"We have a lot of bugs at the dorm we live in right now." (Mir)
"I even saw a spider other day." (Thunder)
"Mosquitoes are the usual and I have even seen a cockroach's egg hatching before. I think we can even use a Fabre's insect pesticides." (GO).
"And hot water doesn't come out well too. If two people showered earlier, then the maknaes have to shower in cold water because there isn't any more hot water left." (Seungho)
Seungho proudly stated, "At first when we didn't know that the hot water was limited, the 3 maknaes had to always shower in cold water, but after we found out, we use less water so that now 4 of us share the hot water." However, one last person still has to use the cold water.
- Where is your dorm located?
"The location is very good actually." (Mir)
"It is really big too. 43 Square feet" (Thunder)
As soon as they won first place, their management had put their dorm out for sale as they promised. Seungho stated, "It's fine if it ends up being 24 square feet, it just needs to have a clean room and bathroom."
- We also wonder how "Rain President's" reaction was like after the first place win.
"All the members gathered together and called him. After we told him, he said, 'Are you guys happy?' and then told us lets go and have a drink since we won first place." (Seungho)
- Was it his first time asking to go and drink since you guys debuted?
"Yes!" (All members)
"But this time he just said it and got on an airplane to go to Japan the next day. For 3 months long trip too." (Seungho)
- And it was later revealed that the title song 'Y' had been a song that the "Rain President" saved up for his next album.
"That is true. After playing 'Y' for us, he asked us, 'Do you guys want it?'. We said that we wanted it because we felt that we can show off our charismatic sides with this song on stage. Rain hyungnim is the type where if he finishes a song, he already has the performance on stage all planned out in his mind. He probably had 'Y' all planned out, but he still gave it to us." (GO)
"More than anything, since MBLAQ was a group made by Rain, we wanted to use the a song made my Rain Hyungnim as the title song at least. Our debut song 'Oh Yeah' was given to us by him as well." (Seungho)
When we asked them about a song by Rain that they thought they can perform better in, the members chose 'Hip Song' from the Special Album released in April. They said that they sing to 'Hip Song' sometimes when it gets hard in the practice.
▶ "Talkative-idol" "Beagle-idol"? Titles gained from variety programs.
MBLAQ, who had debuted in October of 2009, was making their name popular thought variety programs like other idol groups. On stage they show off the "Chic idol" charisma, but on variety programs, they turn differently. GO had even stated on one program, "Rain Hyungnim who had told us to manage our images had given up on us as well."
- All the members have great variety senses.
"No!" (All members)
"We just go on programs to show our true sides. Jo Hyerun sunbaenim had told us before, 'Programs don't sell well for people who try too hard, you get better as you go along.' We got a lot of strength from her words." (GO)
- You guys got a lot of nicknames from variety shows right?
"Stupid Muscle." (LeeJoon)
"Because they said that they can see my dream to be an MC, 'Ambitious Thunder'." (Thunder)
"For me, because my eyes are a calf?s (Songahji), Bangahji." (Mir)
"For me, because I have a mustache when I debuted, Bayaba (A furry beast from the 1970?s movie, 'My friend Bayaba')" (GO)
"I have a good one? Yangshowpang because I play the piano well." (Seungho)
If you can?t mess up on your own, the other members help you. GO added, "Since Seungho has a soft body like that Japanese Yakuzas, he gets also called 'Yangkuza'."
- They say that you guys are "Chic idol" on stage, but "Gag idol" if someone gets to know you.
"We have a lot of nicknames like that. 'Bipolar idol' because we are different from our stage appearances, 'Loud idol' because we are loud, 'Sick idol' because our members are sick a lot of times, and 'Beagle idol' because our personality resembles a pet beagle?"
The many nicknames are a proof that MBLAQ is "Variety idol." However there are uncomfortable sides to doing variety shows as well. Members stated that they are in shock whenever they see articles that exaggerate their words and actions.
"There had been this one article that stated that I fainted after eating ice cream, but I was just laying on the floor for fun. Even I was surprised when I saw that article." (LeeJoon)
"I have so many. I had never said such things on programs, but if I stated something similar to it, I suddenly end up as a person loving whoever." (Mir)
"Even funnier thing is when after filming of an episode, the editors of the show send out something funny that happened at the filming to attract audience. So the articles came out, but many times on the broadcast, it is usually edited out and there is no information about such things in the show. If exaggerated articles have been out, then the viewers watch the show and understand the reason, but if the editing goes wrong, nobody actually has proof of anything, so I have actually felt betrayed about that before." (GO)
GO in particular chose the "dating scandal" with T-ara's Soyeon as the worst.
"There was a speed quiz corner where I had to call a female star and it was filmed in the early morning. There aren't a lot of female stars wake in the morning actually. I called many female stars and I happened to actually reach Soyeon. Soyeon said that I call her every night and bother her as a joke. After that happening, the real story was cut by reporters and even worse, my section was cut from the show, so I couldn't even explain myself as I became a stalker of Soyeon."
Seungho added as well realizing what GO had to go through.
"Can you guys release an article the other way? That GO had called Soyeon because she liked him instead." (Seungho)
"(As a joke) I actually think Soyeon does like me a bit." (GO)
"What if an article titled, 'GO asked the reporters to write an article that Soyeon actually liked him,' gets released?" (Seungho)
Since the situation ended up being like that, the members themselves pointed out ?Editing points? to get rid of the possibilities.
"If we think that we made an unbelievable mistake, we shout out 'Coca cola Nike Addias'. It gets edited out if we say that." (GO)
"It's because it is hard to edit audio. I happen to have a straight forward personality so I surprise the other person often. If the silence continues, then it gets edited." (Seungho)
"I just say anything that seems like it will cause an issue. Once I say something I keep wanting to say it." (Thunder)
"I don't even know what I'm saying. I thought many times that I messed up but I don?t think it ever actually caused a problem." (LeeJoon)
▶ No more questions regarding older sisters or BEAST
MBLAQ, who had debuted with the single 'JUST BLAQ' on October of 2009 is continually compared with the 'beastly-idol' group BEAST who debuted with a day difference. Questions they get from fans are, "Are you guys really close with BEAST members?" and "Do you get mad at BEAST some times?"
- Fans are wondering about this? Do you guys get mad at BEAST sometimes?
"I have a sunbae and hoobae relationship with Junhyung and we are close friends even now. It is fun since we are doing activities together, but since we are singers, we were mad when BEAST won first place before us. We really almost cried. Also they even released the second single album before us. When we watched BEAST through the TV in our practice room, we are really jealous." (Seungho)
Looking at the expression on the members' faces, they consider the question as something they always get. They have the right to be tired because they did more than 100 interviews since their debut.
- Are there questions you guys don't want to hear in interviews?
"Thunder and Mir got a lot of questions regarding their sisters. They are 'MBLAQ's Mir' and 'MBLAQ's Thunder', but since they are being regarded as 'Ko Eunah's brother Mir? and 'Sandra Park's brother Thunder', they get a lot of stress from that." (Seungho)
"Honestly we regard question about our relationship with BEAST uncomfortable as well. We are both rookies and we are rising together, but if others point us out as rivals, we only harm each other. After debut, we are doing well together, but if articles like that show up, if feels like we are making a barrier between the fans as well. So a lot of the times we express that we are very close."
The reporter that asked about their relationship with BEAST earlier was startled. Other than that, the members stated, "We have the type of personality where we say things we have to say even though we aren't asked about it so there aren't specific questions we want to be asked."
▶ Since we got first place on a music program, our next goal is "first place on the album charts"
The "Talkative-idols" turned back to "Chic-idols" when a question about music was asked. MBLAQ who debuted with the songs 'Oh Yeah' and 'G.O.O.D Luv' off their single album 'JUST BLAQ' got their face known. Popularity started to rise with the song 'Y' that was announced last month.
- You guys placed first on a music program and according to the fans, you guys are showing off some of the "best stages".
"Unlike the fans, there hadn't been one stage we were satisfied with. If we perform 10 times, then the 2 of them we might actually regard as being okay." (Seungho)
- Now you won first place, what is your next goal?
"First place on a music chart. Honestly the first place in the music program changes along with the votes from the fans. Now we want to place first on a music chart where one is truly evaluated by the music." (GO)
- Are you guys planning on promoting your follow up song?
"So far the response on our 'Y' song is good. Since we are ranked on the top half we want to proceed with this song for 2 or 3 weeks, until the song starts to drop. But if we start falling from the ranks and the management tell us to work on the follow up song, we need to listen to them first." (Seungho)
"In the middle of a live broadcast, we can stop 'Y' and mix it and then move on to a follow up song right there." (GO)
The members continued to have their playfulness until the end. They stated, "We can start promoting 'One Better Day' but we can also make a new song, add it into a repackaged album and promote that new song instead." Lastly, they promised, "No matter what song it is, we will choose a song we can show off our charisma in."
Kim Ahyeon Reporter aykim@donga.com
Source: Donga
Translation: aoistars @ AbsoluteMBLAQ
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