150814 IZE Magazine Interview [ENG TRANS]

Original Interview

Part 1 - Hiphop Team

세븐틴│① 에스쿱스, 원우, 민규, 버논의 여름방학 - ize

Part 2 - Vocal Team

세븐틴│② 우지, 정한, 도겸, 승관, 조슈아의 여름방학 - ize

Part 3 - Performance Team

세븐틴│③ 호시, 준, 디에잇, 디노의 여름방학 - ize

E-Book

Ize& Vol.15: SEVENTEEN

FROM E-BOOK

Translation by uygnim@twitter

Ize Magazine Interview - Performance Unit

Q: It seems like Jun and The8 korean skill has improved a lot.

Jun: Recently, when I talk with The8, we not only use chinese but we mix both chinese and korean. I use chinese only when there's a word that we don't know. Not too long ago we learn the word friend…shop? Friendship? From the members.
Hoshi: In our chinese textbook there's this sentence written there ‘Cheers for our friendship’ . Jun asked ‘What's friendship?’ and I explain while using hand gestures “The feel that we're feeling now”.
Jun: We even put our arms around each other's shoulders.
The8: I'm having fun as I learn korean. Slang like ‘Jimotmi’ (Sorry I couldn't protect you), and ‘Simkung’ (heart attack).
Hoshi: We told The8 to guess ‘Jimotmi’ means and he said “Sorry I can't do it now?”. (Laugh) We said that it's a correct answer.

Q. Probably you don't have to talk much when you're discussing about performance.

Hoshi: Jun and The8 understand us when we speak korean. They have been with us for a long time so they get used to our accent and our pronounciation. When we're doing choreography we don't detailedly explain it like “Stretch your arms and hold it” but as we're doing that moves, we say “Do it like this”.

Q. So, does Hoshi made most of the choreography?

Hoshi: For the 1st album, most of the choreography was made by me but on the next album.. all performance unit members will be participating in making the choreography. For MBC [Show! Music Core] performance, I take a lead role but other members helped me a lot. I always stick only on one style, so I can only show one kind of color. I make it possible for other members to participate, so we have various (style for choreography).
Dino: I really like making a new/fresh choreography. As example, I match the choreography with the lyrics for ‘Oh My God’ that was revealed on MBC MUSIC [Seventeen Project – Debut Big Plan]. (Laugh) I've been thinking on "How the group with a lot of members can make choreography differently", "How to make this member to do the choreography", etc.

Q. It seems like each of you have a different style.

Hoshi: Jun does martial arts so he's strong. So I make him a center for powerful moves, and if we need moves that gives an impact like tumbling - I make The8 do it. I feel that The8's swift moves are cool. He makes his body moves naturally. When I see it ‘Ah, I should've learn tumbling when I was young’. The8 taught me how to do it but I almost injured. (Laugh) After that I never try it again because i'm scared.
Dino: If The8 hyung has swift body, Hoshi hyung has swift choreography style. He's good on making a swift moves. On the other hand I have a slow choreography style so there are times when I want to be like Hoshi hyung.
Jun: I think I'm still lacking when I dance a power-less moves like how Dino does. I can't make the moves feels alive. During our dance practice I always watch how Hoshi does it from the back and say ‘Ah, I need to lessen my power for this moves’. 

Q. The choreography changes every time, I think it's not easy to come up with the ideas.

Hoshi: We made those choreography by discussing it with all of Seventeen members, not only Performance unit members. As we were promoting for 8 weeks we came up with a lot of ideas like tabble tennis, surfing, gang-gang sullae, sharon flower has bloomed, search for a vein of water, etc but as we're trying to do it, it's kind of boring. Things that we really do on stage are only tug-of-war, bowling, and concert. Bowling is an idea that came out after thinking hard so it's very memorable. 
The8: We discussed it for 4~5 hours.
Dino: For one of ‘Adore U’ ending, we kick the ball as if we're on soccer match. Mingyu hyung kick the ball as if he scored a goal, then we kiss our ring as we're looking on the camera and I feel that it was cool. I think we can show how good our teamwork is on the stage.

Q. Do you play soccer often?

The8: Yes we do. We're a performance team so people probably think we're the most athletic members but in reality we're the least athletic. (Laugh)
Jun: I never play a soccer before, so when we play it I just stay still. But I do my best on playing basketball. 
Dino: Ah, for the members who like sports like S.Coups hyung, they really do their best on it, but I'm kinda scared of basketball (ball). It's so hard and when I dribble it my hand hurts. 
Hoshi: Long time ago, I twist my hands when I passed a basketball (ball) and since then I can't play it well. I'm just in charge of cheering. Like shouting “fighting!”. 4 of us are the type who do sports by mouth. On the side we would be like “Nice nice!” (laugh) actually the most fun thing is playing hide and seek at the dorm. Our dorm is wide, so there are a lot of places to hide. We would do rock-papper-scissor to choose the tagger, and hide after turning off all of the lights.

Q. Who's the member who really bad at hiding?

Dino: Mingyu hyung is tall so he often get caught.
Hoshi: But he hides well. I think you're lucky when you can find him.
Jun: Long time ago when we play it, there's time when Vernon disappeared. Was it on the closet? Well, he was sleeping in the kitchen.
Hoshi: He was hiding on a narrow space between TV shelf and veranda. He cover himself with blanket and slept. We find him after we finished playing it and when we turn on all the lights.

Q. Other than hide and seek, what do you do to spend your time together?

Hoshi: We play initial consonant game, window shopping, sometimes we go to watch movie too. Not long ago, I watched "Inside Out" together with Junghan hyung and Joshua hyung and I got inspiration for the performance. Though I can only understand (the movie) 20%. Jun and The8 often bring us out to eat chinese food. Chinese foods are so delicious. I can't remember foods name but the most memorable one is beef tendon. The texture is same with pork feet. Also… chives and egg? It's delicious too. Hotpot is nice too but the spice smell is so strong. But i'm used to it now.
The8: Me and Jun always go to eat in the morning. I feel exhausted if I don't eat anything. 
Jun: Recently we often eat soondae soup.
The8: Actually, not only for breakfast but I need to eat thrice a day. I'm too skinny so when other members are excersicing, I eat. Then I will go to exercise and eat again. I need to gain weight. 

Q. You need to stay physically fit and diet at the same time, do you have any difficulties?

Dino: instead of especially managing physical strength, we exercise by doing basic choreography together at the practice room. We will feel energized and will be overflowing with energy.
Hoshi: As for me.. my diet method is, eat meal thrice a day. Also, decrease the number of pork belly that I'm going to eat. I don't really like eating snack.
Jun: I always bring snacks with me, I will gain weight if I eat a lot of chips so I always eat jelly. It feels weird when I don't chew anything as I'm listening to the music. 
Hoshi: But don't you gain more weight if you eat jelly? (Laugh) Jun really likes sour things.
Jun: Actually I often eat jelly because I can chew it for a long time. Also, do you know plum? In China they sell a prune, I bought it and eat it. Other members can't eat it because it's too sour.

Q. Activities for next album will be starting soon, what do you want to do or try during the break period?

Hoshi: Um, to say that it's a break period or holidays.. we're really busy now. But if we have time, I want to go to waterpark together with the members
The8: What…? What is that?
Hoshi: You know. That place that Nana noona advertise. Place to play with water.
The8: Ah, I know. I want to go there too or to beach! I really happy when we go to Haeundae after we finished fansign in Busan. Although it was cold, and we didn't have much time to play around. I actually really likes water. My mom used to be swimming instructor. It's not that I exactly learn how to swim but I just follow it and get used to it.
Dino: I personally want time to improve my skills. I want to personally make the choreography, and write rap lyrics. If I do these during the activities, I can't focus on it because I'm too tired.

Q. Hyungs who said they want to go on a trip must be feeling embarrassed.

Dino: But! I'm not against the idea of going on a trip. I want to go to waterpark too. Indeed, water over mountain! since it's summer. (Laugh)

Ize Magazine Interview - Hip Hop Unit

Q. What do you feel after you performed on the (debut) stage?

S.Coups: No one cried. We were too busy monitoring our stage after we step down from the stage, we were also too busy to think about our next performance.
Vernon: Before debut, the members cried a lot when we were doing mission for MBC MUSIC [Seventeen Project – Debut Big Plan]. We need to gather 1,000 audiences but when we look at the seats, we didn't know if it's filled or not, the staff were like “Ah, what should we do?” and acted as if we failed. CEO also talked to us as if he won't return the rings, but when we turn around our parents were standing behind the curtain. At that time, everyone were crying.
S.Coups: Me, Wonwoo and Vernon didn't cry at all. Mingyu was wailing. 
Mingyu: It's fascinating, since I'm a member who usually don't cry easily. If I feel touched or when I feel annoyed I didn't cry at all, but weirdly at that day I couldn't hold it. It's a feel that I'm feeling for the first time since I was born.
Vernon: Oh, you look like you're about to cry now?
Mingyu: (As managing his facial expression) I'm not.

Q. Just like your song's lyrics, you probably got a lot of doubt for your skills, moreover your debut kept pushed back. How did you endure the long training period with that situation?

S.Coups: At first, it was very tiring. Every year there will be an article about ‘debut’ but it keeps delayed. We experienced frustration a lot but we started to think ‘Let's just make our own music’. On the dorm rooftop, we make song only with one macbook and one mic, and time flies as we're recording. Performance Unit's Hoshi started making a choreography from our songs or foreign songs. And then the agency probably thought ‘They are nearly completed’ and made us debut. Anyway since we had a lot of time, we probably could get ‘Self-Producing idol’ title. 
Mingyu: Actually, as we're practicing.. I didn't get more confident on my skills, but I eventually only see my lacking points. So rather than waiting for debut we spent those time on filling our lacking points.
Wonwoo: We even asked to the agency “Can we push back our debut?”
Vernon: To add on what Mingyu hyung said, when we haven't been a trainee for long, it doesn't looks hard to be a singer. But as time goes, we discover and heard a lot of things and we realize that we're lacking.
Mingyu: Performing on stage before debut was a very important experience. If our debut stage was our first stage, I think I wouldn't be able to show my skills. There were only few people who watched our U-Stream broadcast but it helps me a lot to get used to camera.

Q. You have a lot of members, I think there are a lot of funny things happened off-stage.

Wonwoo: broadcasting is indeed fun, but when we were on waiting room is even more fun. We really can't keep quiet. We play game, and there are some members who chat so everyday feels like study tour. I never feel bored. Actually, we stay together all day long but we always have something to talk about. 
Mingyu: If the chat on one side has ended, I'll go to the other side and talk about another topic. We have a lot of members so we have a lot of chance to chat. That's why we always have something to talk about but it's fun.
S.Coups: I'm a leader but indeed, I can't hold back. That's why manager hyung always control us, since it's possible that we could be nuisance to other team who use the waiting room.
Mingyu: We were going to silent down since we keep getting the wits, but when we glanced at them they're also laughing so I feel relieved.
Wonwoo: Rather than feeling sorry, I feel more ashamed? (Laugh) we practice our personal talent at waiting room and the other team who were watching us suddenly laughed.

Q. What was the personal talent that you practiced?

S.Coups: Actually… hip hop unit don't really have personal talent.
Mingyu: As for me, I can show my personal talent if I was asked to. I showed it on broadcasting once and the agency prohibits me to do it again since it doesn't fit my image. It was Choi Minsoo sunbaenim impersonation but the other members and staff said “even if it doesn't sounds similiar, the fact that you're doing it is funny” and told me to do it confidently. That's why on the radio I show my “It's SBS [Sand Clock]'s Choi Minsoo” personal talent. Fans were watching outside the window and I was so embarrassed that I couldn't turn my head.
Wonwoo: I have greed for jokes, so I like to make the members laugh, but they heartlessly didn't laugh on purpose.
S.Coups: Ha, because it's boring. Not funny. (Laugh) Wonwoo make jokes all the time. Once, he saw a Kkachi (magpie) flying and he said “Oh, magpie” and then he said “I probably feel Kkachilhae (tired) because Kkachi” (*pun) he always make this kind of jokes. 
Wonwoo: I did that?
S.Coups: Feel embarrassed, don't you?

Q. After we heard your story, you probably want to do activities (as in comeback) rather than enjoying the break period.

S.Coups: That's why we tease Woozi. We said “Hurry and give us a song!” and close the studio door so he can't come out. Other members are probably feeling the same. Thankfully, a lot of people like us so I don't want to make them wait for a long time.