#20151214

20151214 - Naver

This is all because of their team name. The boy group Romeo’s preconception was like this. The idea for this team’s name first came from Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet,” but it is also reminiscent of Leonardo Dicaprio in “Romeo and Juliet”. With melancholic cold eyes, and a shy smile, they talk romantically. Before meeting Romeo, I expected a sad and hazy first love image.

Having met them, Romeo is really cheerful. They were led by leader Seunghwan who spoke with trustworthy words, Kyle had a shy smile, Minsung laughed with his beautiful mouth wide open, gentle Milo said “I only found out when I was a trainee that men also wear makeup”, Yunsung had a face full of mischief, “real man” Kangmin had a deep voice, and Hyunkyung seemed like he came straight from a love story comic. The seven boys’ bodies are all filled with freshness.

Q: The team name is “Romeo”. Personally, I immediately thought of Leonardo Dicaprio. SH: I think Kangmin resembles (Dicaprio) the most…(laugh). Actually, I’ve heard that people thought of the novel “Romeo and Juliet” more than Dicaprio. We got inspiration for our team name from that classic. We work to present an image of the Romeo from that classic, an eternal first love feeling.

Q: Interesting. It’s originally a tragedy at the end, but you found an “eternal” meaning from that? SH: That’s right. Different from the original ending, we are planning to use our own ending. In the original, Romeo’s love stayed eternal. We too wish to remain an eternal love to our fans. We definitely won’t let a tragic ending happen (laugh).

Q: It’s already your second promotions. What has changed from Lovesick? SH: Performance; while preparing for this comeback, we placed more emphasis on the choreography. We worked individually and practiced our vocals and rap a lot. From how we should look on stage, to how we should speak, we worked on just about everything a little more since debut.

Q: Speaking seems like the hardest thing to me because for performance, you can just work hard at it. However, what I mean when I say and what is conveyed is often different. KL: There are many overlapping questions when we film interviews and backstage (videos) so the answers are already organized in my head. Then, when I get used to the interview, I adlib. The leader Seunghwan, as well as Yunsung are good at speaking.

Q: Ah! Yunsung is in charge of being entertaining! YS: Even though it’s embarrassing coming from my own mouth...I’ll work hard at it!

Q: While we’re on the topic, can you please tell me each other’s charms? KL: Minsung is really handsome. Also, on stage, he has the mindset of a perfectionist. He keeps thinking about the same section over and over again so he doesn’t get it wrong. MS: Seunghwan is handsome. Also, he listens to our concerns a lot. He plays when it’s time to play and practices when it’s time to practice. He makes a clear distinction between public and personal matters. Anyways he’s really...handsome. Haha KM: Seunghwan’s point is his thighs (laugh). Strong thighs! SH: Milo has a reverse charm. His appearance is cute and meek, but when he dances, he’s masculine. ML: Yunsung is seriously good while singing, but normally he’s very funny. He’s a person who makes Romeo’s environment more cheerful. (YS: You aren’t going to say anything about my handsomeness?) Ah, of course he’s handsome! Haha YS: Kangmin takes on the role of the maknae very well. He’s cute and has a lot of aegyo. At the dorms, he takes on the role of a vitamin. When we’re tired, he shows us cuteness. He’s good and cute. He’s handsome. Ah, he is good at popping. KM: Hyunkyung is really handsome and he’s the tallest. He’s good at sports. Once he starts playing a sport, it’s scary how much he works. Later, if he goes on “Idol Star Athletics Championships” I think he’ll perform well. (*FYI, Hyunkyung and Kyle are former athletes.) HK: Kyle jokes around with us a lot, but when he sings, he turns into a different person. When he sings, he reveals different charms. He sings ballad songs like a ballad, and exciting ones excitingly. Therefore, he has a lot of popularity with the females.

Q: I’m curious about what sort of feedback you got during your debut. To put it more specifically, what is Romeo good at? What is Romeo lacking in? What do people want from Romeo? Please tell me those things. SH: We’re good at performance, knife-like dance. The fans also encourage us, match us well, and praise us a lot. In terms of our vocals, we are skilled. We have heard that we need to enjoy ourselves a bit more on stage. We’ve gotten better than last time, but still, we have a lot of places to improve on and have a lot more to show so I think the expressions and gestures we show on stage should be more natural.

Q: Which member exhibited the most growth? SH: Yunsung and Kyle could originally only sing. This time our choreography is very hard so these two worried a lot. But these two people worked very hard to follow the choreography and really improved a lot. Milo also helped here a lot.

Q: Oh. It seems that Yunsung and Kyle did not think of debuting as an idol at first. You must have not seen dancing. KL: Yunsung and I came from the same school, and same department. We never thought about debuting as idols, we only thought about singing when we entered the company. Actually when we first debuted, I had those thoughts. I picked up a song and had to live through it. But that doesn’t work in a team. So...I danced (laugh). I kept dancing. I did it while thinking it was a fun game. It’s still hard, but I find it fun and enjoyable. MS: He always practices till late at night. YS: I just went to the vocal school because I loved singing, I didn’t know I would make a debut as an idol. At my first choreo lesson I got a headache. I had to pay attention to my face expression, and to coordinate my movements with other people’s, so I also couldn’t memorize the choreography. Nonetheless, it had its own charms. Because you had to match everything together, it seemed like a puzzle. That was amazing. I thought of it as a fun game as I did it. It is still difficult, but I do it enjoyably

Q: Even though it might not be true, I heard you practiced choreography for 10 hours in a day. I’d like to hear more about the process you go through to get ready. SH: During our first album, of course we were very careful, but for this album, we would like to show a more advanced appearance. Milo and I participated in writing raps for this album, and the vocals worked on building their harmony. We danced for 10 hours in a day. It seems like we did nothing but dance for a month. We all practiced as a group. There was no individual practice. Everyone worked together, and monitored thoroughly in preparation. We worked really hard in order to show a much cooler appearance than our first album.

Q: It really feels like you spent together all days. Actually, if it’s like that you can get more close, but fights might also break out. How did you formulate your teamwork? YS: We have a secret. We don’t blame each other. For example, when we practice as a group, it’s possible that one person will get something wrong. Just so that one person won’t have to allot time to practice later, we restart from the beginning. SH: We don’t have enemies to fight. At most, we argue? If there’s something someone feels upset about, they say it quickly so it doesn’t build up. Then the tension releases and it becomes playful again. Fortunately, the seven members are cheerful and get along well. I have no worries that fights will arise in the future.

Trans by @miromeos

New on 500px : Star Wars by MikeOlbinski

Had to name it this just because of The Force Awakens releasing on Thursday! A few days ago I decided to get some buddies together to go shoot the Geminid Meteors for the peak of the shower Sunday into Monday. We met up in Organ Pipe in far southern Arizona and enjoyed some dark skies and one of the most active meteor showers I’ve ever seen! Got home and took this morning to put this image…