#ft interview

The Slog. ANALYSIS: The Goddess Christine Lagarde’s inadequate, untutored & ex cathedra eye for the Devil..

  Lagarde…not good at seeing beyond the end of her nose for power

I have to share this episode with you all, because it shows – more clearly than any biography could – just how poor Fifi Lagarde is on ‘the detail’. If God is in the detail, then for sure Mme Lafarge lost her soul a long time ago…if indeed she ever had one. For if David Cameron has all the social sensitivity of a scud…

“Standing on the borderline between a band and an idol. And their delicate tug-of-war continues today.”

It’s the story of a band that debuted in June of 2007 with ‘Love Sick’ that claimed number one spot on various music programs and sold 80,000 copies. It’s the story of a band that released hits such as ‘Until You Return’ (2008), ‘Love Love Love’ (2010), and ‘Severely’ (2012) and expanded their playing field. It’s the story of a 6-year-old veteran, FT Island. 

FT Island released their official fourth album ‘Five Treasure Box’ on September 10th. Just like its name, the album is a precious and special one to members. The album features five new songs, including the title song ‘I wish.’ Among them, Lee Hongki wrote the lyrics for ‘Stay With Me’ and Choi Jonghun composed ‘U.’ The album also has Korean translated titles from their Japanese official album ‘Twenty,’ such as ‘Paper Plane,’ ‘The Never Ending World’s Song,’ ‘Life,’ ‘That Road,’ and ‘Let It Go.’ 

 Lee Jae Jin: “I think our own music is the answer and the way.” The members’ love and care for their own tracks are reflected on their comeback stage. Along with their title song, ‘I wish,’ they performed at least one of their own self-composed and written works.

“We definitely wanted to show our own songs to Korean fans and share that feeling with them,” said FT Island. After performing his own ‘Paper Plane’ on stage, Lee Jaejin confessed, “It’s my first work to perform in Korea. I’m so happy.”

There is a reason that FT Island members care so much about creating their own music and their ability as a band. After stepping into the K-Pop scene as teenagers, FT Island established a new genre called ‘Idol + band.’ But because of their individual charm, their skills as a band were always underestimated. Since then, the members worked on improving their skills through endless practices and stage performances, but they could not easily overcome the public’s bias for an idol band.

Song Seung Hyun: “It’s the same during interviews. Even when members talk a lot about music and talk a little about dating after, the interview topics always end up focusing on romance. We understand there’s no other way around it but we would like to focus more on music.”

Choi Jonghun: “It’s true we weren’t that skilled when we first debuted. We admit that. Now? We’ve been around for 6 years already. We find pride in how much we’ve matured in so many ways since then. As for our skills, I am confident we won’t lose against any other bands active in Korea right now.” Other than in their newest album, it is difficult to find FT Island’s own tracks in their Korean albums. Their Japanese albums, on the other hand, are mostly filled with their own works. Some experts cite this as the reason for FT island’s popularity in Japan. Why does this difference exist between Korea and Japan?  Choi Minhwan: “I think there is a condition or a trend for hit songs in Korea. But Japan doesn’t really follow a trend. Also, I think it’s easier for us to try new things and  take on challenges because Japan is not our home country. I think those helped us stand out more. The fact that their culture centers around concerts instead of broadcast programs also works in our favor.” Lee Jaejin: “Of course, we want to share our own music in Korea. If listeners think our own songs aren’t that good, then we’ll reflect on our mistakes right there. But we haven’t even had that chance yet. Even for this album, we managed to throw in our own songs through a compromise but failed to make it our title song.” Fortunately, many fans are showing positive reaction to FT Island’s self-composed and written tracks featured in the album. Many of them say, “All of the self-composed and written songs are so good,” ‘”all of them deserve to be a title song.” Thanks to that, members have gained confidence and are eager to include more of their own works in the next album and make one of them into a title song as well.

FT Island stand on the borderline between a band and an idol. Their concerns are quite serious. Lee Jaejin compared the band’s current state to a scale.

Lee Jaejin: “We started out on the idol side and has now made it to the mid-point. We always think that the weight can shift towards the band side one day. Maybe that’ll happen when we get older and lose our idol looks. (laughs).” Lee Hongki had said he’d like to stay in the middle. He recently appeared on SBS ‘Jung Jae Hyung and Lee Hyo Ri’s You & I’ and said, “I am working hard to find the way no body has gone before.”

The team’s leader and guitarist Choi Jonghun agreed.

Choi Jonghun: “FT Island want to keep walking in the middle. The world ‘idol’ doesn’t sound all that bad. I’d be happy if we keep that image but be known for our skills. I want to move forward embracing something that is rare in the Korean pop scene.”

I admit.

I don't look at the track list when I’m listening to an album. Unless I get really curious about a song’s title, I first listen to the entire album in order and then connect the title with its creator. It’s sort of my own way to avoid stereotyping. 

The same method applied when listening to FT Island’s newest album ‘Five Treasure Box.’ Other than the title song that I was most familiar with from hearing it on music programs, I did not know the titles of other songs or who composed them. But the several songs I liked right away turned out to be the works of the members.

They may have released albums with their own tracks in Japan. But in Korea, FT Island is more of a ‘flower boy’ band than a skilled band. Since debuting in Idol-centered K-pop scene in 2007, FT Island have pushing for ‘band music’ for more than 5 years. What really happened to them throughout the years? Where did the maturity that I find in their works come from? The New Album Filled With Self-Composed/Written Songs… “The Second Storm And Stress” “We tried to take part in our album since ‘Grown Up’ released in January,” said vocalist Lee Hongki. “Even the company CEO promised us, so we offered the music that we wanted to do and got to select and include five of them.”  Then he confessed, “We may be part of an agency but we are rebelling a lot to achieve our dreams. This is sort of like our second storm and stress.” FT Island is constant. In Japan, they released three single albums and one official album every year. Despite their busy schedule, they pushed for an official album filled with 10 songs in Korea s well. “Repertoire is important to us since we work around concerts,” said drummer Choi Minhwan. “We need a lot of songs for us to release an album and have concerts. So naturally, we favor official albums. This could be our pride.” Those who underestimate FT Island skills criticize them for performing and singing a song by someone else. Fully aware of this, FT Island have been constantly writing songs. “We’ve released albums only with our own works in Japan since 2 years ago,” said leader and guitarist Choi Jonghun. “We record guide songs together, share our thoughts and rearrange notes.” In the end, they got to feature ‘Let it Go,’ ‘U,’ ‘Paper Plane,’ ‘That Road’ and ‘Life’ in the album.

Choi Jonghun: “I think our skills are improving from enjoying music. We tend to write lyrics based on what our friends would talk about. The last part in ‘Let it Go,’ especially was written with me and Hongki in mind. So to do that, I think we need more experience. Adults tell us to love and date because we do music. I think we need a little bit of that.”

“We want to find the middle ground between an idol and a band.” This could be it. FT Island may be considered an idol but they are freer. It’s part of their daily life to be friend various musicians and share their music. “I learned how to really enjoy music through working with other people,” said bassist and vocalist Lee Jaejin. “I realized a pride is important to musicians.” FT Island said they want to be the “first case of finding the middle ground between an idol and a band.” And they confessed, they “don’t really have a color.” This allows them to include more dynamic colors but as 6-year veterans, they also need to establish a firm image.

Lee Hongki: “We are lacking in many parts. That’s why we are trying really hard. We’ll work harder and make perfect music. Through our newest album, we hope our efforts get shared with many people. There are many songs in the album. We hope you enjoy them track by track.” “If we get a chance, we want to collaborate with other musicians. But only after we make our own color. Ah, and we also want to perform at rock festival. But we don’t want to perform the songs we released in Korea. We’ll have to make better music.”

For the fans who "wished" for FT Island's comeback, nothing can beat the band's return.

And for this Fall, no other song could make the season sweeter than 'I wish.' The sweet and fun tune is a gift bundle with a twist. It features a Spanish-style guitar sound that tickles your ears, and an eye-candy of a music video.

  So here they are: Choi Jonghun, Lee Hongki, Lee Jaejin, Choi Minhwan and Song Seunghyun are back with their fourth official album 'Five Treasure Box.'

The album is their first official one in three years. And along with it, comes a different vibe.

Minhwan: "Somehow, we feel comfortable. The difference is we no longer want to 'do well.' Regardless of doing well or not, we now think we should just show ourselves. All the members tried hard to show our color by composing and writing lyrics."

  We know they've been extremely busy between Korea and Japan. But it's been a long time since they stood on a stage as FT Island. So we asked how they've been. Seunghyun: "I think we spent more time abroad than at home. We finished Asia Tour and Japan Tour. I also appeared in musical 'Jack The Ripper.' It was really hard and exhausting, but I am proud of it in the end. I'll also perform in Japan. I'll do well there as well."

  Since debuting in 2007, FT Island has been active for more than 5 years. Time seems to fly by these days. Does FT Island feel the same?

  Minhwan: "Whenever I see our old video clips, I notice the differences. When I go in for recordings these days, I remember what I did in the past. Shall I say, many things feel more competitive now while there was a sense of romance in the past. Everyone used to get along so well."

  Fewer artists are releasing official albums recently. So we are very glad to meet an official album full of effort.

  Jaejin: "We really wanted to share the songs we wrote. We want to release as many official albums as possible because we want to perform in many concerts. We hope everyone enjoys our album jackets too. True to the album's name, we really featured our personal treasures."

  We really love the guitar sound in the beginning of the song. And because Seunghyun looks so good playing it, everyone may have been jealous. Not that everyone else don't look good either.

Jonghun: Trumpet sounds could also be one of the features that make the song stand out. And many fans liked our guitar performances too. Of course, I wanted it. But it turned really well because Seunghyund id it." 

Groups' teamworks are proving to be important more than ever. Is there a secret to keeping it up for the past five years? Seunghyun: "Other groups tend to have members who knew eachother from early on, or have some knowledge of eachother. But we met as complete strangers. I think we adapted to eachother becuase we met at a young age. We argued often in the beginning but we overcame that. You can say we were lucky. Now, we really don't have anything to argue over."

  No matter how long it has been, there should be some challenges to living together.

Jaejn: "It's fun. We live on separate floors but Jonghun and Hongki really take good care of us. For example, Jonghun makes dinner and tells us to come down and eat." Seunghyun: "We've spent about one third of our life together. Our joke these days is to live together under one roof even after we get married. I think it'll be fun to live in a connected home, where we share a yard. We could have campfires! (laugh)"

  PSY's 'Gangnam Style' is super popular lately. We think it'd be encouraging to see an artist promote a song with his own color around the world.

Jonghun: "We really like PSY too. He is famous all around the world right now. And thanks to him, many people are focusing on K-Pop. So we think other artists can now follow his path more easily. Rather than feeling jealous, we feel more confident. We want to go on European and North American tour soon."

  It's a blessing to dream and work towards achieving that dream. But it's not easy to protect that dream and make it come true. FT Island is always listening to their hearts and have used every passing time as an opportunity to grow. We look forward to what kind of music they'll bring to their fans. FT Island had a message for those who are chasing after a dream:

   Seunghyun: "I want to say, do what you want to do like crazy. You can like something but don't even know it. Think carefully and if something attracts you, give it your all."

Jonghun: "Whenever you are dealing with difficulties, I hope you don't get stressed out but enjoy it. Whether it's bad or good, It's important to have that positive mindset. I used to think negatively, but tried hard to change that. The moment you think negatively, it gets difficult and stressful."

Minhwan: "I think there's time for everything. No matter how hard you work on it, sometimes you don't even know what you are doing. I hope that doesn't happen."

Jaejin: "You have think 100 times. Thinking too much can but bad, but there are times you can't trasform your thought into action. I think it'll be better to have more thoughts, and get to do at least one of them. I think it's good to act boldly and concisely."

FT Island is back in Korea with their first official album in three years. They are no longer a teenage idol group, but grown men in their 20s.  We checked on FT Island’s fortune with celebrity healing tarot master ‘Juno.’  ☆ Lee Jaejin: How will my life be from now on? Juno: You will get stressed out more or less and wander. But you will find a new path with a vision for the future. At times, you will face changes and have to come up with a new plan, but your card says you’ll be a star in the end. As you become famous, you will get busier and personally want a break.

☆ Cho Jonghun: I really worked hard while putting this album together. Will my dream come true?

Juno: Things will get better starting this October. Your card reads you are money-smart, and you will do well with business. Right now is a step towards that dream. You tend to speak directly and that could create some misunderstands, but it appears you will get a lot of offers. Do not work with a partner next year, but you can think of a new business three years later. You can say your dream will come true.

☆ Choi Minhwan: When can I start love?

Juno: I think you are still innocent and pure. I feel slightly that you haven’t grown fully yet, but that could mean your soul is that clean. You have a high chance of meeting someone abroad. I see the signs from Japan, France and the U.S. You could even date a Hallryu star. Although you are young, you are already thinkinking about settling down and getting married. It appears you’ll start dating next March or April. Someone will end up keep watching you and then eventually like you.

☆ Song Seunghyun: As a new member to FT Island, I hope for the best result. How will I do with the group?

Juno: You are lucky for the most part this year. You could run into some troubles later in the year, but you have a chance to show off your other talents through musical or other activities. Debuting abroad, including in Japan and China, is also a possibility and you will succeed. Your card says you take on everything with passion, and even start something that you aren’t familiar with. You should think carefully before you begin.

The overall fortune for FT island members appeared positive. And as to prove the point, their newest title song ‘I wish’ ranked #1 on Mnet ‘M!Countdown’ for the third week of September.  We couldn’t ask many questions because of their busy schedule. But thanks to the positive outlook, we could finish the interview with a smile. Just like the fortune told by tarot master Juno, we look forward to their bright future.

Source: TV Daily + DJ [email protected] 

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  Healing Tarot Master ‘Juno’ Profile