#remember_that

...

''BTOB who is challenging during the spring, do they become Spring To Beat ?''

(T/N : The reporter did a word play with Born and 봄 (bom wich means Spring)

BTOB came back with their 8th mini album, a gently ''healing ballad'' to enjoy the spring.

They had an interview session on 28th with Top star news and other media outlets in a Cafe in Apgujeong, where they talked about their new mini-album and daily life.

The members of BTOB showed their beagle side from the beginning of the interview till the end with a lot of laughters and in a friendly atmosphere.

BTOB come back with a continuous of 3 ballad songs with 'It's okay', 'Way Back Home' and followed by their 8th mini-album title track 'Remember That'. There are a total of 7 songs in this mini-album including songs by Im Hyunsik and Jung Ilhoon (Songwriter – Composer) and of course the Rap Line (Minhyuk, Peniel, Ilhoon) who took care of the rap making in the whole album.

Q. After 5 months of break, you are doing a comeback. How do you feel ?

EK : We returned after 5 months. I'm really happy to let people hear our new song. I feel like we will promote with a happy spirit. Since 'Remember That' is a song that suits spring, I hope you can have a spring-like 'Remember That' while listening to it.

Q. You finished your encore concerts this week-end. How do you feel doing it in a bigger place than before ?

MH : It’s the biggest place we have performed so far after debut. While performing, we didn’t really realize it but we felt grateful. We became a little greedy and together with the presence of so many fans. I think we made great memories.

EK : We started at Olympic Hall, then Jangchung Gymnasium and Jamsil Gymnasium. We felt that we are growing so we are really happy and also thankful to our fans. We will work hard, be greedy and aim to perform at the Olympic Gymnasium.

Q. Introduce ‘Remember That’ album.

IH : This is our 8th mini-album. The album name is ‘Remember That’. In the title song ‘봄날의 기억 (Remember That)’ we keep mumbling ‘Remember That’. The song is about one recalling an old lover and reviving their spring memories with a warm heart. You can feel the nostalgia.

This title song is a ballad that is showing the talent of both Vocalists and Rappers.

Q. You showcased Ballads for 3 times in a row. When will you show us a dance song ?

SJ : It can be really risky to do ballad 3 times in a row but if you look at BTOB’s coming long life as singers, 3 consecutives ballads is nothing. Since we are looking at it in a long term perspective.                                                     While growing, we are experiencing the pains. We will not think that it’s risky in a long term perspective and we also think of it as a game of push and pull with fans who want us to do a sexy concept and dance.

EK : Since it’s spring we thought “won’t it be better if we do a song that matches the season?”. We didn’t think that it can risky.

Q. You entered the top. The reactions are good what are you pledges if your win 1st place ?

SJ : If we were to win the 1st place, we will have to work out our bodies during summer and come back with a sexy concept. We will have to come back with a sexy and hot concept. If not, for our next album, the 7 of us will make a song as the songwriter-composer for the fans.

IH : I would like to try and show everyone, a performance where we switch the parts of rappers and vocalists.

Q. Is there any choreography for this ballad?

IH : We have planned to use our beloved standing mics for performances this time round too. We have prepared performances with sweet emotions. We will show it during music shows, so do give us a lot of love.

EK : The song is sweet and comfortable. Our performances will focus on the song.

SJ : There are rhythmic movements. It has the same feels of a cherry blossoms rain. The movements are pretty and gentle, it will be like 7 cherry blossoms blooming.

Q. Lee Minhyuk acted with Jo Boa on ‘Remember That’, how did you feel ?

MH : I liked it. I’m not sure about how Jo Boa-ssi felt. There were really a lot of staff watching us on the filming site and they were all focused. Among them, there were a lot of male staffs but since Jo Boa-ssi is pretty, we filmed in good athmosphere. I felt thankful while filming because she was bright till the end of the shooting.

Q. In the MV, we saw Lee Minhyuk’s love line including a kiss scene. What do the other members thought while watching this scene ?

CS : I wasn’t jealous at all. Me and Eunkwang hyung weren’t jealous at all. We weren’t even jealous a little. We didn’t even stamp our feet.

SJ : I thought it suited Minhyuk hyung the most.

EK: I will know only if I watch it.

CS : It was decided that if Minhyuk hyung acted with Jo Boa-ssi, the MV will come out well. I was touched seeing them acting together. I thought “Minhyuk hyung acts really well”.

IH : The members themselves chose the place on where they want to shoot for their parts. The concept was to act like you weren’t acting. Members also took part in the making of the Music video.

Q. How much do you like this album ?

CS : Since there will be a lot of songs with spring feel, it will be a very warm album.

EK : I feel this every time we release an album, that BTOB matured. Whether it’s our voices or little details. In fact, ‘So pretty’ was recorded 4 years ago. We were planning to re-recording it but there was a feeling of ‘’young’’ to it so some members wanted to keep that feel and didn’t record it again and save it. I feel like we have matured musically speaking.

IH : In this album, there are parts that we studied musically. For example in the title song, this isn’t the rap style I showed these past years but another style. We added what we studied in all the songs.                                                   We specifically added some pop feels. We worked hard on adding a trendy melody and a new rap. For the song “Empty space”, I tried to write it in order to show my inner freshness. 

Q. Do you like the title of ‘Healing-dol’ ?

EK : We’re really thankful to be called ‘Healing-dol’. It’s making me proud to think that we became singers healing people with our musics. Since our fans made the title of ‘healing-dol’, we’re thankful and we will work harder to give ‘healing’ to everyone.

Q. So how are the members healing ?

HS: We’re having fun when we are together and it’s healing us. We’re making each other laugh without even trying.

SJ : I fell in love with fishing. Recently, I went to Lure fishing and it was so good. I go fishing to refresh myself before a big event.

EK :  The concert rehearsal was at 10AM but he woke up early and went fishing.  

SJ : I woke up at 6:30AM and got picked up to go to Han river to fish. It’s the best time to fish in March (Laughs). I usually stay for 3hours. I’m also planning to appear on FishingTV, I’m watching it because it’s interesting. I’d like to try a fishing variety program. I like fishing since I’m young. The younger me liked to go Lure fishing with dad.

Q. What are the other members hobby ?

EK : Playing billiards. Since I went to a male elementary school and high school, I’ve a lot of male friends. I play billards with them. I like billiards and soccer.

IH : I do a lot of shopping. I’m enjoying the poverty into the rich world.

HS : I go to many exhibitions and photo studios.

MH : Visiting SNS. I don’t have any hobby so I tend to use different SNS a lot.. and I watch movies.

EK : I also monitors BTOB performances a lot and it’s a big help.

MH : We collected the videos fans made during the fanmeeting and draw out nominees.

CS : Games are my hobby. Since gaming is my hobby, I don't feel so stressful. I got refreshed while playing games so I play for 5hours.

EK: Changsub practices a lot so he is often in the practice room. He plays games to clear his mind.

SJ : He plays game saying it’s fun but got stressed while playing it. He get frustrated by himself (Laughs)

CS : This is relaxing. Once, Sungjae invited me to go fishing with him and it’s more interesting than I thought. If I become good at fishing, won’t it also be one of my hobby ?

PN : I learnt how to made videos so editing videos is my hobby. I always bring my Go Pro wherever I go, I record what I eat daily and upload it on my youtube channel. I also sub them.

CS : This is what Peniel enjoys the most these days. It’s like he found his perfect hobby.

MH : When Peniel’s editing skills will got even better, he can do the concerts videos or our MV. I think he will be able to do it.

Q. What are the difficulties you faced when composing and do you have any know-how to get inspirations ?  

IH : While doing music, there are moments where I found out new kind of music in the inspirations I got.  I can find inspirations by going to exhibitions or museums,like Hyunsik hyung hobbies. For the song ‘Empty space’ of our album, I got the idea from the messenger program Buddy Buddy. You can get inspirations at unexpected moments or during some particular moments.  

HS : Inspiration comes anytime. I will record them as soon as I wake up. But, there are times that it’s difficult to do so as I don’t have a lot of time.

IH: At start, I do it quickly but the time to wrap it’s hard to compose a song with such a tight time.  

HS : And because you can see everything directly when I was recording the last part, it was tough. To pour it out (emotional).

Q. Previously, members mentioned a lot about cherry blossoms while talking about the album.

CS : We all want ‘Remember That’ to become a spring carol song. I will be really happy if we can win 1st place with ‘Remember That’.

SJ : For me, I just want people to be in that memory while listening to ‘Remember That’.

EK : I just want to (touch) give emotions to people every spring. (Laughs)

Q. There are many new songs that are coming out during this spring. Who do you think is your rival?

MH : ‘Descendants of the Sun’ Song Joongki sunbae-nim is our tremendous rival, no? (Laughs)

CS: I watched ‘Descendants of the Sun’ with Sungjae while eating. Sungjae ate and had to leave for schedule, and I ended up watching 4 episodes continuously. He’s so handsome. (Laughs)

MH : Frankly speaking, we would like to come back when there isn’t any rival but we haven’t chosen the easy way since our debut. It seems like Cube raised us with difficulties. Every time we come back there was strong digital competitors. If the outcome is well, we will think “we succeeded’, if it isn’t we will think “we fought well”. We don’t necessarily think of rivals.

Q. When you say strong digital competitors, who are they ?

MH : There is Psy, Taeyeon’s ‘I’, Soyou-Junggigo’s ‘Some’ , Bigbang, Sistar, AOA ‘s ‘Heart Attack’ and Ailee.

Q. You mentioned about your growth, and there must be many worries in your current situation.

MH : We talk a lot together and as Sungjae said we think that looking towards a long term is the most important. We are receiving a lot of love compared to before. We are aware of this but we also think of how to get better. Healing ballads are good but when the time comes we would like to show cool performances. Our team, BTOB, debuted as Idols and managed to gain a ‘title’ with ballads but we are not a team who can only do ballad. We will work hard to show a variety of performances and like what Sungjae has mentioned we will have to show a sexy concept. If we only have one kind of color, people can be tired.  

SJ : We will become the Kill Me Heal Me of the Idol World.

EK : Get ready as we work as diligently as we can. We do ballads, dance and no matter what other activities, the most important is to promote a song with which the public will recognize us.

Q. It’s your 4th year after debut. Do you have any special memory?

HS : Our debut was in spring. We are climbing up the steps really slowly. There isn't really an event or memory, I remember of us evolving step by step.

SJ : There isn't any particular memory but I’m happy seeing BTOB going to many shows. I think we had the chances to be ‘in exorbitant places’, appear individually in shows, did variety, dramas, the fact that we appeared in broadcasts in many ways.                                                                             “The number of people looking for us is increasing”, just this thought makes me happy.   

EK : I’m touched when we do year-end concert. Jangchung’s concert ticket was sold out with the hall being filled with Melody, I can't forget that. I thought we’ve grown up since we did our Encore concert in a bigger place. I’m already  looking forward to 2016’s year-end concert. Anticipate it as we work harder and grow.

Q. There must have been hard times.

SJ : When the hyungs are sick. I want to be sick instead.

IH : In the past, I always think there will be hard times wherever you are. From High school to when I became an adult, I had different worried  but I have always experienced hard times. But I think we were able to overcome everything because we weren’t alone and were cheering up each other during those times. We are a team clinging on self-development. I think we can overcome difficulties while being satisfied with our inner growth.

Q. You gained many love through reality programs. Do you have any plans of doing reality programs in the future ?

HS : It’s been a while since we filmed one so I think it would be good. I think it would be good to do a reality program like AfreecaTV. If you want to listen to live songs or to laugh, it’d be interesting. While chatting.

IH: Personally, I’d like to go around the world. Not only travelling to the peaceful places. I want to go to places where people are in diffulties, to help them and I want to personally experience how is the world we are living in. If we all (the members) do it, it would be hard so I want to do it alone.

Q. Is there anything you’re having desire for ?

CS : I started studying acting. It’s the first time, I try something else than music and it’s hard. By learning little by little, I’d like to appear on dramas and other programs, other than music shows.

EK : I am the MC of YTN ‘Enter-K’. I’m working hard to show a lot of things as MC. Personally, I took Leeteuk sunbaenim as my role model, since he makes things fun. I monitor what he does and working hard to become like him.

HS : In the future too, I want to work hard on composing. I like things like being a radio DJ but I also want to do an exhibition. I want to show a lot of things artistically.

IH : For me, it’s solo. I want to try solo activities.

MH : As I’m slowly experiencing the diffulties of acting, my will to continue is also growing. If there are good opportunities I want to act and I’m also studying it.                                                                                                                       I’m also writting songs. It’ll be good if I have the opportunity to let everyone listen to them someday.

SJ : It’s not a joke but I sincerely want to appear on a fishing program. I want to drag uncle fans that even A-Pink can’t. I want to fish and make a documentary-like variety. I hope to appear on a fishing TV program within this year.

PN : I want to try acting. Before that, I have to improve my Korean a little bit more. An American drama is also good. I’d also like to release an album in the US.

SJ : I suddenly thought of this. Even though it can be a big desire, I’d like to do ‘Monthly Yoon Jongshin’.

HS : With a feel of ‘Monthly BTOB’, we want to keep showing various type of musics. There are many kind of composing and songs we want to do so we want to release them not in a mini-album but at least through digital or single.

Q. During December 2015’s Concert, Lee Changsub promised to fans that he will have a nice body. How is it progressing now ?

CS :  I said I will do it and I think I should keep this promise. From today, (the day after Encore concerts ended) I should start working out. I didn’t even eat breakfast today. At this year-end concert, I will definitely take off my shirt and show you a sexy Changsub. You can look forward to it. This time, I keep my promise to fans as a turning point in life. It will be good as I carry out my promise to the fans.

Q. If you have something to say about this time promotions.

EK : Since ‘Remember That’ is a song that suits spring, I would like it if you can spend spring with BTOB. I want to give you emotions/ touch during every spring. BTOB, Bom to Beat (T/N : He did a word play as Bom means Spring). We will promote diligently and become Bom to Beat. (Laughs) 

BTOB who are making the public’s ear sweets with healing ballads. These guys do not only do ballads but also dance. Furthermore, they also showed their eager in composing, song-writting, acting  and various other fields. Exceeding the limits of Idols, they catch people’s hearts not with perfomances but with their songs, BTOB stands up as 4th year singers.

Like Yook Sungjae who is looking out to BTOB long term activities, to their fans who want to see their beagle side for a long time, we hope they will always be evolving.

“Beagle kings who makes you happy just by looking, Healing-dol BTOB”