Just tell me when and where, and I'm there!
I have to agree with the lady that had this interview - the more you know them, the more they grow on you. They are good kids^^.
The interview is here:
‘The 7 ‘Cider-like’ Boys Who Don’t Know How to Stop! Meeting with Idol Group, Infinite’
“Hello! We are Infinite.” The loud interview with Infinite
started like that. Oh my, they say an idol is coming. Just like how I
started my first interview, I forgot where to start with my questions,
where I should look at, and what I should talk about.
I didn’t understand why people used the term ‘shining, shining’ to
describe someone, but I feel like I can understand now. I was
overwhelmed by that shining and I couldn’t think of what to say to
Infinite while bringing them to the interview place. My heart was
pounding because I felt like I went back to my middle and high school
days. But then they proceeded to say they won 1st place on a music
program last Thursday and gave a smile fit for their age to us, letting
us relieve the tension. It was something like chatting together with our
younger male cousins on a holiday. The fun, hour-long interview with
Infinite was just like that.
Idol Infinite! After a year since their debut, they’ve finally
reached the top. Pictures of them exploding into tears after getting 1st
place even garnered attention on the internet. When I brought up that
day, all seven boys put a bright smile on their faces.
Dongwoo: It was just like I got hit by something
because I really couldn’t think of anything at that time. I only
thought, ‘So winning 1st felt like this’, but I really couldn’t think
straight. Infinite’s pillar, our leader hyung, normally has a calm
personality and talks well at any situation, but we couldn’t name all
the people we’re thankful for.
Woohyun: I’m the opposite of Dongwoo-sshi. After
getting 1st place, I couldn’t believe it at first but after standing
still for awhile, a lot of memories passed by. The times we practiced
together, the times we got in trouble were all passing by so I ended up
crying without knowing.
Trend-dols, weed-dols, group choreography-dols, wherever Infinite
goes, many adjectives follow them. Among that, what word expresses
Infinite as a group the most?
Woohyun: I like the group choreography-dols
expression the most. It’s an appraisal towards something we put effort
in and since it’s an expression that shows the interest in us, I think
I’m the happiest when I hear group choreography -dols.
Dongwoo: I like the recently created nickname, manner-dols!
Sungyeol: The fact that they add on those adjectives mean that they have that much interest in us so I like any of them.
You said you like group choreography-dols, but I was a bit
worried when I saw this. Since a lot of the public is interested in
‘dancing’, I wonder if you guys are ever burdened by it.
Dongwoo: If I said we weren’t burdened, I’d be
lying. However, that burden urges us on and I think it’s what causes us
to put an effort in showing better sides of ourselves. Woohyun: Are we
donkeys? (Laughter)
Sunggyu: I think what’s important is how we take in
this interest. We try hard to not get burdened by the public’s interest
and take it in as happiness. Every time a new nickname comes out, we
find it funny and it becomes the energizer in our lives.
It probably burdens you guys a lot physically for all 7 to do a
difficult dance in the exact same way as each other. If there’s a way
for Infinite takes care of their physical health, please tell us it.
Woohyun: Before debuting, we used to run around the
Han River together. Although we can’t do it now since we have schedules,
I became really friendly with the members then and was able to improve
my physical health.
Sunggyu: If we continued to do it till now, I probably would’ve been taken to the hospital. (Laughter)
Hoya: To reinforce my personal immunity, I always
ate red ginseng twice a day. That fits in the category of taking care of
your physical health, right?
You’ve been gaining good responses after releasing your new
album. If there are any differences from the past albums or if there’s
something you really enunciated for this album, please talk about it.
Sunggyu: First off, this album is our first official
album. This official album feels like a really big present that
approached us really largely. It’s hard to release an official album
lately and since all 10 songs were new songs, preparing for it was hard
but I think in the end, we’re as proud as the effort put into it. If
there’s a difference from this album, I think it’s that we went away
from the group’s music color and were allowed to show our own music
colors. There are various solo songs from the members and Dongwoo and
Hoya personally participated in creating lyrics.
Prime Time of Idols’
Even in a day, the process of many idols coming out and
disappearing is repeating. What’s the secret of Infinite, who survived
through the prime time of idols?
Sunggyu: Teamwork? Wouldn’t teamwork be the largest reason?
L: If I were to say another one, idols, from what I
know of, seem to promote with one member being the top. However,
Infinite isn’t like that. All seven members receive the spotlight and
there isn’t a member that’s left behind. That’s the strategy in being
different, isn’t it?
Sungjong: We’re a group where every week a different member has the charms. You’ll never get tired of us.
Although it’s embarrassing, I studied a lot about Infinite before
coming here. I heard that you’re moving soon, but since it was a dorm
that you lived in since trainee days, I would think that it was full of
Infinite’s sweat and tears. Is there a fun episode about your dorm life?
L: You can’t talk at our dorms. All of our words can be heard and we don’t even have a main gate.
Sungyeol: When we’re home sometimes, there are times when we make eye contact with people outside.
Hoya: Sungjong, for example, was walking around in just his underwear, but he got shocked after making eye contact with fans outside.
Sungjong: Those who have really good eyes can even look at what’s inside our dorm.
Dongwoo: When we said things like this at first, the
fans didn’t believe it because they didn’t come to our dorms. We did a
homepage broadcasting like a radio broadcast at our dorms for our 1st
year anniversary. But during the broadcast, you could hear cars passing
by and our neighbors talking so the fans were really surprised.
(Laughter)
They were probably uncomfortable living in a shabby dorm, but they
showed bright smiles and said that it urged them and led them to not
become lazy. My heart felt a little heavy because behind those smiles,
you could slightly see the troubles they went through to get to the top.
Infinite, who is receiving the limelight of the Hallyu Wave
currently, has their Japan debut in front of there. Do you have anything
to say about debuting in Japan or a goal you want to receive through
debuting in Japan?
Dongwoo: Just like a name, I want to start from
Japan and infinitely spread around the whole world and let people all
around the world listen to our music.
Sunggyu: Many of our seniors have already debuted in
Japan. We heard that DBSK and BoA seniors had it really tough at first
as well. Through their efforts, I believe that it has become easier for
junior singers like us to debut in Japan. I don’t want to become a
problem to the road of Hallyu that our seniors have already paved for
us. To not become a problem to the current Hallyu and to not embarrass
our fans in Korea, I want to have a rookie’s mindset and work hard with
thoughts that we’re debuting again.
You’ve stood on many stages for broadcasts and events, but is there a performance that you remember the most?
Dongwoo: There’s one stage that I really remember. I
was preparing to stand on the stage with a really serious mind, but
they had a comedy show on before us. There were many eggs on the stage
and a lot of debris from it.
Hoya: It was an Incheon fish market festival. (Laughter)
Dongwoo: I was making a pose, but L suddenly fell over while riding skates. Luckily it wasn’t L’s part.
Sunggyu: When we go to events, I don’t know whether
or not it’s because of the lights but we get invaded by bugs. There are
many times we danced while wearing large bugs on our clothes like
accessories.
Hoya: I remember when we went to a university
festival. They were supposed to give us 7 cordless microphones, but they
gave us microphones with cords. (Laughter) We ended up playing jump
rope by ourselves while doing the choreography and had it tie around our
legs, it was really crazy.
Sungyeol: In the end, I pulled out the cord after finishing my part at the end. (Laughter)
I thought they were idols who had it well-off, but after they talked
about the troubles they all went through, I was shocked. But the good
thing was that they had really bright smiles on their faces as they
talked about this. Just how many people could there be on this world who
would smile so brightly about troubles for their own dreams and goals?
The more I found out about them, the thought about them being really
good kids didn’t leave my mind.
Whether it’s solo promotions or group promotions, there’s
probably a goal that each of you have. What do you want to do in the
near future?
Dongwoo: There’s too many things. First off, I want
to open up a concert that I organize everything for like clothes,
composing, writing lyrics, arranging a song and a stage.
Sungjong: I want to do unit group promotions. And I
would also like to become the main K-pop group as a team that tells
everyone in the world about us. So that they can think Infinite when
they think of K-pop and think of Infinite when they think of K-pop.
Sunggyu: I would clean up my skills more and if I
have the skills to go on one stage as our entertainment seniors, ‘Nell’
seniors, and other seniors, I want to gather up our entertainment’s
artists and open up a concert every year.
Rising idol group, Infinite, we want this CF!
Sungyeol: The car, Infiniti? (Laughter)
Hoya: For me, it’s insurance companies. Samsung Fire
Insurance! I had a lot of interest in insurance ever since I was
younger. I can’t move without insurance. I probably have the most
insurance fees out of the members? (Laughter)
L: Since I have a lot of interest in pictures, I want to film a CF for DSLR cameras.
Sungjong: Chicken for me! I have confidence in eating CFs.
If you didn’t become a singer, what would Infinite be doing right now?
All together: First off, Sunggyu hyung would be a soldier. (Laughter) He probably would’ve been in the barracks.
Dongwoo: I wanted to become a doctor. Being a herbal medicine doctor was my dream when I was younger.
Sungyeol: I think I probably would’ve done
something. Since I prepared to become an actor since I was younger,
wouldn’t I have become an actor?
Hoya: During my trainee days, I wondered what would happen if I decided to become a physical education teacher.
The trainee days of idol members is becoming a hot topic. Do you have memories or episodes from your trainee days?
Sunggyu: Truthfully, we’re not a team that had a
long training period. The most was 2 years and the least was around a
year. It’s safe to say that we practically had already started promoting
as a team from the beginning. During the beginning of our trainee days,
me, Sungjong, and Hoya lived in our CEO’s house. Although he acted
comfortable to us and was kind, it was sort of a problem to us because
we still needed to appeal to the CEO. And as I saw other trainees give
up and leave, I had a lot of thoughts.
Hoya: I didn’t smile often before. However, our CEO
gave me a mission of brightly smiling. So I had to force myself to smile
at that time, and I realized that smiling isn’t an easy thing.
Sungjong: At the beginning of my trainee days, he
didn’t let me eat anything after 6 PM and it was really hard for me. My
stomach was hungry at night but I couldn’t eat. When I think about it
now, I’m proud of myself for winning over that.
Sungyeol: Normally when someone tells you not to do
something, you want to do it even more. I secretly bought food from
a convenience store and was eating it in a bathroom, but I got caught
and got in trouble.
Sunggyu: I wanted to go out and play, but we
couldn’t do that so there were times where we just pulled all-nighters
by ourselves at the practice room. But then there was a time where the
door locked so we all chipped in money and called a locksmith.
(Laughter)
It probably wasn’t easy living with 7 people that weren’t part of
your family. There were a time where I lived with my friend and it was
never easy. Do you have any memories of fighting?
Dongwoo: Because men become friends by fighting.
Even if we fight, we’re the type that doesn’t hold it for a long time
and quickly forgets about it.
Sunggyu: If we said we didn’t fight, that would all
be lies. All 7 boys came from different lifestyles and it’s not like
they can immediately become a family if they say, ‘Now you guys are a
team, you’re a family’.
Sungyeol: But it’s gotten much better than how it
was at first. Should I say that we’re becoming similar to each other?
Everyone’s personalities really changed. And by now, we practically know
what actions someone will take when they’re in a situation.
I believe that Infinite, who started this public lifestyle at a
young age, could become seniors in life. As seniors in life, if there’s a
word you want to say to 20’s?
Dongwoo: It’s really important for you to understand
what it is that you want to do. It would be good if you led your own
life path and didn’t follow what another person says. Also, never forget
that health is the most important thing.
Sunggyu: This society is a society with a lot of
competition. We’ve been through competition since we auditioned and
constantly competed with each other during our trainee days. Also, we
couldn’t help but compete with other teams after debuting as well. As it
gets better and better, there’s still larger competitions waiting for
you, so don’t become tired from them and I hope you can be people who
enjoy it.
It was really like having my younger male cousins chatting with
me. Even though they’re idols, they didn’t doll their stories up and
told all the stories inside naturally. Due to that, their pleasant and
bright mood spread to the three of us who went for the interview. The
members who didn’t talk much because they were shy, started to throw in a
joke here and there near the end of the interview and brightly smiled,
causing us to smile automatically. They’re idols that I look forward to.
The idol, Infinite, who continues to run with the power of hope even
through the times that call for tears. Seems like I’ll have to start
watching the music broadcasts that I haven’t in years.
trans. cr; hyejin @ infinite updates | source cr; youngsamsung.com ; take out with full credits ♥
