【E】 iWeekly No. 921 JYH: Getting popular made me less brave

Jung Yong Hwa: Getting popular made me less brave

Q: To you, what makes “One fine day”?

YH: Everyday! Every time!

Q: How can the people around you change one of your bad days into a good day?
YH: What?! Hahaha. If one wants to have a good mood, he/she should listen to my music. (Note: Maybe the translator misunderstood the question?)

Q: Which is your finest day in your life? The worst day?

YH: I don’t have bad days at all. But I have beautiful days most this year, including the day I released my first solo album.

Q: If you could time travel to a day in the past or change any past day… you would?

YH: I would go back to my childhood days, but I want to keep the thinking skills I have now. To live my childhood days with my present thinking abilities. I don’t know why, I just want to go to my high school days, the keystone time when I was to determine my future.

Q: The year 2015 is very important to you. You released your solo album and held your first solo concert. Is solo an easier or more pressured thing to you?

YH: Whether it’s solo or CNBLUE group activities, I feel pressured, especially when preparing for an album. But each time after the album came out, the pressure just vanished into the thin air. Ha.

Q: The Korean media reported earlier that you came to a bottle neck making the solo album and experienced some emotional low. Was it because you expected too high from yourself? Or you are a perfectionist?

YH: As the number of released albums increases, I expect more and more from myself, giving myself greater and greater pressure. There is no such thing as “model answers” for music. And I got to show the fans who love me my best.

Q: Are you someone who cannot accept failure?

YH: That’s me in the past. Now I am more prepared to face failures.

Q: When you write music, do you have a fixed routine? Do you need to isolate yourself from the world for a while? In a previous album, you found inspiration sitting in a Hongdae café. Now you have such a busy schedule, is that still possible?

YH: I won’t go “find” inspiration deliberately. I do observe people’s behavior and try to imagine their thoughts too. It doesn’t matter if I’m busy, I just have new inspirations any time.

Q: Your compositions are mostly love songs. But in your real life, it seems not easy to be in a relationship with your present conditions?

YH: I write so many love songs each year, how can I possibly experience all these different love stories in a year? No way! I just pay attention to others’ love stories or get inspired watching TV dramas.

Q: The 3 must-have characters in a girl to impress you?

YH: The most import thing is that she understands my work. I’m so busy that I won’t be around most of the time. And she must not lie to me. If she’s beautiful, that’s even better… Though, I’m not sure if I could meet such a person. Ha.

Q: CNBLUE has 4 handsome members…

YH: Haha. Thank you!

Q: Ever worried that people only see your handsome faces but not your music talents?

YH: Honestly, I still have this worry. But I think time will prove things, people will see our music talents one day.

Q: You’re talented, enthusiastic and pleasing, just so perfect. And there haven’t been any negative reports on you in the media. Can you share your short comings that we don’t know yet?

YH: Hahaha. Hmm… My short coming is that I don’t know how to show myself completely in front of the media. I’m not satisfied with what I’ve been shown to the public at all. There are still so much that I want to do and so much of myself that I want to show.

Q: We’ve seen the real life you through the show “Jung Yong Hwa’s Hologram” broadcasted earlier. Was it difficult to reveal your private life? You seemed a little lost in the beginning of the show.

YH: It felt weird in the beginning. I was not used to the cameras in my home. But I learned to get used to them and got more comfortable with time. I thought the fans might actually like seeing me acting awkward in front of the cameras. Haha. Anyways, it was a very interesting experience and I enjoying the filming a lot.

Q: CNBLUE has taken part in a lot of variety shows and dramas lately. It’s a must for a Korean artist to try everything?

YH: In the Korean entertainment scene, variety shows and dramas play a very big part. It’s very important to show oneself on the screen more.

Q: But these non-music-related projects will distract you, won’t you want to focus on music?

YH: Hmm… I have this thought every day. I think I need to adapt to the bigger environment. Learning how to not get distracted is an important lesson too. I just know how to enjoy the things I’m doing, and put the distracting things aside.

Q: Whether it’s MC work or dramas, you handle things so effortlessly. Since when you acquired this ability? You got trained doing street lives in front of total strangers in your Japan trainee days?

YH: I’m not sure if the MC work has helped. But I’ve learned much from my mistakes, that’s how I grew comfortable with time.

Q: Is there anything you can’t handle?

YH: There isn’t anything I feel particularly difficult. Even with something I feel nervous about, I hope to face it with the “Oh, just face it” attitude.

Q: Do you miss the street lives days in Japan? You just performed “purely” those days.

YH: I do. Those were very good times. I was fully immersed into music. That period helped me grow into the person I am today. I’m very thankful. Nevertheless, I like the present me too.

Q: Looking back the past 6 years, what has changed most? What do you miss most about the past Jung Yong Hwa?

YH: The biggest change is the performance venue. So many things have changed. I mean they change for the better. I miss the brave Jung Yong Hwa in the past most. The present me has so many short comings; I became super cautious with so many things. I am not brave like before.

Chinese to English translation by klaritia

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