BtoB Interview with 1st Look

Seo Eunkwang 1990 11.22 Blood Type A

He needed to get accustomed to his blond hair. Even when simply the pain associated with multiple stages of bleaching was hard, he admits that the hair color was awkward for him since it only made him stand out.N ow he is glad that people realizes who he is quickly from his hair color. He also hears that his voice is good since he is in charge of singing the chorus from the group. When he listens to a song, he can harmonize with it at the spot so he was the one who was chosen to sing the chorus. In particular, the adlibs that highlights the song was recorded right at the spot when he heard the full song first time around. The guide voice he recorded for the title track was used exactly. He had first sang the title song for the producer first time around comfortably, but the producer had loved it. Then on the recording date, when he had come to record the song for the album, the producer had said that he didn’t have to record since the guide version he recorded was so good that it was used for the album. His nickname ‘Seo-Eunkwang-Chang- Luck’ (Romanized) have two meanings. One is that the ‘kwang’ in his name is used to describe his crazy vocals and then the ‘kwang-chang-luck’ means that he sings with his cheek bones. It was a nickname given to him by the fans and he loves it. When he gets nervous he prays. It helps him to calm his heart and it also helps in his mind control so he always does it before going on stage. He confirms that many of the members chose him as the type not to care about his looks as much. He doesn’t even look at the mirror unless he is getting his makeup done. However, these days he checks the mirror often and check his style often too. He like the avant garde style. He like to match t-shirts with an unbalance style with jackets with unusual patterns and loose pants. He feels awkward in skinny pants. He also doesn’t mind walking out with a clean shirt and roll up pants like he is wearing in the picture. His ideal type is someone with a big mouth and eyes that look attractive when she smiles. Like a girl who smiles and the corners of her mouth goes up. He also like the girls with a soft eye area.

Lee Minhyuk 1990 11.29 Blood Type A

He contributed to both of the songs ‘Imagine’ and ‘Secret’. He composed in ‘Secret’ and participated in the rap making for ‘Imagine’. In particular for ‘Imagine’, he had recorded a guide so that Peniel can practice the rap, but after the producer heard it, his rap sections in the guide version were used for the actual album track. He added that he regretted not working hard enough on the recording for the guide track. He had been rapping since he was in high school. Soon before he knew it, he was in love with rapping as a hobby and as he studied it more, it became a specialty of his. Singing wise, he was trained once he came into the company. Many of the times he says that he is BTOB’s “face model” and the person in charge of the visuals in the group, but he admits that he doesn’t feel bad saying it too. “It just means that I am visually qualified haha.” His personal goal is to have people thinking of him first when they mention BTOB. He is more popular with the younger fans than the older fans. He believes that is because he looks younger than he actually is. It also has to do with the fact that they look at him to be cuter. From the members Hyunsik is popular with the older fans his he has the natural manliness that flows from him. He wishes that he was popular with the older fans as well.  Since the corners of his lips are pointed up as if he is smiling all the time, he has the advantage of having a good image all the time. However, he is sad about his short height. During college, he participated in a cross dressing competition twice. He was quite popular. Sunbaes in different majors had even asked for his number before. Sadly, he lost his chance of getting first place both of the times since both of the times the funny contestants had won the first place. He has greed for acting just as much as acting. Since he is interested in music and acting he had majored in musical studies. Even though he hasn’t participated in a musical yet, he had participated in a few as a staff. As a staff his passion for acting had grew even more. He wants to be an acting-idol which are popular these days. He started acrobatics when he was a senior in high school. He had learn acrobatics for about 1 or 2 time a week for 3 months. After he got into college he rested a bit and started again when he came into the company. Even though he only learned it for 6 months, he had retained everything quickly. In addition, he loves sports so he believes that is the reason why he learned it so quickly. He wants to be better in Korean. Even though it’s funny, it’s the truth. Before debut, he had been learning English and preparing for overseas activities, but then he realized that he needed to get better in Korean as well. It is important to know a lot of words and expressions when it comes to writing music and rapping. He wants to learn more Korean so that he can complete an improved rap compared to now.

Lee Changseob  1991 02.26

Since junior year of high school he learned how to play the drums and piano. Eunkwang hyung and Hyunsik also know how to play the piano. That is why we are a multi-group being about to dance, sing, and even play instruments. I’m learning how to make coffee. Ever since our company had made a coffee I have gotten the chance to make coffee as well. Even though it hasn’t been long since I started I can make a good espresso. I go to the café about once a week, so you guys can come and try it if you like. I’m the aegyo king who threatens the youngest maknae. My charm is my round eyes that turn into a half moon when I smile. Even the youngest Sungjae who has about the same aegyo agreed too. I lost 18kg. Back then I was really fat. After I became a trainee I was surprised to see myself changing to the point I couldn’t recognize myself. It was hard, but my clothes size got smaller and my face was changing too and I eventually found it to be fun. I want to lose more of my cheek fat. Even though it make me look young, I think it looks bigger on the camera. After starting activities I’m not doing any special diets, but when I can I try not to eat at night. I am one of the members who needs the most amount of sleep. Especially when I am in a bad condition I sleep even more. Before I joined the team I was close to Eunkwang hyung. I went to the same after school institution with him and I also became a BTOB member through the same audition. I like the semi hiphop style. I am still not comfortable with clothes that are a tight fit on me. If I lose a little more weight I want to wear skinny jeans with a well tailored jacket. I tend to lose my items often. Maybe it is my forgetfulness, but when I try to find what I used I can’t remember where I put it. One time I lost my phone so I was searching all over for it, but I found it in my pockets. Haha. I like sexy girls with barely open eyes. Is that different? I think I get the charms from their almost closed eyes.

Lim Hyunsik  1992 03.07 Blood Type A

I look up to African American artists. I am so jealous of the musical talent that African American artists have. I love African American music so much to the point that I look up to these African American artists. I listen and sing to the soul genre often and starting from Stevie Wonder to so many others, I look up to a lot of African American artists. Today is the first  time I am wearing multicolored shirt. I usually like to dress in a monochromatic colors or one color shirts, but today is my first time wearing something like this. Do I look good? I like clothes too, but like the members I prefer loose clothing as well so this is awkward. (Laughs) I find the multicolor shirts pretty when I am shopping, but when look for my own clothes I don’t tend to go for the multicolors. Same college as Super Star K Season 3’s Lee Jungah noona. These days I see a lot of music majors from Howon University on TV. From all of them I am in the same class as Jungna noona so I am very close to her. From our members I am from the same college as Changseob hyung too. I hope that everyone does well doing the music they like to do! First place in the class, dreamt of being a dentist. At home my parents were against me doing music. Because they knew that the path was going to be hard. That’s why I would only study and I placed first and second in my class before. If I didn’t go for music, I would have chosen my dream to become a dentist. Went through puberty pretty hard. I studied really hard to the point that all my teachers recommended me to study science or politics, but then my rebellious stage hit me. After I started thinking “why do I have to study?” I couldn’t study anymore. That’s when I gave up studying. Planned to stay in China for a month, but it became a year. I got a chance to go to China after those rebellious days. I was only going to stay for a month, but it was go great. Studying Chinese was fun too. I left for China freshman year of high school and stayed there until sophomore year. I went into a Chinese school like the other students through a test. Now I am trying to not forget the Chinese I learned then. I like to weight lift more than going on a diet. (Showing off his arms) I can’t work out as much because of our schedules, but I try to go whenever I can. If you know the members, we are quite the beastly idols. I like to enjoy some time alone. I like to spend time drinking coffee and go shopping alone. Not too long ago I went to a photo gallery, and was it David LaChapelle? My older brother likes photography so I used to follow him, but going by myself was different too. Calm A blood type? I am a catchphrase maker. To people I am not close to, I seem quiet and silent. But if you get really close to me you can see my real side. There are a lot of things that I can do that other people can’t pull off easily. It isn’t impersonations, but they are like my catchphrases. Just word jokes. People who don’t know me will never understand.

Peniel  1993 03.10  Probably AB Blood Type

Been to Korea exactly 2 times from Chicago. I came to Korea now to become a singer, but before I couldn’t even imagine myself going to Korea. I watched Korean dramas a few times, but I am still new to Korean and I get confused with big words. Using the formal talk is already hard enough, but keeping my manners in front of the elderly is even harder. Learned guitar at Church. Since I was little I was brought up as a Christian.  Even my name is Peniel which is the location where Joseph prayed. I had more church friends than school friends. I ended up going to a church retreat for 1 night and 2 days and I was inspired by the CCM band Skillet. Since then I was interested in music and learning guitar through church could mark the beginning of my music career. I thought I was going to fail the audition. A church friend of mine asked me to audition with him for JYP and without much thought I agreed and went with him. But I was the one who got in. I thought I wouldn’t make it, but I got a phone call and I was surprised. I felt bad for the friend who took me to the audition, but that friend ended up rooting for me to do well. Last one to come into BTOB. I was a JYP trainee for a while and it hasn’t been long since I came into Cube. I came in around the end of January so the members had already been close to each other and even recorded some songs. At first it was hard catching up with them, but I participated in all the songs except the intro song.  I was scolded a lot when first I recorded. Not long after I came into Cube, I was headed for the recording studio. Since I didn’t even know a lot of people, I was really nervous. Then I just started to stumble over my words and lost my pace when I was rapping. It was hard to the point I wanted to cry, but I didn’t. Then, the members helped me out more than my parents. I like Snoop Dogg’s voice. I personally like Snoop Dogg. Especially his rapping voice. During the launching show, Minhyuk, Ilhoon, and I sang the song Gangsta-Luv together. We just used the beat and we made up the lyrics. I am glad that it received a lot of positive feedback. Older noona by 6 years, we never fought. Since she is so much older, we don’t get a lot of chance to fight about anything. She finished her education so now she is a professor and she is really nice to me. Whenever she travels or goes shopping, she buys gifts for me. After English, I am confident in Spanish. This is embarrassing, but my Spanish teacher told me that I was good enough to live in a Spanish country. I started in 6/7th grade and studied it until I was in my junior year of high school. I feel like I forgot a lot these days so I am studying on my own. It’s fun shooting a real gun. From my cousins I know someone who professionally shoots so I started learning under him. In a month I got scores 90 out of 100. We even won a gold medal since our team was really good. Hm it’s been about 2~3 months since I went shooting. If I wasn’t a singer I would most likely have become a professional shooter (Laughs).

 

Jung Ilhoon 1994 10.04 Blood Type B

I have clinging feeling towards the intro song. The reason is because I have a lot of parts! For the intro song I showed the rap lyrics that I wrote for it and he put in a lot of my parts than I thought would be in it. Other than this song though, I participated in the rap making of all the tracks on the album. I also participated in the composing job for the title track ‘Secret’. When I get nervous, my ears move. Others bite their nails or shake their leg when they are nervous, but for me, my ears move. If you look closely, then it might look weird, but it’s a habit that I recently developed. I like the feeling of moving my ears hahaha. If I do this I feel like that I won’t be nervous. I’m sure other people will think it’s weird. Called chic Ilhoon. To be honest, I’m far away from being chic. But, the fans put the word “chic” in front. Maybe I look chic on the TV. Often hears that he looks like BEAST’s Yong Junhyung. I had 14 interviews so far and 13 of them told me that I looked like him. Of course I am thankful since it means that they look at me well. Relieves stress by shopping. I don’t buy a lot, but I feel like my stress level decreases when I go shopping.  If I were to do something crazy to relieve my stress, I want to try a crazy hairstyle. But, of course shaving my head is a no. The secret to my skin is just a moisture pack. The moisture pack is the most comfortable since all I have to do is put it on and sleep. Minhyuk hyung has the most skin care products and a lot of the fans buy that for him. Prefer my real name to a stage name. I thought about using an English name like other groups, but I wanted to be remembered for a long time with my real name. My goal is to become a star that is loved by all age groups, not just the teens. Acted in the sitcom <Living in Cheongnamdong>. Acting is a charming field. I learned drama and movie acting in the company, but sitcom acting is a bit different. Your expressions and reaction is important since if you are too serious it becomes a drama. If I get the chance I want to act again. My dream when I was 5/6 was to become a soldier. Back then soldiers looked so good and they looked like real men in the uniforms. It was even awesome to see them say “attention.” When I saw a solider when I was little I followed them around everywhere.

Yook Sungjae 1995 05.02 A Blood Type

Yook Gaejang (Korean spicy soup), Yook River. Since my last name is out of the ordinary, there are a lot of nicknames that go with my name. In the group pictures, he always gets the side positions In the group I am the tallest with my height being 180cm. There isn’t a problem when I am alone, but when I am taking a group picture the problem arises since I am the only one sticking out. So suddenly my position automatically became the two sides. If I do ever change positions, I am usually the one out at the front. From the album I like the song Monday to Sunday the best. I like the title song too, but I usually like brighter songs, so I like that song the most from the entire album. I am the member who looks at the mirror most often. Since I am always checking up on my make up and hair I end up looking at the mirror a lot. But, Minhyuk hyung also looks at the mirror as much as me. (Laughs) I hear that I look like Seo Ingook and Lee Minki sunbaenims. Not too long ago I took a picture with Seo Ingook sunbaenim in the hair shop. He was really good looking in real life. I hear that I look like Lee Minki sunbaenim once in a while. Since they are both really amazing people, I am really happy. I like to shop.  If I have some free time, I go shopping without any hesitations. The item I really like these days are jackets. I like clean tailored jackets as well as sporty stadium jumper. For the design, I enjoy a simple beige style when I can.  We started living together 5 months before debut. One interesting thing about it is that there are 3 bunk beds in one room. Since we are all in one room I think we get to talk a lot and get a chance to get closer to each other. One sad thing is the bathroom. When I wake up in the morning it is a war zone. Peniel was the member that made a strong impression on me. His foreign, but modern image made me pay attention to him. But once you get to know him, he is really strange. He is really random!  When I dress I worry about my pants the most. Compared to my thin body, my thighs are bigger. So I pick out pants that fit my thighs than my waist. A girl who is very direct is my style. It would be even better if she was cute and nice.