The following is the Question and Answer Session with the members of JYJ.
Q: How do you feel after the kick-off concert yesterday?
Yoochun: After it was finished I felt satisfied. During the preparation of the concert there were some parts that were lacking due to my schedule and I did not feel very confident. Normally when there arises occasions which are wanting you feel anxious because you know that such mistakes will happen. Yesterday, however, there were of course mistakes but I think it was a concert that had a high degree of completion.
Junsu: I wish that we had more room time-wise and on that I feel regretful. Because I had been doing musicals and had been preparing for many things there was some stress and I felt pressured. Even though the duration of the preparation was not long, because I had discussed a lot with Jaejoong Hyung on the phone as he prepared for the directing of the tour, and because I had such direct conversation (with the director himself), I rose to the stage with the full understanding of the concert at large. Because I did that, I felt so comfortable. If I recall my memories of kickoff concerts, this was the concert in which I felt the most reassured and comfortable. Among our kickoff performances, this was the best.
Q: How do you feel after having finished the first concert in Thailand as a director?
Jaejoong: I feel moved anew and because this was my first challenge as a director my heart fluttered and I felt tense. Because this was the first time I was in charge of directing I also learned very much. It was also a chance to experience firsthand the agony and the hardship of the directorial staff and other staff. In terms of scale, it is probably smaller than when we were debuting. But I tried hard to reinforce the aspects which, I felt, were uncomfortable for singers. I think one can tell that “he prepared quite hard.” The members themselves were satisfied.
Q: Was there a particular background or something that prompted you to take charge of directing?
Jaejoong: Until now many people took charge of directing the stage but I feel that there weren’t people who knew the best the mind of the singer. The (typical) method was to set the stage and then to tell (the singer) to “follow,” and I thought that such was not the answer. I thought the stage in which the singer and the director adjust to each other was the ideal one, and I wanted to make such a stage. It is not yet on the final level of actualization (of that ideal), but I think that it was a satisfying stage.
Q: How do the other members feel about Jaejoong’s directing the stage?
Yoochun: I totally love it. Even when I just heard that he will take on the role of the executive director I thought that “if it is Jaejoong Hyung he will surely do well.” He himself prepared all of the stages (of directing)– the songs, the singing, the choreography.
Junsu: Jaejoong prepared everything himself—even the fabric of the outfits. Actually, if you stand on the stage, there are some aspects which only those who stand on the stage themselves can feel. Jaejoong Hyung knew well the know-how that he had felt so I felt comfortable. He had always been very interested in such directing and therefore had a nickname as “Kim Direct,” and this time he really became Kim Director.
Q: Are there episodes that happened in the preparation of this concert?
Yoochun: In fact there was one yesterday. Because Jaejoong was paying attention to his role as director he couldn’t pay attention to his role as a singer. *laugh*
Junsu: When you change the outfit and there is a minute you should prepare your performance, but he was thinking only of the stage directing. “The light was wrong in this way,” and such—he paid attention to only those things.
Jaejoong: In truth, because of the detailed aspects of the stage I wasn’t able to pay attention to the songs and the dances (as much as I would have liked). Because I was the director the range of the areas that I needed to do was wide. The design of the outfits and such aspects, I have to pay attention obviously. But because the mixing, writing of the songs, and the composition of the songs, each of them, were not up to my liking I paid even more attention to them, and it is also true that there was no room in terms of time.
Q: Was there something that prompted Thailand to be the start of the World Tour?
Jaejoong: There is no particular reason. For any country (in which we had performed) there are memories of its own.
Q: In the concert you show off four new songs. What kind of songs are they?
Jaejoong: Among the new songs, Yoochun and I wrote together the lyrics of ‘Get Out.’ ‘Get Out’ means ‘Piss off’ in Korean and the lyrics occurred (to us) while I was working in Yoochun’s house. The lyrics are very direct. I see right in front of my eyes the scene of love between the person I love and another man, and I put the words that I want to say to those two. The listener first gets the feeling that the song may be a ballad but then it goes to a high tempo dance beat. It is an upbeat, fun song.
Yoochun: ‘In Heaven’ is extremely moving and the harmony of the three members is very good. The lyrics are meant to be sent to a girlfriend who has died and is in heaven—it is a song with sad lyrics.
Q: The meaning of the current ‘World Tour’?
Jaejoong: Because over 80% of the songs of the concert are songs in which the members themselves participated to create, there is much meaning. If we are looking at just the performance itself, it is not a fancy one that has been created with immense investment of funds. I wanted to show the other side of JYJ’s appeal to the fans. I didn’t do any work that was meant to disperse the sight. I tried to create a stage in which one could concentrate on the songs, in which we could become closer to the fans.
Yoochun: It is JYJ’s first tour abroad. The pride at the fact that ‘now we have enough songs that allow for a concert’ came to me first. I want to leave a strong impression unique to three of us to many fans and also want to show us as competent. I think this concert is going to be one in which I can evaluate for myself—‘I myself am currently at x stage (of life/career) and can go and reach x.’ I think this will be an opportunity for us to grow as artists.
Q: Things that were disappointing or felt difficult while you were preparing for the World Wide Album that was released in October of last year or the showcases abroad last year?
Jaejoong: It was very difficult. That we did not have enough time and the situation that existed were so difficult that it drove one insane. If we can be said to have done the work of putting on the spoon on a set table, this time it was the work of creating something with the staff—it was the first time that we were attempting those things and the process of such creation was difficult. Because the staff and the members did their best I think we have done well so far. There must be many more stages (of these processes) left but I don’t care if the future is even more difficult.
Junsu: What was great about ‘World Wide Album’ was that we went outside of Asia. LA, New York… those American regions were a first for us. Even though the album itself is not even released officially in the United States, it became #5 in Billboard’s Album of the Year and I think that is a big achievement. I felt happy.
But if there is a regret, it is the fact that no one knows of these feats except for us. We received a song from the world-renowned artist Kanye West and released an album, but so many people who were not fans were unaware. We feel confident about the quality of the album but it was regretful that we could not show those good songs on stages of Korea. I think that these aspects are mountains that we will need to climb in the future. We will do our best.
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