[TRANSLATIONS] Seungri’s interview on ELT Photobook

It is said that the whole interview can be conducted in Japanese.
Yes, I will try my best. If there is something that I don’t understand, can I ask the favor of the translator?

Sure.
Good. Please carry on.

First of all, what do you think about yourself, VI?
Others may think I am full of confidence but in fact, I am not. My heart Is vulnerable, really vulnerable. However, since I don’t want to show this weak side in front of you, I would put in extra effort in practising. I work hard for gaining more confidence. To the seemingly confident me, I still care how my fellow members think about me. ‘Why are you so frank!?’ since I always hear this sentence from them.

So you are still nervous until now?
I have been nervous until now, especially before I have to walk on the stage. To be more exact, I am a little bit scared. Whatever I do on the stage will be accepted by my fans, that is the reason why my anxiety disappears. What I am scared of are the TV programmes and activities. Since there are fans of other idols as well, certainly there are people who do not know BIGBANG, I want to avoiding leaving bad impression on them in these occasions. Therefore, I keep on practicing until I can be accepted and I want to want to there with confidence. If I do not have enough preparation, it is unacceptable to walk on the stage with nervousness. I think that kind of feeling must be easily spotted out by the fans.

You are this kind of serious person since you were small? Why?
Perhaps. Because I am a blood type A person. When I was small, I loved comedies. When I was studying in primary and secondary school. I worked so hard to amuse my fellow classmates. That’s why I doom to be a comedian in the future!! I used to think like that. However, when I was participating in the celebration of my junior school, my team lost to the guest team and I was astonished. And we started to learn from that team. The whole period lasted for 2 years and since that time, I wanted to be an artist. And what I thought was, ‘I want to be an artist… That means a singer, right?’

Why did you associate the two things like that?
I don’t know. Although I am not sure why I would link like that, I truly wanted to be an artist. Comparing to singing, I would like to attract attention. I wanted to be a famous person. For this, I wanted to become a singer but I did not quite know how to sing, that was true. If what I only needed to do is dancing, I would not lose. I realised that I did not sing well so I did not quite like singing karaoke neither but I wanted to do it well.

If you want to be a famous artist, singing is a must then.
It was really hard. When I was being interviewed, I was frustrated when I heard the interviewers said ,’ that means you are not suitable to develop in this aspect?” Therefore, I did not have singing lessons for nearly 1 year and neither did I dance. However, when I audited for YG, the president said ,’ you nearly reached the level that you can sing in front of the public’ and ‘I can see the future in you.

How did you feel when hearing this?
I was delighted deep from my heart and then a lot of things popped up in my mind, ‘So I , can do it now? I can be an artist? I am a singer!’ Even my confidence was budded too. However, after seeing how the members of BIGBANG were trained at that moment, my heart was lost. I knew deep down from my heart, I could not be compared with them and I was like falling into irreversible sadness.

They had really high standard?
Yes, very high. Our members, right from that spur of time, could sing and dance very well. I am not exaggerating since that is true. I completely lost. I lost from head to tail. That’s why I kept practicing, non-stop practicing.

Those must be hard days.
Yes, I wanted to give up sometimes.

But why didn’t you give up?
I worked hard for my parents. I am unlike other members, I do not come from Seoul. I came from a place called Gwangju. If we see it from the perspective of Japanese, it is like Osaka to Tokyo. Gwangju was a bit far from Seoul. For most of the artists, if they leave home at the age of 15, their parents will object to their decision but mine supported me since the very beginning. ‘If you really decide to do that, please do it seriously.’ I was encouraged by this sentence and it gave me strength to go to Seoul since I knew I could not give up. Other members like GD and SOL also helped me a lot. Before I entered the company, they had leading the life of a trainee for 6 years. Since they were my seniors, they gave me advice.

You have shown very good performance recently, how blissful you are.
I did not know whether I could debut or not at that time since my background is different from them.

I know you have to be humble but it is undeniable that VI has been one of our most expected singers nowadays.
Thank you. Whenever I talked with my sister who is 3 years younger than me on the phone, I will hear this, ‘ Oppas in BIGBANG are super, you have to work extra hard!’ Although I know it myself, when it came out of the mouth of my younger sister, I would still think she is ‘so noisy’ and ‘so crumpsy’~zi-zi-zi, then the phone will be hanged up?!

Ha ha, your family members are strict.
They are really pushing me although obviously I am working hard now.

So your Japanese is NO. 1 in your team?
I can speak a lot Japanese. I learn Japanese from a staff two hours a day and because I like Japanese TV drams and films too , such as ‘Rookies’ and ‘Cross Zero’. I imitate how they speak. I want to speak Japanese as fluent as the Japanese. That’s why I pay much attention to the conversation among the characters of the programmes. Then I imitated the sentences together with a proper tone. I learn Japanese gradually in this way.

It was a must for you to be the MC of the stage of ‘ELECTRIC LOVE TOUR’.
I was so worried so I watched many LIVE DVDS before because the stage design of the Japanese stages is different from the Korean ones.

What is the difference?
The part that is the most different is what we say on the stage. In Korea, we asked,’ do you enjoy our show?’ and ‘let’s start’. But we think Japanese fans also anticipated there were something good in our conversation so we wanted to include some funny elements into it. And of course, we would have heart-to-heart talk too. I have thought of the conversation a lot. ‘How are you doing?’ After I spoke this. The fans replied with ‘Wa’ and GD said ,’ not good enough, not good enough’ to me.

That is awesome so will you want to follow the trend of ‘TALK’ too?
Yes, I am the one who think about the MV part. Since I know what the fans are curious very well, I am responsible of conveying their messages to my fellow members too. I am working hard to be the bridge between fans and BIGBANG. No matter in Korea or Japan, I am the only one who leaves message on the blog.

You are just like the PR of BIGBANG.
Oh, I have never thought of this before.

In fact, you guys received very good feedback from your tour and the fans loved the MC part too.
I feel especially happy about this. This was very enjoyable. Last year I though the Japanese fans were very silent but this year, they were awesome. They did not only watch our performance but also joined it! How can I describe this to you?

You started to feel the echos from the fans.
Yes yes, this is exactly what I mean! Echo! What I feel on the stage was the same sentiment that felt by the audience. We all felt nervous.

How did you feel before you have your performance?
Of course I am nervous. Although I did not know whether my fellow members felt the same as me or not but I was so nervous that I did not speak a word. SOL went to the toilet very frequently. And for GD, he always spoke to us to make sure everything was okay. ‘No problems? All are ready?’ That’s why he is the leader. I observed how my brothers act at that time. As the youngest in the team, I am exceptionally calm since I have witnessed all of the success and failures of the adults. Yes yes, that is right. But I do also receive a lot of teachings from my brothers too. At the very beginning, there were several things that I could not do and I even threw tantrums because of this. And haven’t I changed a lot? Now, when I looked back, being the youngest, it is good to have both sides of cute and mature. Ha ha.

You have broken a smile on your face so what is the results of observing them?
In fact, GD and TOP are the ones who are the most pampered. Although their performance on the stage kill people but they have a child-like heart. And I, as I always say, ‘GD and TOP are the two who speak the funniest Japanese.’ They are really interesting!

On the contrary, so you are the adult?
Yes!

You seem to be so confident about it.
But my heart is very vulnerable.

To be exact, which part is comparatively vulnerable?
The part that I cannot be really angry. Although I think that if I can show my anger, it will be better, I do not want to show this kind of mood. What I do is to accumulate this kind of feeling in my heart since I am a blood type A person. Therefore, I try to release my feelings through driving and speed. BEONG BEONG!!

But you do not hide your feeling when you really want to share something?
If it is something about BIGBANG, I love to share it immediately. ‘ I think if we do it in this way, it would be better…’ I always say such stuff in front of my fellow members. And as a leader, GD is superb to take everyone’s opinions into account and then draws a conclusion. Therefore, the decisions made by BIGBANG are made according to the opinions of the members. And if the decisions are different from mine, I can also accept them.

He is such a reliable leader.
So I think it is really a fabulous team. There are times that we fight with each other though. We have different roles and what is mutual among us is we are all frank person. SOL is particularly ‘very’ frank and willing to forgive. I have not only known D-Lite very well.

Do you guys act very secretly?
I don’t know what other members do in their private time but I know what most of them are up to. D-Lite is trying to build a maze, just like an astronaut. He does not know how to talk with people he is not familiar with. Because TOP is the oldest brother, for me, as the youngest can come into contact with him with a cool attitude but I am scared too. People of blood type B are horrible! It is a big deal. Be careful when you are conducting the interview.

Does TOP blame you as well?
Yes yes, although just occasionally. If he points out my faults, I would say,’Yes, I am sorry. I will start taking care of this now…’ ha ha!

VI is a college student too.
Yes, I entered university this year and I found school life very meaningful. Since I entered the showbiz since I was small, I do not have friends outside the business. However, when I promoted to university, I started to have friends. And when I hear others’ thoughts, I will also agree with them. The relationship with others have been enhanced for sure.

Are you learning how to perform?
Yes. Although Korean singers often participate in TV drama or films, I believe that we need acting skills even if we are only singing. How much the fans can get our messages also matter a lot to me. When performing the beautiful songs, then we should perform in a beautiful way; if they are sad songs, we have to choose the appropriate way to perform them. We need to convey the messages by our facial expressions too which I am currently learning. Certainly I want to participate in different activities in the future. Although I want BIGBANG can follow the example of SMAP and continues to be the best band in Korea, as a solo artist, I also want to have my solo activities. I wish I could have a style like Justin Randall Timberlake. I also want to try to take a role in films and TV dramas, etc.

You are a very curious person.
I want to accomplish many things and I am always thinking about stuff. I am that kind of person who loves to work a lot. I feel unsafe when I am free. I can be called as a greedy man.

That’s why you are working hard now.
Perhaps. What drives me to do so is BIGBANG. BIGBANG is the ace card of my life. I feel so lucky of having BIGBANG and I feel stronger too. Wherever I want to go, I can certainly able to do so. For places that I cannot reach with my own foot, my fellow members will support me. I believe all 5 of them feel this too since we are in a group.

The ace of your life. It is really a true metaphor.
I feel special as being part of BIGBANG. If I were not part of it, I would not feel so. I have lives a special life which I have to be grateful of.

VI has the control of such a life.
VI: Yes, I think it is fate. It is because of this, our belief will not fade. All of us are of different ages. Although I am the youngest, when we are working, age does not matter a bit. For all of us, we bear the same responsibility- we have to become BIGGER for BIGBANG and we have to keep on working hard.

VI has been working hard continuously so now you have a different kind of confidence?
After hard work, certainly I have confidence. And I also think that it is not acceptable for me not to work hard. Is it true that even Japanese males do have confidence, they will not say it out? All of them would only say,’ At the time being..it is…’. I am ‘confident’ and ‘I am a flower boy’, I have said so but I joked of course.

Oh, was it a joke?
Half was a joke and another half was real. I have to work extra hard for conveying those funny bits to you.

You have already attained a good standard of Japanese.
No, I want to speak even better in order to leave a good impression on the ones who live in Japan. But when I am doing activities in a group and others just think that there is only me who is working hard on Japanese, it is not good at all. Since it looks like other members do not have the passion to learn it. So for the readers who are reading this interview, please include the sentence ‘work hard on Japanese’ on your letters to other members.

Won’t it be better if you say it on your own?
It is not suitable since I am the youngest in the team.

Haven’t you said that if it is related to job, it is okay to speak like this?
I only think that if they get encouragement from the Japanese fans, they will work harder.

Cr: Rice @BBworldwide