170718 BTOB Changsub Interview w/ STARNEWS (ENG TRANS)

INTERVIEW PART 1

Q: You seem to go to cafes often.

CS: I like cafes. I frequent Cube’s 1st floor cafe to get coffee and then go straight to the practice room. At cafes, I don’t get anything other than Americanos. I pretty much only drink Americanos but sometimes when I’m having a hard day and need more sugar, I get a sweet drink which makes me feel better.

Q: How are you doing these days?

CS: I’m currently practicing for my musical and following our BTOB schedules as well.

Q: Since it is your second musical, it seems like it will be easier this time around.

CS: No. It’s much more difficult than the last one. This one is more difficult because ‘Boys over Flowers’ (BOF) was a present day musical so I could act out freely all the normal, every day life things… but because this is a period/historical musical… I realized its very different while I was practicing. I’m super anxious. Will I be able to put on a good performance..

Q: Baek Hyunghoon, Jin Taehwa, and BAP’s Daehyun are also cast for the role of Lucien. Do you think there will be parts that you will show that will be different from the other three?

CS: Actually, for this musical I still haven’t quite fully grasped my character… right now, I haven’t completely grasped him.

Q: How was it during BOF?

CS: During BOF, it was seriously all me. It wasn’t a character. It was like a method-acting kind of feel? I really just acted like myself. (The character) had a similar side to mine.

Q: In what ways was the BOF character Tsukasa similar to you?

CS: He just lets out his anger well and stuff, which is similar to me and he’s also kind of a tsundere which is also similar to me… because there were similarities like that, I think I was able adapt to the character quite fast. It’s not the same with Napoleon though. It’s my first time trying to become someone else completely, so even though I’m practicing and worrying everyday, it’s still really difficult.

Q: Do you have absolutely no similar qualities to ‘Lucian’ at all?

CS: He’s the total opposite of me. I’ve never tried to become a character before so it’s very difficult. I’m seriously properly feeling the distress of acting.

Q: I guess you’ve gotten more ambitious about acting.

CS: I’ve definitely gotten more ambitious. It was the same during BOF and its the same during Napoleon too… there are a lot of seniors who have been acting for a really long time, so when I see them, I get motivated. I think I get more ambitious towards acting the more I actually do it. Since this is my second musical, I’m upset that I won’t be able to do well.

Q: BTOB members also take part in acting activities. Do you guys console/advise each other?

CS: We’ve never talked about acting. Actually, I don’t really talk a lot about acting with the members. Instead, I talk a lot with the musical actors I work together with. Usually, I talk with the individuals who have the same role as me like Hyunhoon hyung, Taehwa hyung and Daehyunie.

INTERVIEW PART 2

Q: You’ve got a few scratches on your arm.

CS: Our house cat claws at us these days. She dug in deep. I felt her claws go into my skin. At the dorm, theres only one cat but we all raise her together. She’s BTOB’s cat. Sungjae is the one who brought her to the house so 3 (sam) x 2 (e) = 6 (yook), so her name is 32 (pronounced sami).

Q: How many months has it been since the cat moved in?

CS: Around 6 months now? She’s still a baby. She kneads a lot and they said she’ll have to get a surgery to be neutered soon so that’s been weighing on my mind a bit. She’s going to become a eunuch….

Q: Is the cat a male?

CS: She is a female.

Q: You must have been worrying over her neutralization surgery a lot.

CS: Can we just not do it? We’re still in the middle of talking about it. We need to schedule the surgery but we’re still in the midst of talking about when would be a good time.

Q: The members must share a lot of conversations because of Sami.

CS: We’re like a family so we don’t really talk about a lot of things. When we’re gathered together eating food, we’ll make gags and stuff. We’re a bunch of kids who are always trying to create laughter so…

Q: Who’s the funniest among the members?

CS: These days, Sungjae? He’s popular. Between us (the members) he’s popular. Because I’m really not funny, I’m running towards the end of Sungjae’s peak in gags (T/N: that last part may not be correct, I didn’t really understand what he was trying to say ><)

Q: It seems he didn’t learn it from you.

CS: We all communicate by watching each other and just pick it up.

Q: You also made the newly coined term YeJiApSa.

CS: It was coined a term in 2016. It was either in 2015 or 2016. I just said it as a joke but it was really well received so I was like “this isn’t the reaction I was looking for?” Since a lot of people use it, it’s a bit fascinating so I’m happy as well.

Q: Was there anything else you came up with after YeJiApSa?

CS: I was going to make a new word but as I was trying to make it, nothing was coming up. Things like art come (to people) suddenly out of nowhere so when I made YeJiApSa, I didn’t use my head even a little bit when creating it. I think that’s what it is. Something like art…

INTERVIEW PART 3

Q: I hear you really like the girl group GFriend?

CS: I enjoy their music. Their singing gives off a old school vibe and I like their fighting-like stages. I just like it cuz its a good thing and these days, since I’m feeling older, I like seeing all these young and fresh looking people. Right now, I like all girl groups who are working hard.

Q: Are there any boy groups that you’re paying attention to?

CS: I’m paying attention to Pentagon. They are overflowing with fighting spirit and I feel like they’re carrying around an infinite potential for growth so I’m really looking forward to them. On top of that, this time around Hoetaek (HUI) and E.Dawn wrote “Never” for the Nation’s Sons (team on PD101). Watching them make good music makes me believe that they’ll do well. I was like “oh~~~” since it was on the charts for so long.

Q: Seems like you’ve listened to ‘Never’

CS: It was good / I liked it. As expected!

Q: Did you watch PD101 season 2? Trainees from the same company as you, Yoo Seonho and Lai GuanLin were on it.

CS: I didn’t watch the program but I heard that the two of them were doing really well. I’m really happy for Lai GuanLin on becoming a Wanna One member. We don’t really have time to watch and BTOB in general don’t really watch TV. Maybe Minhyuk hyung watched it. Out of us all, he’s the type who watches the most…

Q: BTOB is already onto their 6th year. You and the members must talk a lot about BTOB.

CS: We’re not thinking of breaking up / splitting up. All 7 of us. We’ve never thought about BTOB’s end before. We’ve decided to go together forever, no matter what.

Q: BTOB has tried a lot of different concepts. What do you think is a concept that can only be BTOB’s?

CS: Actually, BTOB isn’t a group that grabs a concept and just goes with that… I think our music is good and we are a group that you will like. We are going towards becoming singers who are not limited and will sing if there is good music. That’s how I feel. That’s what I hope for.

Q: You did solo promotions in Japan.

CS: I released a solo album in Japan. It was successfully concluded as I came back after selling out all my albums. There were 15,000 printings (of my album) but we printed 5,000 more, and I heard they all got sold out. There were goods that we were selling too, which all sold out as well. The showcase was also all sold out.

Q: You must have some ambitions to go solo in Korea as well.

CS: Of course. If it’s possible. Doing a solo is all of BTOB’s dream. BTOB’s genre and my personal genre are different. It’s nothing like “this is just whatever and this is good” but more like… it’s good that there is a genre for just BTOB and its good that there is a genre just for me. It’s my dream to be a rockstar. I’ve wanted to do rock from the very beginning.

INTERVIEW PART 4

Q: Seo Eunkwang is taking part in a musical (Hamlet) as well.

CS: I went to watch Hamlet a few days ago and he did so well to the point of me thinking that Eunkwang hyung doesn’t suit the idol path but suits the musical path more… he really looks like a musical actor. Of course, the division between saying ‘He looks like a musical actor vs He looks like an idol’ is vague, but even though it doesn’t make sense, he seemed like he was a person who had been doing musicals since the beginning. He worked that hard and was that great. The only time I feel Eunkwang hyung is really cool is when he’s doing musicals. Outside of musicals, he’s a funny person… but only when he’s doing musicals, he’s that cool. He shines.

Q: Is there any rivalry between you two?

CS: We watch and learn from each other without any rivalry. A lot. Theres no reason for us to have rivalry.

Q: You said that Eunkwang is most cool when he’s doing musicals… so when do you think the other members look the coolest?

CS: Hyunsik and Ilhoon are the coolest when they play the songs that they made. When they say ‘we wrote this for BTOB’ and play the title track… they’re cool. Minhyuk hyung is cool when he uses his body. Peniel looks coolest when he takes pictures. Peniel was the one who shot my Japanese solo album jacket photos. He was really cool at that time. He was like a photographer. For Sungjae, well, he’s cool since he’s naturally a superstar..

Q: When you call Sungjae a superstar, what is his reaction like?

CS: He’s just calm / cool about it. He knows I’m just playing around…

Q: What is your goal for the year?

CS: For this year, firstly the most closest goal is to successfully perform in Napoleon and to release another solo album in Japan. Also, later in the future, I want to do a bigger scale solo concert. Someday it won’t just be me alone; I want to create a band.

Q: I also feel that you have ambitions to receive the rookie of the year award for musical as well.

CS: Of course. If I receive it I’ll be thankful. That is also one of my goals. But, seeing as how difficult Napoleon is looking, receiving it doesn’t seem right. I hope I can do more musicals. If given the opportunity, (I’d like to do one) during the end of the year. Now that I’ve done a modern-day play and a period/historical play, I’d like to do a modern-day play one more time.

Q: Anything you want to say to your fans?

CS: It’s something I say all the time but I think of them as my colleagues. Our fans. Thank you for always being by our sides and lets healthily be together for a long long time.

Q: I notice you didn’t say YeJiApSa.

CS: I’ll ask you to write that in the text. I was embarrassed about it being brought up so… YeJiApSa.