Every now and then, RC is graced with the chance to interview some very very popular artists. Imagine our surprise when we learned that we were going to do an email interview while in Korea this summer with one of 2013’s breakout K-pop girl groups – Crayon Pop! You know ’em, you love ’em. For those that don’t, allow us to help you get acquainted with the colourful melodic package that is Crayon Pop!

Crayon Pop (comprised of members ChoA, Way, Ellin, Gummi and Soyul) are a five-member South Korean pop girl group signed to Chrome Entertainment. Debuting in 2012 with the song ‘Saturday Night’, the girls have climbed their way up the charts with catchy tune after catchy tune. Things really picked up the year after with the release of the viral hit ‘Bar Bar Bar’, and the world over fell in love with the girls, dance moves and all. Having shared international stages with the likes of Lady Gaga and Ylvis, the girls followed up with the release of their track ‘FM’ earlier this year. Let’s see what the girls have to say about their newfound fame and activities as entertainers.

For those who aren’t familiar with who you are, please introduce yourself briefly.

Hi everyone! We are the five-membered girl group Crayon Pop, who debuted in 2012 with the song ‘Saturday Night’. During 2013, we became more well known and loved by fans with the song ‘빠빠빠’. Recently, we released our new song ‘FM’. We are very actively promoting within Asia and abroad now.

You girls have been busy with shows overseas and released two songs within this year – ‘FM’ and ‘뭐해’. For ‘FM’, how was it fitting into the concept of ‘Power Rangers’ style for the video?

The concept of our new song ‘FM’ is “female warriors”. In the music video, we transformed into heroines who fight against a villain to express the toughness of warriors. However many people were reminded of old Sentai hero series like Power Rangers or Ultraman. It was cool that our video triggered 90s childhood nostalgia for some who watched the video.

Any funny stories while shooting the video for ‘FM’?

As you saw in the music video, there was a very strong wind blowing during the shoot. All of the members were shooting with chewing sand in their mouths. Also, when the members were washing their hair after, the bath water and tub became colourful due to the residue from the colorful explosion scene. For example, red from ChoA and orange from Way.

You are also currently preparing for your debut in Japan. How will this differ from your earlier entrance to that market with a Japanese version of ‘Bing Bing’ back in 2012?

The reason why we made a Japanese version of ‘빙빙’ was to show our appreciation and thanks to the fans there who supported us and showed us interest even though we did not formally debut in Japan in 2012. This time around, we are actually planning for a formal debut in Japan with a new album that includes the song ‘라리루레’ and a variety of other songs. We are very nervous and very excited at the same time for our debut in Japan with formal debut title track, although we already did a few live performances and have had albums released there before.

Each member has also been busy with their own solo activities. What can we expect next from each member?

Way and ChoA will be focusing on musicals. Currently ChoA is in the musical ‘덕혜옹주’, which celebrates the 70th anniversary of Korean independence day. Also, Way is now casted in the musical ‘사람은 비를 타고-SABITA. Gummi has shown interest in acting or MCing after she acted in the web drama ‘6인실’. Recently, Ellin and Soyul were featured on the MBC program ‘천생연분 리턴즈’ and you can expect future appearances in other variety/comedy shows. Of course we won’t be slowing down on music and we’re going to try to be more active overseas.

You were invited to perform at South by Southwest (SXSW) earlier this year in Texas. While this was not your first time performing in the US, SXSW is a prestigious music festival held every year with artists of all types. Describe that experience.

After attending Lady Gaga’s North American tour last year as the opening act, we were very happy and excited to return to the US once again for SXSW. We were very surprised to see many fans welcoming us at the airport. We were invited to SXSW, which is a well-known music festival, as representative Korean artists. So we tried our best to show what our music is. Also we debuted our song ‘FM’ at ‘케이팝 나이트 아웃’ (K-pop Night Out).

You also filmed a skit with Funny or Die while in Texas. As that was one of your first times performing your song ‘FM’ in front of people, how was the reaction to the song?

This is the first time we’re mentioning this behind story, but actually we did not play any music while we were shooting the ‘Funny or Die’ skit. There were equipment problems, but even with these issues we wanted to show the kind of artists we are. For this we had to sing live without music to keep the dance choreography in sync. People who were watching us might have thought that it was very interesting, weird or silly like ‘What are they doing?’. Once you watch the skit, you now know why we were doing that!

You’ve done different concepts for each of your songs released so far. What is the next concept you would like to try?

Of course we wanted to do cute concepts and sexy concepts since we are a girl group. However, we think people love and follow us because we have concepts far different from those of other girl groups. We cannot specifically disclose our next concept but we will try not to lose our unique color and charm!

Is there anything each member would like to get into in terms of things other than singing or acting? (ex: production, songwriting, modelling, show host etc.)

You’ll probably be able to see more of ChoA and Way in musicals since they both were very interested in musicals even before their debut. Soyul just became a university freshman this year. We believe she will find things that she would be interested in other than music while she is attending university.

You’ve worked with foreign stars like Ylvis and Lady Gaga through various opportunities presented to you. Who is the next foreign act you’d like to work with?

Other than Ylvis and Lady Gaga, we also collaborated with the Chinese boy band DT Boys in January of this year. It’s very good to learn and gain new experiences from collaboration with other musicians. We are always ready for work with any artists, so don’t hesitate to contact us!

When can we expect new Crayon Pop songs?

It’s hard to say right now, but hopefully we can come back to fans within this year.

When you have spare time, what do you do for fun?

Mainly spending time with family or close friends, as it’s difficult to do so while we are active with promotions. Soyul is having so much fun in university. You can tell if you check out her pictures with school friends on her Instagram account.

What is your current guilty pleasure?

Usually we cannot eat good food. Girl groups always need to be cautious with their weight. However good food is always hard to keep away from!

What is something each member would like to remembered for by the fans, many years from now?

Our goal is to be ‘호감돌’ (favourable idols) and ‘국민돌’ (national idols). Down the road, we would like to remembered as a group ‘on a level of popularity of its own, with no comparison’ by people of all ages and stages of life, regardless of gender. Of course we will do our best and keep up the good work to earn such honours.

Any additional words that you would like to leave our readers?

To Crayon Pop fans in Canada, it’s been a year since we performed as the opening act at Lady Gaga’s North American tour in 2014. In the future, if we have the chance, we would love to visit Canada again to see you all. Always take good care of yourselves and please keep supporting and loving Crayon Pop. Much love to all the fans!

Many thanks to Ah-min Cho from Chrome Entertainment for helping set up the interview with the girls. And thank you all for support them, please continue to show your love for the group and look forward to their next release. This has been a rhythm.connection exclusive!