ISPlus – Daily Sports Interview



“Everyday~ Girl’s Day~”

No matter how you look at it, 2014 was the year of Girl’s Day. From “Something” at the beginning of the year to “Darling” in the summer, Korea became completely captivated by the group and with just a whisper, the entire country fell under their spell.

It has now been 5 years since the group’s debut in 2010. Girl’s Day is attracting attention not just with their group promotions, but also with their individual activities. Sojin has embarked upon an acting career, appearing in dramas such as “The Greatest Marriage” and “Family Outing”, and is receiving praise for her well-developed acting skills. Yura has fallen head over heels into her virtual marriage with actor/model Hong Jonghyun, to the point where viewers are left wondering if their relationship might actually be real. Minah recently suffered an ankle injury, but she remains a valuable “blue chip” of the entertainment industry. She even studied to get an excavator operating license in order to build houses on the show “Eco Village”, showing the versatility of her talents and establishing herself as an “all-rounder”. Hyeri has been capturing the hearts of many with her aegyo. Notably, during her appearance on “Real Men”, she decimated 600,000 military personnel with a single act of cuteness.

Girl’s Day has released many albums since their debut, but they really started to receive the general public’s love in the spring of 2013 with “Expectation”. The group continued their success with “Female President” in the summer. However, it was “Something”, the mega hit song of 2014, that finally brought Girl’s Day to the Golden Disk Awards.

We met up with Girl’s Day after they received their Bonsang (T/N: Main prize – Digital Single Bonsang). They must have been exhausted, but they didn’t show any sign of fatigue, their faces still glowing from their win. The four lovely ladies each cracked open a beer and sat down with us to have a candid chat.

Let’s start with the obligatory question when drinking: how much can you drink?

Sojin: Other than Minah, we’re all about the same. I like cocktails and vodka, Yura likes makgeolli, and Hyeri can drink about ⅔ of a bottle of soju.

Minah doesn’t drink?

Minah: It’s not that I never drink, it’s just that I can’t hold my liquor very well. And then when I do drink a little bit, I end up falling asleep.

Do any of the members have bad habits when drinking?

Yura: I don’t think so… Sojin-unnie can only have one drink before her face turns red, but she isn’t even drunk at that point. For me, I’m different every time I drink, depending on what my mood is like… am I bipolar? (laughter)

Do you drink often?

Hyeri: I don’t drink a lot. My face turns red pretty much right away, and that can be awkward, so I mainly have a drink at home with the members.

It was your first time at the Golden Disk Awards. How did you feel?

Hyeri: I had kind of a difficult time because I was trying so hard not to cry. (laughs) I was really overwhelmed.

Sojin: Hyeri has changed now that she’s started acting. Her crying is a little… um… (laughs)

Isn’t it natural for people to cry when they win something?

Sojin: The tears came from a different place tonight though. Rather than thinking, “Wow, we won such an amazing award!”, I was flooded with thoughts of the people we’re grateful to, and memories of the hard times we’ve gone through… it was a strange feeling.

Who did you think of first?

Yura: Um… the members. Since they’re always right by my side, I couldn’t help but think of them first. Then my mind shifted to our families and our company, everybody who has helped us get to where we are, and then of course, our fans.

You were incredibly busy last year with promotions and other activities.

Sojin: We really received so much love last year and there are no words to express how thankful I am. We accomplished a lot.

Is there anything in particular that you set out to achieve?

Hyeri: When we were about to release “Something”, I said I wished that we could do 20 CFs in 2014. At the time, it was just something silly that I blurted out, and the members were like, “Why would you say something like that?”, but we actually did end up doing 20 CFs. What I said came true.

Compared to other girl groups, it seems like Girl’s Day has struggled a lot.

Yura: Everyone experiences hardships. Rather than struggling, I think it’s just that we’ve gone through so many ups and downs. Ever since “Expectation” though, we’ve received a lot of love from the general public, and that makes us feel a great sense of pride. Sometimes I think, “Wow, our time has finally come.”

Did you have any idea that “Something” would be such a big hit?

Hyeri: I liked the song from the very first time I heard it, but I really never thought that so many others would like it too. A lot of people told us that it was the representative girl group song of 2014 and that was very nice to hear.

Minah: I saw comedians doing parodies of the song and I thought that was pretty cool. Because for something to get parodied, it has to be popular, right? “Something” and “Darling” were both parodied at end-of-the-year shows.

All of the members are doing a lot more solo work these days.

Hyeri: Yes, ever since last year, we’ve gotten much busier with individual activities. More people know about Girl’s Day now and we’ve also been receiving more offers to do things individually.

How much has changed compared to when you first debuted?

Sojin: When I stop and think about it, pretty much everything has changed in one way or another. We’ve grown up a bit, become more mature and more levelheaded. Because of that, it’s easier to focus on work. In the past, we would be like, “Ah, I hope things go well for us this time”, but not actually do anything to make that happen. Now, we set goals for ourselves and try to be realistic about the time it might take to achieve them. In a word, we’ve gotten wiser.

Hyeri: Before, even though the other members were there, we would each waste time worrying by ourselves and keeping things bottled up, but now, we talk honestly with each other and put everything out in the open. It’s like we’re our own little family.

As a group, what’s your biggest concern?

Yura: We’re most concerned about wanting to improve more and more as Girl’s Day and wanting each album to be better and better.

And what are your individual concerns?

Minah: Mine are really trivial. For instance, “At the airport tomorrow, will any reporters show up? And if they do, will my face look swollen in the photos they take?” Things like that.

I notice that you use honorific language with each other.

Hyeri: We used honorific language at first, but now things are more relaxed. When I was a freshman in high school, Sojin-unnie was 24 years old (T/N: Korean age). So I didn’t even dare… (laughs)

When will Girl’s Day be making a comeback?

Sojin: An exact date hasn’t been decided yet, but maybe in the spring? We’ve been very busy with individual activities, so there are still a few more things that we have to prepare before we can make our comeback.

Interview by Kim Jinseok

Photos by Yang Gwangsam

▶Continue to Part 2…

Source: isplus.joins.com

Translated By: Shirina