B1A4 Sandeul Myongji University newsletter Interview translations

Sandeul who came like a breeze

Sandeul (Lee Junghwan. Musical 14) first solo album "Stay as you are" consists of stories from his younger days and also songs that makes your heart feels mushy, it is filled with the experience that he has been through. With the 5 song titles in his album as a theme, let's start with his interview.

PART 1. The road we walked together
Q: How was the first meet up with B1A4 members?
A: Through the company representative, I managed to meet the members face to face through video call. When he said "If you go to Seoul, you will be working with these kids as a team and debut together" I felt a conviction that we will do well. In the video call, the members looked the coolest among all the people I have met before (laughs) That is why I came up to Seoul and started my dorm life. Even when we were trainees, the only way for us is to do well. Now that I think of it, the expectations I had was high. Actually, even with such thoughts, I thought we would do well because the members were together. 

Q: Since your debut in 2011, you are already an idol for 6 years, were there any things that were different from when you first debut?
A: When we first debut, the members will always gather together and talk. We would talk through the night and when the sun has risen, we would thought "Oh no" and go to sleep, and it isn't just on one or two occasions. We feel that meditating through talking is very important so we will talk about even the small things. Thanks to that, now 6 years has past and we are at a stage where there needs to be no words. Now the members all know what we want even when we don't say anything. I think we are slowly changing on that point.

PART 2. Home
Q: I heard you got a dog as a new family member. Talk me about your dog briefly.
A: His name is Mango and he is now 2 years old. Even though he doesn't listen to us well, he is a cute dog (laughs). Actually, Mango is no different from my little brother. My sister and I both left home and came to Seoul to live, so my parents back in Busan is very lonely. That is why I decided that instead of me, I will send them a dog to keep them accompany. Mango is my loveable little brother. Right now, he is raised by my parents who are in Busan.

Q: In your song "Home", There are a lot of messages that you wanted to convey to your family. Have you ever let your parents listen to it personally before?
A: Yes I've let them heard it. Because I wanted them to hear the song with the feelings of the lyrics, so I recorded and let them hear it, my mother asked if it is even possible for me to do that. (laughs) She is a really cold person. I guess when my mother heard it, rather than the feelings in the song, she is more worried about whether my solo album will do well or not.

Q: In that case, is Sandeul's singing skills like your parents?
A: The person who helped me when I started singing was my mother. My mother used her career in the choir as well as the knowledge she has gathered over the years to taught me singing when I was young. However, when I grew up and told them I want to learn singing, both of them objected. I guess that was because at that point of time when I want to do something, my interest don't go over a year, so they probably thought this wouldn't last more than 3 months too. My parents never thought I would go this far with singing. At that point of time they thought I would only learn it for a while but right now I have nothing except singing.

PART 3. My childhood stories
Q: Tell us about your story when you were young and first entered the university.
A: When I was 21 years old, I was able to stand on the musical stage through musical production "Brave brothers". However, the problem was because I have never stood on a musical stage before, I can only learn things one by one on the spot. Actually, I got a lot of scoldings at the start. It was something unavoidable because I don't know anything. So that was why I worked even harder. Normal musical practice timings are from 10am to 10pm. However, I will reach at 8am to clean the place, and practice and match with the seniors who came early. When the practice ends at 10, I will stay on longer to practice before heading home. Such were my days. Eventually, we ended the musically successfully, and also ended a 20 fully packed production tour, but I still feel that there is regret in my heart. So I want to learn more about musical and with the heart of wanting to stand on the musical stage, I enrolled into Myungji University. 

Q: Do you remember the first meal you had when you entered the University?
A: I have to look for my lecture room when I came onto the campus, I was frustrated that I don't know where is it. Just in time, I asked the student who was walking past for directions. He was really friendly and gave me all the directions. I was really grateful and said that I will buy him lunch. Of course I have to eat with the first student I met on the campus. That was my first school meal. (laugh) I think my first school meal was really good.

Q: Because of your busy schedule, you must have not been able to enjoy the school life as much as you want. What are some of the things you want to do if you return back to school?
A: When we had the new comers welcome ceremony, I watched the musical production put up together by Myungji University Musical major students of the same year. Everyone was very good and talented. If I were to return back to school, I want to do a musical stage with my year's student.

Q: As someone who has stood on the musical stage before, give our musical major students some advice.
A: I feel that the most important thing is "Try it with your whole body." This was how I made it here. If you just sit at your desk and think about it, it will never come to pass. The stage is the same. If you only think and worry about whether I can stand on the musical stage, you will never know if you can stand on the stage or not. Live or death, try run and knock onto it personally. You live will not end even if you try it.

PART 4: Ya!
Q: This song was a special featuring of Mamamoo's Wheein. Were you originally close to Wheein?
A: Because Mamamoo sings very well, I always thought of wanting to do a stage with them. When I heard Mamamoo's song in the car, the voice that stands out the most was Wheein's voice. So through close friend Moonbyul's introduction, I asked her to be featured in my song

Q: Other than Mamamoo Moonbyul, I also heard that you are close to BTS Jin, Vixx Ken and EXID Hani, what do the 92line mostly do when you guys gather together?
A: We are unable to meet often because we are busy, but when we do we play Escape-the-room games. We also go eat delicious food or head to another person's performance. Especially when I meet up with Jin, because he likes going to the amusement parks, we will head to the amusement parks. We are all pretty playful.

Q: How do you wish for people around to remember you?
A: I hope people will remember me as "Someone who sings". There is always a fix voice colour of someone who sings isn't it? I hope I don't have a fix voice colour. I just hope to be a charming person when I sing, I feel that it is not important how you see me on usual days.

PART 5: Stay as you are
Q: As you continued doing group promotions, you were the first to start doing a solo promotion and it seems really burdened. What was the thing you worried the most before you release your album?
A: As I win on programs like Immortal songs, Duet song festivals, people have a high expectation of me. Within this expectation that the have, it is not just about re-analysing the song but now I have to put in the emotions I feel into my song and people hear it, and I was worried if they would like it. Because of that I was really worried and couldn't sleep well. I was troubled about how can I do better. Because it was my first album so I thought I was greedy for such things.

Q: As you work on your album, were there any memorable episodes?
A: Actually, I recorded this song 4 times, I recorded it once, thought over it for a few days, recorded it again, and then fixed another date to record it again and this was repeated. This song was originally half a key lower. With half a key lower, the feeling was totally different. I keep going back and forth between whether to just release the song I have recorded which half a key lower or to make it half a key higher and re-record it again. Eventually, I made up my mind to bring the song half a key higher and there was my last recording and I released it.

Q: Please introduce to us your favourite track among the five tracks in your album.
A: Even though I like the title track "Stay as you are", but my favourite track is "My Childhood stories". As I grow older, the thought that I always have is "Even as I grow old, I want to continue living like a child.". I want to treasure and keep the pure and innocent heart that a kid has for a long time so I wrote the song "My Childhood stories". It was a song that I wrote as I looked back to my memories through the eyes of a child, all the memories swelled up. So when I wrote the lyrics and first sang with the MR, I remembered I cried a lot. That was a song that was filled with my heart.

Q: You are the first male idol to be an Election Ambassador. As an Election Ambassador, tell the students something.
A: Everyone knows that 9th May is the election right? Look back at the current situation of Korea and think carefully about the direction you want Korea to go in the future. After that, look through the candidates profile carefully and choose the suitable one who will bring Korea to the direction you want, and give your precious vote. I hope you will use your authority and vote!

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Behind the scenes video: https://www.facebook.com/newsmju/videos/1192262630896585/?pnref=story