G-Dragon’s Interview For Big Bang’s Electric Love Tour Photobook
How old were you when you first got to listen to music?
I was an elementary school student then. One of my friend’s father was
working as a producer for a television music program and when I got to
visit his place, there were so many music albums of international
artists. I heard hip-hop for the first time there and I was kind of
shocked.
Like, “there’s this kind of music in the world!”?
I’d only listen to k-pop until I heard of this genre, hip-hop, so I was
just like “why is hip hop called to be a good type of music? I don’t
even know what this foreign language means.” I just didn’t understand
why it was called to be so good, so I wasn’t that much interested in it.
But when I heard the song called “C.R.E.A.M” by Wu Tang Clan. They were
the most popular U.S. hip hop group back then and my vision of music
was just so widened at once.
So the barriers of the language didn’t matter?
Of course i didn’t know the meaning of the lyrics or the right
pronunciations of the English language at all, but I didn’t care those
kind of things because that music sound was just so cool. I had both the
CD and the tape, and I listened to them until the CD and tape were worn
out, and I sang along to them as much as I could understand from what
they were saying. Also, I wanted to show my friends that I memorized the
whole lyrics, so I sang the song on stages, like at the school’s
singing festivals. I thought everyone would be just like, “Wow!” and
praise me, but they actually didn’t accept it that much. On the
contrary, they were just staring at me making faces as like, “What’s he
singing? I don’t get it at all.” *laughs*
Ah, that’s sad, but I think you were different from your
school friends considering that you must be the only one who was
listening to the western music in your elementary school.
Yes, but the friends who were not accepting that music, are calling me
now saying, “I should have listened to it with you.” *laughs*
And starting from then, your dorkiness (in a good way) has been defined. *laughs*
Back from when I was younger, I loved to try new things that the others
don’t know about, which I thought was great. In fact the very first
thing that I started was dancing. I loved to dance along with some music
or some television show. We loved to run and jump around meaninglessly
when we were young right? Just the same as that, I thought it was fun
when I was dancing. My mother saw that and got me to apply to a lot of
auditions, which I was accepted to all of them.
So your mother was the first person to see your talent?
She said that I would dance in front of people even if there was only
one or two people in the room. My mother told me that I enjoy
entertaining people so much, she decided to put me in this entertainment
industry. I think my mother was much greater than me.*laughs*
So, when was the first time you were on TV?
That was the time when I was 6 years old. It was the TV show playing
some games with many children. In fact, back then, it was kind of like
not what I wanted to do, but my mother made me go. I liked to be on TV,
but I wanted to hang out with my friends or eat some snacks when I had
some free time. *laughs* I didn’t like that I had to wake up early every
morning because of the work and my time hanging out with my friends
became shorter. I started thinking that it was not the same anymore, but
I’d tried my best to have fun with the time that I had.
What was your personality when you were little?
I was just a timid, quiet, and shy boy who was just following his
mother’s back all the times, but the only place that I could be very
confident was on stage, dancing. I have changed to be an active person
since I’d joined my current company, when I was 12.
So from then, you began your own way?
I started to act the way I wanted things to go like giving my own ideas
when I decided to live by this path of music. My mother first had wanted
me to study for middle school, but after she accepted my very strong
intentions for music, she began to support me the most.
But it took a little longer than you had expected to be able to debut?
I was a trainee for 6 years and spent my time participating in some of
my sunbaes’ albums. I thought to myself that I should confidently
challenged myself (when I finally debuted), without being weird or not
being very uncomfortable.
So you must be very happy when you finally got debuted with the name of Big Bang.
When I just got debuted, it was a little more overwhelming than just
being happy. Back then, the name “G-Dragon” was already well-known and
also the announcement of the first idol boy group from YG, so there were
a lot of expectations from us. Besides those expectations, there were,
of course, some criticisms, but that only made our 5 members stronger
and connected more tightly. We said, “We will show them much more than
what they expected us to be, we are going to make our name, ‘Big Bang’
proud!”, and we worked harder everyday from then on.
Moreover, you’re the leader, so don’t you have some more pressure about that?
The time when we just made our group, I was desperately working to make
the gap smaller between the older and younger members. But I think it’s
not that hard to be a leader of Big Bang.
This is the group, which have all 5 members who have their own 5 different colors.
That’s what I love about us. They completely understand each of their
parts/jobs, even when I only explain with little details, they know what
they’re supposed to do already. Of course, there were some conflicts
and fights until we come to a conclusion, that I’ve meant, until we’d
come to have this trust for one another.
What were the cause of the fights, for example?
For example, someone doesn’t like the way I eat meals or the way I fold
up my laundries… *laughs* We all lived in an apartment together and
living together was a bit . Thinking of it now, we fought a lot over the
things that weren’t much of a big deal. We even didn’t get a single
thing solved and that only make the conflict worse and can harm us as a
group. We’d realized that it’s just making our feelings bad. So after
that, there were completely no more fights.
Have you all fought over of having different ideas about Big Bang’s image and music style?
No, not at all. All 5 have agreed on the ideas of the music or the
performances of Big Bang every single time. Of course, all 5 members
have very different colors, different favorite artists, and different
kinds of music, for we all have lived in very different ways, but
natually we all become the same color when we perform as a group, Big
Bang. Thankfully, we can express our own things that we’ve been wanting
to do on our solo activities. There is a proverb saying in Korea, “The
more we fight, the closer we get to know each other”. As that being
said, we fought a lot so we became to know what each other thinks, we
became more closer, and now we are just close as a family.
So it’s like a kind of communication to be closer to each other?
Eventually, I think we start our fights when we have some
misunderstandings between us. In fact, we don’t seem like it, but all of
the Big Bang members are afraid of strangers. Even for today, we are
tensed when we first meet somebody or strangely pretending to be cool or
to be serious. *laughs* But usually we like to make jokes and play
around. We are really good at having fun.
So you are just the same as the normal boys in their 20′s?
Yes, but when I was an elementary school student, I think I didn’t
really enjoy a single joke or playing some tricks, so there were friends
who were scared of me and some who cried because of me. *bitterly
laugh* In fact, I changed schools like about 4 or 5 times, so the
communication was an important thing to get along with my friends much
faster and this is just me boasting, I made many friends every time I
change schools, so I have much more friends compared to others!
Wherever you go, you’re the popular one who was always being in the spotlight?
I’m not sure if I was the popular one, but I always leaded my friends with some confidence.
Being around with new surroundings, don’t that make you feel lonely? Don’t you have some frustrations about that?
Never. In fact, I enjoyed that. I don’t like to be stuck in one place
originally. Same as now, my heart is pumping when I go to somewhere I’m
not aware of. Back then and also for now, I like to get to know
something with my body rather than my brain.
Wow. Ah, going back to the previous conversation, are there any Big Bang members afraid of you?
Yes, maybe. *laughs* But when I first met Taeyang, I thought he was
scary. He was just too different from me, and now we exchanged our
characters/personality. I was a little introverted when I was young, but
Taeyang is introverted now. Now, we don’t have any conflicts because we
spent our hard and good times since we were trainees together. We know
what each other is thinking when we are just looking at each other’s
faces. To define the word, “close friends”, for myself, I will say it’s
the people who understand each other without saying any words. For me,
all Big Bang members are my family, also my close friends, the great
ones, related ones who accepts me and who I respect from the bottom of
my heart.
Okay, then what do you think what others think about you? You
have some very stoic image who don’t compromise with anything, like
craving for perfection.
I hear some great appraisals and some positive responses, but I try to
avoid the negativity. If I listen to the good feedbacks, I think I might
be flattered.
Then what do you think your color is right now?
‘Plain’. Think about the canvas which is colored just as you color it
differently every time. I dream to be a person like that and I am trying
to be that kind of a person. I think I’m at the very middle of being a
boy and an adult. I don’t have some complete roundness as a one person,
but I think this sharpness that I have right now is not that bad.
It’s like you’re on the stage doing performances is just so
fierce and has some uneasy presence that we can’t reach close to you,
but when during this interview, you are just like a boy with that
innocent, bright smile of such boys, very friendly.
Definitely, the person that I am on the stage and off the stage are two
different people. When I’m back from the stage, I change myself to be
the real me. I don’t like to act like a celebrity. However, I think the
most important thing is to bring the performance perfectly on the stage.
In other words, I think it’s important to act like “being on the stage”
to attract with some more qualified performances when I’m performing. I
think I started to work very cautiously now because I have some bad
experiences at the times when I acted as a child and was told, “he is
just a boy”. So I think I must check every single thing that I do and
have some responsibility for everything. I am not really aware of that
I, myself, is showing the “little boy figure” presence all the time, but
even when I am during this interview, I’m talking like as if I’m
rapping, or when I walk along the streets, my arms and legs move like as
if I’m dancing. *laugh* This just became perfectly a habit. I’m just
used to doing it.
The rythm and music are just pervaded into your body. By the
way, what did you feel like hearing all those cheers and screaming from
the Japanese fans?
In fact, it was very weird. I was very surprized that there are many
people who know us and I was so glad that all Japanese fans sang along
the song we were singing even when it was in Korean. There were some
restrictions, so we couldn’t really get to be that close to fans just
like the live concerts in Korea. That was just so sad. The reason why I
think the distances between fans and us is really important is because
when I was young, I was very glad that my favorite artist touched me on
the stage. I think I will never forget that feeling in my life, so I
want to make my fans feel the same as much as possible.
What do you wants most at this time?
Freedom.
*laughs* Okay, then what is the most important thing in your life?
Probably my friends. I’m not afraid of anything because I have Big Bang
when I’m doing my music. Not just Big Bang, I have many other friends,
and they all make me feel very strong. Even when it comes to love, I
make my relationship feel like we’re close friends. I have so many
attractive people around me, maybe I’m being pulled by them.
Do you have any dream or ambition for Big Bang’s future and for yourself?
I don’t like to shoot and try all the huge things just at once. I want
to grow up with my fans. After some years, maybe ten years, they might
think “Big Bang was the best, I can never forget the songs.”, Just
like I first heard hip hop, I want our group to be the group that will
always leave a great impression on a person. For me, I want to be always
stimulated. I don’t always want to aim to be number 1, but I don’t like
to be number 2. If I had known that, I would never have started it at
the first time. My goal for my life is to always have the best result
that I can accept. Anyways, I want to experience many new things,
challenge myself into various styles of music, so that maybe in 10
years, I would find the most proper color for me. I want to make the
kind of music that can make people dream, make people enjoy, or comfort
people when they are sad.
Last message for the readers, please?
Thank you for reading this to the very end! I’m really glad that this
could be a chance to tell you what we are thinking as Big Bang and also
as myself more profoundly. But most of all, you will know us much
completely at the live stages, so hopefully, I can meet you all at the
next live concerts!
Translation: HuisuYoon@
21BANGS.com
###
Personally I especially like his answer to this question:
Then what do you think your color is right now?
‘Plain’. Think about the canvas which is colored just as you color it
differently every time. I dream to be a person like that and I am trying
to be that kind of a person. I think I’m at the very middle of being a
boy and an adult. I don’t have some complete roundness as a one person,
but I think this sharpness that I have right now is not that bad.
:)
