Kai (Kim Jongin) - 120315 High Cut April, 2012 Interview
“EXO-K, The First History”
Their team name is EXO and the total amount of members is 12. EXO-K is comprised of 6 members and will promote in Korea while the other 6 will promote in China as EXO-M (Madarin). Although it’s prior to their debut, they’ve reached over a million views on their teasers which were released on Youtube at the end of last year. EXO gained the inspiration to their name from exoplanet which stands for the sun and a superior planet, doubling onto that is the meaning of having new stars coming from an unknown planet. We decided to meet the 6 members of EXO-K: Leader Suho (22), Baekhyun (21), Chanyeol (21), D.O. (20), Kai (19), and Sehun (19). This is their first interview and you can sense their awkwardness and nervousness, but in another aspect you can sense their innocence of having a lot of dreams as this marks our first meeting with EXO.
After having f(x) make their debut in 2009, it’s been 2 years since SM has put out a new group. As high as expectations are in your surroundings, the pressure must be just as high. What are your plans for your upcoming debut?
Suho: Right now, we’re planning on working hard with the music and performance we’ve prepared in Korea, Asia, and worldwide for ourselves to be known.
In preparing your debut in SM, there must have been rewarding and joyful memories as well.
Kai: There was a motto in that instead of receiving, the training we received was giving in that although normally artists do receive a lot from fans, we felt that we should instead return the favor to our surroundings so all of us took up on doing charity work .I think one of the joyful memories we have is working in RCY (Youth Red Cross) or places like that where we either clean or play with kids who have disabilities. Even after making our debut, we plan on continuously doing charity work when we have time.
We heard you all live in one dorm. How many rooms are there and how is it divided up?
Chanyeol: Two members share one room each and I share mine with Baekhyun, the others being that Sehun and Suho share a room while Kai and D.O. are roommates.
You must know each other’s sleeping habits, whether it being someone making noise from their noses.
Baekhyun: Chanyeol’s breathing is really loud. Before he goes to bed, he always sniffles and it’s so loud that I can’t sleep.
Chanyeol: (Countering that) Baekhyun always whimpers about 40 times during his sleep like a puppy.
Are the other rooms as problematic?
(The rest of the members shake their hands in the air) No, we all sleep happily.
Baekhyun: (Looking at Chanyeol) Maybe we shouldn’t have said it.
Chanyeol: But we love each other (laughs).
How about food or laundry?
Sehun: We tend to take care of ourselves and we choose a monitor to do dish washing every week. The plates you eat from, you wash and even things like socks, you wash your own. But often times, we do games like Bok Bul Bok, Rock, Paper, Scissors, or games from 1N2D like who can flick the bottle cap closest to the line.
Who’s the best at games?
(Altogether) Kai is the best. He’s like the status of a sniper as he can to alkkagi (T/N: where you try to knock an opponent’s piece in flicking your own piece), as he’s considered the masterof games.
Who’s the tidiest member?
(Without hesitation, altogether) D.O.
Sehun: If you look at D.O.’s dresser, all of his t-shirts are folded neatly in his draws and organized according to white t-shirts, v-necks, etc. as he’s the type to organize. But it’s not that I’m saying the other members are messy, it’s just that D.O. is the neatest out of all.
When you entered SM, you must have had the thought, “I want to be close to this senior.”
Chanyeol: When I was younger, I didn’t really know about artists or idols and the first boy group I happened to come across was TVXQ, especially senior U-Know Yunho from TVXQ as he’s not only the leader, but seeing his charistmatic side was nice.
Suho: Senior Yunho gave me a lot of advice in that as a leader, whether talking about image or in the musical aspect, and even choreography-wise, he gave me a lot of warnings as senior Leeteuk of Super Junior also gave me a lot of advice in regards to the position and responsibilities of a leader alongside teamwork.
When did you first want to become artists? It must have not been easy in qualifying in SM auditions.
D.O.: I liked singing since I was younger and before I got into SM, I did attend a music academy. I took the SM audition back in 2010 and at the time, I was a 2nd year in high school and my parents didn’t oppose my dreams as they encouraged me in that if I work efficiently, then I should hear the compliments of doing well from others for the fruit of my labor. I want to become a singer that is acknowledged for my vocals.
Chanyeol: I liked using instruments since elementary school and during middle school, I was in band and I would feel overwhelmed in receiving claps from the audience when finishing a performance and since then, I took steps into becoming a singer as my dream. At the time, I was a first year in high school and qualified the SM auditions in 2008.
Sehun: I was casted in a lucky opportunity I had received as I was passing by my school and someone from the SM casting team asked me if I was interested in doing an audition. At the time, I was young so I told my mother and she had spoke with one of the SM staff members herself. Back then, I was in 6th grade. I took auditions for 2 years and I was qualified in my 2nd year of middle school. Honestly, at the time, I didn’t know anything about celebrities but being in SM where I learned how to sing and dance, my greed for becoming a singer grew.
Baekhyun: I wanted to become a singer since 4th grade and I would even tell my friends that I was going to become a celebrity. And when I started taking auditions, I failed for other companies and after getting into high school, I was preparing to advance into a university with a music impact but oddly enough, the opportunity came to me. The day I went to take my exams, I was pretending to be a musician in that I was holding the music notes in front of the school and relaxing my vocals when someone suddenly tapped my back. I’m not sure if I can call this a luck of thousand years, but that’s how I was fatefully casted into SM.
Kai: Since 3rd grade, I learned jazz dance and ballet. I just liked dancing so I would learn this dance and that dance. One day, I saw Shinhwa seniors dancing on TV and I asked my dad when seeing that, “What kind of dance is that?” He replied to me in saying, “That’s a dance that singers dance.” I told him, “I want to learn that dance.” My dad encouraged me to do so if it was something I wanted to do and since then, I prepared for 2 years for auditions and I passed. That was when I was in 6th grade and the company thought I was too young so they told me, “Come back in 2 years if you still want to be a singer.” So I entered SM in my 2nd year of middle school.
Suho: I had dreams of becoming a singer since elementary and although it felt so far, I was coincidentally casted in middle school when I was going through my growth spurt as I was pretty tall and was casted by various places. I heard that the people from Seoul Samsungdong’s Trade Center would come by often since our house was nearby. Then I received an offer from SM’s end and I told my parents, as they said that if it’s a company like SM, it’s worth giving a shot and if I failed here, then I should draw the line of quitting. I’m not sure if I should be fortunate that it was luck, but I was given the chance to make a debut.
What’s your relation to EXO-M and do you feel like one team or feel a sense of rivalry with one another?
Sehun: Although we’re doing separate promotions, we’re overall one planet, one group. We practice and eat together, so if you’re talking about rivalry, you can say it’s just rivalry out of good intentions. When we work on the same choreography, we look over and monitor each others’ videos and critique on what we lack in each other’s and there’s a little rivalry hinted, but wait, it’s not rivalry, just good intentions, good intentions is all.
How would you like to classify EXO’s music genre?
Suho: We want to make our own genre for EXO. When people hear this song, they’ll think, “This is an EXO-like genre” and “This song has a feeling that’s extra-terrestrial.”
Do you have any family members working in this field?
(Everyone looks around at each other while Chanyeol says) To be honest, my sister is a news anchor…
(Everyone looks in shock and he interrupts) She’s preparing to become a news anchor!
Chanyeol is rumored as the “ulzzang of Hyundae High School.”
Chanyeol: I’m not an ulzzang, but I heard a lot of things like that because I was known as a trainee while I was in high school. That stuff doesn’t really happen at school as I’ve never been asked out by a girl and I just wanted to be a quiet and calm student in school.
What are your images of yourselves for your futures that you dream of, as well as the image of EXO-K?
Baekhyun: I wish for us to be a group that marks history. 100 years from now, a group that can come up in history books like Beatles or Michael Jackson. Personally for me, whether it be varieties or acting, I want to do various types of promotions.
Chanyeol: I wish for all 12 members of both K & M to be able to promote together forever. Personally for me, I’d like to be better in factors like composing or acting, even playing instruments like the guitar or drums. I want a lot of people to listen and like the music I make. Suho: As an artist, I want EXO to be recognized and be overall entertainers.
Kai: I’ll do my best in my role for EXO. I really want to be acknowledged by all for dance and I want the world to know of our music.
D.O.: I want to become a team that is loved by everyone across the world. I had other things I wanted to challenge since I was younger aside from being a singer and if the opportunity comes, I want to try becoming a chef too.
Kai: D.O. is honestly the cooking monitor of the dorm.
D.O.: I want to try being a hair designer or a fashion designer.
If you have the opportunity, you can have D.O. style your hair.
(All the members) We don’t really want to trust him with our hair
Credit: onexoplanet , JOG-IN
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