211029 KAI Interview With ELLE
Q: The phrase of "Kai does everything", which was the title of the first video on your personal YouTube (content) "KAIst" is become a hot topic these days. How does it feel to accept and start a new job?
🐻: Actually, I can just rest. I can just take care of myself and work on music freely. But the biggest feeling of the fans is that when they turn on the TV, they can see me a lot. I also started YouTube because I thought I need to do something to the fans. Really, that's 90% of my heart.
Q: That's much higher percentage than I expected (laugh)
🐻: I haven't been able to meet various people for a while since my debut. I get a lot of feeling that "those people are actually live like that" through appearing in variety shows. Since I'm mostly at home, on the day of the recording, I say it to myself "today is the day I meet people" and I enjoy it. When I appeared in "Honeymoon Tavern", my mother was more excited. She is a longtime fan of Kim Heesun noona.
Q: When dealing with people, you look natural and confident. Are there any attitudes or methods you have developed over the years?
🐻: I don't have an attitude that I wish to be seen in any way. However, there is something I realized as the range of relationships I have widened compared to the narrow relationships that I had when I was young. There is also synergy that comes from returning as much as I do and working happily with each other.
Q: There was also a lot of news related to fashion, such as Kai Gucci Collection and Seoul Fashion Week ambassador. Channel Full Moon's "The Devil Wears Jungnam Season2" must have been more enjoyable in that, it was the interface between fashion and entertainment.
🐻: Thanks to this, I developed an interest in vintage fashion. If I think about it, there are some clothes I have been wearing for over 10 years, it makes me wonder why I have a high barrier to my mind. I also bought vintage furniture. As I stayed at home for a long time, I naturally drew attention to furniture. It's good to see traces of time in the furniture.
Q: I guess the landscape inside the modern house shown in “I Live Alone” has changed a bit.
🐻: These days, I'm decorating a veranda that wasn't shown on the TV. I saw the prefabricated flooring and spread it by myself, and filled the space with colorful and pretty vintage furniture. It's the only space with colored furniture.
Q: For artists, the body is also a tool for expression. Self-management isn't just about external things, but Kai is especially good at it. What kind of motivation or satisfaction do you have?
🐻: It could be professionalism, or it could be a longtime habit. It's easier if you have an exact goal, like I hope I have a lot of muscle this time, I want myself to look like this when I do this dance. In that sense, this year was not a year that I was strict with myself. During that time, food has developed a lot. Were these ingredients originally included? Why is the taste of tteokbokki different from the tteokbokki I've eaten before? It's a whole new world (laughs). Now, I have to seriously control my diet again. Because I have the next goal.
Q: It's already been nearly 10 months since your first solo album "KAI" came out. Will there be a side you can finally see?
🐻: I personally thought about a lot of things after the album promotion. I looked back on myself. As those thoughts continue, 2021 feels like a special year for Kim Jongin. I think I can develop more if I organize it well. As a singer and a human being.
Q: It was good to hear various stories of Kai as an artist through the video of "Film: Kai", which contains the mood of the six songs in the album and related interviews. Do you still have a lot you want to express?
🐻: A lot. There are still a lot. Anyway, what I always want to do is reflecting a story. Whether it's someone else's story or mine.
Q: It was completely filled with Kai's voice without a featuring artist. What emotions do you want to touch through your music?
🐻: The fact that there are no featuring is probably the same for the next album. What I learned while working as a singer for nearly 10 years is that even if I say "This is what I think. Feel it" in the end, interpretation is up to each other. I want to raise people's various interpretations and questions. In fact, from my point of view, I already have primary satisfaction just by putting my story into it.
Q: Are you afraid that the day will come when you feel like you will no longer have anything you want to express?
🐻: There was a time when my body was so tired and exhausted that I had no particular motivation. In fact even until now, I'm still like, "What else can I do? What am I?" I keep thinking like that. I think those thoughts will naturally be reflected in the next album.
Q: Even though I am like the way I see myself, but we also recognize our existence through the eyes of others. What do you think of finding yourself that way?
🐻: In the past, I tried very hard to understand that mind. But these days, I don't really care. As I care about how I look, even a small mistake can cause a lot of stress, and it eventually caught my ankle. No matter how other people see me, in the end, I am the person in charge, so I have a stronger mindset than before to do what I want to do well.
Q: You said, "My fans have high standards." I'm also curious about Kai's fans' reactions to that expression.
🐻: I think it was a reaction like, "Of course." I didn't mean, "You guys who like me, who are so great, have high standards." However, I think fans who like me have different perspectives and high expectations. I was interested in people's interpretations because I actually felt the reactions of the fans during the "Overdose" activity. It was a performance and concept that could be difficult, but I thought it was great that people liked it at the time.
Q: It is interesting that the EXO members have different genres for their solo activities.
🐻: I also thought of that while looking at D.O. hyung's first album, which was released most recently. It's so good when I hear other members' songs, but I also think I would never have chosen the song as my solo song, the same goes for the opposite case. I think it's really fun and good to see that each one's colors come out clearly even after we've been together for a long time with EXO.
Q: It's the time to be focused on dancing. Wouldn't it be nice to see this trend as Kai, who has always expressed his gratitude for the roles of dancers?
🐻: People's interest in dance has always existed.However, as the interest has become more prominent, I would recommend you to dance by yourself. I started dancing as well, but I ended up dancing for nearly 20 years. If you try to go to the end with greed, it takes a lot of effort, but I don't think there's a big difference if you starting by liking it, whether it's a job or a hobby. First of all, I hope you start with a meaning to have fun.
Q: Gucci Chairman Marco Bizzarri described you as “very unique and modern”. Do you agree?
🐻: I've never thought I was such a person. However, I am a person who lives in the present. After seeing that aspect, a few encounters, and my performances, wouldn't it be that I felt my own uniqueness?
Q: Is there a starting point in life that Kai, who lives in the present, often talks about and looks back on?
🐻: No, I don't have. Actually, I may not think about it next year about what I'm thinking this year. When I thought about writing a diary, my sister said she doesn't write it, because if she writes it, she'll keeps looking back. It sympathized me. I'm trying to focus on the emotions and situations in every moment.
Q: "I feel Gucci" means "I feel good right now". What is the moment you felt "Gucci" today?
🐻: Actually, my condition was really bad. I felt that I was a little weak but it seemed to be reflected in the photo, so I was happy inside again (laughs). I felt good at this moment when we were talking, and I liked the video interview that I did first. I was able to think about how the fans sent the questions.
Q: The relationship between fans and artists changes systematicly, right?
🐻: At the beginning of our debut, I don't know what fans mean. To get my job to be done fast, I say "thanks" and "thank you" but at the time my heart was cluttered, but now I know exactly how to be thankful for and say it to whom. In the process of giving and receiving, we develop together. Just as the fans think of me and act, I have become a person who thinks and acts for someone else.
Q: Do you believe in the existence of soulmates? Do you have the belief or expectation that "I will find someone who fully understands me"?
🐻: Wouldn't it be nice to believe that there is? I don't think we know each other just by looking at each other's eyes. You have to say it to know. In the end, it would be myself who knows the best about me. Nevertheless, it's enough to have someone who can express my feelings and someone who feels comfortable when talking.
Q: Kai, who is always received a lot of questions, do you have a story you would like to share more with people?
🐻: Since I tend to speak casually during interviews, I can feel my choice and mindset at that moment when I look at the previous interviews. I can see some trajectories. We talked a lot about happiness for a while. At first, "I want to be happy," and then "I need effort to be happy," and then "So I'm trying to relieve what makes me unhappy," and I thought, "This thought made me who I am today," and these days, was it best to relieve it? What would it have been like if you ran into that situation? It's like biting your own tail. Maybe this is like a diary to me (laughs)?
Q: I wish you could stay like that today.
🐻: I will turn twenty-nine next year. As we are approaching the 10th anniversary of our debut, I think I have more thoughts. This may sound funny, but everyone lives because they are born. However, if possible, I want to live a fun and happy life. I hope you see the world warmly and live a life full of love. I live like that these days.
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