⊰ mga 4 episode 7 interview ⊱
⊰ #4050 ; kang daniel ⊱
daniel isn’t too caught off guard when one of the mnet staff members pulls him out of practice and leads him to another room in kt’s winding halls. if anything, he’s a little relieved to get a break for something mnet mandated; his throat hurts after running through his lines so much, and his heart hurts from how much he’s lacking. he doesn’t usually watch shows like this, but aren’t interviews common? there’s always the possibility that he’s in trouble, but he doesn’t think he did anything, and once he steps inside the room and gets a good look at the table with everyone’s pictures scattered across it, he thinks he can confirm the former.
when the staff informs him that he’s picking who he thinks the best contestants are, his eyes widen. “ah, you really think i’m qualified to do something like that?” he asks, yet receives no answer. he supposes qualifications don’t really matter; on a show like this, what the viewers want is drama, and to hear the opinions of their favorites, and he at least has some of those. for as bad as daniel used to be at talking, he’s probably better in interviews than he actually is at singing, so he needs to take this time to shine if he wants to find any success this week.
he looks over the pictures spread across the table, some of the faces familiar, others he’s only seen backstage and through the tv screens provided for the teams to watch the competition. his eyes land on a picture of himself, and his lips spread into a smile, and he giggles. “this is a good picture of me, though?” he comments, making eye contact with the camera for just a moment, eyes disappearing into crescents before he turns his attention back to the pictures. “ah, really, i look so cool, people might really think i can actually win.”
the staff reminds him to get back on track, asking the question “who do you think is the best singer?” daniel nods in acknowledgement, and starts picking out pictures of contestants that stand out to him, and putting them in a separate group as he narrows his decision down. “this is hard,” he whines, but he finally makes up his mind.
“i just want to say that yongsun noona, luda, yongguk and sungyeol hyung are really good too, but-- i have a top three, and they didn’t make it,” he laughs. he looks over the pictures in his hand again, as if second guessing himself, and truly, for one contestant in particular,he isn’t sure if he wants to put her in the best vocalists category, or save her for someone he thinks could win. in the end, he supposes he can mention the same person twice.
“third, moon bin! i haven’t been in a group with him, but just from watching performances, he has a voice that’s really moving? you can tell her really enjoys singing, and i admire that.” he puts his picture down, then lifts another, smile immediately spreading across his face. “second, is jung jinsoul! her voice is really nice. she can hit high notes, but it also has a really gentle, soothing quality, in my opinion. i could listen to her sing forever,” he admits with a bashful laugh.
“the best singer in the competition, though,” he begins, and he lifts sungwoon’s picture proudly. “ha sungwoon hyung, no doubt! his voice is really powerful, and suits a variety of styles. he hits notes i didn’t know were possible for humans to hit. maybe he’s part dolphin or something,” he laughs. “i look up to hyung a lot, so even if i’m biased, i really think he’s the best, and i’m glad so many other people get to hear him sing now, too.”
“i’m excited for sungwoon hyung and jinsoulie especially to get to show off more of their singing this week,” he remarks, and he’s met with confused looks from the staff members.
“they’re on dancing teams this week though,” one of them says, and daniel’s expression darkens in realization.
“oh no,” he laughs a moment later, and he buries his face in his hands in dismay.
“dancers next,” the staff urges him, and daniel nods. he goes through the same process, gathering up pictures of the contenders as he tries to narrow down the list. “there are so many dancers,” he laments, scratching his head. finally, he comes to his decision.
“i should add a disclaimer that i don’t know much about dancing, as i’m sure you’ve seen, so this is all just based on who i’ve liked watching the most this season. honorable mentions to rosie noona, chungha noona, and somi-- it was really close! --but my pick for third best dancer in the competition is doyeon. i feel like her dancing is just...really graceful? but she can be powerful too! it’s hard to look away from her, even though i was never on a team with her.” he nods, as if in approval of his own choice. “my pick for second best dance is sua noona. her dancing just stands out, right? she could make it through the entire competition just based on dancing alone, as far as i’m concerned, but my pick for best dancer is jei noona. “
“she’s not just good at dancing, she also has a certain creativity, it makes me feel like she’s really an artist. her choreography for the first round was really cool, and her dancing throughout the entire competition has been, too. aside from that, she’s really helpful, and good at teaching those of us bad at dancing how to,” and he laughs once again.
“all that’s left are the rappers,” he observes-- and his final picks to win, of course. he once again begins gathering pictures to make his decisions, though this one comes more quickly than the others.
“shoutout to yoongi hyung and guanlinie for this category. i feel bad about not including them in my top three,” he admits, unable to meet the lens of the camera with his eyes until he lifts the picture of his third pick, kim taehyung. “i pick taehyung for my #3 rapper. he’s really good, and aside from that, an interesting character. even though i don’t know much about rap, i feel like that’s just as important as being able to rap well, right?”
he lifts up the second photo now, this time, kim mingyu. “mingyu is my second best rapper in the competition. i feel like his talent probably goes without saying, right? it’s funny, because he’s really nice and kind of quiet off-stage, but on stage he’s like-- fierce!” he chuckles to himself, then lifts up the final photo. “the best rapper in the competition is kim hyuna-ssi. i think her talent is obvious even to me and my lack of experience. she’s just leagues better than everyone else, isn’t she? her experience in the industry is obvious, not just in her rapping, but also her stage presence. didn’t she already win one season of the mgas, too? aish...her ability is seriously scary.”
next comes his final picks to win the competition, and thankfully, he’s put thought into this while narrowing down all of his other picks, and already has their photos at the ready-- two this time. “i picked two winners. aren’t there usually multiple?” he asks, but he receives no answer. “my first pick to win is seola noona! she’s really just good at everything. it’s hard to tell if she’s a better singer or dancer, because she’s so skilled in both areas-- definitely better than me at both,” he admits with a laugh. “you would think because of that, she’d be lacking in some other area, but she’s really not! her stage presence is crazy too. she could already be an idol. i think that any company would want her, for sure.”
“my final pick, and the contestant i really really think is going to win for sure, is joo haknyeon!” he announces proudly, and he beams as he holds up his friend’s photo. “haknyeon-ah is really good, i considered picking him for both the best dancers category and the best rappers category, that’s just how good he is. he’s also really charming, and looks after his friends and teammates well. i’m sad i wasn’t on a team with him yet. is there still a chance?” he asks, once again, to be left hanging.
“i think haknyeon is the standard, not just for the kind of performer you should try to be, but the kind of person, as well. he seems popular, and that’s well deserved. i’m glad korea gets to see him shine, and he deserves lots of success in his future.”
