#esquire duo interview

[thingsthathavebeensetfree]

It may be that I was always living in a fantastic, fairy tale-like world. But by doing radio, I became able to understand common, everyday stories too. For example, experiences I’ve never had such as working for a company or a part-time job. Stories about the minutiae of daily life. Things like making a mistake at work and getting in trouble with your boss, and being tired and disheartened by it. It’s impossible for radio to proceed as a medium without those kinds of stories, and it’s the only medium to which you can share all the mundane little details of that kind of story. I found myself peeking into the lives of the unspecified masses that I’d never imagined before.

Esquire Duo Interview, May 2017 (source: sullaem)

[thingsthathavebeensetfree]

It may be that I came running to radio in order to escape. I don’t really like going outside. And I don’t really like having to meet a lot of people. I’m also afraid of trying new things. The radio now felt like my own personal space. It had become an escape hatch for me to greet new things without feeling awkward.

Esquire Duo Interview, May 2017 (source: sullaem)

[thingsthathavebeensetfree]

The reason I had no choice but to reveal my true self was because I had emotional scars. I’m not just talking about the scars that have been inflicted on me as an entertainer. I’m talking about scars I’ve received as I’ve lived my life. The scars I collect as I continue to live my life. In the words I often use — growing pains. You know how people get stretch marks when they suddenly have a growth spurt? I have stretch marks on my waist, too. When I was young, I once wondered why it was that people had to grow. It was because I didn’t like seeing these stretch marks on myself. ‘If only I could have just stayed the same as I was when I was little, I wouldn’t have gotten these unsightly stretch marks. I wouldn’t have had to go through these growing pains. Why is it that we’re forced to grow?’

Esquire Duo Interview, May 2017 (source: sullaem)

[thingsthathavebeensetfree]

I thought about wanting to come across as human, too. As a human being, I mean. Because it’s more common for entertainers to be expressed and understood as a certain character, rather than as an individual human being.

Esquire Duo Interview, May 2017 (source: sullaem)

[thingsthathavebeensetfree]

I’m fundamentally a pessimistic person. Ever since I was little I showed a lot of depressive feelings, and it’s the same in the present. But I don’t think I can keep living my life sustaining those depressive feelings forever. You might be able to go through the early-to-mid-part of your life with that kind of melancholy. But if you want to grow, you can only survive if you throw those feelings away.

Esquire Duo Interview, May 2017 (source: sullaem)

[thingsthathavebeensetfree]

In a way, if SHINee’s music contains the idealized version of myself, the music in my Collections shows a side of me that’s more ordinary and human. I plan to continue distinguishing the two even more distinctly from here on out.

Esquire Duo Interview, May 2017 (source: sullaem)

[thingsthathavebeensetfree]

If I traveled back to three years ago and saw myself, I definitely think I would feel like a different person.

Esquire Duo Interview, May 2017 (source: sullaem)

[thingsthathavebeensetfree]

We’re a community of common fate. Like family. Once I started, I realized the SHINee members were my family. Once I started, I realized they were my team.

Esquire Duo Interview, May 2017 (source: sullaem)