[INTERVIEW] Boy band INFINITE - Part 1

From left, INFINITE members Dong-woo, Hoya, Sung-kyu, L, Woo-hyun, Sung-jong and Sung-yeol. [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

“I think one or two out of every ten people recognize us.” And like their very words, INFINITE is a new idol group who still have more people who do not recognize them. They weathered through the flood of idol groups with “Come Back,” the title track to their first mini-album, in June of last year and six months later, they have returned with the dramatic dance number “BTD (BEFORE THE DAWN).” They do not have the support of a major agency nor several tens of thousands of fans and have yet to become ‘the general trend.’ But these seven men are gradually expanding their hold on the niche market with their simple appeals and pureness.

10: So what does your schedule look like for after you finish this interview today?
Woo-hyun: Practicing.

10: Did you have some time to rest from when you wrapped up your activities for your first album till making your recent comeback?
INFINITE: No!
Hoya: We sang at events, practiced, recorded and received vocal training. It wasn't a break.

10: What did you do last Christmas?
INFINITE: Practice!

10: Well let's talk about your latest album first.
Sung-kyu: The name of our album is "Evolution" so we participated more in this album than our first mini-album. We've matured vocally and you'll be able to see us put on more splendid group dancing. Dong-woo and Hoya made the rap for the songs. "Can U Smile" was a song we were going to include in our first album but we polished it up and recorded it all over again. All six of the songs are great songs that contain our hopes. More than anything, we must! See success (all laugh) with this album.

10: But I think you must have a different reason your second album having to succeed other than the fact that you just want to become popular?
Sung-kyu: Our boss told us very seriously that if this album doesn't do well, we won't get to release another album.

Sung-kyu [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

10: You don't think he'd really do that, do you? (laugh)
Sung-kyu: Nah, I guess not. (laugh) But that's what we should think so that we'll work harder and if our album does well, we'll also get to pursue our activities in units. We have yet to come up with a detailed plan but Woo-hyun could come out as a solo balladeer and Hoya and Dong-woo like hip-hop so they could go that way. This actually isn't a matter of how much or how little our agency supports us -- I don't think we'd be able to muster up the courage to if we don't see satisfying results again so we're going to work hard enough to have no regrets.
Woo-hyun: We had high expectations for our first album as well. But we felt that the results we saw didn't meet up to it so we made up for our shortcomings while prepping for our second album and therefore we have even higher expectations for this album. We're telling ourselves that we can't let this one not be a success!

10: Hip-hop duo Epik High's Mithra helped with making the rap for your first album but he went to the army so you had to work on this album by yourselves. How was it?
Dong-woo: We'd been working on making our own songs since we'd been trainees but Mithra had helped us out with our first album for better quality. It was fun working on our album ourselves this time.
Hoya: People with a lot of experience get the green light for their songs in one go but in our case, only one out of the total five or six songs we submit would pass. And we would have to write the songs all over if the arrangement changes. We learned a lot.

10: Your music is trendy yet sounds like pop music from the 90s which is great but I'm sure you each have different styles of music you want to do.
Sung-kyu: I actually like R&B and black music but the music my group does can't always be in the genre that I like. And dance music, which is what we do right now, is fun too.

10: You're known for dancing in a group precisely in time with each other. Do you have any tips to dancing your 'scorpion dance' for "BTD"?
Woo-hyun: You must stand in the position of a scorpion.
INFINITE: ......
Hoya: When I first taught Sung-kyu the dance, he said, "I don't think I can do it."
Sung-kyu: Our boss was watching at the time too and he said, "I don't think we'll be able to go with this dance because of Sung-kyu"! Wow, honestly, it hurt my pride a lot but at the same time, I couldn't say anything because it really seemed like we wouldn't be able to because of me. But Hoya said I could and that I'm moving properly so that I should just try to stand up with more confidence. I kept practicing that way and I ended up being able to. So I think believing that you can, having that mindset, is what's important.
Hoya: It's actually about doing a move so that it'll look like anybody would be able to do it and putting on an expression that is at complete ease, as if it's easy. But there's a moment you let go after doing the scorpion dance -- when we dance freestyle after sweeping the floor.

Dong-woo [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

10: What do you think at that moment?
Dong-woo: Freedom.
Sung-jong: It's my world!
Sung-kyu: Guys like Hoya and Dong-woo dance away because they're good at dancing but I look for the position I'll have to return to and clear my throat on the way, collecting myself because I need to sing a high note right away.
Dong-woo: Everyone thinks different thoughts even though we're all on the same stage. (laugh)

10: How did you guys decide who'd dye their hair which color?
Sung-jong: Our boss said he'd have my hair dyed blue as soon as we were done with "She's Back" but he saw how this hair turned out and he said he liked it too so it stayed this color.
Dong-woo: My hair was wine-colored but it turned into cherry and then tomato so I got it dyed to a proper red. I had my eyebrows bleached and colored as well but it changed everytime from pink, yellow, red, light purple. And the color of my eyeline has been switching between blue and green.
Sung-yeol: They were like the sun and the sunset... like the beginning to end. I begged to get my hair dyed as well but I was told it wouldn't suit me...

10: Well if you could, what color would you want it?
Sung-yeol: It's really unique... Green!

10: I heard your concept for your performance of "BTD" is noir. How did you prepare for it?
Sung-kyu: Our boss came to our house very late one day, past midnight, and showed us a Hong Kong movie. Something similar to "A Better Tomorrow" and "A Moment of Romance." He said he'd been very moved after watching it when he was in middle school and I think he wanted to do something similar to it someday so I think he made us do it.
Hoya: There was a scene similar to KBS' "I'm Sorry, I Love You." How the main character rides the motorcycle.
Sung-yeol: What I couldn't understand from what our boss said was, "In noir films, the main character always dies in the end, there's a phone booth, and smoking, so practice on your expressions while thinking of that." I mean, what does he want us to do?
Dong-woo: Why need a phone booth when we have cellphones...
Sung-kyu: There weren't even any phone booths in some of them. (laugh) And then when it finally did, just once, in the end, the boss said, "There you go! There's the phone booth!" And not all the main characters of noir films die.

10: What did you feel after watching those movies?
INFINITE: Hmm...
Sung-yeol: Are those the type of men that are... supposed to be cool?
Dong-woo: What is noir for us to be doing?
Sung-kyu: I actually think more recent films like "A Bittersweet Life" were fun and amazing but I can't really tell with older films... Although I did feel sort of a bitter and determined vibe.
Woo-hyun: And we then went to our rehearsing studio to practice our expressions. I do think of what he said from time to time when I'm on stage.

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Reporter : Choi Ji-Eun five@, Lee Ga-on
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@