[INTERVIEW] miss A - Part 1

miss A members Fei, Min, Jia, Suzy [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

"Wow, nice, nice!" The photographer's voice grew loud as soon as the members of miss A paired up after having stared into the camera while standing in a single line. Fei and Suzy gave cute poses with their backs to each other and Min and Jia burst into laughter while in a hug and then even pretended to kiss each other. The miss A who released their first full-length album "A Class" for the first time in nine months since their last release, were no different from who they were a year ago when they debuted with "Bad Girl Good Girl." They were still cool, sang of confident women and this time, even started their performances lying on their backs and legs pointed to the air. But the miss A that presents such performances had changed. No, rather, it would be more accurate to say they have become closer. They, who worked on "choreography seemingly too difficult to sing live to" yet are busy playing jokes on each other when not on stage, have now become close enough to say with confidence, "The most important things is that we click and are close."

“I'm disappointed that I don't think we got to show ourselves 100 percent.”

<#10LOGO#> You took part in the recording for MBC's "3rd Idol Star Athletics Competition" last weekend. Are you happy with the results?
Suzy: I barely passed the preliminaries for the 100-meter race. In fourth. (laugh)
Min: Jia was in the hurdles race and Fei did high jump which they both did very well in.
Fei: My stomach had actually hurt a bit before I jumped because of indigestion. And I could've not jumped although I just did. But I didn't know I'd do so well because the members of SISTAR are really good at sports too. Everyone asked if I was really sick. (laugh)
Min: I was really moved.

miss A member Min [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

<#10LOGO#> You wrapped up your promotional activities for your first studio release without promoting a follow-up song. Aren't you disappointed about this? I'm sure things must've felt different from when you released your debut album.
Suzy: I'm disappointed that I don't think we got to show ourselves 100 percent because we were so tired from being so busy. When we made our debut... Hmm... I actually don't really remember too much about last year. (laugh) I guess that's how busy we were.

<#10LOGO#> Fei, I saw photographs of you looking extremely happy when you guys took first place on a music on the Internet. (laugh) It seems that taking first place is still very valuable to you.
Fei: Yes, I saw those. (laugh)
Suzy: When her eyes, nose and mouth all get bigger? (laugh)

<#10LOGO#> But I could tell that you'd become more at ease because when you were giving your encore performance for "Good-bye Baby" on SBS' "Inkigayo," you changed the lyrics to "My name isn't Jo Kwon" while he danced with you guys. Had you tried it out before?
Fei: We hadn't had time to meet him separately.
Jia: It just came out on the spot. That's why I got the grammar wrong though. (laugh)

<#10LOGO#> How did you feel when you first got the lyrics for that song and saw that part saying, "My name isn't Suzy but when he keeps calling me Suzy"?
Suzy: I was confused.
Fei: Hmm... This doesn't seem cool... (laugh) It seemed weird that we'd use someone actual name in a song so we asked producer Park Jin-young but he said it doesn't refer to miss A Suzy but just an ordinary girl. That he used Suzy because she has the most ordinary name.

<#10LOGO#> "Good-bye Baby" is about a girl who seems confident in front of a guy but is actually hurt inside which is quite a complex emotion. What was your interpretation of the lyrics?
Min: Well I haven't been that woman before but I really felt like slapping that guy when I listened to the song. So it felt great when I sang my part "Don't say anything. Just get lost."

“I cried a lot because it was difficult to pronounce my words for where I rap in Korean.”

miss A member Fei [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

<#10LOGO#> I also still remember the sound of someone's sigh in song "From one to ten." It sounded like that person really put their heart into it. (laugh) Who did it?
Fei: I did but it was extremely difficult because it couldn't be too long or too short, it had to contain emotion, and be done on time, but honestly, I sighed without much thought.

<#10LOGO#> Fei and Jia, it seems that your Korean skills are improving a lot these days. Not only was your pronunciation perfect when you sang "Vacant" on Mnet's "Beatles Code" but you also seemed to deliver emotion through your singing.
Fei: I actually can't study Korean everyday like I used to anymore but I think talking to people is important. It really helps you improve by a lot.
Jia: I still sometimes can't understand the culture of saying hello or goodbye to someone by bowing 90 degrees but I definitely think my Korean has improved by appearing on variety shows. There's almost nothing I feel uncomfortable with now.

<#10LOGO#> You even seemed to use Korean slang very freely as well. Who taught you them?
Jia: (Looks at Min)
Min: I taught her ever since we were trainees. (laugh)

<#10LOGO#> How was it having to rap in Korean?
Jia: I cried a lot because the words were so hard to pronounce. There were parts that were difficult even for Koreans to pronounce plus they had to contain emotions so whenever I'm done with the rapping... I'd be dead. (laugh) I'd say up to, "Now it is bye bye" and pant away.

<#10LOGO#> And what sort of vocal directing did you receive? I think your producer Park Jin-young must've made some detailed requests because in "Good-bye Baby," everyone's parts are important too but the chorus keeps going as well.
Min: There were a lot of small details he pointed out. And the most important thing was to deliver the emotions to the lyrics properly so we got directing on each and every word. For example, he'd even point out how emotion was missing to a syllable. (laugh) You know what I'm talking about right?
Fei: Yes, I know. (laugh) It was really difficult to practice the song because every move we made fell in line with each and every beat to the song. And so we said that we don't think we'd be able to perform the song live. But our choreographer told us, "It's okay. You said 'Bad Girl Good Girl' was difficult too at first but you ended up pulling it off. You'll do fine if you practice a lot." And it really wasn't too hard to do once we got the hang of it.

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10 아시아 Reporter : Lee Ga-on
10 아시아 Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@
10 아시아 Editor : Lee Ji-Hye seven@
10 아시아 Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@