2AM colors their new album with maturity

2AM members (from left to right) Jinwoon, Jo Kwon, Changmin and Seulong perform during their showcase for their 2nd mini-album "F. Scott Fitzgerald's Way of Love" held in Seoul, South Korea on March 13, 2012. [Big Hit Entertainment]

Making their comeback in over a year and six months, top Korean ballad group 2AM took the stage to present their second mini-album "F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Way of Love” to the local reporters at their showcase today.

"It was more nerve-wrecking to perform this song here than when we gave our debut performance," 2AM's vocalist Lee Changmin said after singing their title track "I Wonder If You Hurt Like Me" for the first time while leader Jo Kwon said as a joke that Lee uses that speech at all his performances. The 2AM members, including Jo Kwon, Lee Changmin, Jinwoon and Seulong, seemed somewhat happy and relieved after hearing the reporters' applause.

"We knew that the fans have been waiting for us to release a new album but we wanted to make sure that it comes out in the highest quality and includes the best of the best tracks. Which is why we apologize for not coming back sooner but at the same excited to be standing here with this album," Jinwoon said in front of the press.

It was clear that the members were confident presenting this new album after hearing them talk about how many meetings they had to determine their concept, what they learned from the different producers as well as how they enjoyed their time making this album.

Below are the excerpts from the press conference regarding 2AM's thoughts about their comeback and the new album, which was released today, how they spent their break and their favorite tracks.

2AM members (from left to right) Jinwoon, Jo Kwon, Changmin and Seulong speak during their showcase for their 2nd mini-album "F. Scott Fitzgerald's Way of Love" held in Seoul, South Korea on March 13, 2012. [Big Hit Entertainment]

We are Back

Jo Kwon: We continued to prepare this album while focusing on our individual activities for a year and six months. I feel that this album will show a mature side of 2AM because the four of us have worked together to discuss the ways to record our songs and how to create this. Overall, it just shows who we are as singers at this moment.
Changmin: I'm just excited to be making our local comeback. Though we were busy with our individual activities, we put in a lot of effort for this album and we will make sure that we do a great job in promoting our album and ourselves.
Seulong: I first want to apologize for not making our comeback sooner but we were busy promoting ourselves in Southeast Asian countries and making our official debut in Japan. And I just want to say that we will work extra hard and make up for our lost time with our appearances on televised music shows and entertainment programs.
Jinwoon: With our comeback, we want to show everyone how much we have grown through our music and with other activities on air. We will work hard for this album.

Active Waiting

Jo Kwon: I was pretty busy during our break. I shot my first sitcom, made my debut in Japan, went on vacation and went to school. I studied real hard at school and I went to all of my classes and at first the students were curious about me when I came to school but they don't pay much attention to me anymore because I go to classes often now. (laugh)
Changmin: I cooked a lot. I'm the kind of a person who likes to cook for fun and I would make delicious food for myself. (laugh) At times, I ate with other members. (Seulong and Jinwoon: Changmin is the best cook.) And I hardly went out besides fulfilling my activities. (Seulong: That is why I took him out several times.)
Jinwoon: Well for me, I focused on my solo activities starting with my first performance at the Jisan Rock Valley Festival last year. Since then I have released another solo album and I also made my debut as an actor with my first role in KBS' "Dream High 2."

2AM's picks

Jo Kwon: My favorite song is track No. 1, titled "I Was Yours" (translated title). It was composed by Lee Sang-ho and Choi Young-chan and singer Wheesung wrote the lyrics. The melody is cheerful though, which contrasts to the sad lyrics. I thought that it was going to be a happy song because the name of it sounds lovely. I'm enjoying this song the most.
Changmin: I really like the song written by Lee Chang-min (referring to self since he composed the song "Love You, Love You"). Besides my song, I really like the track "Erase All Memories" (translated title) because even though it is a ballad, it still has some elements of R&B and sophistication.
Seulong: I like "Breaking Up Well" (translated title) which the veteran singer Yoon Jong-shin wrote for us. I just love the lyrics and simply the fact that Yoon composed it just for us.
Jinwoon: My favorite song is "One Second More" (translated title). Producer and singer Park Sun-zoo gave us this track and as much fun that I had working with her, I also learned a lot.

2AM members (from left to right) Jinwoon, Jo Kwon, Changmin and Seulong pose for photos during their showcase for their 2nd mini-album "F. Scott Fitzgerald's Way of Love" held in Seoul, South Korea on March 13, 2012. [Big Hit Entertainment]

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10 아시아 Reporter : Lucia Hong luciahong@
10 아시아 Editor : Monica Suk monicasuk@