With sleek eyes, and a lovely face without anything unnecessary, the first thing you see is his appearance that looks as if he’s about to go into a manhwa book. But to describe him with just his looks, is infinitely lacking. Popular idol group leader, lyricist, composer, producer, and actor he is all of them, and to say the least he is a versatile man. With every question, he answers to the full extent, smiling and pouring out his bright, white positivity, and it became obvious what his charm was.
Debuting in 2011, they calmly found their unique color of music, the five member group, B1A4. Writing their own lyrics, and making their songs, in the center of it all is their leader Jinyoung. Their title track of their album ‘Who Am I’, ‘Lonely’, which was released this past January, was of course written by the leader Jinyoung. On public and cable television, they won eight times. Furthermore through the movie Jinyoung was in, ‘Miss Granny,’ he was able to enter the big screen as an ambitious newcomer.
While talking to 24-year-old Jinyoung, who does everything with extreme care and challenges new things non-stop, it seems that he had the confidence to take on anything he would want to do. He has the power to spread his positivity to anybody. Is it not that his strength as a leader, a singer, and as a actor came to light here.
Q. From the start of 2014 there was a continuous flow of good events. This past January the B1A4 2nd full album’s title track ‘Lonely’ won first eight times, and the movie Jinyoung was in ‘Miss Granny’ reached over eight million viewers.
Jinyoung: We’re receiving so much love, that I’m at a loss at what to do. I’ve come to think that the next time we come back, we should should show an even better image, and that we shouldn’t get lazy. So as a result I’ve focused and am working harder.
Q. Usually don’t companies give a quarterly assessment grade on how you guys have worked? If B1A4 were to be assessed for the past three months, what would be the grade?
Jinyoung: 80 points? (laugh) We’ve received a lot of honorable, and Baro got casted in the SBS drama ‘God’s Gift.’ The movie I was in ‘Miss Granny’ did well too. CNU is a fixed member on the MBC radio ‘ShimShimTapa’ too. In Sandeul and Gongchan’s case they’re taking care of what they need to do and are also in the middle of preparing a couple things. I’m thinking that if some good work comes along, that they’ll do it. I like to think that seeing all these things we’ve done, it’s been a happy three months.
Q. Then what about the other 20 points?
Jinyoung: Those are things that need to be filled up with more effort.
Q. Incidentally none of the members are here so let’s have a ‘nice’ gossip session. I’ve noticed it can be embarrassing to compliment then when you’re all together.
Jinyoung: Well first of all, I’m really thankful to CNU because he’s realistic. When I think about the future, I have a tendency to go off the reins quite a bit. (laugh) I think about ridiculous situations that could never happen often, so having a friend who is realistic, he can pull me back from those fantasies a lot. And my dongsaengs take care of my really well, so it’s really comfortable and I’m very grateful. Sandeul always tries hard and studies a lot. When you give him something to do, he’s never lazy and does his best. So watching him, I feel reassured. I’m sure that Sandeul will do great things. Baro is the same, and he does what he needs to do. I never have to worry about him. It’s because if you give him something to do, he doesn’t just try 100%, he gives it 200%. He’s also like a vitamin. We’re never depressed. If we are, he always talks with us and makes us laugh. Even though Gongchan is the maknae, he’s really sturdy. If the hyungs are tired, we can borrow his shoulder. I didn’t know that a maknae could have that role, but because he’s so mentally strong we can depend on him.
Q. In your dorm, you share a room with Sandeul right? I heard on the radio that you both aren’t great at cleaning up. (laugh) Is there anything advice in particular you’d like to tell your roommate, about having a clean room?
Jinyoung: Honestly I don’t think I can give him any advice because I’ve been the one who makes the mess lately. It’s a big issue. (laugh) We cleaned the room recently, but the clothes are already beginning to pile up on the floor. The other members’ rooms are clean though… It could be that from the beginning sharing a room wasn’t a good idea. We thought in the beginning that if we shared a room, we would recognize our bad habits, so we would work harder at cleaning our room. We keep saying to each other, “Hey it’s ok. This isn’t so bad.” “We’re going to wear this tomorrow, so just put it here,” so there’s no doubt that it’s going to get dirtier. I think we’re going to have to clean a little. (laugh)
Q. While filming for dramas or movies, the feeling with your seniors, juniors, and co-workers, must have been completely different than with your members. It must have been not B1A4’s Jinyoung, but Jung Jinyoung.
Jinyoung: As a B1A4 members, it felt more like I was being inspected. I thought a lot about how I would have to make people know about B1A4. If I went there and didn’t do well, it would affect our whole team’s image, so I was concerned about that. I never felt like I was alone. The members were always in my mind.
Q. With ‘She is Wow’ and ‘Miss Granny’, you’ve done one drama and one movie. Do you have a feeling for acting now?
Jinyoung: I learned the charm of acting. In my case, I hadn’t acted much, so there were a lot of things I was curious about. Things like how is this person living, how is that person living on. Living in someone’s life is a valuable experience. In ‘She is Wow’ I had to express the delinquent Gong Min-gyu, and I got to do a lot of things I hadn’t done before. Although I wasn’t like that, through the character I was able to make some trouble. (laugh) In the movie, playing the grandson was really fun too.
Q. Did you practice acting separately?
Jinyoung: I didn’t practice separately, but I watched different works and studied. I felt like just because you practiced acting, you aren’t going to get better instantaneously. I thought that understanding one character, and becoming immersed in that would help more. Before you go into acting in the piece, there are people that help to analyze the character as well. With parts I didn’t understand, or with things that I hadn’t experienced, they gave me advice and helped me out. In ‘She is Wow,’ I actually just talked with the director a lot. I thought that the director would know more about the character, and I could find out what type of image the director would want quicker.
Q. Anyway in ‘Miss Granny’ you were in a rock band, but even then you came out with really white makeup so I was super shocked. I knew it was Jinyoung’s voice, but I didn’t know that face.
Jinyoung: In the beginning I was really surprised too. While they were doing the makeup I was a little tired, so I was sleeping, and when I woke up my face was like that. I thought what I should about this, but after a while I got used to it. Hongdae was where we first filmed, and the people there all avoided us. It would seem pretty scary. There was a thunderbolt on my face too. (laugh)
Q. I think it’s the time to ask. Looks, music, or acting, which one do you have the most confidence in?
Jinyoung: Ah… Taking out my looks, music and acting. I don’t think that music and acting are that different. Besides how you express them, they’re the same. With music you express through lyrics, and with acting, through the script. When you cry or otherwise when you sing, it’s like acting. When you act, music helps as well, and when you perform music, acting helps as well.
Q. So in the end you’re saying you’re confident in both of them. It seems like you’re adventurous and like to take on challenges.
Jinyoung: I really like to take on challenges. I’m the let’s try it first type of person.
Q. Have you ever had experiences with failure?
Jinyoung: I’ve had experiences with failure, but I’ve always thought that it was the process. I don’t get frustrated. If there was something bad that happened, I think ‘I just have to stand up and dust myself off.’ Anyway it’s not like this is the only chance, ‘next time let’s do better’ is how I think. If I’m going to stay alive in this field, and later in society, I feel like I have to have this mindset. So thinking, “Sure, you do that. I’ll think like this,’ I feel has made me a stronger person. But saying that, it’s not like I don’t listen to what other people say. (laugh) It’s just what I think if you ask me about failure.
Q. You’re really positive.
Jinyoung: From the songs that we released this time, there is a song that I think has that feeling too. It’s “Love Then”, and this song is really positive. “Love back then gave me happiness/ But in the end, it gave me the sadness of a farewell/ Breaking up back then gave me sadness/ But now it gives me good memories rather than pain.’ Because I loved you, breaking up wasn’t so hard. I felt like it was saying, although back then it really hurt, now because of that pain I can start a new love. It’s expressing how in that period of time the painful and hurtful memories all became just experiences.
Q. Talking with you, I can figure out your charm exactly. What is the reason you think people like B1A4 and you?
Jinyoung: I think it’s because of how we’re comfortable. When we have a fan meeting, our fans treat us like the oppa next door. Because our fans are like that, we became like that too. It’s actually a lot easier to communicate that way. They are people who came to meet us in the first place, and we went to meet the fans so there’s no need to be uncomfortable with each other. So isn’t it that why people like us.
Q. If you think of B1A4 the first thing that goes across your mind is a good image. Have you ever thought that one day that image would become a burden?
Jinyoung: If it were something that we came up with and created, it could be that way, but we’re just showing who we are, so it’s not a burden. We communicate and talk with our fans, just the way we are.
Q. If your basic human qualities aren’t as they should be, then ‘being the way you are’ could be hard.
Jinyoung: I don’t know if it’s that our ‘nature is good.’ Because honestly you don’t know how people will turn out. (laugh) But I don’t really think about those things. I just go the way my heart takes me. I think that thinking about these things, actually makes it harder.
Q. Listening to you, it seems like you were destined to be an idol.
Jinyoung: Is it like that? (laugh)
Q. In an idol’s case, they hear lot of different stories. Adding to that it seems that the thought, ‘If I talk like this, the people will react like this,’ and they try to calculate the reactions. But it doesn’t look like you do that.
Jinyoung: Ah, there is something that we pay attention to. We have a big heart about, trying to do things that the fans will like because we want to give them good memories and good thoughts.
Q. That’s good so you must do it to people you like, with a caring mind.
Jinyoung: I guess so (laugh)
Q. Have you ever searched up ‘B1A4 Jinyoung’ on a portal site?
Jinyoung: Of course I have.
Q. Then in the profile you should know what it says. Singer…
Jinyoung: (at the same time) Composer.
Q. To describe you with the words singer and composer, seems lacking. You write lyrics, compose, and produce, so do you have one in particular that you have the most feelings for?
Jinyoung: I don’t really have a preference. They all go side by side. When you write a song, you write lyrics, so if you don’t have one, you don’t have the one either. Even if the exact lyrics don’t come out, the feelings come across, so I don’t think about the subject in the beginning. There are lyrics that just come out of the song, so looking at those I think that this subject would go with those lyrics. It’s possible to express anything without words. In a composer’s case, it’s not the words that have the real appeal, but the melodies, so that’s good. Putting in past experiences and things that you want to do into a song gives you a satisfied feeling, and it becomes an experience as well.
Q. That must be how you write lyrics and songs alone, so when you work with Baro or CNU to write lyrics, how does it go?
Jinyoung: The rap part is not something I can write, so I talk with those two a lot. I don’t just leave a space where the rap should go, and ask them to write the lyrics. I give my song to them to listen, and tell them the story of the song from the start to end. It’s this type of song, the boy and girl are like this in the song, in your part I would like this style to come through, don’t you have experiences like this too, I’d like it if you could stretch out that experience as much as you can, I say things like that and while talking with each other, we understand each other more, and work better together.
Q. Because you even produce as well, you’re in a role where you know your members strength better than anyone else. So if that’s the case, who looks for Jinyoung’s strengths.
Jinyoung: Originally I did the directing (the composer making sure that the singer understands the song) alone, but nowadays we take turns. I told the members that I wanted to try this once, and said that I thought it would be a really good thing to do. Skill is important in songs, but it’s also really important that you are able to keep the song alive. As the composer who made the song, I thought if you understand the song well, you can sing the song better. Each of become that song’s composer and direct. Their understanding of the song increases, and when they sing, it can become easier to be immersed in the song. We also practiced a lot of thinking that the song’s inst. (Instrumental: only the instruments playing the song) was a song we made and recording. I noticed by doing that, their unique feelings came out.
Q. So it could be seen that the member’s look at each other’s strengths.
Jinyoung: That’s right. When I go, the members look after me. I made the song, but the members also have their input about how they understand the song and how they would like it done. We talk a lot. We talk like ‘I did it this way, but you think about it this way,’ and we go accordingly from there. The team called B1A4 makes songs as one.
Q. What do you think about your voice? It’s rather unique.
Jinyoung: To be honest, there are good and bad things about it. As a result I have to make it into a voice, that all people will like. It’s my goal to have a voice that’s comfortable to listen to, but also has its own color.
Q. The members’ voice all have a unique color to them.
Jinyoung: That’s why I can’t predict a song. I make guides, but while I’m making it I think ‘It’s going to change a lot anyway.’ When the members’ voices goes in, that’s the moment where it becomes a B1A4 song. Sandeul had a really powerful middle register, and it has the perfect impact. CNU has really good high notes. He’s good a singing songs that are slightly like rock songs. Because he can sing high, he often has the role of adding color to our songs. In (Gong)Channie’s case he has a really pretty, sweet voice. So we have a lot of use for him. It’s almost to the extent where his voice is like one instrument. Baro is also really good at keeping songs alive. He has what you would call a round voice. His voice is good in general, so it fits anywhere.
Q. Where does the inspiration for your melodies come from?
Jinyoung: The melodies come out the best when my head is completely empty. Actually when I’m thinking about it in the office, they don’t come out as well. When I’m walking on the streets, or riding the car is when they come out the best. When you’re walking on the streets, you tend not to think or you think of old memories. When I’m not thinking much, when my head is in a clean state, I start humming unknowingly. Then I think ‘Oh, this melody is nice’ and I start recording immediately. I used to have a lot of moments like these, but I missed them all. I used to think that they were just songs that came out, but now because I write songs, I don’t want to miss even one.
Q. You’ve gotten the power of grabbing them now.
Jinyoung: I found that being able to do that is important. In the case of lyrics, if the melody isn’t coming out, just the words that I’m thinking can help a lot. Just one word or phrase could reveal the subject. Listening to those words, I sometimes remember old memories of situations I was in and I start from there. There are also times where I wonder what would work with that particular song, so I save it for the time being and come back to it. But in the end, because it’s a song I’d have to show the public, there are a lot of factors to be concerned about. The words in general have to have an impact, and the songs has to be relatable. It’s not that easy.
Q. Before you sleep do you always listen to music? These types of things must influence you when you make songs. What did you listen to yesterday?
Jinyoung: I listen to a lot. I do that on purpose. Yesterday I listened to a song I composed. (laugh) When I’m writing a new song, I listen to a lot of songs I wrote, because there are times when a new melody comes out from them.
Q. So like in a 1st person perspective novel, the songs Jinyoung makes have your feeling to them. There are people who make songs like themselves, but on the other hand there are people who want to free themselves from that.
Jinyoung: I don’t think there’s a need to completely break away. From our experiences, and making songs, the meeting of our environments, or situations with our individual colors, creates B1A4’s unique color. To protect this color there can be changes, but I don’t think the changes are that big If you look from the beginning to the end, it may have changed a lot, but if people listen to the song and say ‘It’s seems like a B1A4 song; then we succeeded.
Q. When I first listened to ‘Lonely,’ the first thought I had was, ‘the feeling of the song is retro, but it’s also classy.’ B1A4 has its own unique feeling and way to express themselves.
That’s right. A lot of people around us said that the song had analogue elements to it. In the case of ‘Love Then’ it has a lot of classical elements, and ‘Lonely’ too in the beginning, in some ways, could be viewed as old-fashioned. But as the song goes on it goes into the modern style. No matter how much the song is written in a past style, it still becomes something different. By balancing the retro and modern elements, I like to think that I made a more relatable song. With the lyrics, I didn’t try to make them complicated. Aren’t they things that would really happen? ‘I tried to eat together but you weren’t there/ I tried to watch a movie but you weren’t there.’ I thought that there was no need to make it difficult to understand. The most important thing was to express easily that they were things that could happen to anybody. If I tried to wrap the words up in a cool fashion, or make it overly complicated, I felt that it would decrease the relatability.
Q. If you were to say it more definitely?
Jinyoung: I just put what I had experienced into the songs. I didn’t add anything that wasn’t true. If I were to talk about an experience, ‘I tried to eat together but you weren’t there’ the thing I think of is pizza. There was a girl I used to go out with, and we would go out for pizza often. The day after I broke up with her, I went to eat pizza with a close friend, but even though I was with a friend I couldn’t have fun. Also when I went to the movies, I always went with my girlfriend, but going with my friend, I felt weird. So I just expressed it as it was. The thing that was funny after I made that song is… There was a part that wouldn’t come out as I had felt it. ‘If only I can walk with you again/If only we can walk together again (I’d like it)” I made the ‘I’d like it’ in a talking voice on purpose. Right there everything is expressed. With the phrase “If we could do this, it’d be great’ expresses the whole song. I thought it wasn’t much, but I recorded that part of a hundred times.
Q. You just talked about your dating experiences, but are you a romanticist, who dreams of love like in movies? Do you have a picture in your head of a romantic love?
Jinyoung: I can’t really think of anything, but in a movie. Like walking and looking into each other’s eye for the first time and falling in love. And then after that you meet some how. You say, “I’ve seen your face a lot somewhere, have we met before?” and then the love begins. There are things like, you bump into each other and drop books by accident, and that’s how you fall in love.
Q. Do you have any romantic memories left in your head, from your real life experiences?
Jinyoung: Of course there are. But I feel like all the happy things in general leave a big impression. The things that were hurtful and painful though, are the memories that hurt one by one as if you were being stabbed by a needle.
Q. What about experiences that hurt you?
Jinyoung: One painful experience was in the song ‘Good Love.’ In it, the love between the girl and boy had disappeared. In reality there was a time where I had met with one of my old girlfriends in a coffee shop, and at that time our love had begun to disappear. We barely said one word to each other, and we had a feeling that we were going to break up. I could kind of see tears in my girlfriend’s eyes. It was a situation where she couldn’t just say something to me, and I couldn’t just say ‘let’s break up,’ easily either. So we just say there. ‘You don’t have much to say today/ Tell me what’s going on.” Honestly the love was gone, but to say these words were too hard. So I told (Gong)Channie to sing it as calmly as possible. Starting from ‘I’m a bad guy’ is inside the head. Saying ‘Ah, I shouldn’t do this, why did I do that’ and thinking about the good things that happened in the past. I didn’t write it to make my head hurt, but just to capture that day, that emotion. At first I thought, ‘Uh, what should I do about this. It doesn’t seem like a B1A4 song.’ I was confused because we hadn’t done songs like this one. (laugh) I let the other members listen, but I was just kind of so-so about it. I just wrote it on whim with my emotions, but the members were able to d it well. I’m thankful.
Q. Um, is the person you just talked about the same person from the pizza incident? How did you guys separate afterwards?
Jinyoung; It’s a different person. That was the separation. Afterward, through phone we broke up. It was the first time where I had broken up with someone mutually. We were both sorry, to bring up such a thing, but after talking I felt like we were both able to break up comfortably. Although our love had disappeared a lot, the ending wasn’t as bad. This is a really old story because it was when I was in high school. (laugh)
Q. Is there anything that if you hear, it gives you strength?
Jinyoung: If people say, “He seems like a good person,” I feel proud.
Q. I talked with you today, but you’re a really great person!
Jinyoung: Ah thank you. (Laugh) Rather than hearing you’re good looking, or you’re pretty, hearing you’re a good person makes you feel as if you’re living life correctly. When I hear that I think at least my life isn’t harming that one person, and I get really happy.
Q. This year you became 24. Have you thought about being 30?
Jinyoung: I thought I was really young, but for an idol I’m not that young. It’s scary that time has passed as quickly as it has. I feel like 30 will come in the blink of an eye too. People around me say, ‘No, you’re still young. Why would you say that,’ but for me it’s different.
Q. What do you think the 30-year-old Jinyoung will be like?
Jinyoung: I’ll be active as B1A4, and I like to think that my mind would be more peaceful. I feel like I’ll be working hard on performing music, and acting. I feel like that the things that I can’t do now, I’ll be able to experience, and I’ll gain a lot from those experiences.
Q. From here on out, what type of image of B1A4 would you like?
Jinyoung: I hope that we wouldn’t be burdened and that we’d go on just like we are now. We make songs too, so I hope that we’d be able to put in our experiences and emotions to develop more, and if we show our colors it’ll be good. I want to show something of change.
Q. During your concerts in February, the fans held up placards for the members that read, ‘We’ll be your strength.’ Finally your last words to your fans.
Jinyoung: Even without those placards, the fans are always a source of strength for us. They’re already give us strength, so when they gave us even more, I remember being overwhelmed and I think I cried. I think now we should take the role and give them strength. I want to give them more attention and tell them how much I love them.
Source: Tenasia
trans cr: afterJJyoung @ AVIATEB1A4Take out with full credit to the sources and translator
I got to learn a lot about you, JINYOUNG~♥ love. I'm happy to learn more about you. ^^♥ OMO! Those photos though! LKASHDLKFHALKSDHFLKAHFLKSADF It distracted me some when I was reading this article! >///< JINYOUNG~♥ saranghae! ♥