CNBlue’s Press Conference for their First Full Album

CNBlue held a press conference for their first full album “First Step” on March 21^st. Currently, CNBlue is straddling the lines between an idol group and a band group. However, they hope to cement their status as a band with their new album. “First Step” includes “Intuition,” “Love Girl,” “I Don’t Know Why,” “One Love” and “Love Rides the Rain.” Jung Yong Hwa personally composed the music and lyrics for “Love Girl,” and Lee Jong Hyun wrote the lyrics for “Love Rides the Rain.” Responses for the released album were checked through smartphones throughout the press conference. Jung Yong Hwa confessed, “It’s a bit embarrassing for me to say this, but I think we’re getting a pretty good response.” The group is already looking forward into their futures as they talk about how they want to mature in twenty years.

Questions & Answers with CNBlue

There’s been a massive transformation to CNBlue’s image.

Yong Hwa: Our title track “Intuition” has a masculine tone to it. We’ve done a lot of changes to our hairstyles and clothes. I’ve also lost about twenty pounds for this new album because I wanted to present our new album with a renewed mind and appearance.

Jung Shin: Personally, I thought my previous bobbed hair gave me a feminine look. I wanted to give a more masculine appeal this time. If CNBlue looked smart in the past, we’re going for chic masculinity this time around.

Your new music video was finally released. How do you feel?

Yong Hwa: That was also our first time watching the finalized version. We tried to create the music video with Russell Crowe’s movie “Romper Stomper” (1992) in mind. Some scenes were a bit embarrassing. We were worried because there were some rough scenes, but it seems like they were well-received by the fans. We had a lot of fun filming the music video.

Jong Hyun: All I could think about after watching the finalized music video was how hot Jung Shin looked. He used to stress out because of his feminine image, but he’s definitely broken that look this time.

Jung Shin: When the teaser was released, there was a lot of talk about Jong Hyun’s good looks. I think he’s just saying that about me because he’s embarrassed. I’m very satisfied with the way our music video came out.

We heard there were several funny episodes during the shoot. Can you tell us about them?

Yong Hwa: There was a scene where Min Hyuk had to shove past a foreign policeman. However, Min Hyuk rebounded off him as he tried to push. The scene created a lot of NGs.

Min Hyuk: I tried to put in all my emotions as I acted, but it felt like I was still a little off. I felt a little discouraged because while I tried so hard, it didn’t seem to show in the video.

It’s noticeable how much effort you put into the album to cement CNBlue’s identity as a band.

Yong Hwa: We’ve never lost pride in the fact that we’re a band. To tell you the truth, structure-wise it’s very difficult to sing live in music programs. As a result, we didn’t have much opportunity to show the public ‘CNBlue the Band.’ We wrote the music and lyrics for all the songs, minus the title track, in our new album. And we thought it was important for the public to know about our collaboration for this album.

CNBlue still has a long way to go before you’re recognized for your musicality. What are you thoughts on this evaluation?

Yong Hwa: We’re not too focused on our current assessments, but we are going to work harder and harder to improve.

Do you have a role model?

Jong Hyun: I was deeply moved with Bon Jovi’s live performance. It’s amazing how they’re able to grasp both the public’s love and musicality. Hopefully, we can do what they’re able to do in ten to twenty years. We still have a long way to go, but we hope to become like the Rolling Stones one day.

 You guys wrote the lyrics for the songs. What were your inspirations?

Jong Hyun: We watched a lot of movies and dramas to experience vicariously. We saw “Leaving Now to Meet You” (2006) and Fuji TV’s “Dishonesty.” It got to the point where we didn’t have any more movies or dramas to watch.

Yong Hwa: The entire lyrics writing process was a lot like writing a letter. I tried to exert all my emotions to what I was writing.

If you were to rate this new album, what would you give it?

Yong Hwa: I would give it a 50 for now. While we did our best, there were some areas where we didn’t contribute. I want to release an album that is made 100% by ourselves.

Min Hyuk: While I indirectly contributed to our songs, I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to write any. I’m studying songwriting right now, so I hope to write a song for our next album. I would also give it a 50.

Jong Hyun: I vigorously practiced throughout and figured I improved a lot. However, I sort of choked when I went in for a recording, and I wasn’t able to express myself entirely. But I do think we’ve improved a lot since last time, so I’ll give this album a 60.

Jung Shin: We really worked hard and practiced nonstop no matter what time it was. It might seem a little arrogant of me if I said I was satisfied with our album; but based on our practices and efforts, I would give it a 65.

Written in Korean by girlalice@soompi; translated by hotshotlover30@soompi

Photos by Lee Sang Hee of Studio V (studio_v@naver.com)