#taec doing more for me than jyp ever could

[suuho]

📸 taecyeonokay

[alethia000]

[Interview Transcription] 140612 Youku All Star - Nichkhun's Talk  (English)

Getting recruited in the USA

In 2005, I went to a Korean concert. I ran into the casting managers and they asked me to audition for JYP. And I did. I got into the company in 2006 and I started training. At that time I was pretty much the only foreigner in JYP. Maybe a year later, Meng Jia and Feifei came to the company.  

When I started training at the company, they had me learned Korean and Chinese at the same time. And back then it was really confusing to me. I was trying to be good at Korean. At the same time, they wanted me to learn Chinese too. So I wasn’t good at either of them and they were giving me a lot of problems. (laugh)

I trained for about 2 years. We made the debut in September 2008 as 2PM.

So how my company, JYP, discovered me? I was at this Korean festival with my Korean friends in America, in LA. I was watching the concert and some lady approached me and asked me if I wanted to be a star. At the time I was really shy. I was a shy boy. 

(Fans in the studio laughed.) 

I was shy!! (laugh) I couldn’t even speak in front of the classroom without shaking. So at the time I said, “No! I didn’t want to.” My fans would know that I started off with not knowing how to sing, dance, or be on stage at all. I couldn’t even speak Korean. So I said No. I refused at first. Then they kept calling me. I was like, Ok. Let’s meet up. 

I asked them to come to the coffee shop close to my house. You know what coffee shop it is. (laugh) 

We sat down. We started talking. They started explaining to me about JYP, how Rain was in the company, how Park Jin Young was in the company, and how they worked with so many artists in America. 

As they were explaining to me about the company, two other people started setting up a camera outside the cafe.

After they were done, they called me outside. They told me to stand in front of the camera and introduce myself. 

At first, I didn’t want to do it. But then I was like introducing myself shouldn’t be that hard. I was like Ok. I’ll do this. But I won’t sing or dance. They said don’t worry about it. So I stood in front of the camera and said, “Hi everybody I’m Khun. I’m from America. I am 17 years old.” And then after I was done, they said, “Let’s try singing.” (sigh) 

The camera was already started rolling so I couldn’t just say no. I sang and it was a big disaster. After a while, they said, “Ok. This is not working. Let’s try something else. Can you dance?” I said, NO!

Then they pulled in this big truck and they turned on Usher’s Yeah! They turned on the stereo so loud that everyone in the cafe was staring at me.

They told me to dance. I think it was just like 5 seconds before they told me to stop because I couldn’t dance.  

They were like Let’s try something that might work. Let’s do some poses in front of the camera. And I did. That was my audition tape. I don’t think you will be able to find it. I am not going to watch it ever. 

After I was done that day, they said they would contact me within 2 or 3 weeks. I went back home and they went back to Korea. They had a talk with their management team and casting team. They decided to put me in the company.

They called me back and told me to come to Korea right away.  

I asked my parents. My grandmother was a big fan of Rain so she said, “Same company. Why not give it a try? It could be a one in a million opportunity. Let’s try it.” That’s how I got into the company and I started training. That was April 2006.

Almost giving up

In 2006, I went to Korea and started training. It was harder than I thought because of all the pressure I was getting.

I wasn’t able to speak Korean. I didn’t have any friends or family. I didn’t know the culture. It was really hard for me at first.

Within the first 3 months, I called my parents and I told them I wanted to go back to school in America and just be normal, be myself.

But then my dad asked me, “Do you want a brighter future?” He told me that if I went back to school, I would become pretty much nobody. He knew how I just liked to play sports and hang out with friends.

So my dad asked me, “Do you want to try and become somebody or do you want to be nobody?” And I said, “I’m gonna try.” And I started trying.

When I first got there, they had me go to this Korean Language School. 

I started taking Korean. They put me into singing class, dancing, rapping, acting, acrobatics. Pretty much everything. They wanted me to become a perfect performer. The problem was I was so bad at everything.

Everybody else in the company at the time like Junho, Jun.K were really good. So I was really feeling a bit down and sad because I couldn’t meet the expectations of the people in the company. Even with Korean. So I really wanted to give up. That’s when I called my dad and we talked. After that, I decided to give it a try. I didn’t care about what people would think about me.

Actually, I asked a lot of advice from Jun.K and Junho, Seulong, Kwon and they really helped me out a lot.

When I started making friends and learned more about Korean culture, I started to feel more at home, more comfortable, more relaxed. That’s when I started to feel like I could try better. I could be better.

I have to be better for the company, for my parents, for myself and my future. That’s when I started training.

You might know the word Pali-pali (빨리빨리) in the Korean culture. Korean people like everything to be fast. They want me to develop within a year or two years so that I can go out and become a singer. At first, I wasn’t used to that. But after a while, I got used to the word pali-pali. And I wanted myself to develop faster than they would expect me to. I pushed myself really hard to become better.

I started with no basic at all and the other people in the company were really good. So I tried to improve myself by not comparing myself to them but comparing myself to me a month before, a day before or a week before.

When I was singing, I would record myself and hear myself whether I sounded bad or good. Of course, it was bad. 

I would sing again, record again, sing again, and record again. I would let the other guys or my teacher listen to my recordings and asked them what I should improve. They would give me tips or pointers on what I am missing or what I should practice on.

With dancing, it’s the same thing. I would film myself or I would dance with my teacher next to me or someone who was really good at dancing next to me. So they can tell me like when I am doing this move, I should be a litter slower or put more feelings into this move. 

That kind of process that I went through to make myself better is not comparing myself with other people. I make everybody in the company to be my teacher. So I can learn a little something from everybody, not just my real teachers but other trainees in the company as well. That’s positive thinking. That’s a really good way to become better if you are trying at anything. 

Let’s say studying. I’m sure even if you are smarter than your friend next to you, I’m sure your friend might know something that you don’t.

So just take this kind of thinking. If you want to improve yourself at something, just think of yourself as not the best at what you’re doing and that people around you are better than you. That way you stay humble. You can learn more and people want to teach you more or want to give you more tips and advice.  

TaecKhun

Back when I couldn’t speak Korean, I had Taecyeon. We would always go around together all the time. I was being lazy. I was being bad because I didn’t want to study. Who wants to study? (laugh)

Some people might want to study but I didn’t want to study. I would take Taec with me around everywhere and he would translate everything for me.

After a while, people in the company started saying you guys can’t be together anymore. You guys have to separate because they wanted me to learn Korean.

The most difficult thing about being a trainee

When I was a trainee, what was difficult? Everything was difficult for me. (smile)

Because I was so bad at everything. What was most difficult was seeing myself not improving fast enough and watching people around me getting better every day. I felt like I wasn’t improving. I was disappointing the company and the person who casted me. And I didn’t want to disappoint my family. 

Apart from all the physical tiredness, the most difficult thing for me was seeing myself not improving and not being able to meet the expectations of the people and the company. I took that as an inspiration, as a motivation for me to get rid of that disappointment and to satisfy the people. I took that as a drive to make me better. 

Nichkhun’s injury

As you know, we do a lot of acrobatics like flipping and doing tumbling. This was before Heartbeat. We were practising our dance break. I was supposed to do this really hard move where Taec threw me and I flipped. Then the guys pulled me up and Chansung would hold me in the air. We were practising that. It was before Heartbeat was released, before we filmed the music video. I hurt my back. At first, I was like Oh it hurts a little bit. Let’s just try one more time and go home. We did it one more time and I couldn’t get up.

The music video was in 2 days and my back didn’t get better by the time I had to film the music video. So I wore this supporter thing on my back and my belly. And I filmed the music video like that. I danced when I couldn’t really walk. So that music video was a really hard day for me and I had to take a lot of painkillers because of the pain. I think that was my first injury that was really bad.

Then I had to film this advertisement commercial where they put me on this wire. And I had to hang in the air for many hours. That was really hurting my back. So after that commercial, I had to go to the hospital and get 6 injections in my spine which was really painful. But then I got better and now I am too old to do acrobatics. (laugh)

We don’t want to get hurt because when we were doing a concert or a show, we would have to be on stage for 3 hours. We don’t want to risk getting hurt halfway through the concerts and not being able to finish the concerts. We want to give you a good performance.

I always take care of myself by going to the gym, and not getting fat. I’m taking vitamins to keep my body ready for the concerts, for doing my schedules all day, all night. So I think from now on, I will try not to get hurt for you guys.

The importance of practice

Now that I think back I know why practising is so important. Now I don’t have time to practice really. I don’t even have time to go to the company, to go to the practice room. I just see how important practice is. Like the sentence that goes: practice makes perfect. Sometimes, before I do a stage, I have to practice a lot. But since I don’t have a lot of time to practice, that reduces my confidence. You need a lot of confidence to be in front of like 5 or 8 thousand people on stage. Now the importance of practice really hits me.

When I think back, I think to myself. I should have practised more. I should have listened to them and be a better trainee. But now that it’s too late, I just have to make do with the time that I have which is not a lot. Now we would finish work at midnight, and we would have to go to the company to practice until maybe 4 am. Then go to sleep and wake up again at 7 or 8 am. That is something that we can’t miss or not do because practice is that important.

About ‘Hot Blood Guys’ 

Before we became 2PM, they wanted us to do a survival reality program on TV to see whether we can work together and be a team. That’s how this program started. At first, we just did photoshoots for the profile pictures. After one episode, they told us that we were going to this island and we were going fishing. So that we can bond, get to know one another, and be a good team. They said we would go for only 1 or 2 nights. We were really excited to go because we never got to go out together as a big group. We were like we are going to have fun and have samgyeopsal party. We are going fishing on a boat.

So we started packing and took a boat ride to this island. That night we really had samgyeopsal party. We split into 2 groups and we did some funny shows for each other. They told us we need to sleep early because we have an early morning tomorrow. We have to catch a boat to go fishing. We slept around 9 to 10 pm. 

I think it was around 6 am when someone opened the door. He blew on his whistle and he was yelling at us to get up and come to the living room. We were really confused about what was going on. We came to the living room and there stood 2 guys who at the time to me looked like soldiers with the red hat.

He threw down this pile of clothes and he was like, Get ready and come out in 5 minutes. We were really confused and asked each other what was going on. So we came out late and he made us run a lot. (laugh) 

That’s what the program was about… whether you can prove yourself to be a man. You can prove yourself that in hard times whether you can work together or not. If one falls, the rest falls. It taught us that lesson. 

In the morning if one of us was late, even if it was snowing, the 2 soldiers made us take off our shirts and run in the snow which was really cold. That was the punishment for making a mistake. 

If we were to become a team, that is not really an option to make. Like I said if one goes down, the rest goes down. So we would have to be careful with everything that we do.

When I was doing that program, it was really hard for us. But now that we think about it, it was a really good lesson for all of us. 

Survive in the industry

After Hot Blood Guys, they determined who would be 2PM. We became a group. But then I don’t think we celebrated it because we haven’t started anything. We were still just nobody, just trainees. We still had a long way to go. We would have to select a title song. We would have to practice a routine for it. We would have to film the music video and shoot the album jacket.

At the time, we were actually worried whether we could make it to the top and whether we could survive in this industry. At the time, there was TVXQ, Rain, Big Bang and a lot of competitions out there. We didn’t even think about being as good as them. We just wanted to be somewhat recognised for our work. We looked up to those people as our idols. They work so hard to be where they are. We have to work hard as a team to get to that point one day which we didn’t even know if we were going to get there or how long it would take. It might take 5 or 10 years. It might not even happen. So more than happy, it was more of a scary thought to be in that position. So many stars and groups came out thinking that they would make it. But then a lot of them never really made it. It’s really sad because I know how hard people work to become a group. It’s just a very harsh environment because not everybody can become a star.

Nichkhun’s Opinions about Other 2PM’s Members

- Wooyoung would have to be the funniest guy. Wooyoung makes everyone in the group laugh. When we were really stressed out and tired, he actually made us really lively, and bright and laugh. He makes the atmosphere better.

- Taecyeon is like a manager for the group. When we have something to say to the head manager or Jin-young hyung, he would gather our ideas and thoughts on the subject and he would say, Ok. I will talk to him for you. - Jun.K now has become the producer of our group. He’s very talented. He has found his passion for music and now he has become a full-time producer for our group, for himself, and for other people too. I’m really proud of him that he found his passion for that. - Junho is like a little boy. Very playful. Very curious. He’s one of those guys who want to try everything. He’s now doing producing, acting, and his solo albums and concerts. He’s a young kid who’s trying to make the most of what he has right now, of his fame right now. So I really admire him for that. - Even though Chansung is the youngest one, he doesn’t look like it. Sometimes I feel like I should call him hyung. Not only because of his looks, but he likes to read a lot. And that’s really good and cool of him. Reading really gives you a lot of ideas and really makes you mature and makes you a better person. You know more from reading. He would say a lot of meaningful words. He would say a lot of things with reasons. That’s why I said maybe sometimes I should call him hyung because he has a lot of reasons. He doesn’t really get mad a lot. He knows how to explain every situation. He knows how other people feel. And he knows why they act the way they act. This is a good thing. We have a bit of everything in our group. Sometimes I would complain and some other guys in the group would say, No. This happens because of this. Or sometimes the other guys would say something and I would be like, It happens for a reason or it happens because of this reason.

As a group, I think we are really strong because our friendship and our teamwork has never once died down. We have always been a really good team, good support towards each other. I think that’s what’s really important about a group of workers or a group of friends. You trust each other. You have faith in each other. You support each other no matter what, through good times and bad times, and hard times. Even though one of us makes a mistake, it doesn’t matter. We are still a family and we still support each other. We still say positive things and make sure that everything is going to be ok. That’s what makes a good team and I think 2PM has that. And I’m really proud and happy to be a part of 2PM.

One of the hardest things of becoming 2PM

After we became 2PM and we made a debut, we went through a lot of struggles and a lot of hard time actually. We worked really hard to prove ourselves that we are a good team and that we can always be better. We have a lot of good fans. Thanks to a lot of support from our fans all over the world and a good team, I think we were able to break the ice, to come out of the shell, and be popular.

During that time it took a lot of effort. We would want to be better by doing acrobatics. People would get hurt like Junho got hurt from trying to make a better performance. I think what’s important about being a celebrity or being a performer is that you always have to be better. You can’t stay still. You can’t do the same thing over and over or your fans and the viewers are going to get bored. The trend keeps changing. The trend changes so fast nowadays that we have to catch up with the trend. We have to be the trendsetters. We have to always be two steps ahead of the trend. We have to create new things, new performances, new stages for you guys and for the viewers. What’s really hard about my job is to always come up with something that people haven’t done before. It’s more like gambling because with work like music and movies, you never know what people are going to like or what people aren’t going to like. Sometimes this song sounds really good to me. This dance looks really good to me. I think it’s going to work. But when it comes out, people might not like it. Sometimes it hurts me because we have put a lot of sweat, work, and effort into this album. But when it comes out, people don’t really like it. So it’s hard because you can’t predict what’s going to become a big hit or what’s not. What people are going to like or what people aren’t going to like. I think one of the hardest things of becoming 2PM is to always discover the undiscoverable which is what will be popular.   

My Fans

My fans are really nice. When I was filming my drama in Xiamen, my fans would come out to see me film. At first, I was really worried it might be a problem because of the camera angle. You guys might be in the camera. But on the first day I arrived at the set, my fans were all lined up and they were really quiet. When I was filming, they would stay quiet and they would not interfere with my filming.

I think I really have the nicest and the loveliest fans in the world. So thank you all for that.

If you ask me which is the most impressive days I have ever met my fans, like you said, every time is very impressive. The way that you give me love… it feels like I can never return the same love that you guys give me. So I guess by working harder, by being in more dramas, singing more songs, or doing more concerts, that’s how I return my love to you. So always and forever I thank you guys.

For you guys to give me something, it takes a lot of thoughts. It takes a lot of love and care for you to actually go out to buy something to give me or to write even a letter.

For me, I always told my fans that don’t buy me anything expensive. If you were to buy me anything expensive, just spend that money for a charity or donation, or something to help the people that really need this money. And my fans really do listen to me. They would go out and donate something and they would send me the certification paper to show me that they did this under my name or the fan club’s name. I’m really thankful to have such lovely fans that actually want to do that for me.

As for gifts, every gift is lovely. I thank you for giving me all the gifts, letters, candies, food, and drinks. Even the littlest gift shows me that you guys love me. All the gifts are the same to me which is love from you guys. I wouldn’t say that because this gift is more expensive than this one, I like this one more or this one is more impressive. No. Everything is the same. It just means love from you guys.

I don’t really want to compare the girls from this country and the girls from that country. I think that my fans all around the world are all the same because you love one person. To love the same person means you have the same heart. Even in the same country, we all have different personalities and different ways of living your life. I don’t want to say all girls are the same. I just want to say the girls who love me are all the same to me in my eyes.

I don’t want to be fake to you.

I think a part of this job, like being on stage, is to put on an act. Like when you sing a song, you have to act with the song. If the song is a strong, manly song, then you would have to act manly. Or if it’s a soft love song, then you would have to act like you are in love. If it’s a cute song, you would have to act cute.

But when I’m not on stage, or when I’m not acting in front of the camera, as you all might know, I take myself really just lightly. I like to be natural. You know I don’t really care what I dress. (smile)

And I don’t have any requirements of the ways I conduct myself in front of the public or when I’m not working. As long as it’s appropriate, I do whatever that’s natural, comfortable, and convenient to me.

You don’t like me to be fake, right? You don’t like fake people and I don’t want to be fake to you guys. So I try my best to be natural when I’m in front of you guys.

I do believe in love at first sight.

I do believe in love at first sight, especially when you are in a situation like Zhang Hao. He’s in a foreign country. He’s travelling alone and this beautiful girl is travelling alone. When they meet, of course, it’s going to spark something. When you see someone beautiful or someone handsome, you would be attracted to that person instantly. 

So I do believe that this kind of love can happen. But the question of this drama is can this love at first sight or this first love work out. Love can happen at any time, with anybody. But because of the difference in personalities or the situations that are given, sometimes love does not work out. And sometimes it works out in a different way that you don’t expect it to. That’s what this drama is all about. It talks about love and friendship. Friendship pretty much will last forever. Will love last?

When I lose weight, that really bothers me.

As a 2PM, the beastly idol, we always have to be muscular. We always have to be in shape which means we can’t be either skinny or fat. And by me not gaining weight, it really stresses me out. Then I have to eat like six meals a day which is like twice more than other guys. And I don’t have time to eat because I’m always working. When I lose weight, that really bothers me.

But then I would have to go to the gym. Since I don’t gain fat, I would have to gain muscles. So I would go to the gym and work out… so that I can take off my shirt for you guys. Not now. (laugh)

[Transcription by Daffodil0624]

MAY BE TAKEN OUT WITH PROPER CREDITS