:: 29 July 2013
EXCITE: You've worked hard for ‘D-LITE D’scover Tour 2013 in Japan ~DLive~’.
Like what we have seen, apart from the excellence of the songs, D-LITE’s own
charm has also infected the whole venue. How do you feel now that the tour is
over?
D-LITE: I really learnt a lot through this tour. From the staff to everybody
present, I realized all of us could be one. I think this is the biggest
discovery.
EXCITE: Bigbang members came for the concert too, did all of you talk about
your thoughts for the concert?
D-LITE: We did not (laugh). As we are all men, we don’t really speak with
such details. But they said I’ve worked hard, which actually has a deeper
meaning in it. Right now all of us are busy with our own activities, when they
came for my concert it was quite hard. So they used “You've worked hard!” to
represent everything.
EXCITE: Just through a “You've worked hard” and you can sense so much. It’s
because of your trust within each other right?
D-LITE: Yes, it’s like this.
EXCITE: For your first solo single, ‘I Love You’ will be released on the 31st
of July. I heard that this song was also covered in Korea before and it was
also quite famous. Any thoughts about that?
D-LITE: At the start it was covered by a Korean band called POSITION. ‘I
Love You’ was originally a song that I liked. The Koreans love this song so
much they thought that this song was from Korea, it is very famous in Korea.
Afterwards, I saw Yutaka Ozaki’s video and I think that the original song is
still the best.
EXCITE: Yutaka Ozaki is a special artist where everybody will still carry his
passion on even after he passed away. Any artist covering this song will also
feel pressurized. What mood did you bring to sing this song?
D-LITE: Definitely, when I was covering this song it was very stressful.
Because the original song was so good thus it was already perfect just being
the way it is. I feel that it is most important to add all types of feelings
into the original song. Without ruining the original song’s vibe and adding my
own colours in naturally is very important. After listening to ‘I Love You’ by
me, you will feel the charm of the original song and also my personality. I
wanted listeners to experience this effect which is why I wanted to re-arrange
the song. As this is a solo single, it is most stressful. As ‘D’scover’ is an
album, in the re-arrangement of the songs, I can do some variations about it.
The whole album is done based on what I want. But for the single, I have to
consider about the original song and adding my thoughts in it. I am a little
worried about that.
EXCITE: Yutaka Ozaki uses falsetto to perform the song’s climax which is at the
latter half of the song. However, D-LITE used a strong voice to sing it. In
this part I can feel D-LITE’s personality, however, how do you decide between
“I would like to change this part” and “I would like to keep this part”?
D-LITE: It was decided after listening to the original songs many times and
basing on my image. This time, I want to try listening to the songs of other
artists who have covered ‘I Love You’. Up till now, there have been countless
of artists who have covered this song. For example, Hikaru Utada, Masaharu
Fukuyama, Ayaka and Kobukuro etc. At the start, I asked my manager to bring me
all the songs of artists that covered ‘I Love You’. I listened to about 12-13
songs. These songs cannot be similar but it is also not allowed to put aside
the colors of the original songs, but I still have to add my own colors in
naturally.. Due to this I've thought a lot, I kept on researching and trying
and finally completed the song. I think what’s most important is how I blended
my colors in naturally.
EXCITE: So I see. Wouldn’t it be difficult to search for a balance like this?
D-LITE: Very difficult (laugh). However I am not alone this time, I also
have producer Seiji Kameda and violinist Hakase Taro working with me. So I was
able to receive different inspirations from them and produced good works.
EXCITE: Hakase Taro spoke of how he obtains energy from his violin sounds, what
is this “energy”? Does he mean that this sound gives him the idea of his works?
D-LITE: Before recording, I will think of how to produce this song using my
own voice and vocal style. After that, I will record and feel the mood around
me and make slight changes to it. But I think what’s most important is how I
co-ordinate with my instruments. The player of the instrument appears only
during recording, isn’t this how the instruments holds power? If you try and
listen a few more times, you will understand. Try to feel, try to do it with
co-ordination… However I understood Hakase Taro’s violin sounds only after one
time [Ah, the atmosphere was so good], I had a clear path of my musical works.
Thus, it took me only a short while to record this song.
EXCITE: This “image”, are you talking about the sights and colors?
D-LITE: Yes… If I explain this song in colors, it would be a color of blue
and purple mixed together. Loneliness, intense, sombre (not quite though) and
beautiful. I think it has all types of colors added in it. Same goes to the
content of the lyrics, although it is a love not accepted by the world, it
still felt great just feeling the love of the two of them. POSITION san’s lyrical
content is slightly different, it was more flowy and it was really beautiful. I
focus a lot on the original song’s lyrics which is why I would like to
emphasize this image. Direct, lonely, courage and a little risk-taking factor.
I like this very much.
EXCITE: Are there any parts where you felt that it left a deep impression on
you? Or any part you yearn for?
D-LITE: There are parts where I had impressions of. Of course I can’t
understand Japanese fully, but I always understand the lyrics by translating it
to Korean then I will listen to the song again. But for this time round, I just
read the song lyrics once then I could understand it, like “Ah, the main point
is over here. The lyrics contains some risk-taking factors and also courage!”
Then I used this as my foundation and discussed with Seiji Kameda before
re-arranging the song.
EXCITE: Working with Seiji Kameda, how do you guys work together?
D-LITE: Because Seiji Kameda is a very cheerful person, so people around him
will get infected as well, this is what I like the most. During “D’scover”,
there was once where something similar happened. During discussion I just told
him everything what I wanted although it was strange content (laugh). Seiji
Kameda then said “Ah, so D-LITE has this thinking now? Wanting to present with
his voice”. Sometimes if I would like to further explain myself I would tell
him how I want something more in this area. Sometimes I have thoughts like
“Such a re-arrangement would be best if this type of mood comes out”. I don’t
know if Seiji Kameda can read my mind… (laugh) To be honest, we are two good
partners that match well. This time, we do not need to make any adjustments
too.
EXCITE: So it’s like telepathy isn’t it?
D-LITE: Yes. [Is Seiji Kameda a monster?] Although it’s a little scary
(laugh). Starting from now, I would still like to work with him (laugh).
EXCITE: The color mixed together with blue and purple is dark but not pitch
black. I can feel this from your MV. Was the filming done in Korea?
D-LITE: When filming the MV, the director respected my wish as well. And we
also talked about the color scheme; I think it was presented quite brightly.
EXCITE: Any deep impression about a particular scene of the MV?
D-LITE: Please shorten any questions you have about the MV! (laugh)
EXCITE: (laugh). Although you don’t like being asked, but is that kissing scene
real?
D-LITE: Hahahahaha! I don’t understand Japanese! (laugh). However… it is
like this, we really kissed oh. As it was my first on-screen kiss scene, my
heart was beating so fast.
EXCITE: Very nervous right.
D-LITE: I started brushing my teeth once every 5 mins from the day before
the kissing scene, very nervous (laugh). However, initially I thought I had to
film it for 2 hours, in the end it ended after 5 takes. The technique for
filming was like a cartoon, we filmed the kiss scene under the rain where the
droplets dropped slowly. It was beautiful and also sad. I love this type of
atmosphere. It’s a very good piece of work.
EXCITE: For your bonus track, there is “Wings”, “Try Smiling” and “Look At Me,
Gwisoon” live version. What do you think after listening to it all over again?
D-LITE: Very shy. However, for the sake of fans who did not come to the
concert, I added these tracks in. Next time we shall enjoy the concert together,
all of you must come!
EXCITE: When performing “Try Smiling”, the screen showed your debut photo which
made the audience hyped up. Did you think of that?
D-LITE: (whispers) Yes, although I was very shy….. (laugh). “Try Smiling” is
in Korean so I don’t think everybody can understand it 100%. It is my first
solo single since debut so it holds a meaning to me, I wanted fans to see the
D-LITE then and now. As for how I should show it to them, I think using photos
is the best way.
EXCITE: We can see that time passes, it was a outstanding performance. At the
end of “Look At Me, Gwisoon!”, you also recorded “Thank you everybody!” into
the disc, the atmosphere was high.
D-LITE: Yes. As it was trot, I personally like trot a lot because I listened
to it frequently when I was young, so I did not feel uneasy when singing it. I
think this was when I enjoyed myself fully 100%.
EXCITE: Lastly, please leave a message to fans that have been waiting for your
solo single.
D-LITE: I personally think that the original song is very good. I think that
all of you must had lots of memories with the original song, but after hearing
my version of ‘I Love You’, it will bring back your original memories and also
create new memories. So, please listen to ‘I Love You’ repeatedly and create
memories!
Source: EXCITE
Translated by: nakedae@SMILE HOLIC www.dsholic.com
No comments:
Post a Comment