[INTERVIEW] Female singer BoA - Part 2

Published on 2010/08/09 | Source

Korean pop singer BoA [SM Entertainment]

Q: It seems like you participated more on this album than you did on your previous ones. It even carries two tracks that were written by you.
BoA: I hadn't originally planned on writing a song. But once, I had finished touring in Japan and had nothing to do and no one play with so I bought a computer and a songwriting program. I had no agenda at the time and I just started making beats which it was fun. So I just kept on writing and out came a song. I actually thought the company wouldn't put it on the album but they told me the song is "better than expected". So I was like, what do they mean by better than expected? (laugh) For the track "Let Me", everyone knows that I love dancing so I wrote about the desire for dancing in the format of a battle. "Day By Day" is a pop ballad that has very dark lyrics. When I was working on it, I felt similar to how I had felt when writing the lyrics in Japan for a song called 'moon & sunrise' and I wanted to express things like joy, sorrow, hope and solitude.

Q: Do you have plans to take part in producing, by any chance?
BoA: I don't think I have the talent to be a producer. I think I have to learn a lot more about songwriting as well. I think that a singer needs to do better in what she can do best -- like singing and performing.

Q: But I think you have reflected a lot of your opinions on the album. You worked with Jinu, Kim Dong-ryul and Kim Jong-wan of rock group Nell, and this is something we had not seen on your Korean albums before.
BoA: In Japan, I was able to collaborate with many people but I didn't have such opportunities in Korea. I was curious what color would be created when one artist met another artist. I was also a big fan of Kim Dong-ryul's ballads and songs by Nell. They are both full of sensitivity but their styles are incredibly different, so I felt like we would be able to come up with a refreshing kind of music.

Q: It was also interesting how you displayed various fashion styles in the music video for 'Game'. It was something that was hard to see you do in Korea before.
BoA: I said that this music video had to be fashionable no matter what. And I wanted it to be cool but also include a little humor. I like Edie Sedgwick so I asked the staff to make me into her style, but I don't know if that has been reflected well in the video.

Korean pop singer BoA [SM Entertainment]

Q: Such transformation appears to have been influenced by your work in the U.S. What do you think you gained from your activities in the U.S.?
BoA: Putting the professional outcome aside, it was just tremendously beneficial to me. I was having a very tough time around 2006 to 2007. I was extremely exhausted because I kept on living the same life over and over again. But I got a refreshing shock while making the U.S. album and I gained a new joy about music again. I think working in the U.S. had a huge influence on my sixth album.

Q: Why were you having a tough time?
BoA: My yearly schedule was like this; I would work on an album around the year-end, put out an album at the start of the year, do a tour and come back to Korea, work on another album and release it, then go to Japan again, attend award ceremonies in Japan and in Korea, go back and forth and that is how one year would end. I lived like that for four years and I told the staff to stop making me sing. I like singing but I would just record songs, perform and a year would go by. The job of a singer has no input, just an output. I can't go somewhere to learn something so I had this strong feeling that I was being depleted. A lot of people expected something new from me but I had nothing new to give. Although I wanted to work hard and do a better job, I had nothing to do and that was very difficult. That is when the talk of going to the U.S. came up and I began to have interest and passion about my work again.

Q: What would you have done if you hadn't gone over to the U.S.?
BoA: First, I wanted to take a break and play (laugh) and I wanted to go study abroad. Even though I often went overseas, all I did was work and had no time to look around. It was like, that place had a nice airport? (laugh) Then when I was working in the U.S., I gained an interest in new styles of music and while having a good time dancing with choreographers in the U.S., I started thinking that there is still a lot that I have not seen and do not know about. So I don't think I will be giving up this line of work easily. (laugh)

Q: It seems that your U.S. debut has influenced your dancing, in particular. Your style of dancing before and after U.S. is different.
BoA: In Japan or Korea, I did a lot of feminine dance movies but I personally think that I am good at doing masculine dances. I like hip-hop too. And the choreographer for "Eat You Up" is very good at that and we love Michael Jackson so much. (laugh) With people like that, they created the exact kind of choreography that I wanted to do. You don't really have time for lessons when you are working as a singer, but it felt like I was getting lessons during the choreography time.