After a break following their arrival in Chile at dawn, the Korean band
JYJ went back to work. A press conference was held at their hotel, and they appeared to be in a good mood despite the jet lag resulting from the long trip.
A few minutes after 4PM on March 8th, the members of
JYJ entered the room and took their seats at a table prepared for the three in front of the press. In the middle sat
Jaejoong, on the right
Yoochun with black-rimmed glasses and on the left
Junsu. With an interpreter on each side, they gave a brief introduction:
Yoochun: I’m happy to be in Chile. I know there are a lot of fans who are waiting for us and I’m excited for the concert tomorrow. We took too long to arrive here because of the delay in our flight in Los Angeles, United States.
Junsu: I’m happy to be in Chile. I noticed how beautiful the mountains range is and I feel sad we aren't able to visit it due to the short time of our stay. We hope to return another day and visit it.
Jaejoong: Because of the problems with the plane, we arrived late. I’m terribly sorry for the time wasted and I’m excited to arrive in Chile. I never thought we would be here. As my partner
Junsu said, the landscapes are breathtaking. I know that Chile is a very energetic and busy country, but looking up here (from the hotel) it seems quite peaceful and different than I thought. Tomorrow is our concert and I hope you all enjoy it a lot.
The interview continued with a prohibition on questions relating to personal life or implicating legal issues. Such questions were discarded.
How did you feel when you arrived in Chile and saw the reception from the fans and the chaos that followed it? The fans were anticipating how you would receive that…
Jaejoong: We had never traveled so much, almost two days, so when we arrived, we realized how hard it is to come to a country in South America and when we were in the airport and saw all the fans, all the fatigue from the travel disappeared immediately. We learned that here in Chile people greet each other with a kiss on the cheek. At the airport, a fan approached me to greet me and I couldn’t do anything because he was bigger than me. (Laughs)
The propagation of JYJ, as well as your previous group, is due largely to the internet, so what is your opinion about piracy?
Junsu: This (piracy) doesn’t happen only with music, but also with movies and in all areas. I, personally, believe that isn’t the point, but the process of downloading content illegally is wrong. This bothers us musicians and isn’t good. But if you’re a fan, a true K-pop fan, I think you have to start to be better and not download illegally. And be a true fan of music.
Do you believe that K-pop will be able to enter into the Latin American market despite the language barriers?
JYJ: In our country, pop is recognized in any language. Music is a language that connects everyone, when the beat and passion are a true feeling. So we think it is possible.
After this World Tour, what’s next for JYJ?
JYJ: Latin America is the end of our World Tour. We don’t know the exact date, but in June or July, during Korea’s summer, we plan to release our second album, so at the end of 2012 we will begin a new tour.
You are working on your new album, which will be in English. Are you planning to include any songs in Spanish?
Junsu: Thank you very much for your question. We, in our history as a band, have made songs in Japanese and English, so we believe that someday we will include songs in Spanish. That would help us learn and understand this language a little more.
Could this JYJ visit to Chile mean that your original discs will arrive here too? How is the K-pop scene with other groups like SHINee and Super Junior?
JYJ: The truth is we want more fans around the world to listen to us. We would like to spread our CDs throughout Chile and in other countries, but it isn’t something that we can do from scratch, but it is something that we want very much. And regarding the other groups, the truth is that we are still surprised to be here. We don’t know how the other groups are seen, but I hope that the discs from everyone can get to Chile.
KoME Brazil’s team attended
JYJ’s concert in Chile, which occurred a day after this press conference. In the coming days, we will bring our readers a full live report of their performance.
KoME thanks Zukoe from Chilean website Kuchizuke for giving us the questions of the press conference.
