Quote:
Jakob Dorof @soyrev · Jun 18
keep an eye on my buddy @Jeff__Benjamin by the way, he interviewed Winner too and I'm sure his piece will be on @billboard soon
|
Not even debuted and making it on Billboard...
Interview from New York
Noisey: So what have you been up to here in New York?
Kang Seungyoon: We came here—it’s been about a week—to shoot our first album jacket cover. We've been shooting from early morning to night, and all around different locations, Central Park, Soho. New York City is so beautiful—like, we don’t even have to do much, and the pictures turn out great.
How's the new music sounding?
KSY: We've recorded all the songs—the harder songs, the slow songs, all of it—it's really in the final stages of production. You know, just little editing, producing... just like, "it could sound even better like this." We keep getting inspired. So we really want to tweak it to make sure it's the best that we could put out.
What kind of release will it be?
Lee Seunghoon: We’re still deciding.
KSY: We don't know yet if it's going to come out as a full album, mini-album, or even digital single. It really depends on the quality of the songs, after it's all done. We’re going to work with our boss Yang Hyun-suk [founder and CEO of YG Entertainment], and he's going to help choose and really see what makes sense. And kind of cater it to how well done the songs are.
What’s something you would say makes Winner different from other groups?
KSY: We all participate in producing, working with the songs, and we really put it out there for the group to decide, say, if a song is one we want to release. We incorporate our honest feelings and thoughts—the depth of it [is different] if someone else makes your song for you, versus being involved yourself as a writer. You can really relay that message, and people around your age, or people who share the same kind of emotions or feelings—whatever they're going through, they can really gain from that, and feel encouragement from that. So, what makes us different might be the fact that we've been producing songs, writing songs, making music. We've been putting ourselves into it.
I’ve actually always been impressed by your songs—I watched WIN as it was happening, and even though it’s not officially released yet, I rated "Smile Again" as one of the best songs of last year. So I’m curious how long Seungyoon, Minho, and Taehyun have been writing.
Minho: I've loved music since I was young, so I started around 12, 13. And then, since then, I would just write things here and there, until I went under YG to practice. That’s when I really started trying it seriously again.
Taehyun: I've always liked music, with or without lyrics—like electronic music, and house, for instance. It was maybe two years ago that I started with electronic music, making beats. But in terms of making full-out songs, with lyrics and everything, that was about a year ago.
KSY: As for me... I used to make songs on my guitar as I strummed, around age 16, in the style of music that I liked. Acoustic, folk, just jamming and writing. In terms of pop music and different genres, it was after we [Winner] became a team [in summer 2013, as Team A, on YG's WIN reality program], working as a team. That's when I started seriously.
What are some of the folk and acoustic artists that you liked?
KSY: Jason Mraz is an obvious one; a lot of people like him. [Ed. note: Mraz has long been a favorite in South Korea, even having appeared in a sketch on SNL Korea last year.] But I really like when heavy rock and metal groups take their style and do an acoustic number, like on an album where they'll have maybe the last song like that. I like taking the heavier stuff and making it acoustic on its own.
How did you guys start making beats and producing? Was that independently, or did YG's team teach you?
Taehyun: I really liked electronic music and DJs, so I just did that on my own, and moved on from there to writing lyrics. I always did it as a kind of self-expression, so I don't feel like I necessarily got specific teaching.
KSY: But as we entered the company and started making our own songs and producing, we got to share rooms with other producers. Just watching YG's in-house producers, in terms of their sequencing and what they were doing, gaining inspiration from their sound and the way they go at it—we felt a lot like, "oh, I can use that technique too,” or “oh, so that's how you do that."
I was really impressed by your choreography on WIN, Seunghoon—I thought what you did with "Don't Stop the Music" was beautiful. Will you continue to be involved with Winner’s choreography in the future?
LSH: Not even just the choreo, but really the overall stage presence, everything going on, the little details in the live production—I'm really into that. I’m hoping to learn more about it as time goes on, so we can really focus on the overall now.
[/QUOTE]
sweet irony
My little fanboy heart legit is not ready for these next couple months.
But if Yoona is the other 1/3 of your biases then yeah you stan for some lazy ass people. 
