Friday, August 21, 2009

[Magazine trans] another great read ^_^

Yup, another great read from xiaochu of Quainte501. Heaps of thanks again for sharing this long article. ^_^

I never get tired of reading anything and everything about SS501 even if it's been written many many times.

Check this article and savor their photos by clicking each image to enlarge.

08/09 [trans] SS501 ~ 2009 Color Best - Asia 100 idols to be in love with

Credits : (scans) http://www.wretch.cc/blog/yyy148 + (English Translation) xiaochu @ Quainte501.com
REPOST WITH FULL CREDITS ONLY

Asia 100 idols to be in love with


SS501 [liezle : looking hansome in LV]

With “Korean version of Hanazawa Rui” Kim HyunJoong leading the team, SS501 brought with them a total of 22 people including staff and dancers for their visit to Taiwan. With such a big entourage, it shows how important their Korean Entertainment company views this trip to Taiwan.


SS501 has debut for about 4 years! These 5 pretty boys advanced into the Japanese music industry 2 years ago, and had spent lots of time in Japan for activities. The Japanese singles and albums that they’ve released during that period were well-received, all of their releases were ranked in the top 10 on the Oricon chart. Even though some people said they were silly to stop their activities in Korea when their career was just about to soar. They had to start as a newcomer again when they went over to Japan, but they achieved their results in no time. They even held concerts in Tokyo and Osaka! As all members of SS501 were versatile, it was not as difficult for them to learn Japanese language. They said “We couldn’t talk in fluent Japanese in the beginning. While we had our activities in Japan, because the staffs were mostly Japanese, and that we had to communicate with them during work, and we can only use Japanese if we want to chat, that is why our Japanese language competency improved naturally. Even though we’re still not very fluent in it, but there is no problem for normal conversation.”

SS501 finally got back together in full strength after leader finished the filming for ‘Boys Over Flowers’, members stopped their individual activities temporary. When Kim HyunJoong was filming for ‘Boys Over Flowers’, 3 members of SS501 namely Kim HyungJoon, Heo YoungSaeng and Kim KyuJong released a new album ‘Triple S’, and on the album cover, they bare their upper body. SS501’s company said that this album cover is specially designed for the 3 of them to display their own charms each of them possessed. Another member Park JungMin was engaged in musical ‘Grease’ during the same period. In addition, the group ‘Triple S’ which was formed by Kim HyungJoon, Heo YoungSaeng and Kim KyuJong, also had cameo appearance in ‘Boys Over Flowers’, appearance as a popular group performing in a club at GangNam, Seoul. Besides music and musical, their photo book ‘Photo 501’ was released earlier too. This photo book consists of a total of 501 photos, of which 500 photos were taken by SS501 themselves, and the very last one is fans’ own photo.



SS501 finally arrived into Taiwan after much anticipation! There were over 100 fans who enthusiastically welcomed them at the airport on that day, the place was carefully decorated by the fans – mint green balloons with members’ images printed on it, placards with Chinese and Korean characters of the 5 members’ names. There are many fans that waited at the airport one day prior to their arrival. In order to minimize any chaotic situation that may arise when the singers arrive, besides engaging good security company to maintain order at the airport, members of SS501 Taiwan fanclub also gave out “TST Must-Know Rules” pamphlet which they carefully drew out, to inform all the fans about important rules to adhere to while welcoming SS501.

SS501, who is their 1st time coming to Taiwan, appeared in casual outfit. These 5 big boys greeted their fans with warm polite smiles, captivating their fans immediately. SS501 who are friendly when they came to Taiwan, they slowed down to shake hands with fans while they were getting out of the airport to the car. However, it made a human traffic jam at the terminal 1 of the airport. Because the amount of people was too much, Kim HyunJoong was even touched on the chest by one fan! After 5 members of SS501 got into their vehicle, they didn’t forget to greet their fans through the car window. The fans surrounded their vehicle and even jam up the traffic, which the police had to come and assist to direct the traffic.


Upon arriving Taiwan, SS501 had a short rest before going for their tight packed schedules. Their first meal in Taiwan is a simple one at their hotel, and their dinner is at the famous ‘Ding Tai Fung’, tasting the local delicacies of Taiwan, 6 trays of xiaolongbao were swept clean the moment it reaches the table! And all the members like fried rice, red bean bun, yam bun and chicken soup. Curious as they are, when they saw the seasoning tray that are labeled in Chinese, they put all types of seasoning together since they do not read Chinese, and in the end, they didn’t dare to try it themselves. Another interesting incident is that member KyuJong doesn’t take spicy food, so he can only watch in vain when the members ate spicy braised beef noodle deliciously. And leader HyunJoong who enjoys eating spicy food put a whole bottle of chilli sauce into his food and ate it without batting an eyelid! When SS501 is in Taiwan, they were always surrounded with fans who booked taxis to chase them around, even when they return back to the hotel very late at night, there was still a large group of fans waiting at the entrance. SS501 felt sorry for their fans, who braved the unpredictable weather chasing after them, and especially made some time between their interviews to go and say hi to their fans at the hotel entrance. Fans said in Korean “You’ve worked hard!” to the members and they also replied “you’ve worked hard!” When fans asked JungMin “How’s Taiwanese girls?”, JungMin happily replied “I love you all!”


In the 3 days in Taiwan, the 5 boys in SS501 learnt some Chinese such as “right, right, right”, “I love you”, “You are very pretty”, “Do you wanna die?”, “Crazy”, etc. Park JungMin, who was being mocked the most, received a gift at the press conference – “Huge Cup of Taiwan Beer”. Though his drinking capacity isn’t very good, he readily finish drinking the whole cup and praised that it was delicious! During their visit, SS501 also officially announced that they will start their Asia Tour from August and that Taiwan stop would be between October to December.

The tickets for the fan meeting held at TICC had long been sold out. Nearly 3,200 fans attended! SS501 brought with them, 7 experienced dancers for this fan meeting, in order to present the best visual effects. They sang ‘Déjà vu’ for their opening to warm up the atmosphere, then they sang the OST song for ‘Boys Over Flowers’, ‘Because I am Stupid’ which was sung by SS501 too. The fans sang along and everyone was enjoying to the climax. Lastly, everyone sang the last encore song together, ‘lalala… for you’ and ended the fan meeting perfectly. SS501 sang a total of 6 songs including the encore song, displaying their singing and dancing capabilities, and with the enjoyable times interacting with their fans, it marked an unforgettable night for their Taiwan fans.


After the success of their fan meeting held at TICC, SS501 were yearning for their hometown delicacies, which is why the record company brought them to a famous Korean BBQ restaurant “Longevity” for their post event party. Easing their homesickness, these 5 boys said happily in Chinese “Thank you!” to their colleagues from Taiwan record company. They also said that they will continue to work hard and then all of them shouted in unison “Fighting!”

In addition, SS501’s ‘Collection SUPER HITS!’ and ‘Solo Collection 1st SOLO ALBUM’ were released, besides the Chinese lyrics included in the album, ‘Open up and sing’ Korean pronunciation booklet was also included so that fans can sing along using this even if they don’t know Korean! SS501 will depart to Hong Kong for their 2nd stop of Asia Tour Fan Meeting. It is estimated that there were nearly 600 fans to send them off at the airport. As the fans were too enthusiastic, Leader Kim HyunJoong nearly fell down, clothes and bags were also pulled down from them. The staircase railing on the 2nd floor also broke off! But the 5 boys were very appreciative of the enthusiastic support from fans, so before they go in to the custom, they went over to the glass window and waved to their fans on the other side of the window for as long as 5 minutes. Fans responded by enthusiastic screaming and hitting of the window!


Kim HyunJoong lead his team SS501, with 4 other members, to Taiwan for a fan meeting. That was the first visit to Taiwan and coincidentally Super Junior is also in Taiwan to attend the Golden Melody Awards. Two popular Korean idol groups arrive at Taiwan airport on the same day and at the same time, making a hot conversational topic. Kim HyunJoong expressed “Taiwan fans are very enthusiastic which leaves a deep impression on me. I hope to come back to Taiwan soon to meet everyone again.”


Kim HyunJoong recalled in program ‘SangSangPlus Season 2’, on the days they were in Japan, he confessed frankly that it was ‘really tough and lonely’! He said sometimes he would be so bored in their dorm that he started writing fanfics on the internet. From then on, everyone called him ‘Author Kim’. There was once where Kim HyunJoong used ‘SS501’ as the main characters for his fic, and even wrote that JungMin is a stalker fan who likes him, and he is a famous artiste who is unable to accept her love. And the Japanese staffs really thought that JungMin is interested in him! SS501’s Park JungMin also said in MBC ‘Golden Fishery’ that he had to clear up the ‘Gay Scandal’ between him and Kim HyunJoong that was rumored in Japan. He laughed “HyunJoong hyung especially likes to joke about such things, he always say to me ‘do you like me’ or ‘I am handsome’ and similar stuffs. He even wrote short message notes to me, so there was once that he put a note into the bag and suddenly took it out and said that I wrote that to him, making me stunned, not knowing how to react.”

SS501 released quite a few singles and albums in Japan. When we talked about their 2nd Japanese album ‘All My Love’, Kim HyunJoong said that all the songs included in this album are the favorites of all the 5 members. Kim HyunJoong said “’All my love’ is without any music, only with our voices! Also this song ‘Asai Yume No Hate’, it made us recall the hardships that we went through together during our activities in Japan.”


Leader Kim HyunJoong is said to be the main support of SS501. With him around, the other members are able to be calmer during their performances. Besides the responsibility as a leader, Kim HyunJoong already gained much popularity prior to ‘Boys Over Flowers’, when he appeared for ‘We Got Married’, a section of MBC ‘Sunday Sunday Night’. Maybe it is due to the lack of rest, we remembered that he had a relapse of his old injuries, dislocated his shoulders, during their Tokyo and Osaka concert, but in order not to affect the performance, he endured with it. Kim HyunJoong injured himself twice on stage last year and in April, he sprained his ankle during the rehearsal in SBS music program ‘Inki Gayo’, making his fans worry for him.
Besides that, Kim HyunJoong also felt depressed not long ago! This is because his grandmother was hospitalized due to her knees. His grandmother underwent an operation and had symptoms of paralysis through her body. Although she is out of danger now, she could not recognize anyone other than Kim HyunJoong himself. Filial Kim HyunJoong is quite worried about this matter and felt depressed about this.

Kim HyunJoong expressed a number of times through media that his grandmother is like a ‘mother’ to him. His grandmother was the one who looked after him prior to elementary school since his parents were both busy with work. He said “My grandmother doted on me since young, encouraging me to strive and improve, to achieve my targets. It is all due to my grandmother’s support that I can debut as a singer and got casted for ‘Boys Over Flowers’.”

Also not long ago, it is rumored that due to busy work schedules, Kim HyunJoong suffered from fatigue, fever and other uncomfort, even fainting and had to be sent to hospital for treatment. He was hospitalized for a week, resulting in cancellation of work schedules. His company denied these rumors and expressed that the reports were too exaggerated. It is not as serious as reported, his company said “Kim HyunJoong was not admitted to hospital, but awhile back, he did went to the hospital to seek medical treatment as he had symptoms of flu and fatigue. Everything is OK now!”

Additional scan found in soompi, SS501 thread (xiaochu : sorry I forgot the take down your user name, if u see this, please PM me so that I can credit u accordingly)


After huge popularity garnered through “Boys Over Flowers”, every move of Kim HyunJoong has gathered attention. SS501 member KyuJong appeared in KBS 2TV ‘Star Golden Bell’ said “Before our debut, we went to a public bath house, but we are afraid to go after debut.” And when KyuJong said he ever went to a public bath house with HyunJoong after debut, it gathered much attention, KyuJong laughed and said “After we took off our top and halfway in taking off our pants, someone came up to us and requested for signature, and even thrust us a pen and paper. In the end, we just had to sign for the fan embarrassedly!” And the funniest incident was when Kim HyunJoong and KyuJong were relaxing themselves in the sauna room. Both of them dozed off on the massage chair, and suddenly they heard a lot of chattering surrounding them. “Both of us were shocked with we opened our eyes. There were over 10 pairs of eyes looking at us, so we finally had to get dressed up quickly and left” KyuJong said.

p.s. From this interview and photo shoot I read that the boys were all wearing Louis Vuitton outfits including the shoes. I noticed that Young Saeng's shoes is almost the same shoes that Bae Yong Joon used in Cosmopolitan when he was their cover in their May Issh.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU.(:
<3