iKON, “Reactions from YANG HYUN SUK’s Social Media Promotion are Positive…He’s Like a Warm Father”
[OSEN=김은애 기자] “All-in on activities in Korea, will try to accept requests from Konics as much as possible” is what YG Entertainment’s representative producer YANG HYUN SUK emphasized the most, prior to iKON’s comeback.
YANG HYUN SUK started to keep his words even before iKON released their 2nd official album ‘RETURN’. iKON confirmed their guest appearance schedules on variety programs such as ‘Knowing Bros’, ‘Weekly Idol’, ‘Sugar Man 2’, and ‘All Broadcasting in the World’.
Furthermore, iKON will also actively participate in music broadcasts, including their first comeback performance on January 27 at MBC ‘Music Core’ and will perform 2 songs at SBS ‘Inkigayo’. They also made the fans happy by announcing the dates for a fan signing event and a fan meeting themselves.
The fans responded by gifting iKON a ‘no.1 in music charts’. YANG HYUN SUK played a big role in this result. He actively promoted iKON’s new album and communicated with the fans using his social media. iKON expressed their gratitude on an interview with OSEN by stating, “We really appreciate what president YANG HYUN SUK did for us. He really pushed us forward. We had fun watching his social media”.
Q. It seems like YANG HYUN SUK put in a lot of effort in this album.
A. JU-NE : President YANG HYUN SUK was like a strict father to us until last year, but we only feel warmness this year. He also told us that he will start communicating with us directly. We feel comfortable communicating with him. He even makes jokes sometimes. (Laughs)
SONG : He never even came to our fittings once. But he did this time. He paid attention in every little detail. We really appreciate it.
Q. YANG HYUN SUK actively promoted the album through his social media as well.
A. B.I : Our president actively accepted requests by Konics through his social media. The reactions from fans were positive, and eventually helped us promote our album a lot.
CHAN : It’s interesting to watch his social media. We don’t know when and what he is going to post. I have fun observing his social media with our fans. He also feels younger, which is also interesting.
Q. The group will make appearance in a lot of variety programs.
A. CHAN : Our president noticed a lot of variety program schedules, so we will do our very best. What we learned from doing group shows is that if we don’t try, nothing comes out. We’ll try to at least do something.
Q. How was the filming of JTBC’s ‘Knowing Bros’ with BIGBANG SEUNGRI?
A. BOBBY: As you already know, the older brothers from ‘Knowing Bros’ are amazing people. It wasn’t easy to fit in.
B.I : It was probably the most difficult program we ever starred in. SEUNGRI was great. He was a veteran. We couldn’t say anything for the first 20 minutes. We even felt that we might not get any invitations from variety programs after ‘Knowing Bros’. I talked to MINO of WINNER after the filming. MINO felt empathy and stated, ‘It’s hard, right? It was the same for me’. The seniors from ‘Knowing Bros’ were exactly how they were on TV.
JU-NE : It was really difficult. I even felt a bit discouraged. I heard even PSY had a hard time. If an experienced person like PSY gets nervous, it’s even more difficult for us. No one has ever let our spirits fall like that, but they made it happen. (Laughs)
B.I : It was still a good experience. The seniors from ‘Knowing Bros’ encouraged us to be ourselves. Kang Ho Dong even visited our waiting room to cheer us up.
Q. The group is planning active participation in music broadcasts. What kind of performances can we expect?
A. JAY : We are practicing choreography 12 hours a day. The choreography is very pretty. It’s like a piece of musical or a movie. I personally feel it’s cool.
JU-NE : We had a couple of corrections in the choreography. This time, YANG HYUN SUK was satisfied at the first try. We were able to focus more, since there weren’t any changes. Please look forward to the choreography.
Q. What kind of reviews did you hope for with this album?
A. DK : We didn’t think about chart results or hope for a no. 1 record. We wanted people to say, ‘All 7 members are unique’ or ‘Although all 7 members are unique, they create a synergy effect by grouping together’. If people feel that way, that would be a result which we hoped for.
B.I : We did have some ambitions. Not in a big way, but simply hoped that more people would get to know us.
JU-NE : Part of the lyrics from B.I’s solo track ‘ONE AND ONLY’, he states, ‘If I’m putting my life on the charts I wouldn’t continue doing music’. I really felt that phrase. Releasing an album is what we really wanted to do. The fact that we all tried hard together and made memories in the process is the most meaningful thing to me. I’m happy at this moment, and would still be happy even if we don’t top the charts.
2018. 1. 28.
