[INT] B.A.P’s Youngjae. “The sweet love of the fans is my life’s driving force”


“Hello, my name is Youngjae” The charming voice of Youngjae. Our first impression was “his voice is so nice!”. It was hard to believe that he is 20, with his mature appearance, and he seemed like quite an alright person.

Youngjae, a triple threath with his dancing, singing, and appearance, is rookie idol group B.A.P’s vocals. B.A.P’s debut received much love and is recognized as the most notable rookie this year. In the center is Youngjae. He has the history of placing first at JYP auditions, one of our country’s top three agencies.

“I was spending my trainee days at JYP. By chance I met the B.A.P members. I think it was a really good opportunity for me. I met such great memebers and even debuted like this (laughs)” Youngjae says even after the debut, it still feels like a dream. ”Everyday I feel like I’m dreaming. When will I wake up from this dream? (laughs) It doesn’t feel like reality yet, if I became a singer, if that’s me that’s on television everything is like a dream” He laughs and looks truly happy and I laughed along with him.

Youngjae says that while training, he and Daehyun who are the same age became very close. He says as they are the same age, they could reply on each other and get along comfortably. Truthfully, during Daehyun’s interview, the two often made eye contact and smiled and were joking with each other, appearing very close.

He was a child who loved to sing since he was little. As a result, he naturally acquired the dream to become a singer. And was happy in the time he spent preparing to be a singer. But before debuting, there were also hard times.

“It was the most difficult while recording the title track “Warroir”. It was different from the music I was thinking of. So I was in a slump trying to express feelings through it. Yongguk hyung and Daehyun-ee beside me really gave me strength. I was really thankful.” Doing all their activities together the members feel as if they are a family now. When going through a tough time, the members give him the greatest strength, he says with a smile.

Youngjae knew what he had to give up in order to become a singer. “Of course walking along the streets freely with my friends, or dating, college life and living an ordinary life I knew I had to give up. It is a bit saddening but I think it’s alright if you gain as much as you lose. But being able to sing the songs I love I am truly happy.” He says this in a way that we could tell he sincerely loved music.

He says his dream is to create music for his fans to listen to in the future. Sincerely communicating with fans through music is his goal as a singer, he firmly said. He is still a rookie that has just started but is a singer with clear goals and dreams.

What kind of woman does he find attractive? We asked him his ideal woman. “Honestly I don’t have a set ideal type in mind. I like the character played by Kang Sora-shii in the recent film ”Sunny”. After I watched the movie for a period of time I looked up Kang Sora-shii (laughs)” Youngjae seems to like distinct and dignified styles (?).

Finding it still fascinating to see fans who come to to deliver citron tea directly and to cheer for him, and so thankful for them, is the pure twenty year old boy Youngjae.

“I’m given strength thanks to the fans who came to our performances to cheer for us and am reminded that I must try my hardest. I’m so thankful, please give us lots of love. In return I’ll work harder.”

As they move forward, B.A.P’s goal is to create good music for people to listen to. With the story of how his future hope is to see the day his music will shake the hearts of his fans, we concluded our interview with Youngjae.

(Trans: kitty-kwon @ tumblr / daehyunswarrior @ BAP Universe)