Between Red and Pink – Yuri-Your skin is really nice. What’s your secret?Yuri: Really? I’ve succeeded. I normally like basic things the most and think of them as important factors, so I don’t wear makeup when I don’t have any schedules. You know how they call it ‘inner beauty’. I’m the type to put emphasis on making the texture and tone of my skin look nice.
читать дальше-Do you still grind and drink ma?
Yuri: I can’t as much these days. Instead, my mom sets out a sumptuous meal every morning, but a sumptuous meal for me is eating a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. I drink a lot of blended greens.
-Of your different images, you also give off a very resilient/flexible feel. But your side line is surprisingly nice.
Yuri: I’m not sure what my image is either. I hope to be a person with various colors, rather than having somewhat of a limited image.
-Are you satisfied with the flexible image that fans have of you?
Yuri: Yes, I like it. There’s a beauty that only healthy women can have. Such as a confident appearance, I see sexiness as a privilege that women can have. And so when I see women like that, I think to myself, I need to become that kind of beautiful woman.
-Today’s concept is white. What color do you normally like?
Yuri: I like black, red, and pink. You haven’t the faintest idea, right? Haha. I usually wear black or white clothing and carry pink accessories in my bag, or pick little, pink things to put in my bag. I like red because I feel it’s a color that’s similar to me. You know, like colors that girls use a lot when they refresh themselves. I want to have a red image to people.
-When you think red, you think passion, energy. Now that I think about it, you like exercising too.
Yuri: Compared to the past, I can’t exercise as much these days. Because my schedule is so unsteady. When I get the chance, I make sure to work out. For instance, there isn’t an opportunity for me to swim in Korea, so I swim a lot when I go to Japan. I once went to Japan because I wanted to swim.
-Swim? Don’t people recognize you?
Yuri: They do, but I’m a lot more free than in Korea. I even got my scuba diving license last year. It’s pretty fun. I want to try surfing next time.
-Swimming, scuba diving, and surfing. It seems you enjoy doing things in the water.
Yuri: Yes. I like it because I feel free. I like moving around. I usually exercise, not to watch my figure, but just to live healthily. Living happily is the best thing. Eating and enjoying good food, and exercising. Instead, when I have an important shoot or have to get on stage, I regulate myself a bit more tightly.
-Hearing what you’re saying, saying how you want to live a happy life, makes it seem like you’ve transcended. It seems like you don’t need to receive the topic of this generation, healing.
Yuri: I totally need healing. The time I arrived from Hong Kong today was 7 in the morning. When I slept and woke up, it was 10, and I arrived here at 11.
-Then do you not even have time to relieve stress?
Yuri:I need to have an ample amount of time to relieve stress for my stress to be relieved. But that’s difficult while we’re promoting, so I looked for a solution. I try to put an effort into changing my perspective when viewing things. For instance, whenever we go overseas to perform, I think of it as going on a trip with friends. I think, ‘When else will I get to experience this many things?’ I look for the fun in trying new things while doing jobs that are given to me. That’s why I also go to school. I take classes with regular friends without hesitation and do assignments.
-You really do assignments?
Yuri: Yes, I do. It’s overwhelming trying to even similarly follow other classmates’ paces. I feel how much I’m lacking and crack a lot too. There are also times where I feel infinitely smaller, thinking, ‘How will I present the assignment I did?’
-Don’t professors, who know Girls’ Generation is busy, cut you some slack?
Yuri: I’m thankful because they do so much. But I think telling them that I’m (translator’s note: a member of) Girls’ Generation first, as if I hope for something, is embarrassing in itself. I think that because I’m Girls’ Generation, that I need to do even better.
-You must be really busy this month because of your Japan arena tour.
Yuri: In return, I gain a lot of things doing overseas concerts. First of all, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to go to many countries. Seeing how I come across various cultures, I can’t speak a foreign language fluently, but I learn how to naturally get along with different people. I get to eat lots of tasty foods and see nice places with my own two eyes. Singing in front of lots of people is also definitely a happy thing.
-When you first debuted, did you predict you would become Girls’ Generation’s Yuri who performs overseas this much?
Yuri: It’s something I always dreamed of, so I’m even more thankful and happy. But I didn’t think that it would become like this, handling many schedules to the point where I don’t know if I’m in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, or Paris when I open my eyes.
-Not only that. You’ve now stepped over being a singer and act too.
Yuri: To be honest, my dream when I younger was to become an actress. And so I slowly prepared for a while and am still dreaming of becoming a good actress now. I try to feel and learn things slowly, one stage at a time. I still look forward to and am excited about acting.
-Is there someone you would like to act with?
Yuri: There are really a lot. I really want to act with Shin Hakyun sunbaenim. I watched a film by director Park Chanwook and seeing Shin Hakyun sunbaenim’s acting in that was really a shock. He was really great. Also, Ha Jungwoo sunbaenim. He’s my school senior (Chungang University, Department of Theater and Film), and when I go to school, like someone who appears in books, he appears at professors’ lessons often (laugh). Honestly, my acting skills are still too poor for me to say which seniors I want to act with, so I just want to learn from all my seniors.
-Of works you’ve seen recently, was there a role you wanted to try?
Yuri: There’s a French film called ‘La Vie en rose’, and actress Marion Cotillard plays the role of a singer. Of course, she was even good at acting like she was at singing. While I was watching it, I thought to myself that it would be really nice to become an actress like that. From a Korean film, Jeon Jihyun unnie was in ‘The Thieves’. She was a really charming character, who looks pretty even when a girl looks at her. I really want to attempt playing a character like that.
-When are you planning on doing another work?
Yuri: There isn’t anything decided on yet. I’m consistently reading scenarios, auditioning, and going to meetings. I plan on doing something whenever an opportunity comes.
-Listening to you, it seems you’re greedy when it comes to acting.
Yuri: Rather than being ‘greedy’, I have lots of curiosity and interest. Because I’m curious about how other people live, and my interest moved over to actors, who can live those various lives naturally, and I want to experience that. I don’t have a great ambition for it, haha!
-It seems you have another schedule after the shoot.
Yuri: I have a schedule to enjoy cultural life. (laugh) Sleeping doesn’t seem to relieve my stress. I prefer being busy like this.Sense & Sensibility – Sooyoung-Who would you choose as a style icon in Girls’ Generation? Is it a bit much bragging about yourself? (laugh)Sooyoung: I kind of owe it to my surroundings. My dad ran a fashion business, and my mom enjoyed dressing me up since I was little. The way I see it, Jessica and Tiffany basically seem to have some sense in matching colors. They sensibly choose simple items well. I’m learning a lot from seeing them.
читать дальше-Wouldn’t being able to catch each other’s strengths in itself be considered fashion sense?
Sooyoung: I don’t know if I have a lot of interest in it, or if I dress well. Even my mom also tells me, ‘It’s funny seeing people call you a fashionista.’ Every day, I stand in front of my closet and think for an hour. And then I worry about what I would get rid of before I go out. I don’t really like having too much.
-You’ve gotten really pretty as of late. Along with beauty, there is an eccentric ‘superior length’ aura.
Sooyoung: To be honest, I wish I had more of a build. Even though she’s tall, Jeon Jihyun unnie gives off a sexy feel and has a good-looking, glamorous figure. My members know that I get stressed because of my slim figure, but when I go and talk about this elsewhere, they call them ludicrous statements.
-True, thin people also seem to have a lot of worries. Then what efforts do you put into creating a healthy figure?
Sooyoung: I eat a lot and exercise. Really though, my members, including myself, really do eat a lot. (While talking, she looked at a lip product on the vanity) This is really pretty. I like peach colors like this. I’m not the type who likes wearing makeup, but I always carry a lip product in my bag. Because I consider applying something on your lips as etiquette.
-Are colors you normally like pastel tones like this?
Sooyoung: No, when it comes it clothes, I like monotones more. Rather than liking them because it’s classy, but because it’s easy to match with. I’m actually still trying to grasp my own style. (At that moment, a stylist next to us chipped in that Sooyoung’s look is french chic.) Then I have a ‘French chic look’. Please make sure to write that the stylist said that. Because it would be embarrassing saying it myself. Haha.
-You’re in the midst of your arena tour, right? Japan is a bit of a special place for you. You debuted in the duo girl group ‘Route O’ in Japan first.
Sooyoung: That’s right. It is special. There are fans who remember me from when I debuted long ago, and there are also people who bring my old CD to receive autographs, so it’s really extraordinary.
-When you go to Japan, do you go around to places that hold memories?
Sooyoung: In the past, I was afraid of going out alone, and had to mind my manager, so I didn’t get to go around much. I actually go around more now. (laugh) Not too long ago, we went to a hot spring in Niigata by ourselves. I think we make a lot of memories going around on tour.
-Overseas activities also hold those meanings too.
Sooyoung: Also, Girls’ Generation’s Japan activities became a turning point for me. We debuted in Japan 2~3 years ago, and that was when I was in the midst of feeling skeptical about the career of a singer. I was starting to become tired of things like living as a group and having to go around endlessly like a wheel. But it was different once we got to Japan.
-How was it different?
Sooyoung: When we got off the plane, there were fans out to meet us, a car was there to pick us up, and those surroundings were really new to me. When I was 13, I used to get on the plane by myself. When I arrived in Japan, only my manager would be there waiting for me, and I would take the taxi when going around. But coming back as a Girls’ Generation member, things I couldn’t do by myself became possible with 9 members. That’s when I realized. I shouldn’t have thought, ‘Do I have have to go on with this career, being knocked over like this at a young age?’ Once I got around to thinking about it, I was thankful for Girls’ Generation existing, and I was thankful, once again, for having that turning point.
-It was a really good thing that you went to Japan.
Sooyoung: We are really lucky. Rather than being lucky by succeeding in something we attempt, we’re lucky when it comes to getting chances to set our heads straight. To be honest, we’re people, too; we can’t always be the same. We just try. That’s also showing good manners to people we work with. But, fortunately, we really do always get opportunities to return to basics.
-Don’t you think one of those opportunities was your acting attempt? I heard that you prepared a lot for ‘The 3rd Hospital’.
Sooyoung: The preparations I made were me consistently receiving acting lessons since I was younger and also majoring in acting in school. Honestly, rather than learning how to act in school, it was greater experiencing the regular, daily life that people my age live.
-It seems you’re fulfilling life as ordinary Sooyoung to a certain degree through college life.
Sooyoung: Yes. I actually didn’t have many thoughts of wanting to attend college. But my mom told me that it’s not just to go study, but to learn a different, smaller society in the campus and that she thinks it would be nice if I were to experience that, so I went. I’m really thankful to my mom right now.
-How are your classes this semester?
Sooyoung: I took a leave of absence not too long ago. Because I’m constantly in Japan, and I wouldn’t be learning anything, so I didn’t think there was much meaning in me completing my credit. I want to learn something and apply it, but it really felt like those classes I wouldn’t be able to listen to were being wasted.
-Isn’t that opportunity cost? You could learn something else instead.
Sooyoung: I’m trying to look for something to do while resting.
-But I noticed you don’t have time to rest.
Sooyoung: I honestly am not sure what resting exactly is. Whether it means taking 10 days off and visiting a vacation spot, or just bumming around at home all day. If you say it’s both, I’m kind of doing both right now. Haha. But is there even a job where you can go away whenever you want to? I think that would apply to, not just me, but everyone… Oh, there is this. Not stress from work, but from people’s eyes. There is stress that hits me from confinement every now and then. But it goes away after a few days. That’s all. It’s a career that I chose.
-Just listening to you talk, you don’t sound like you’re in your mid-20s. Is it because it’s been a while since you’ve debuted?
Sooyoung: It’s been 10 years since I’ve debuted last year. Seeing how it’s been 11 years already, I have been doing this for a while. I wonder how BoA unnie feels? It’s really incredible.
-Now that it’s been 10 years, what might be some areas or new appearances you will attempt that we can look forward to? You’re acting and MCing already.
Sooyoung: MCing… I get really embarrassed whenever ‘Midnight TV Entertainment’ is brought up. I can’t say that I’m good at MCing, and the area I’m most interested in is acting. I’m going to continue acting, and it’s like a job that constantly gives me homework. I really enjoyed the time filming the drama.
-Is there a character you would like to play from any recent works?
Sooyoung: There is a film that provoked me recently. ‘Silver Linings Playbook’. The lead female in that film, Jennifer Lawrence, is the same age as me. She received the award for best actress at the Academy Awards this year. Of course, the situation is different because I’m in Girls’ Generation and am a singer, but when looking at it with an acting career, I’m jealous. I was really jealous wondering how she could play a role like that at that age. I hope there is a day where I can show off resonating acting too.credit