INTERVIEW : FA CREW (JUNG JINHYEONG, VANGDALE, ROOTS & THEO)

English

• Can you introduce yourself?

Jinhyeong: Hi I’m Jung Jinhyeong, I’m 23 years old and I’m a singer.

Theo: Hi I’m Theo, I’m also 23 and I’m a rapper.

Roots: Hello, I’m Roots, I’m a DJ and a producer.

Vangdale: Hi I’m Bang Jinwoo, known as Vangdale, I’m 27, born in March 1993.

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• You’re all from the same crew, FA. How did you guys meet and where did the idea of that crew come from?

Jinhyeong: Actually Vangdale made this crew.

Theo: Jinhyeong and I met in high school, before I became a rapper, I was about to be a professional dancer.

Jinhyeong: He was number one at his dance academy. We became best friends at that time. The way I met Vangdale is kind of funny: he was at the same party as me, came up to me and asked: “Hey do you know me?”. I said “Yes I know you”, so he replied “Send me a DM on Instagram and let's have dinner !”. One day we did get dinner and since then we became close friends and started working together.

Roots: I met him at a party too, in a bar where I was DJ-ing.

Vangdale: I also met the other members of FA at parties (laughs). I met the team Rooftop, composed of Blase and Dive, thanks to Coogie, a Korean rapper. And I met Goopy through a mutual friend. We all started to hang out together and the idea of making a crew came to my mind. They’re all talented artists with different styles. I thought we could make something big all together. And when I asked them, they all agreed to be a part of the team. So that’s how FA was born.

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• (JJH) From your first solo project « Calling you » and your new EP SOAR, is there differences between those two projects? Since your first project until now, do you feel like you evolved musically ?

I think I changed a lot. Especially after leaving YG, Vangdale said to me that it feels like I was falling. The EP SOAR literally means soar, to come back to life. The song “ADDICT” is a new try for me because I never did that kind of style before. I said to Vangdale that it’s not a good song, but he said “No you gotta trust me” and now that it’s released i think it’s the most special one to me. 

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• (JJH) In your new EP is there a song that stands out compared to the others? And on that your preferred writing or singing ?

As I said, the song that I prefer is “ADDICT”. But there’s also the song “LOVE” in Roots’ album. I wrote it in five minutes, the lyrics and the thoughts came to me very rapidly, I had an explosion of feelings when I was writing it. The one that I prefer to sing is “NEW DRUG”, when I sing it during my shows, I’m excited.

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• (JJH) Where does your inspiration come from when you write lyrics ?

Jinhyeong: It comes from everything, I write in the bus, in cafes, everywhere. There is no particular thing that gives me inspiration I get it from everything and everywhere. 
Theo: One day I even saw him write in the club (laughs).

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• (JJH) Do you share what you write with your close ones to get their opinion ?

I only share it with Theo, because I have to make music alone, on my own especially if I want to be 100% honest in my lyrics. Also, I’m really shy, so if someone is around I can’t do it. But if it’s Theo it’s fine. 
I usually don’t share my lyrics or ask for opinions.

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• (JJH) On average, how long does it takes you to write a song ?

Usually I write songs pretty fast, like in fifteen minutes. I don’t think too much so if it doesn't come I stop trying. When it’s here I just write.

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• (JJH) When you write a song do you usually think about the listeners so they could feel the emotions and understand you, or do you write it as it comes for you, even if others won’t understand ?

To be honest I just write for myself, to express my emotions and feelings. I’m really shy and music is the way I communicate. I’m not trying to make the audience understand but I’m a simple person, I think everyone can understand my thoughts.

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• How would you qualify your musical style? Do you put yourself in one particular genre ?

Jinhyeong: My style is RnB but sometimes I like to do hip-hop. I’m trying a lot of things, I don’t think I have one particular style. I started as a rapper, but when I was at YG they told me to sing so I became a vocalist.
Vangdale: When I produce for Jinhyeong or other artists, I always change, I go with the feeling. I consider myself a creative producer. I don’t restrict my work to one particular style.
Roots: Personally I like a lot of styles such as rap or hip-hop but I also really like electronic music. I don’t have any particular style either, I just do whatever I want.
Theo: I like all types of songs, but I want to make songs like the ones at parties. I want people to have fun with my music.

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• Is there an artist, different from your style, that you would like to collaborate with ?

Jinhyeong: I wanna collab with Rosalia, I really like her style and latin vibe, dancehall vibes, it sounds sexy.
Theo: For me it’d be Lana Del Rey.
Roots: The 1975.
Vangdale: The Korean artist Golden or the French one Shay.

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• (JJH) Are you willing to come out from your comfort zone and try new things musically, even tho it might be risky, or would you rather not put yourself in danger and keep evolving in what you’ve been doing until now ?

I don’t wanna take too many risks or change myself too much yet I wanna try new things, so it’s pretty paradoxical. I’m not sure yet.

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• (JJH) You’ve been a trainee in YG and participated to MIX & MATCH to debut with iKON. What did you learn from that experience? What did it brought you musically talking ?

I learned desperation. I think I started my music career there so at the same time it’s a precious experience where I learned about real life. There are a lot of talented kids and trainees so I felt like I was nothing and that I had to work hard to reach my dreams. It taught me to stay humble too. I learned how to produce music at YG so that kind of experience helped me a lot. There were a lot of good producers who taught me how to make music step by step. 
After I left YG I was in the underground scene. It was really tough because what I learned at YG wasn’t relevant there, so I had to learn new things to fit in this world. But YG still helped me a lot.

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• (VD) How old were you when you first to show interest to music ?

I started to show interest when I was 15 years old. It started on the computer, the keyboard, and then little by little I got deeper into it and became who I am now.

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• (THEO) A few month ago your single « BLACK » came out, what is this song about?

It’s about the color black, my favorite, which is similar to my life style. If you mix all the colors, it always ends up black in the end so I wanted to express this. I’m all colors at once.
Also I wanna add that in this song, there are the following lyrics « Fly my homies to Paris ». It was a dream and it became real. (laughs)

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• (ROOTS) Who are the DJs that inspire you the most musically ?

Since forever, I’ve been inspired by French DJs.

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• Since a few years, Korean Hip-Hop has been huge and very trendy in Europe. A lot of Korean rappers and singers have been able to come perform in Paris and many other cities in Europe. Your fans have been dying to see you and we know there won’t be only french fans tonight. How do you live this enthusiasm and interest for you and your music ?

Jinhyeong: I didn’t know there was that much enthusiasm for my music, especially in France. It’s crazy! When I heard that the event was sold out, I couldn’t believe it. To be honest, when they first contacted me for the show, I thought it was a joke. I’m not famous in Korea, I thought it was the same in France.
Vangdale: Thanks to social media, I saw that we had a lot of foreign fans, I still don’t understand, it’s crazy. Thank you to everyone, really!