Q. All of you are busy all day recently. Glass Bead has become very popular, did the impact of that sunk in yet.
Yerin: We don't have cell phones, tablets or a PC, so we are unable to see the reactions at all. I mean, it's just something that we haven't realized yet. Haha.
Q. What was the reaction of the members when they first heard Glass Bead?
SinB: Originally we practiced with a song that wasn't Glass Bead. As soon as we were done with the choreography session, the manager came in and stopped that song and played the new one. As soon as I heard it thought "this is just perfect!" from the very beginning.
Yerin: I knew it was going to be great right from the sound of the bells.
Q. With the old song that you practiced, how did it compared to the song that you ended up with.
Yuju: It had a bright and cheerful mood just like Glass Bead so it was easy to transition from it because there was little difference.
Q. We have seen your performance on stage, but is there any hidden dance point in Glass Bead that we may have missed.
Umji: It's the pose part before the actual dance begins. It's a portion of the dance that our instructor told us to come up with a certain pose based on our personalities. It is interesting to see our own unique dance point.
Q. It has been a month after your debut. What is your impression of it?
Sowon: We have dreamed and waited for a long time, and have worked so much for it. It has been a month and we are thankful even though it's still overwhelming and almost incomprehensible. We hope to do even better in the future and have others see us.
Yerin: Wow. I can't believe it has been a month since our debut. Time has gone really fast.
Q. What were the reactions of your family and friends?
Umji: We cannot contact them frequently because we don't have cellphones. When we do get in touch, my family asks things like "have you worked a lot? Was it very hard?" When I speak to friends they ask me when I will have my vacation. Haha.
Q. Yerin, you have recently graduated. What do you feel about it?
Yerin: It feels gloomy just being finished with high school. I really had a good there but the graduation was something that was quite good.
Q. What kind of advice can Sowon give to Yerin, having graduated before her.
Sowon: Ah, advice...this is kind of embarrassing, haha. I would say just be more cautious with how you say your words.
Q. Is there something from your debut that you were regretful about?
SinB: It was on SBS Inkigayo, at our first performance for a short segment of 'White'. During rehearsals I had a hat on that was well fixed on my head, but when it was time to perform it fell off. The hat looked like a white dumpling; I was teased about that incident.
Q. Girlfriend (GFRIEND) is a unique name for a group, who came up with it?
Umji: It was our CEO's idea. Being a boyfriend or girlfriend means being friends with the opposite sex. However, what we mean with our name is that we will be good friends of the public by giving them music they like. Nowadays a term we use is G.F.P. (Girls who are Friends of the People). You can think of it as giving people some relief.
Q. It's somewhat of an unusual name, how did the members react when they first heard it?
Yuju: We all had a mental breakdown. It's something we would never come up with...
Umji: When I first heard Girlfriend I wasn't sure if it was going to be our official name. We would play with each other saying "girlfriend~ girlfriend let's get together"....
Everyone: We couldn't imagine we were going to be known as that. Haha.
Q. What was the training period of each member?
Sowon: I was a trainee for 5 years. About three and a half years at another company, and a year and a half at our current company.
Yuju: I was also a trainee at another company. In all I trained between 2~3 years.
Eunha: I was a trainee when I was 12 years old. My parents were opposed to it so I had a break in between. In total my training period was about 3 years.
Umji: The agency I'm currently in is my first one. I practiced for about a year with the other members.
Yerin: I have been here for about 2 years.
SinB: This going to be my 4th year. It has been a year since we came together to form the group.
Q: What was the first impression of each other?
SinB: I was very impressed by Sowon. She is tall and I felt a special aura from her for some reason.
Sowon: When I first saw SinB I thought, "She looks just like Jessica." At that time I still wondered, "does she look like her or not?" As time goes on I really feel that she does resemble her. That was my first lasting impression of SinB, but she also has a reverse charm. The more I look at her the more pretty she seems.
Umji: Meeting Yuju was memorable for me. I was a trainee for just 3 days. When I saw her I was impressed by how tall, thin, and white she was when she came to the company. Just two hours after meeting her we had vocal practice which I was a little worried about. Right away I learned vocal techniques from Yuju. I am thankful for her help on it.
Yuju: Actually it felt a little awkward...Umji was in a rush to learn so many things. "Ah? Stop and watch kid!" was what I wanted to tell her. I was surprised that her voice was pretty.
Q: There have been many reports that said GFRIEND's debut is very similar to Girls' Generation in their early days.
Sowon: Girls' Generation are one of our seniors. I grew up watching SNSD, Wonder Girls, Big Bang, and wanting to be idols like them. I really feel flattered when we remind others of SNSD. It also makes us feel more willing to show a good image and become better.
Q. What were your ages when SNSD's 'Into the New World' came out?
All members: We were in grades 3~5 of elementary school.
Q. Many girl groups made their debuts recently. When there's talk about GFRIEND there's also mention of Sonamoo or Lovelyz. Do you consider them as your competition?
Sowon: Our color is very different from Sonamoo. We were engaged in activities at the same time, and instead of becoming rivals we became friendly with them. For Lovelyz, they have the same innocent quality as us but they have more of a pink feel to them. On the other hand, our sound is more like blue; you can sense the difference when you hear each us.
여.친.소② 여자친구 “대중의 좋은 친구가 되고 싶어요” (인터뷰)
10 Asia