PURE debuted on April 4 and surprised fans with their powerful performances of I Still Love You. 24-7 sat down with the five members of PURE on July 9 to hear what the rookie group had to say. They were kind enough to sit with us for over a hour, leave a message to 24-7, and even perform two of their beautiful songs.
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24-7: You recently made your debut in Korea with “I Still Love You”. What was it like training and then finally debuting?
PURE: It’s been two years since we began training together, and a year since we lived together under intense and harsh training conditions. We practiced at least ten hours every day, and even performed in Japan before our Korean debut. So we were ready.
24-7: What was going through your mind during your debut stage?
Blue Jungbin: Nobody felt nervous on the debut stage because we had several concerts in Japan before debut. Because of our experience, we were able to enjoy our first stage.
Pink Chanhwee: I was nervous before debuting because becoming a singer has been my dream since childhood. However, during the debut stage, it was our CEO who was nervous and worrying, rather than me.
Yellow Younghu: I was able to enjoy our stage rather than worry about it because I was with the other members. I want to make PURE a group that will do well in the future.
White Soohyuk: We practiced together for two years before our debut, and we were able to finally show everybody what we have practiced for, so I was excited.
24-7: During your live performances of “I Still Love You,” the members use props. Was it difficult to learn and use them? Were there any memorable moments or accidents because of them?
Pink Chanhwee: It was hard to learn how to hide the props in our outfits. It’s harder for rookies to use props because it’s difficult enough just singing, dancing, and making good facial expressions. But we still learned well. The only time that it was nearly an issue was after we recorded for MBC Show Music Core. Although we did a prerecording that went well, during the live broadcast Suhyeok made a big mistake and dropped the stick. Luckily, we had the prerecording.
Black Jimin: The sticks that we use are made of stainless steel and so sharp. While we practiced, we got cut on our hands and bled. Eventually, bandages were useless. Some of our fans begged us to give them the sticks as souvenirs, but we can’t do that because it’s too dangerous.
24-7: Do your color titles have any special meaning?
White Soohyuk: Our CEO chose the colors for us. I’m white because my face is fair and my heart is pure.
Black Jimin: I’m black because my skin is dark and my image is that of a bad guy.
24-7: But your face is light.
Black Jimin: BB Cream.
Blue Jungbin: The CEO gave me blue because he wants me to play and create music as deep and good as the sea.
Pink Chanhwee: I messed it up for myself because pink is a feminine color. I thought that it was unique, but then right after my color was announced I had trouble online from netizens.
Yellow Younghu: Yellow is fresh, like Vitamin C, so it matches my image as the youngest.
24-7: You’ve recently recorded for several variety shows. What’s that been like?
Black Jimin: I like to perform our songs rather than variety shows, because I like music and dancing, so I can enjoy it more. When I filmed for Dream Team, I had to dive even though I can’t swim and I am acrophobic (afraid of heights.) It was very difficult.
Blue Jungbin: I recorded for 1000 Song Challenge and it was difficult for me because of my quiet personality. I can prepare so I have confidence and can enjoy our stages, but this was different.
Pink Chanhwee: I can just show what I prepared on stage, but on variety shows momentary reactions are important. I have to take care of every word. I was glad when the MC took care of me because I’m a rookie.
Yellow Younghu: I haven’t tried out a variety show yet, but I want to try one out so that I learn the difference. Because I haven’t recorded any yet, I’m a secret weapon of PURE.
24-7: You promote a lot in Japan. How is that different from promoting in Korea?
White Soohyuk: We can’t go to Japan often, but we’ve had a lot of fans there since we were trainees. Airports have even been paralyzed because of our Japanese fans. They are impressed and cry when we sing; their reaction is good. When we go to Japan after not going for a long time, they give us a lot of gifts. We almost weren’t able to come back to Korea after one trip, because our luggage exceeded the weight limit.
Black Jimin: I think Korean fans are more like our friends who enjoy our music. Korean and Japanese fans have different reactions, but they are the same in terms of taking care of us.
24-7: Every member is born in a different year. Does this affect your teamwork and relationships? [Soohyuk- September 1988, Chanhwee -January 1989, Jimin-March 1990, Jungbin-February 1991, Younghu-March 1993]
Pink Chanhwee: In Korea, if your birthday is in January or February then you can sometimes be friends with someone born in the previous year. You have an “early birthday.” Jungbin and I are “early,” so it caused some confusion. At first, I called Soohyuk “Hyung,” and then found out that Jungbin treated Jimin like a friend. So I ended up treating Soohyuk like a friend too.
Yellow Younghu: I want to be the oldest member for a week. Initially, I felt difficulties not only because of age but also our personality differences. However, as time goes by we are able to understand one another and it’s good.
24-7: Quick question time! Who is the hardest to wake up in the morning?
The members unanimously picked Chanhwee.
Pink Chanhwee: I always practice a lot and write fanfiction for our fancafe. Recently I stayed up all night and went to bed at 10AM because I was writing. I think I am an owl.
24-7: Who is the dirtiest person?
Three people picked Chanhwee.
Pink Chanhwee: They’re just trying to make the interview funnier. I don’t cause trouble. I don’t mess up anything, and I also don’t clean up anything.
Blue Jungbin: If you look by Soohyuk’s pillow, there’s a lot of trash. However, the truth is that Chanhwee threw it there.
Pink Chanhwee: I wake up late and I am dirty. I am the sacrifice for humor in this interview.
24-7: Since we’ve heard a lot about Pink Chanhwee, why don’t you guys tell us about one another?
Black Jimin (about Soohyuk): He is respectable as the leader. He and I rap together, and we learn how to communicate our musical ability with one another. However, I feel like he is lacking because of his timid personality. For example, he hides and eats snacks alone. But he’s really not that timid, he’s cute and reliable.
White Soohyuk (about Jungbin): He is usually quiet and silent. He practices hard and focuses on improving himself. I feel sorry, though, because he likes drinking too much. He really enjoys drinking, singing, and dancing.
Blue Jungbin (about Chanhwee): I don’t want to sugarcoat anything. He’s already finished military service, but he has a lot of aspects to learn. For example, he prepares well and is able to sing well, so he helps to teach me. But when he is drunk, he pays the bill with other members’ wallets. And you’ve already heard how dirty and how bad he is at waking up in the morning.
Pink Chanhwee: I have to take care of the other members because I am the oldest, and that means paying the bill, even if it’s with their wallets! (About Younghu:) Yellow is very thoughtful even though he’s the youngest, and he used to do all of our chores including cleaning and doing laundry. We share it now.
Yellow Younghu (about Jimin): Everyone thinks that he is a bad guy but the truth is that he’s a real bad guy. It is almost a joke. He’s so pure, tenderhearted, and impressed by the smallest thing. But when he gets angry, he loses his temper.
24-7: What makes you different from other groups?
White Soohyuk: We try to communicate with our fans a lot and have many fan meetings. Last week, we were able to play in the water with our fans. I think that this helps us have a comfortable image, which other stars lack. We are frank and unaffected. After finishing our music broadcasts, we always have fan meetings. Sometimes we chat with our fans on Twitter, and write many messages to fans. Because we have more fans nowadays, we’re not able to answer many messages, which hurts some fans. We hope that they understand our situation.
By the way, Jimin only answers his fans’ messages.
24-7: What can we expect from PURE in the future?
Black Jimin: I want to have a concert tour in many countries. I’ve heard that we have fans in England, France, and Singapore. It would be nice to meet them.
White Soohyuk: I want to record for MTV and win awards that make the best of one another’s musical tastes, because we all have different interests. Jungbin likes ballads and R&B, Younghu likes band and pop, while I like hip-hop.
Blue Jungbin: I will study variety shows and learn to ad-lib. I want to see all of our members pursue different activities.
Pink Chanhwee: I am greedy. I want to make PURE more popular, and I want to receive the Rookie of the Year award. I want to record on variety shows, act, perform in musicals, and release a solo album.
Yellow Younghu: I think it is the most important to introduce more people to PURE. I also want to do many things like acting, variety shows, musicals, etc.
Before leaving the restaurant where the interview took place, PURE performed two songs for their fans, Standing Together (Japanese Version) and their debut song, I Still Love You ( 난 아직도 널).
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