[NEWS] 120418 U-KISS "We Thought Debuting Equalled Success"

U-KISS (Soohyun, Kevin, Eli, AJ, Kiseop, Hoon, Dongho) has always been the same. Our first meeting was when they were cheerful rookies, and to a spring day in April of 2012, their inner playful selves don’t seem to have gone anywhere.

If there was slight change to be found, it would have to be their steady improvement. After spending time in Japan after promoting their second full-length album "Neverland" last September, U-KISS is back in Korea after 8 months. Kevin stated “I really missed our Korean fans. We toured and had hand-shake events with our Japanese fans, so I felt really bad for them, as we didn't have had the opportunity to reach out to them as we did the fans in Japan. Thank you for waiting for U-KISS all this time. I really want to perform on stage again.”

Every comeback, U-KISS presents a different sound, such as "Man Man Ha Ni," "0330" and "Neverland". This time, they have created ties with the producer of many successful songs, Kim Hyung Seok.

Kim Hyung Seok’s devotion was especially unique towards U-KISS. To perfect U-KISS’s 6th mini-album ‘Dora Dora,’ he paid meticulous attention to the concept and details, even before composing the song. Leader SooHyun revealed “this album’s concept is sexy men. This will be a song that does not resemble any previous U-KISS songs, and will show a completely different side of us on stage. Each of the 7 members all have different kinds of sexiness, so please keep an eye out for that. Haha!” KiSeop stated “as the concept is ‘sexy men,’ a lot of body waves were incorporated in the choreography of ‘Dora Dora’. There are a few parts in the dance that is sure to catch their eyes. For this song, we plan to show more style rather than a sense of uniformity in the dance moves.”

U-KISS signed with Japan’s renowned company AVEX, and officially debuted in Japan late last year. They have garnered great success in only 3 months. The single "Forbidden Love" and full album “A Shared Dream”, both entered into the top 10 on the Oricon Chart, and through U-KISS’s "First Japan Live Tour 2012," they toured all around Japan, performing for over 30,000 fans.

When the reporter’s congratulated U-KISS on the 30,000 people they performed for, SooHyun replied with, "Haha! The tickets were sold out and we were shaking! We also felt that our fans really had expanded. The concert staff, production, and supervisors also really looked after us, so we thought to ourselves to work even harder." AJ said “each members' skills had drastically improved after completing the concert. Our sense of rhythm got better and vocal skills got better."

U-KISS has gone through many difficulties. Their first album [New Generation] did not get as much attention as they had anticipated, and later had to endure the pain of member changes.

“During our debut, just having the job as a celebrity and appearing on TV brought me so much happiness", Soohyun revealed. "It was immature to think that was all there is, as I debuted at such a young age. As we released album after album and grew older, I think we realised that our goal for U-KISS is to be known artists. To go hard or go home. Our attitude towards music became very serious.”

DongHo stated “I thought that if you debut, you would automatically win first place and gain a lot of popularity. It turns out that’s not exactly the case. We had to overcome failure after failure, but because of these experiences, we have the strength to work harder. I quickly learned that if you don’t work hard, you will not succeed.”

Due to their job as idols, U-KISS entered the real world at a much younger age than other people. For the past 4 years that the group has been active, they came face-to-face with obstacles that, at their age, should have been too stressful to cope with. However, with the help of the fans and each other, they were able to overcome them and stand up stronger. KiSeop voiced “I've learnt that trying to maintain our position [in the entertainment business] is very difficult. But no matter how hard things were, I’ve never had a single regret of becoming a singer. It is because of this I say to myself 'I’m never going to stop.'"

SooHyun stated “I believe that, compared to our international success, we are lacking a lot in Korea. Through our music and variety shows, we’ve exposed our faces, but many people are still unsure of U-KISS's distinct music style. With this new album, we hope to show the public that we have many positive sides and that we can take on many different genres.”

Credits: TVDaily + Rocketboxx.net