[Hanryu Pia] Almost Weekly! We Made Block B's "Bikipedia"! - U-Kwon Edition

No.10: U-Kwon, Block B is "the beginning of my second life"

The protagonist of our December interview is 'Angel Smile' U-Kwon, who has been active as dancer, solo artist and actor in recent years.

This interview was held in October, somewhere in Tokyo. U-Kwon appeared in the room 5 minutes before the scheduled time for his interview. As expected of Block B's representative 'punctual boy'! We were planning to do the shooting for 15 minutes but when we told him that he said, "5 minutes should be enough!" while grinning broadly. I thought he was so reliable because of his words. He made poses one after the other with impressive speed, it was almost like turning over the pages in the magazine, he'd decide on his own his poses and expressions. It was amazing! 'Hanryu Pia' shrieked happily with the many nice cuts that made it really hard to choose from.

And then the interview. U-Kwon who has a strong sense of assistance (offers his help constantly), talked politely and plenty to us for even two times the scheduled time.

Block B is the beginning of my second life

U-Kwon says he vaguely thought he'd "want to make music as a profession" since he was in elementary school. When he returned from school, he'd play by imitating various artists in front of his TV.

"As all the singers seemed to shine, I thought 'one day I would like to be one of them too'. There's no artist in particular I imitated, more like I danced to any song I liked".

When he was in middle school he was just a 'regular student'. From school to his home and church, he seemed to be living just going back and forth.

"I was average in terms of studying and the brightest kid during physical education. I was not good at memorizing. Math too...... From the first to second grade of middle school I was barely able to keep up, when I became a third grader it got unexpectedly difficult so I gave up after all (lol)".

By the way while he said he was not good with math, he also attended High School in the Electro-Mechanical Department of Anyang Technical High School. He said, "I wanted time for myself".

"Although it is science, the emphasis was put on learning technology rather than numbers, it didn't become a big problem. In Korea, when you go to a common department you have to dedicate your night time to self-study for college entrance examinations, you hardly get any time for yourself that way. There were other things I wanted to do, I thought of doing them while taking the qualifications in a practical high school so I attended a Technical High School". The other thing he wanted to do was precisely, dancing. Young U-Kwon attended a dance school since he was a third grader in middle school and was totally immersed in the charms of dancing. Also doing that he had a fateful encounter that decided his life after that.

"With support from my school I came to attend a hip-hop dance class but the students were all much younger than me. It was a little disappointing cause I thought I wanted to learn earnestly (T/N: because it was like a class to have fun not so much for learning dance seriously). At that time, my teacher sympathized with my feelings so he invited me to his practice room. I immediately stopped attending school and began going to the teacher's practice room".

Since he was scouted by his teacher, it must've meant he had a talent for dancing even from that time, right?

"Well~ calling it talent would be an exaggeration though…… (lol). In my opinion the feeling of 'loving to dance' was the strongest and I think I memorized and mastered (choreos) quickly".

He was the best student of his dance teacher who was known as JD BUSTER so he earned the nickname of BUSTER Jr. Perhaps, the origin of the name of Block B's unit BASTARZ comes from there!!???

"No no no no no no no no (complete denial) (lol), but now that you mention it, why was it that our name is BASTARZ? I forgot (lol)".

He did nothing but dancing during the 3 years of high school and then debuted as Block B at the age of 19.

"Block B is the beginning of my second life. Until then I had never worked hard in anything other than school tests. But what I considered fun became my job, and because it was my job I began to think I had to put more effort into it. I think my life changed".

When he heard he'd debut as Block B, U-Kwon excitedly thought, "I can dance on stage then!" and "I hope it's not a dream". But what was the place called entertainment industry actually like?

"There were a lot of things I learned since debut. For example, on stage you have to make bigger motions so people can see what you're doing, you seem fatter than you actually are on TV. At the time of debut, I desperately tried to get used to those things no matter what".

That U-Kwon who was a 'beginner in the entertainment industry' is now not only active as a singer but has grown enough to work as an actor as well.

"When the role is decided, while reading the script I begin to write everything like how old is the character or what was the environment he grew up in when he was young…… and put it together. It's hard to prepare for a role but it's fun work. I probably like musicals more than dramas because you can see the reactions of the audience directly, it feels rewarding".

In Japan too he has appeared in 2 musicals, 'RUN TO YOU ~Street Life~' (2015 @ Zepp Blue Theater Roppongi) and 'HARU~ If I had returned that day~' (2015 @ Meiji Theater).

"When I perform in Japan, I submit my passport cause I need to get a performance visa. When I get it back there's an 'Actor U-Kwon' label sticked to it. I feel both happy and embarrassed thinking 'is it ok to call me an actor though' and my body becomes a little itchy (lol)".

T/N: 'itchy' is used in this case as a way to say he felt stressed, uneasy

U-Kwon says he wants to continue working as an actor in more and more roles. Let's look forward to not just 'Singer U-Kwon' but also to his activities as 'Actor U-Kwon'. In the next part of our interview I'll inquire him about U-Kwon's charms.

No.11: The encounter that changed his mind? How to eat ramen like U-Kwon

The protagonist of our December interview is 'Angel Smile' U-Kwon, who has been active as dancer, solo artist and actor in recent years. In the second part of our interview, we will approach his charming points.

An encounter that changed U-Kwon's mind

This year U-Kwon participated in the variety 'HIT THE STAGE' broadcasted through Mnet. This program teamed up top dancers with idols popular for their dance skills, and carried out performances where they faced each others' teams. U-Kwon's first round of performances became a hot issue and he made himself known as a dancer.

"Long ago I appeared in a reality show called 'Block B's 5 Minutes Before Chaos' (5MBC) and a staff member from back then was the chief producer of 'HIT THE STAGE'. Because of that connection I was told they would make U-Kwon an offer. To be honest, I felt troubled. I knew that people with good dancing skills would gather and in that kind of environment I was not confident about being able to do it on my own. But it was a good opportunity and I thought it would a good chance for me to be more known to the public so I decided to challenge it".

He fulfilled brilliant victories in the first round performing as the Joker and in the fourth round teaming up with the World famous Japanese female dancer, RIE HATA.

"As for me, I think my performance in the first round was the best. When I won in the fourth round, I was more surprised than happy. I was told that the performance order was an advantage, performing 6th or being the middle performance (following the order). To be honest, I thought it might not work that's why I was surprised when I ranked first".

The fact that he had to show his best performance on TV every week was a lot of pressure and he underwent a lot of stress. But this program also became a big step for U-Kwon.

"As the other teams prepared cool performances too, I felt motivated thinking, 'everyone is working this frantically, it's no good if I slack off'. More than anything, by meeting RIE HATA I developed the desire of wanting to be even better. Now when my dance team is creating choreos we give suggestions like 'this type of dance seems popular lately' and such".　

As a result of his appearance in this program U-Kwon became famous as an idol who is skilled in dancing. The amount of practicing he does must be staggering too, right?

"Well, I like to dance as I have fun or play around but I don't like practicing (lol). Usually I just get immersed in the music and dance as I like".

Are there times when you do girl group dances too?

"I don't do that. I don't watch much TV recently so I don't know who is popular. Before practicing other groups' dances we have to get better ourselves! If the sunbaes are not good we'll set a bad example (lol)".

Just like his dancing, another one of U-Kwon's weapons is his 'healing looks'. His narrow eyes that almost disappear when he laughs are the cutest! but when asked if he considers himself good-looking, he denies strongly with an overreaction.

"I have an attractive face…… probably (lol). The type of face that's not handsome but it's attractive somehow. I've thought about getting plastic surgery. Where? All of it (lol). I want to make my face smaller. I feel embarrassed because all entertainers have small faces. But now I have a defiant attitude, 'isn't it ok to have a face like this too?' (lol). The part that I'm confident in…… probably my nose. Because it's high, I was often praised for it since long ago. This is my father's inheritance. I'm grateful to my father".

Speaking of appearance, it's a well-known fact among BBC that long ago U-Kwon was a little bit plump.

"I was the most fat around the time I was a trainee. Since debut I went back and forth from thin to fat. Ah, it was awful too around the time of 5MBC. Even if I'm asked to I don't want to see footage from those times".

U-Kwon says he's now in his best body weight. Then in U-Kwon's opinion what's the ideal body?

"More than a body like Kinnikuman's (Muscle Man), I like bodies that have a bit of muscle despite being slim. Like Cha Seungwon, Kim Woobin, Gong Yoo, bodies that look like sculptures are cool. I think I want to have a body like that but……. I'm not the type that works hard in exercising. I also like to eat".

By the way, his favorite dish seems to be 'Ichiran Ramen'.

"I select like 20 times the spiciness and it's my own style to add Char siu and edible seaweed. It's delicious to eat the noodles and the edible seaweed together. Among Korean cuisine, I like soups. Kimchi-jjigae, Doenjang-jjigae and Haemultang are my favorites".

In the next part we'll ask U-Kwon about the secret behind his 'Japanese language skills'.

No.12: What if serious U-Kwon self-analyzes himself?……

The protagonist of our December interview is 'Angel Smile' U-Kwon, who has been active as dancer, solo artist and actor in recent years. 

In the final part of U-Kwon's interview, we'll inquire him about the secret behind U-Kwon's Japanese skills.

By June of next year I want to answer (an interview) in Japanese

In their Japanese lives, U-Kwon takes the center during talks by making full use of his fluent Japanese. U-Kwon says he liked Japanese culture since his childhood, it seems like he first came in contact with it when he was a middle school student.

"Originally I liked anime, since I was an elementary school student I passed by a rental manga shop every day. When I was in middle school I got really into the anime 'One Piece' that I thought 'I want to watch it without subtitles'. So I asked a nuna who attended the same church as me to teach me hiragana, some greetings and simple words. When I entered high school I chose Japanese as a second foreign language. Since I already knew hiragana I got 100 points in tests every time. After debut, I started to earnestly learn and use Japanese so I could feel myself gradually getting better at it. I've improved this much thinking, 'if I do a little more then I'll be able to say this much too'. Now I can carry every day conversations without much trouble".

Acknowledging his ability in Japanese, last year he was selected to star in the Japanese movie 'Thrilling Daily Life'.

"The Japanese dialogue was a little hard but it was fun doing it. Because I've learned acting through musicals, my performance was a bit overreacted (lol). However the character recquired a bit of overreaction so it seems like it was just fine as normal acting".

When asked what was the most difficult Japanese word he learned recently he answered like an alien talking, 'shi-ta-ha-zu-da' (~should have done).

"Recently I'm watching the anime 'Erased' (僕だけがいない街: lit. The Town Without Me) and that phrase comes out often in it. I don't quite understand when to use it (lol)".

His current goal is to be able to give an interview in Japanese and to read Kanji.

"During interviews I have to express my own thoughts so I have to pick my wording perfectly which is a bit difficult. By June of next year I want to be able to answer in Japanese. Also in order to remember kanjis, I'm reading a novel these days. While checking my reading and also looking up the meaning of things, I've only read 3 pages but I feel like my level is improving considerably while reading it".

I thought doing what I was told was the right thing to do

At any rate, whether is dancing or Japanese, U-Kwon is a hard worker. During fan-meetings he listens to the MC explanations to the end, in interviews when the members get lost talking among themselves, he corrects the course, so his image is a little different from the 'Mischievous' image Block B has (?) and is famous for his serious and sincere personality. What if he tries to self-analyze his personality?

"I'm shy I guess. It's all right during work but in private I'm the type who can't speak well to people I meet for the first time. Don't you have to think about what to talk with them right on the spot. I don't know what kind of fields interest them and I'm clumsy talking with my hands. But if I find something in common, I immediately throw off any reserve".

In the past he seemed to be the type to 'not have an opinion of his own' but now his personality has turned into one who can say what he wants to do for himself.

"I thought that following what other people or my mother decided was the right thing to do. It was like that even at the beginning after I joined the entertainment industry. However, members and friends told me many times, 'why are you not giving your opinions?', 'are you really happy just keeping up with other people's opinions?' so I tried to correct it. Now what I want to do for me has become clear, and I can say that I want to do what I want to do".

Dance, Japanese and self-development. Perhaps what's linked to the success of U-Kwon in recent years is his hardworking attitude that strives for anything.

Translations by @GreeneryBomb