CNBC Conversation - TREASURE (Telecast: 2023 July 6) English Interpreters' Transcript
Credits to @beaupjw for video. Transcript by @dungeonlifer
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Credits to @beaupjw for video. Transcript by @dungeonlifer
Emaad Akhtar 0:06
A Korean boy band formed from the winners of a survival reality TV show.Three members of Kpop supergroup, TREASURE , sit down for the CNBC Conversation.
Hello, and welcome to the show. I'm Emaad Akhtar. On this episode we go further into the world of Kpop than we have ever gone before. I speak to Choi Hyunsuk, and Jihoon and Yoshi, three members of the popular boy band TREASURE. The band was formed by YG Entertainment, the company behind the massively successful Korean group, Blackpink, TREASURE looks to follow that success. The singles such as Boy and Jikjin, have racked up over 100 million views. Its members was selected through YG Treasure Box, a TV survival singing competition that saw 29 male YG trainees battling it out for a place in what would become TREASURE. Today TREASURE is a 10-member boy band. I caught up with three members of the group during their Asia tour and discussed their early beginnings music production and their hopes for the future. Hyunsuk, Jihoon, Yoshi. Thank you so much for joining us today on the CNBC Conversation. Now if there's one thing that sets Kpop stars apart from their musical counterparts in other countries, it's their unique way of introducing themselves. So without further ado, would the three of you mind introducing yourselves from a team perspective as well as individually?
Choi Hyunsuk 1:48
Find Your TREASURE. Hello, we are TREASURE. Yeah. I'm.. the leader of TREASURE. My name is Hyunsuk Choi.
Jihoon 2:01
I'm also a leader of TREASURE, Jihoon. Looking forward to this interview.
Yoshi 2:06
I'm rapper Yoshi, also looking forward to this.
Emaad Akhtar 2:11
Obviously, as a kpop band, you've travelled all over the world. What are your favourite countries to visit?
Jihoon 2:17
Singapore? Yes, we love Singapore.
Choi Hyunsuk 2:20
Absolutely Singapore.
For me, I've really counted down the days until we got here. It is to the extent that I was teasing my mum about my visit to Singapore, the Singapore that we visited together, I was bragging to her, you have to work but I get to go to Singapore.
Emaad Akhtar 2:39
What do you do on your off days, when you're not performing or when you're not practising,
Jihoon 2:44
All the members really value working on our personal development goals. Such as practising rap or our vocals as well as dance. We also practising musical instruments. Because we have to tour around so many countries in the world, each of the members have a special language that we want to pick up, or that we have to pick up. So we also study really hard.
Emaad Akhtar 3:10
Do you have a hidden talent or a talent that has not yet been seen in the public domain?
Jihoon 3:20
Whenever I have time, I try to practice my guitar. And I'm trying to invest more time into practising guitar, so one day I'll be able to perform onstage while singing. So that's what I'm practising for.
Choi Hyunsuk 3:39
I've been recently quite into this dance genre called Krump. I'm practising it and learning the basics. I can't show you now. But I think I'll be able to perform it in about a year And fortunately, with my connections lately, I've also been able to look at some clothing designing. I'm studying that as well,
Emaad Akhtar 4:03
How often do members prepare for a show and concert? Are there any routines that you can share with us? Any exercises? How often do you practice?
Jihoon 4:12
As I am one of the vocal leads, I have to take care of my vocal cords and rehearse for dances that include powerful movements while singing. I try to manage my breathing a lot. Before we go on the stage, I warm up my vocal cords and try to gain control of my breathing before our performance starts. I think that helps me reset my mindset before starting any stage as well before we go up.
Choi Hyunsuk 4:35
Because I'm a rapper, because our company is YG which specialises in performances. I tried to look at our seniors and see how they performed onstage or bring more energy into the stage. I get more motivation and some inspiration from them. Watching their songs and stages made me realise how rappers paved the way for the vocal members or for the dance members to focus on their parts by adding on ad libs and supporting them with energy,
Yoshi 5:15
To warm up my vocal cords, I tried to keep shouting and making sounds that don't really make sense. And I tried to bring that tension or energy onto the concert. So all the fans and us can scream and have fun together.
Emaad Akhtar 5:30
I think that transitions on to the next question quite nicely. Could you share your experience of your journey of how the band was formed?
Choi Hyunsuk 5:40
I wanna cry.
Jihoon 5:40
The process to our debut... we were on the same survival programme, but our paths to getting onboard the company label were somewhat different. From our company, we have a monthly performance review for the trainees. It includes personal vocals, group vocals, group dances that test our personal ability to perform. They look for someone that matches the company's vision for an artist. It seems simple, but it's also quite a difficult process.
Choi Hyunsuk 6:14
But if it wasn't for that period of process, then we wouldn't all have our members here, we hear quite often that each and every one of our members has their own separate colours. And I feel that if we didn't have that period, we wouldn't be hearing the same compliments, nor be the group that we are today, we wouldn't have debuted in the same way that we did. And we're quite thankful for those tests. Now that I'm looking back at it, wishing we had one or more of those for the sake of improving.
Yoshi 6:37
In addition to what Hyunsuk said, before we made our debut. We have trainees that trained in Korea, trainees that trained in Japan, and they were trainees that didn't train as much as others did. So it feels like an Avengers team, where we've all gathered from different backgrounds and different preparation periods. That's the process that we all went through.
Emaad Akhtar 7:01
TREASURE made its debut in 2020. And since then, your music videos have already garnered millions of views. Why do you think it is that your music is so relatable to people,
Choi Hyunsuk 7:24
I think the ideal case scenario would be if we already knew the answer to that and have stuck to that strategy. What we tell our fans a lot is that we are a group that coexists. So we're constantly in a process where we can share these experiences with our fans. As we show our fans the growth that we've been going through, we're hoping to share that sentiment of improving and growing out of the hopes of bringing more inspiration to their individual lives as well. I know it's kind of weird to say this, but our songs are pretty good. And thankfully we hear this a lot.
Perhaps that's the reason why we garnered so much support from our fans as well.
Jihoon 8:06
Like Hyunsuk said, I think as much as it would be a blessing to pinpoint what moves our fans the most. We believe it's a process of getting to know exactly what that is. We have so many staff members, artists and people who stay up all night and day, and we're a result of that work. Personally, I'm hoping to quickly catch exactly what the world wants to hone in on what people want to see.
Yoshi 8:46
I want to really thank our fans for giving us so many views. I felt this throughout Asia tour that music has no language nor barriers. I've always known this. But we felt this happiness through touring and making new memories throughout performances.
Emaad Akhtar 9:06
Still ahead.. the early personal journeys
Stay with us on the CNBC Conversation
Credits to @beaupjw for video. Transcript by @dungeonlifer
South Korea is famous for its reality TV music programmes such as KBS Music Bank, MBC Kpop, and M Countdown. hopefuls have put through their paces competing for fame and fortune, beyond television. Live performances are a big part of K pops appealed, but TREASURE which was formed at the height of the pandemic was forced to rely on virtual performances and online meet and greets to reach out to their fans and promote their music. Still, that didn't stop them from hitting over 1 million cumulative sales for their debut album. The First Step Treasure Effect. Your debut happened in the midst of a very difficult time for the world when the COVID 19 pandemic struck. Was it challenging to promote your music during this time?
Jihoon 10:19 ( minus 9:07)
I think as artists, it's a human to human job, which is why broadcasts and stage performances are different when there aren't any fans standing in front of us. And instead, we have to upload videos. But there were some moments where it felt like interaction was lacking a bit. But now we get to meet fans from all over the world, not just Korea, but including the fans in Singapore. And we get to cherish the in person experiences a lot more thanks to that.
Choi Hyunsuk 10:53
Especially because we started off in a no audience setting. I later realised how precious and experience it is to have people standing there when we perform. One good thing I will say is that there was that momentum of us trying to unite as a group, because there isn't really an audience that we can see directly. So the members were trying to lift each other up. I think that memory really sits well with me.
Emaad Akhtar 11:19
What inspired or motivated you to audition for and join YG is training programme?
Choi Hyunsuk 11:26
I think we said previously also, it has a lot to do with how the brand is affiliated with the concept of performance. We have seen other artists in our company and their performances, their songs are amazing. But we also grew up watching their performances. We didn't major in professional music. But what we learned from watching other artists is that performance and the stage brought some energy that we just can't explain in words. For the YG brand, there is this coolness about YG that we want to show off and have yet to show off. And that's purely what we've learned from our senior artists. And we're constantly thinking of how to deliver that on our performance as well.
Jihoon 12:12
To put it simply for me, it's two things. YG is where all the cool people are. And also where my role model is. It's why we've only looked at YG the whole time and just pursued YG and nowhere else. I love you YG.
Emaad Akhtar 12:30
The three of you made a conscious decision to pursue a career in Kpop. How did your family and friends react to your decision?
Yoshi 12:43
At first I didn't tell my friends know my family audition. It was only when I went for the audition programmes, and it was about to broadcast that I told my friends. I was told my friends acted like it was already somewhat expected, and congratulated me.
Choi Hyunsuk 13:05
My parents have always been the type to support whatever I do. When I was older, they told me they never want it to be a hinderance to whatever I wanted to do. They joke about me wanting to pursue Kpop because I didn't want to study. As for my friends, they really doubted that I could be a part of YG because we all loved YG that much.
Jihoon 13:31
My parents were also quite supportive of what I told them I wanted to become a musician. My home in Pusan was actually quite far from Seoul. But they were still okay with sending me so far.
So my friends, they were quite envious. Well, now I graduated from an art school and got myself into such a cool company. So I think there were friends who were quite envious.
Emaad Akhtar 13:55
Could you take us through the process of how the band goes about making its music and dance choreography?
Choi Hyunsuk 14:02
Honestly? ( Personal note: see Jihoon nudges Hyunsuk at the knee)
First of all, we feel that the participation ratio of our members putting together a song is quite high. It might not be for the entire song. But the producers ask us our opinions and really reflect our opinions extremely well. They even consider that as inspiration for their songwriting. So we're collaborating together on a lot of things. When it comes to dance choreography, we go for things that may be cliche, but also catchy. That's what we prioritise, something that can be stuck in people's heads. The trend these days for Kpop is to get something that's difficult to do and look really cool. But for our company, we include that and emphasise the catchiness of it. That's why when I said why YG puts extra importance on the performance aspect, we focus on how catchy things are when we perform. So we get fans to stand up and dance along with us. And I think that's a factor that's taken into consideration when we put together choreography
Jihoon 15:14
The producers who make the music and the choreographers and dancers of YG have really reflect our opinions. And I think that's why we come up with such various creations.
We love you producers.
Emaad Akhtar 15:29
You are a large group with many members, ten to be precise. What are the dynamics? Like do you guys get along? How do you deal with differing opinions? Do you live together?
Choi Hyunsuk 15:42
Family ?
Jihoon 15:47
We say this everywhere we go. But because it's a lot of people, we really have different types and characters that exist together. All of us are different people who are friends and live together. So if you look closely into the group, there's a lot of fun aspects about us. We're different, but we go with the flow.
Choi Hyunsuk 16:05
I know I've said this before. And I know it's very cliche. But we really like the Avengers. Each and every one of us is very cool. And we're very awesome when we're together, separately as individuals, and together as a group. We're really cool. We always spend time together. But each time we hang out, we're like, Oh, you have this side of you. I didn't know. You can be the Hulk.
Yoshi 16:29
I think TREASURE is like a comic book. When you open it, we're cool. But you also want to keep reading over and over. Because each and every one of us has our own stories. The more you open, the more fun you find out about us. It's like a story that never ends.
Emaad Akhtar 16:48
Coming up coping with the spotlight.
Jihoon 16:53
I think it's really something to be thankful for. That there's so many fans out there that are supportive of our group treasurer. Even if we have daily schedules, we try to focus on sharing what we do what could be an inspiration to our fans, for listening to what our fans are worrying about or what different aspects we want to share to our fans. I think that's how we try to utilise our time a lot.
Credits to @beaupjw for video. Transcript by @dungeonlifer
Emaad Akhtar 17:23 (minus 17:09)
Welcome back to the CNBC Conversation with Kpop boy band TREASURE. You're hugely popular in person but you also have large social media followings. How do you deal with the demands of being a celebrity, the challenges of being in the spotlight?
Jihoon 17:40
I think it's really something to be thankful for. That there's so many fans out there that are supportive of our group TREASURE. It's a good way for us to share with our fans our daily lives. And working with our social media team, we're trying to come up with different ways to share more things. Well, that's even if we have daily schedules, we try to focus on sharing what we do, what could be of inspiration to our fans, or listening to what our fans are worrying about or what different aspects we want to share to our fans. I think that's how we try to utilise our time a lot.
Emaad Akhtar 18:20
Kpop has continued to make massive waves in the music industry. What do you think TREASURE can do along with YG Entertainment to increase its visibility in the industry.
Choi Hyunsuk 18:31
One thing that I've seen recently is whenever there was an article about TREASURE, they call us a performance oriented artist. It's what we've pursued, what we've aim for watching other artists and what we've wanted. So we thought, it is what is in our blood, what we should continue to do and what is our weapon that we can continue to sharpen. If I was to say that we've shown this part of us, then you have to watch our concert or our award shows. It's not a super complete masterpiece, but it's how we see the fruits of our efforts that we've really put in. We really are continuing to focus on being performance oriented.
Yoshi 19:17
Later we will be big. The rookies that will be big one day.
Emaad Akhtar 19:22
What are some of the biggest lessons you've learned during your experience so far in the industry?
Jihoon 19:30
Performances should always be fun.
Yoshi 19:36
When we are performing a concert, if and when our physical conditions are bad, or whenever we hear our fans cheering us on, we find energy that we didn't even know existed. We learn that we get recharged and we find the energy and strength to perform and we're really thankful for that
Jihoon 20:03
Lately, we really realised how thankful that we are of our fans. And how it feels like all that singing practice is worth it.
Rapping, dancing, singing, they make the actual musical skill sets more important. As time goes by, we realise how important that aspect is. We definitely regretted not having spent our time wiser in the past. But as time goes by, you're picking up how to better spend our time and use our time more wisely. We know that now. And that's what we're putting our efforts in. Fighting.
Choi Hyunsuk 20:37
I remember our seniors telling us that when we debut, we're going to regret not having practice more. And I think we've definitely felt that directly. And that's what's getting us to practice more.
Emaad Akhtar 20:49
What advice would you give to aspiring young musical artists?
Jihoon 20:57
Just because you failed, don't beat yourself up over it. Don't stay in that same place. I've really failed a lot, I think. Because every time I went through that failure, I feel like I've learned how to get up and move on. And that's why I'm where I'm at today. I'm a leader of TREASURE alongside Hyunsuk because I didn't stay in that failure pit for a long time, and I've moved on, I got back.
Choi Hyunsuk 21:18
I think I'd say something similar. What I want to say but whatever you do, if you feel good, if you feel bad, don't get too deep into that one feeling, maintain that neutrality. Always look at the reality and assess your reality with a cold mindset. I think one or two years ago me would have just said something emotional, like I will cheer you on or something to the people that have those dreams. But not only artists need a lot of determination to reach that. I want to tell you that you shouldn't start with a mindset of as long as I do this, it should be enough. If you surely want to grow, and you have these ambitions for sure, we would love to welcome you to the same room. I really hope these friends don't take these dreams lightly.
Yoshi 22:18
Time spent with a lot of people may seem like it will be sacrificed. But if you started this journey because you wanted to achieve this dream that much. You have to enjoy it to make it worth it. No matter how difficult it is. Always have fun. And remember that message of having fun while you perform.
Emaad Akhtar 22:39
Final question. What are your hopes and dreams moving forward? Let's say in the next 5 or 10 years.
Yoshi 22:49
I really hope just like the artists that TREASURE members look up to that our group becomes the world star that everyone looks up to and celebrate. That's our dream.
Choi Hyunsuk 23:07
I want to be more than just idols. I want each and every member of the group to be an artist of their own. Of course when we come together, we'll come together. But I also want them to be showing each and every one of their characteristics as people and as artists. Since I was little I always wanted to perform on the US Super Bowl halftime show. I know it's really hard, that sort of dream. Even if I reach just the brink of that dream. I really want us to hold on to that dream and not let it fade away. Just like how I envision our group TREASURE.
Yoshi 23:44
Let's go bro.
Emaad Akhtar 23:47
That's it for this episode of the CNBC Conversation. I'd like to thank Choi Hyunsuk and Jihoon and Yoshi for their time and wish them and the whole band the best of luck. I'm Emaad Akhtar. Thank you so much for watching.
