|| Zion.T & Giriboy. It’s a fresh combination that we’ve never seen before, even though it feels as if we might have seen it somewhere before.
ZION.T | That’s right. Somehow, we ended up being on the same team on Show Me The Money (SMTM) 9. It’s not easy being on the same team. You have to get along well with each other and need to be close to each other. Also, we have to stick closely together for the entirety of three months.
GIRIBOY | Zion.T hyung is the artist that I respect most in the world. Regarding this combination, I’m really happy.
|| Not long ago, the two of you met on the show called <Gok FARM!> and released the song ‘Just Kidding’. For Giriboy, it must have felt extraordinary to be able to work with Zion.T, the person that you’d continually picked as the musician that you’d like to collaborate with.
ZION.T | I remember how Giriboy had sung Sung Si-kyung’s ‘내게 오는 길’ on Yoo Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook in the past. I contacted him as I wanted to write a ballad song, and we formed a connection through that. Even though we’d already known each other for a couple of years.
GIRIBOY | Throughout the whole production process, I felt as if I was taking lessons from Zion.T hyung personally. Thanks to that, I was able to develop myself further and show a new side of myself, so I’m really glad.
|| The prelude to SMTM 9 started in October last month. Leaving the title of the worst season behind, a record number of applicants applied and entered the competition this time round. What was the judging criteria that your team would use to identify the gemstones among countless applicants?
ZION.T | I want to pick someone with whom I’d like to work together. After all, since I’m participating as a producer and not a judge, rather than judging something, I’d choose someone that I want to work with together. I want to collaborate with someone who would create great synergy when working together.
GIRIBOY | I just want to give good music and the winning title to the participants who join our team. No matter what.
|| When asked what kind of expectations he had in mind when he joined, he answered that he felt as if he’s on a field trip - adding that he wanted to get inspired by meeting new rappers. Amongst the applicants, were there any applicants that inspired Zion.T and Giriboy?
ZION.T | There were many memorable people. Of course, while most people were in the ‘how should I reject them’ or ‘how should I speak nicely and fail them’ categories, there were decent ones sometimes. I can’t tell you specifically because it’d be a spoiler, but if you continue watching the episodes, you’ll be able to catch the emotions I felt soon enough.
GIRIBOY | I think of myself as a participant who joined as one of the producers. By digging up the strengths of the people who appear on the show, I’m able to get inspired in many ways.
|| The role of the producer is really important in competitive programs. They have to pick out the gemstones, bring out their hidden potential, and make them shine.
ZION.T | Between one battle and the next. The time given to prepare the songs is really tight. As I don’t know which player I’ll with working with next, I’m unable to write all the songs in advance. I want to give support to what the players wanted to achieve on the show and make what they’d only imagined into reality.
GIRIBOY | I want to draw out the strengths and charms they have and make them shine on the show.
|| Coincidentally, Giriboy once appeared on SMTM 3 as a contestant. The whole process of becoming a producer on the show after a couple of years can be seen as an inspiration for all participants.
GIRIBOY | Even when I think about it now, it’s still a tough and fierce place that I’d hate to return to again. As it’s a path that I’d walked on before, I’m naturally able to relate to the participants’ feelings. Even though I’d like to tell them not to feel nervous before going on stage, I know better than anyone that you can’t hear anything at all once you’re in that position. I was all nervous.
[OMITTED ZION.T’S SOLO INTERVIEW PARTS]
|| Someone’s comment happened to catch my eyes. There are tears bound to Giriboy’s music.
GIRIBOY | If I were to list all my favourite movies or manhwas, I found that all of these works’ world views are depressing and bizarre. Since I like such sort of works, I naturally added them to my music, and from the perspective of the people who listen to my music, I think it’s possible for them to feel that way. I think that I have a lot of depressing thoughts since I spend a lot of my time alone at home. On the other hand, when I go around outside a lot, I tend to write songs with a more hopeful vibe.
|| The keyword ‘찌질 감성’ (loosely translated to "losers’ sensibility") is always attached to you. The honest lyrics in ‘Hogu’ or ’Take Care of You’ can evoke sympathy from others universally. But isn’t it natural to become pathetic in the face of love?
GIRIBOY | Who doesn’t become a loser in the face of love? It’s too sad to see one try their best to look cool. From the view of a third party, it’s no big deal.
|| You released as many as 9 albums last year. What’s the motivation behind Giriboy’s quick movements?
GIRIBOY | There’s still a lot of music that I want to release. I think I got addicted to the feeling of excitement that I get on the day of my album’s release. (laughs) I think it’s a feeling that musicals can relate to, it’s similar to the feeling of a refreshing shower after an intense work-out.
|| You seem like a person who’s accustomed to consistency and sincerity. Since there’s nothing to do at home anyway, you (seem like) you'll work on music and if you don’t write lyrics, you’ll start turning your eyes to somewhere else and then work on it calmly.
GIRIBOY | If work isn’t going well, I work better after sleeping or doing other hobbies for fun. But for work with deadlines, it’s different. Since the time given is fixed and I need to squeeze something out with that period, it’s really hard. However, that also has its own charm.
|| You seem like you’ll make a name for yourself even if you’d taken a different path from music.
GIRIBOY | I’m the type to see things to the end, no matter what I do. The same goes from my hobbies too. But I don’t have any other talents apart from music. (laughs)
|| ‘Fatal Album’ and ‘Fatal Album II’ were released in 2012. And ‘Fatal Album III’, which was released after 7 years last year, would have been greatly welcomed by those who missed Giriboy’s unique sensibilities during his debut days.
GIRIBOY | I thought that I was the type to feel little pressure when releasing albums, but that was not the case. As the album has the title of ‘Fatal Album’, I felt a lot of pressure/burden without realising and it wasn’t easy to showcase the pre-releases then.
|| Songs like ‘Divorce Papers’, ’Snow Sweeping, ‘2000/90’ are all songs that depict separation. Even though those are common stories in real life, they’re not subjects that are easily chosen to be portrayed in music - that’s refreshing. Unlike the image portrayed in media, it can be felt that you’re a really creative person.
GIRIBOY | Ever since I was young, I have thought a lot about wanting to be special. I have many quirky thoughts and if something becomes predictable, I’ll try to miss the beat or sing it weirdly. If it’s too much, I’ll try something even more obvious. I have a compulsion to leave behind flaws.
|| It’s not easy to write lyrics that touch people’s hearts, without trying hard to use difficult expressions. Although some seem to have been written as a stream of consciousness, it seems like they were written carefully to showcase a unique sentiment.
GIRIBOY | Thank you for recognising it. That’s right. I’m more detailed than (what people/I) thought.
|| A vocal tone that sounds like it's not over the top and comfortable is also attractive. It makes you shine more among people who sing well.
GIRIBOY | Ever since I was young, I liked songs that were sung without technique. For example, songs that were sung by ordinary people (non-celebs) with a nice voice while being shy?
|| ‘Two Songs’, which was really filled with two songs, or ’Three Songs’ which contained three songs… The album titles, which are simple but not simple at the same time, feel just like Giriboy.
GIRIBOY | It’s just my trick to let people know how many songs there are in the album through the album title, and to tell people to listen to the other songs (in the albums) as well. It’s a method that I came up with after I got tricked many times by others. When I thought something was a single, it turned out to be a full-length album; when I thought something was an album, it turned out to be a single album. You can think of it as a form of PR.
|| I heard that you listen to a really diverse variety of music. I guess listening to songs of different genres like Hip Hop, Rock, Dance, EDM, R&B without being fussy is your source of inspiration?
GIRIBOY | I think it’s a good thing to listen to different genres of music without being fussy, but I’m also afraid that I won’t be able to become a master of one genre because of that.
|| You’ve participated a lot in other musicians’ albums, be it as a producer or as a featuring. Amongst them, the most notable collaboration was the collab with U-Know Yunho.
GIRIBOY | First of all, he’s a really good person. His energy when speaking was amazing. Not just for artistes, regardless of what occupation one has, I think the most important thing is to have pride in what you do.
|| You once mentioned that you were planning to distribute your beats freely for rappers or aspiring rappers. You’ve also shown how you produce music through ‘Wonderclass’. It mustn’t have been easy to come to the decision to share the knowledge and end-products that you’ve worked on over the years with others.
GIRIBOY | Once I have the free time to pick out the songs, I’ll release them right away.
|| Thinking positively, what are the things that ‘you want to do’ and ‘have to do’ in the future?
GIRIBOY | Since I’ve only been doing music, I want to be an actor. I want to be good at games and sports, and I need to do music.
|| Not long ago, you released your new album ‘Like a Film’. Are they the equivalence of ’Pre-release 4 Songs’ for your next full-length album?
GIRIBOY | That’s right. There are many interesting stories in the full-length album as well so please wait awhile more for it.
|| You debuted in the music scene through ‘You Look So Good To Me’ 10 years ago. Do you think that you have become close to the goals that you set for yourself then? Also, how do you think you’d be like 10 years later?
GIRIBOY | My goal then has already been achieved. Now I just wish that the things that I want to do from time to time can flow along smoothly and naturally like water.
ORIGINAL POST FROM EYESMAG
TRANSLATED BY @OHGIRIBB
PLEASE TAKE OUT WITH CREDITS
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