LiveEN Interview
The interview took place in the afternoon of 17 January’, in BP Rania’s practice room at Seocho-gu, Seoul. During the interview, BP Rania (BP Rania: Zi.U, Hyeme, Alexandra, Jieun, Yumin, Yina, Ttabo) talked about and showed many things like their uniqueness, singing, dancing, talents, etc. The BP in BP Rania means ‘Black Pearl’ and just like their name, they want to be of a rare existence in the music industry. After a member change, BP Rania made a comeback with the song ‘Start a Fire’ on 30th December. The song ‘Start a Fire’ is a dance track with a retro melody and hip-hop element. It’s expected that they’ll be promoting again with their double title track, ‘Make Me Ah’.
Q: Please introduce BP Rania
Jieun: The BP in BP Rania is an abbreviation of ‘Black Pearl’. Black pearl is a rare type of pearl, and just like it, we want to be of a rare existence in the music industry so we changed our team name from Rania to BP Rania.
Zi.U: The title of our new song is called ‘Start a Fire’. It’s a song with a retro melody and hiphop element. Alex and Nassun took part in the rap making and Krysta Youngs and Lena Leon took part in the songwriting. Half of January flew by quickly but please look out for us in the future. We’ll be coming back with our double title track, ‘Make Me Ah’ very soon.
Q: Please introduce the point of the choreography (I heard it has something to do with Jung Hyung-don)
Hyeme: There was a moment where I thought, ‘I’ve seen this somewhere’ when we saw the choreography for the first time.
Ttabo: [shows choreography point]
Q: The English version of ‘Start a Fire’
Hyeme: We came out with it for the international fans as we have non-Korean members Alex and Ttabo.
Jieun: Not only in Asia but also Latin America, Europe, etc, we want to be a group that can ‘start a fire in the world’ just like the title of our song ‘Start a Fire’.
Q: The difference after having new members joining and old members returning
Zi.U: We had an unique (group) color and many people are saying that we’re losing that, but I want to say that rather than us losing that color, it’s more of us finding a different one. We’ll show you a variety of looks through the many other opportunities we will have.
Q: Feelings about Yina, the ex-member who rejoined the group
Yina: I left Rania for awhile and was working as an actress in China but I received a call from our Representative after coming to Korea. He asked what would I feel about rejoining the group and it happened somehow. There are no original members and they are all new friends but I’m enjoying it with their help.
Q: Something different about the member change
Hyeme: Alex, Zi.U and I were members who promoted since before. We used to rely on our unnies a lot but now, it feels like we are all working hard together more.
Q: Process of the non-Korean members’ joining
Ttabo (Yina translating): I used to be in a girl group in China and I really like Korean Pop so I came to Korea and got a chance to join the group.
Alex (Zi.U translating): I met Rania’s producer in my recording room in California and he asked if I would like to be part of Rania and that’s how I joined the group.
Q: There is an increase in non-Korean members who like Korean Pop. What’s most fun about promoting in Korea and what’s the hardest?
Alex: Korean Pop to me is cool, artistic videos, fun melodies and strong concepts. Through Korean Pop, I got to focus on the strong areas, Korean Pop dance and also the (fans’) passion.
Ttabo (Yina translating): The good part of it is that I get to perform on the same stage as the idols I like and also when I get to hear the fans’ cheers. I like it because I get to learn a lot. The hardest part of it is the recycling culture in Korea. I don’t know how to do it because we don’t do that in China.
Q: Celebrity that Chinese member Ttabo likes
Ttabo: BTS’ Jung-kook. He sings really well.
Q: Something you remember from the MV shoot (I heard it was cold since it was an outdoor shoot)
Hyeme: It was thankfully not that cold since (the stylists) chose our outfits well.
Zi.U: I was shocked because Ttabo did so well.
Hyeme: She didn’t practice at all for the freestyle shoot at the last part but she just started dancing out of nowhere. It’s possible now too right?
Zi.U: Show us some freestyle dance Ttabo.
Q: Charm only BP Rania has
Jieun: Our unique color and the girl crush charm! I think foreign members Alex and Ttabo are 복병ì¼. (T/N: Not sure what this means, but it literally means ‘ambush’)
Hyeme: Although there are many Chinese members (in groups) nowadays, Ttabo is a member full of talents and we also have Alex who’s very unique.
Jieun: All of our members are full of talents. Please look forward (to them).
Q: Effort that members put in for the girl crush concept
Hyeme: Reaching our choreographers’ standard for the dance and facial expressions. We practice our facial expressions a lot as the feel is important. We practice by showing each other (the expressions) and by looking at the mirror.
Q: Song recommendation from the album and please sing a short segment of it
Yina: Under Rania’s discography, there’s a calm, medium tempo song called ‘Goodbye’ and our fans like it so we sang it a lot when we performed overseas.
BP Rania: [sings ‘Goodbye’]
Yina: While doing ‘Say goodbye my love’, there’s a song that ends it. Please listen to them one by one.
Zi.U: People were telling me that ‘Demonstrate’ is a good song and I imagine how it would be like if our current members were to sing it.
Q: Song that you practiced most often as a trainee
Zi.U: When my grandfather passed away when I was a trainee, I fell in love with the song that Lee Hae-ri (Davichi) sang on Immortal Song called ‘Sunflower’ by Park Sang-min for more than a year I think. Um I even lowered the key of the song to practice it. (Showing us ‘Sunflower’)
Hyeme: I love Jazz so I had a (Jazz) song that I practiced.
Q: Process from trainee to debuting
Yina: I spent two years as a trainee and I was a model before that without a dream to become a singer, but I became Rania’s Yina after meeting the company’s Representative.
Hyeme: I think it’s similar for model Yumin unnie.
Yina: I think it’s a little different in terms of the modeling field/sector.
Hyeme: You did a lot of CFs right unnie? Yina unnie did many commercials and I did mainly posing and event modeling. I was modeling when I got a casting offer from the company.
Q: Something you feel unique about the member’s personality or habit while living together (Except for Zi.U and Yina, they all live together)
Jieun: Ttabo practices a lot when she comes home. When she showers, when she cooks…
Hyeme: She practices really hard.
Q: A member who doesn’t clean up
Hyeme: I’m sorry.
Jieun: (Hyeme) cleaned up today, and she takes care of the cooking for us because she cooks well.
Hyeme: Jieun and Yumin get along because both of them are clean and tidy, although they become dirty too after meeting me.
Yumin: Hyeme, me, and other trainees used to live together. It was something that happened after I started living with them for a week. I heard that Hyeme eats really well. Because the rice cooker was full of rice, my roommate unnie and I came out wanting to eat it but we saw 5 to 6 eggs disappeared along with the rice. We were seriously wondering if there was a thief that entered the house and we entered Hyeme’s room wanting to check if the person is hiding there but we saw Hyeme eating (the rice) alone.
Q: Time to talk about the members’ charms
Hyeme: I can imitate Ttabo. I usually talk loudly too so I (can) imitate Ttabo. Jieun unnie is very cute at making infant and cute sounds.
Jieun: I’m going to show you the baby voice version of the navigation.
Yumin: 3-set model poses.
Zi.U: I haven’t done the voice imitation of Spongebob’s ‘Is Mrs. Puff in?’ for a very long time but I’ll try doing it.
Translation by 웨ì´ë‹ˆ
Interview Source Part 1 | Part 2
Ttabo really likes BTS
And why do these interview photographers always take bad shots of them?
