| Part ONE |
‘To some extent, I have been more relaxed. I can be said that I have more than I should have in the fields of music and life. I feel that I have been changing bits by bits. Although I am not a perfect adult yet but I am right in the middle of it.
I have told myself that ,’ I have to work hard to strive for the best in my life.’ I think it is because I have such a mindset so I can handle everything.’ One sentence from ‘Star G-DRAGON’ to ‘Young Jiyong’ ,’ Jiyong is really hardworking!~’
Q1) You don’t have any burden when your new album is released?
GD: Just a little bit. When I am doing music,I sometimes compulsive disorder to ‘always make some new music’. I think I am like this because I sense what others are perceiving me. If I want extraordinarily hard because of these expectations, I will just cannot produce good music that I want. Therefore, this album was produced not under any pressure. I just made it on my free will.
Q2: What are the biggest differences between this one with your SOLO1?
GD: I am more relaxed this time. When I was producing the first solo album, i just wanted to convey some messages through it. The message was ’ no blood will come out even I was pinned.’ However, after trying out different kinds of music activities, I started to change and wanted to convey my real emotion that I have in my everyday’s life.
I want to express the feelings that everyone has once feel in music so I think people will feel my songs. Because I was making this album with this feeling, I felt more satisfied comparing with the time that I made my first album. If 100 are full marks, I think I at least can get 85 marks? (Laugh)
Q3: The transformation in GDragon is ?
GD: Comparing with 3 years ago, it seems that I have handled my work better.I was like chasing after my thoughts without thinking much about the consequences before but now I think I know how to control it more. Although it looks like I am now calculating how much efforts I have paid, I am cleverer in making music now. I think it can help me to reduce the chances of errs,too.
When I am listening to SOLO 1 now, I would think, ‘why I would do the album like that?’ And there are times that I do not want to listen to it. However, if I listen to this album 3 years later, I think I will feel the same, too. When I am making music, I am growing at the same time, ain’t I?
Q 4: What is the concept of this album?
GD: To be frank, there are no special concepts. I just insert the mindset of ‘the 24-year-old G-Dragon has to keep on living’ into it. I also want to see how myself is through you., ‘G-Dragon is thinking like this.’ And ‘he is walking on the path of his life like this!’
Q5: You composed all of the melodies and lyrics in the album.
GD: I was also very troubled as a translator since I think ,’ starting from now on, I cannot let others think that I am an amateur.’ Therefore, whenever I was free, I would write songs and lyrics.
And now my singer friends said ’ it is the music only G-Dragon can make’. Moreover,since the whole world is now concerning more about Kpop, I want to make more good songs which can be listed as classics.
Q6: Please introduce the title song, ‘Crayon’.
GD: It is the combination between Crazy and Jiyong. It means ’ just crazy with G-Dragon like what you are crazy with other things’ and ’ let’s get crazy’. When I was producing it with Teddy, I wrote down the lyrics ‘Why So Serios?’ on the blank paper.
It is the famous line of the crown in the film ‘the Dark Knight’. I like the line very much. I want to say it to so many people, ‘why you have to be so serious?’ And I also want people to think ‘this kid has really gone crazy’ when they see my performance on the stage. Luckily, I am able to achieve all of these. PV is really interesting, too. I like it so much!
Q7: Why you choose this as the title song?
GD: President Yang said I should choose an interesting song to be the title song. The period of producing such a song is really hard. At the very beginning, because I wanted to do what others wanted me to do, I ended up producing nothing. I was worried very much beforehand too because I could not write out the vocal part but I did it when I went out with Teddy.
When I was producing ’ Crayon’, once again I feel that I can only produce music with a light heart and when I am enjoying it. I am not saying if you have a lot of worries, you cannot produce good songs.
Q8: You have worn a lot of costumes in the MV of ‘Crayon’, which one do you like best?
GD:The Frankenstein costumes that I wore in the second half of the MV. Since it is a gift from a designer that I love so much, I decided to wear it. Although I have worn that to dance, it was cut. I have also worn skirts like a girl! There are scenes showing a pretty girl looking back.
Because I dressed like a girl, there were loads of people asking whether it was really me. The back view was from a real girl and it was combined with my face.Because I am slim, there is such a misunderstanding! I have worn all of the costumes that I want so I am really satisfied!
Q9; There is your unique charm in the mv and the music of ‘One Of A Kind’!
GD: I want to show my unique side to you like it was my title song. In the song which ‘only G-Dragon can do it’ , I want to give you a free and impetuous feeling. Because it is the solo album which I have released after 3 years, I hope I can be ’one of the unique artist’.
Q10: Is’ tha XX’ your real experience?
GD: Not all of the songs are my real experience. Everyone should have experienced love triangle before, I want to use some lyrics which is a bit sentimental to describe this feeling. If you witness your lover is having an affair, you will not say some gentle words, right?
Q11) You label ‘that XX’ as a song which people under 18 cannot listen to…
GD: I set the borderline first. Although it was labelled like that, I don’t think the lyrics ‘that bastard’ is that tabooed. Comparing restricting myself from doing everything, isn’t it more important if I can show my thoughts to you?
Of course there are people who hate words like ‘that bastard’, I think there also have people who don’t think like this. I am just following my true self. If this song is entitled as ‘that guy’ or ‘that man’ , will the song still convey the same atmosphere?
Q12) What do you think about the censorship system that the song’s MV had to go through before it was released?
GD: I was quite burdened. I think I should have been able to produce music which is even more out of the box, I could not finish it as what I had expected. Therefore, the MV looks a little bit plain. If it is like this, people cannot enjoy as much as they should …
Q13) You have collaborated with JAURIM’s Kim Eung-ah and Nell’s Kim Jong-wan.
GD: I tried to ask whether they are willing to ask and they promised to help in a very short time. I have asked for the permission of president Yang faithfully so he approved me of collaborating with Eung Ah noona to sing ‘Missing You’. Kim Jong Wan Hyun whom I sang ‘Today’ with , I knew him through Tablo hyun, though I know he is a very straight person. But in fact he is a very nice person. I have learnt loads of things after working with them.
Seeing their being able to present my products more than I myself can do, I have the feeling that ‘Aww.. no wonder they are my seniors.’ Because of this, I rethought again how I should work with the staff of my company. I also want to work with more people after this.
Q14: The lyrics of ‘Light It Up’ is very interesting.
GD: I write the lyrics after watching ’ War Crimes’. I have also thought of including funny messages for the people who hate me. Originally I wanted to write this for a person who hates me but there are so many people dislike me, I just cannot dedicate it for a particular person.
That’s why the lyrics has now become ‘although you guys hate me, I don’t care even a bit.’ I know it is a bit naive, I just hope that you can find the lyrics cute. Because there are some cute elements in the rap starting from the very beginning.
Q15: You have collaborated with other artists 4 songs out of the total 7!
GD: It is obviously 5 members of Big Bang has their unique charm, I will not pursuit voices other than these. Therefore, even if we want to collaborate with each other, it is kind of difficult. But since it is the solo album that I have not released for a long time, I am a little bit more greedy. (laugh)
Q16: Who you think you must collaborate with?
GD: ‘Kim Bunjan’ of ‘Wind City’. There are songs which I have collaborated with other artists too but they are not included in this album. I thin it will be interesting too if i can collaborate with the artists of my company.
Source: pizastar@weibo
Trans by @ricekwon