Allkpop | Kahi on her solo debut, her passion for perfection, and After School

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When you crack open the first page of Kahi’s solo album jacket, you come across the words, “I am Kahi“. Those seemingly-simple words carry the weight of Kahi’s musical history – they embody 12 years of passion, effort, and of tireless desire.

Having debuted in 2009 with girl group After School, Kahi’s worked harder than ever over the past two years to realize her dreams. The 10 years spent as a dancer established a firm foundation for her to stand upon, which allowed her to create her very own ‘Kahi’ brand.

In an interview with TV Daily, Kahi discussed what the experience has been like for her thus far, and what she anticipates the future to hold.

Q. “It must feel different for you now, compared to when you first debuted with After School.”

Kahi: A lot has happened since then, and although I started off as a part of a group, my dream was just to sing. My solo album feels like my own child now, and it makes me tear up. When After School’salbum first came out, I was excited and felt like I was walking on clouds, but now, I feel both excited and serious. It’s probably due to the fact that I’m alone with this album, which raises my responsibility level.”

Q. “The hardships you faced are well known, but did you ever feel that you wanted to quit?”

Kahi: So many times. I liked dancing so much that I threw myself into it, but there were a lot of hardships involved. When my S-Blush team disbanded, I wanted to give up. When I began forming the members for After School, I wanted to give up. Once a day, once a month, I felt like I wanted to give up, but it’s important to overcome that.

Q. “The release of your album was delayed for months at a time.”

Kahi: The reason for the delay was the title track. If I just wanted to release it as fast as possible, I could’ve released it last October. I just wanted to wait for something. I felt that there was something more. After I was satisfied with my title track, everything else just fell in line.

Q. “We’re not sure whether your vocal talent was hidden, or if it was a recent development, but we’re all surprised with it.”

Kahi: Because I was a dancer, people assumed (because of the stereotype) that I couldn’t sing. I hated that, so I practiced as much as I could. Even now, although I can’t say that I’m good at singing, I’m confident enough to say, ‘I’m not bad. I have my own unique color.’

There are singers who add a lot of music-recording (MR) into their songs to give little breaks, and people thought that I would definitely do that as well. Because of that, I deliberately tried not to. The song’s very lyrical, but dancing passionately makes it hard to sing. You can probably feel all the emotions swelling up inside of me with my last move (laughter).

There’s already an MR-removed video floating around, and many complimented me saying I did fine. I still wonder whether people would still be so passive if I added a lot of MR and focused on my dance instead. I heaved a sigh of relief, and I feel proud of myself. I’m planning to focus on showing my enjoyment on stage.

Q. “You wrote the lyrics for ‘Come Back You Bad Person‘ as well as ‘Rollercoaster.’ Both are about a woman clinging to a man, which is completely different to your real image.”

Kahi: I’ve always written lyrics, but someone suggested it this time so I went ahead and did it. I never felt adamant that my songs had to contain my lyrics, but I think they were received well. As opposed to landing a strong impact with the lyrics alone, I focused on depicting a certain type of ‘feel’, like the scent of love. So instead of ‘Screw off, you bad person,’ it’s about the feel of ‘Come back, you bad person.’ It’s not as strong, you know? (laughter)

Q. “A lot of people have an image of you being this really strong, no-nonsense type of person.”

Kahi: I’m a perfectionist on stage. That might make me look potent, but it’s a depiction of my efforts, and it’s something I will continue to be in the future. On stage, even if I have to force myself, I want to be perfect and show only the best. Off-stage, I’m a personal, laid-back kind of person.

Q. “You’re of a certain age now, is it possible for you to continue to be a leader of a girl group?”

Kahi: I’m confident that even without me, After School will remain as an amazing group. Through changing members, we’ve become a lot stronger. I still have a lot of things I want to teach them and want to continue creating beautiful stages together. Together, we come up with the most amazing ideas, so I hope we continue to become a group that is able to freely enjoy the stage.

Q. “If you were forced to choose between After School’s leader Kahi and solo singer Kahi, which would you choose?”

Kahi: I can never let either of those go. I’ll do whatever it takes to make both happen. It’s like asking me to choose between my mother and my father.

Source + Photos: TV Daily via Daum
Posted @ VITALSIGN @ Allkpop