A Kcrush interview with a very promising K-pop girl group, ‘Berry Good’

‘Berry Good’ is a five-member K-pop girl group who announced their debut on May 22th of 2014 by releasing their first single, ‘Love Letter.’ The group is signed under their management company, Asia Bridge Contents.

(For anyone who is curious about the meaning of the group’s name, ‘Berry Good’ simply indicates that the group is formed to fulfill good fruition.)

The five ‘Berry Good’ members go by the names, Taeha, SeoYul, DaYe, SeHyung and GoWoon.

The multi-talented member is ‘Taeha’ who is the leader, main vocalist as well as the lead dancer of Berry Good. This musically talented member set her mind to become a singer at a young age, spent long years of training prior to becoming the band member.

SeoYul is the lead vocalist of Berry Good, whose singing voice is considered very strong. She garnered a lot of interest when the group debuted because her older sister Yuna is a member of the Korean girl group, ‘AOA’ and SeoYul states that she was influenced by her sister in becoming a singer.

DaYe is Berry Good’s vocalist, rapper and well-known for being an animal lover. Plus, according to her own words; she is the naughtiest member of the group.

SeHyung is also the vocalist of Berry Good and known to be the most popular member of the group. Her initial dream was to become an actress, but her goals are now set on being a member of Berry Good.

GoWoon is the youngest member, a. k. a as the ‘Maknae’ of Berry Good.

She is currently co-hosting an English learning program called, ‘Real fun English’ on EBS.

Over the past year since the group debuted, there has been a change of the members. SeoYul, DaYe and GoWoon joined the group as the three previous members decided to leave to go their separate ways.

Berry Good released their second single, ‘Because of you’ with the new three members on February 9^th of 2015.

This girl group has so far only released two singles, but this interview will convince the readers that the members are very determined to make it big in the K-pop scene. The Korean music/entertainment industry is currently full of boy and girl bands and there is undeniably a lot of rivalry and competition involved to reach the top. Therefore, producing a massive hit would require more than just lot of hard work and dedication.

The ‘Berry Good’ members all seem to have a definite love for music, not only love but some of the members are extremely talented musically and born entertainers. That is the reason why I believe the hard work the group invested in becoming a better group will soon pay off and be revealed to their fans and to the public.

A big ‘Thank you’ goes out to the Berry Good members for providing a great interview. The Kcrush America team wishes them the very best in everything they do.

*Hello, Berry Good members! Thank you for taking an interview with Kcrush America. Would you introduce yourselves and the roles you have in the group?

Taeha: Hello everyone! My name is Taeha, the main vocal and the leader of Berry Good.

SeoYul: Hello, I’m SeoYul, the vocalist and responsible for being the one with the most ‘Aegyo’ in the group.

DaYe: Hi, I am an 18-year old called, DaYe who is in charge of being the mood maker of the group.

SeHyung: Hello, I’m SeHyung, a member of Berry Good who has a reverse charm.  

GoWoon: Hi~I am called GoWoon and I’m known for having a ‘Clear voice’ of Berry Good. Ha ha.

*What do you think has changed the most after your debuting as Berry Good?

Taeha: Everyone around me used to be curious and would frequently ask when we were going to debut. Now that we have, you can search us by typing our group’s name on Naver. Another thing that has changed after the debut and also the happiest thing for me is that we can search and listen to our album on a music site or the social network.

SeoYul: There are some restrictions to what kind of food we are allowed to eat and the lifestyle overall has changed the most, I think.

DaYe: Well…the time I can spend with friends and at my home with my family has reduced considerably than before.

SeHyung: For one thing, I find it still pleasantly surprising that my profile, photos, videos and articles can be found when I search my name on the internet portal sites.

Because this means that we have made a debut finally! I also love the fact and very grateful that I have fans that come to see me.

GoWoon: Most of all, now we have our songs that we can boast to others about our songs and play our tracks to other people!

-Taeha

*Have you always wanted to become singers when you were growing up? How did you become members of Berry Good?

Taeha: My dream was always to become a singer. I am told when I was very young, whenever any music was played, I would get up and sing along to the beat even when I was eating were sleeping. The people who saw me back then would say that I will surely become an entertainer one day. So since I was young, I put an effort to learn how to play the piano and I was featured in musicals during the earlier years of elementary school.

In high school, I was the vocal singer in the band that consisted of many well-known session members. As a band, we would perform in massive events or festival in the city and the money that we raised were donated to the underprivileged neighbors.

I wanted to explore more on music and experience the diversity, so I got myself interested in fox trot music and traditional Korean method of singing (which is called, ‘Chang’ –?) and I gradually got to expand my horizon on music. I really wanted to become a singer, but my parents were initially against the idea when I asked to take vocal lesson but eventually they became more supportive than anyone.

I took the audition to get admission to a vocal academy and that was when I met our current CEO and my extended family; I was able to debut in a band after five to six years of hard training.

SeoYul: It was always my constant dream to become a singer since was young. Because I knew how ecstatic it feels to be on stage, so I decided to pursue a singing career. My biggest influence was my older sister.

DaYe: My childhood dream was to become an animal communicator, but when I got into music I naturally wanted to be a singer. I loved to be on stage to sing and dance so I always took part and never missed out when festivals and competitions were held.

SeHyung: I wanted to be an actress at first but as I became more interested in singing and dancing, that’s how I made up my mind to do singing as a career. I feel that I have fulfilled a dream, so I am very content.

GoWoon: When I was younger, I wanted to work as a writer or a CEO for a hotel. However, as I got to experience what it feels like to be on stage after participating in festivals and school exhibition and etc. Then I realized that this is what I wanted to do!

-SeoYul

*Who would you say is your favorite artist that you admire?

Taeha: James Blunt. He is not only a great singer but his ability in delivering the lyrics is incredible and when you watch his performances, he connects with his audience ever so well. I’m very inspired by him.

SeoYul: I like and admire ‘Ailee’ sunbaenim (‘Sunbaenim’ is a respectable term for senior in Korean) the most.

DaYe: Well… this might indicate that I would have to select just one artist and truthfully it is very difficult to state one artist, because there are so many artists that I admire. If I was to mention just three artists, they would have to be Urban Zakapa, Jeong-hee Lim and Bruno Mars.

SeHyung: I admire BoA sunbaenim. I think her ability to sing and dance is great despite the fact that she is very small in figure. Her perfect performances and intricate dance moves are so admirable.

GoWoon: Because I am a vocalist, so of course I like and admire Haeri Lee ‘sunbaenim’ from the duo ‘Davichi’ and their songs. I always tune into watch ‘Immortal songs’ whenever she is on it.

*What kind of songs do you sing the most these days? Is there a song or an album you’d like to recommend?

Taeha: First of all, I’d like to recommend the two songs, ‘Love letter’ and ‘Because of you’ by us – Berry Good. Since we are still newcomers and not very well-known to the public, I assume not many of you would have not heard our songs.

Our songs are quite lyrical compared to other songs that are out currently and the melody of the songs is beautiful and attractive enough to give you a sense of comfort and happiness to the listeners. Please, listen to our songs and hope you love them!

SeoYul: Nowadays, I frequently sing ‘Sad love song’ by Davichi.

I would like to recommend the song, ‘Love letter’ from Berry Good’s first album. There are few different versions of the song, so I really want to recommend it.

DaYe: I like to sing R&B and ballads, the song I am presently practicing to sing it Nayoung Kim sunbaenim’s ‘Sometimes you’ (The original title in Korean is ‘?? ??’) and there is an exciting and rhythmical song I really like to recommend, ‘A night to remember’ by Mary J. Blige! Wish the readers will listen to it if you don’t know it already. It’s a song that gets you in a very good mood.

SeHyung: I generally like listening to songs by male singers. The song I enjoy listening to a lot is called ‘8 am’ by ‘My Q’ sunbaenim. You can also hear the actress Hyoju Han’s voice in the song. Hope the readers will check out this song.

GoWoon: I am frequently listening to ‘Eat’ by Zion T which has a very predictable tune. I listen to it often because the lyrics are very natural and it seems like the song understands my feelings. 🙂

*How many hours do you train a day? How do you deal with the stress and what do you do to maintain your state of health?

Taeha: We are training for at least nine to ten hours per day. I release stress by chatting and laughing with the other members and the best solution to reduce stress for me is to get a good night’s sleep. My father helps me out a lot when it comes to my health.

When I don’t have a set schedule, I go to bed before 1 am and get up at 8 am to work out, drink water and have fruit and vegetable for breakfast.  

SeoYul: Basically, we cover eight to ten hours of training daily. Hanging out with the members gets rid of stress for me. We have a beach ball in the dance practice room and we play with it and to exercise to maintain health and relieve stress.

DaYe: We train for about seven to ten hours. We each have our own method of dealing with stress. At times, we consume huge amounts food; cry our eyes out by watching a really sad movie or sing upbeat songs at the ‘Noraebang’ in order to release stress.

I am managing to keep in good health daily by working hard and sweating while practicing our choreography diligently after taking a healthy meal.

SeHyung: We normally arrive at work at one in the afternoon; take training until ten in the evening. But if there is more work to be done, then we train until twelve or one in the morning.

Regarding the stress, that can be solved when I chat with the members and when we go to the convenient store share tasty food together. For my health, I take vitamins and traditional Korean medicine my parents provide for me.

GoWoon: We usually train for approximately ten hours each day. When we get fatigued, the members dance to an exciting tune and we just dance in any way we like, watch a movie together and because we all love to eat so we release stress by eating well. ^^

-DaYe

*Is there a word or an expression that describes your character or image adequately?

Taeha: A tree. A tree grows when the sun shines on it and when it is watered.

In a sense, I want to become like a tree that reduces carbon dioxide and produces oxygen by growing and improving by receiving interest and love from the fans.

SeoYul: I think the word ‘Tomato’ goes well to describe myself. Tomatoes can be widely used, for ketchup as well as juice; likewise I think I also have a unlimited and diverse attractiveness.

DaYe: I’m just like a Beagle! My personality is so very active and I tend to be act as the naughtiest member of this group. Sometimes, I get so loud that the other members have to put up with the pain. I love messing around and love to freak people out by jumping out suddenly after hiding somewhere. The other members would probably all agree that I’m like a Beagle.

SeHyung: If I was to pick an animal that describes myself; then I think it would be a chipmunk. The group members and as well as my friends say that I look like Chip and Dale; the twin chipmunks from the Disney animation.

I think I resemble them as well, I guess it’s because of my chubby cheeks and big eyes. Ha ha.

GoWoon: ‘Laughter’ or ‘Happiness?’ J

*Do you all have a color you like the most?

Taeha: White and black.

SeoYul: I personally like any colors that are bright.

DaYe: Black, white, pink, blue and etc. I don’t have a set color I like but I like seeing two colors that contradict to each other. I like cool, bright colors.

SeHyung: I don’t have a particular color that I like in particular. But if I had to state one color then it would have to be red! I like all colors as long it’s not in fluorescent light.

I don’t usually wear such girly girl colored outfits so I tend to wear white, navy, grey and black in general. Dark colors mostly.

GoWoon: I like white the best; so very much that all my clothes are in white.

*Could you recommend a film, TV drama or book?

Taeha: I like to read books and love to watch movies immensely. If there is a movie to recommend, it would have to be, ‘Soul surfer’ which is something our CEO recently recommended and this reminded me learning and how precious it is.

SeoYul: I like to make time to watch the films and TV dramas that I like. I would also like to recommend people to watch the ‘Soul Surfer’ movie.

DaYe: I tend to watch movies often and I was very inspired by the movie called, ‘Like Stars on Earth’ and I’d really like to recommend the movie. I learned so many morals and was very inspired by it. For me personally, this movie is such a beautiful, pure and precious movie.

SeHyung: The genre of movies that I like is romantic comedy, this one is not a comedy but the first movie that comes into mind is ‘The Notebook’ and this is probably my favorite movie. I think I watched about three times.

GoWoon: I am a fan of the ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ movie. The atmosphere and the storyline is something that I really enjoyed watching.

*What do you like to do for in your free time?

Taeha: I like doing sports so I enjoy riding the bicycle, playing badminton and I like to do any other sports that I can do physically. Also, watching movies and bowling is what I do for leisure as well.

SeoYul: I play the piano for a past time and I also like catching up on the TV dramas I haven’t yet watched.

DaYe: I am interested in communicating with animals so I visit the pet store located near our company and try conversing with the dogs and cats they have there.

At home, I have a hobby of drawing miscellaneous pictures.

SeHyung: I like to lie on the bed, all by myself in the bed room and listen to the music that I like. I monitor my own videos, as well as video of other artists. I watch a lot of movies and TV dramas. I think what I like the best is doing various activities all day in my room.

GoWoon: I usually enjoy singing or writing my own lyrics.

_SeHyung

*Could you tell us about what you’d like to do the most this year and what your goals are for the future?

Taeha: The goal is to gain ten thousand people for our fan club. The thing I would like to do the most is get on a vacation for about two weeks just to eat and enjoy myself abroad.

SeoYul: This year, I really want to go to the swimming pool with our group members and record our own reality show.

DaYe: The goal for me this year is to have a perfect diet! I have a special love and craving for food so I have always failed in my previous attempts to lose weight, but this year I will succeed. Another thing I would love to do is to go on vacation with the Berry Good members and get out and enjoy myself freely. Because it’s currently summer, it would be great to visit the outdoor swimming pool or the beach.

SeHyung: For this year’s goal, I’d like to get Berry Good more known to the public.

I hope that our skills and everything about us would become more mature and also I have plans to make lasting memories with the group members.

GoWoon: I hope is this is the year that we get the name ‘Berry Good’ out there.

In the long run, we wish to contribute to writing and producing our own songs.

-GoWoon

*Thank you for the great interview and we wish the very best to the ‘Berry Good’ members. Can you something nice to your fans from abroad as we end this interview?

Taeha: Hello, everyone. This is Taeha from Berry Good. If anyone is out there reading our interview and acknowledging us then thank you so much. We are still new to the scene but we will do our utmost to be an inspiration. We’ll do our best in all the activities we cover in Korea, so we can later do the same abroad. We ask of you to show Berry Good much interest, love and support. We love you! ^^

SeoYul: We will be coming back much more enhanced and improved, so we ask you to keep an eye on us. Please show our group some love and support.

And for me, SeoYul as well…I love you all. ?

DaYe: For our fans abroad, we may be far apart in terms of distance but you do know our hearts are very close, right? We’re learning foreign languages to because we wanted to be able to communicate with you better. We still have a long way to go but we will put in our best effort. There are some of our fans who are learning Korean to communicate with us, so thank you so much for that; I have so much respect for you all – I have the same interest as all of you in my heart.

Another thing, staying fit and healthy is so important! Please take care to stay healthy, don’t skip meals, hope you all sleep well and wish all of you would always stay happy! We’re going to try our best to evolve and enhance as a group so we ask for your interest and love. Again, we thank and love you all!

SeHyung: Hello, Very Berries! Please anticipate our comeback soon and show us support and love please! We will be showing many sides to our charm.

GoWoon: Thank you very much for reading this interview until the end. We will be visiting abroad very soon so please wait for us!! Berry Good are gonna to work hard to become better and more lovable ~~chu <3

– Sehung

—- J. Chung