BTS Eighth Member | The Life: Year 2017

Chapter 47- A Lonely Experience

May 8th, 2017:

We were back in Korea after our two concerts in Manilla. The buzz about the group was at an all-time high. We were bombarded at airports, on social media, by media companies wanting interviews, etc. it was wild. It was even more mind-spinning because of just how busy we were. We had upcoming schedules and concerts in Tokyo as well as concerts in Hong Kong and Sydney.

Today, amongst it all, I was sitting down for a phone interview with the Globe and Mail newspaper (a national Canadian newspaper). Yoona and Mijung were also in the room to proctor.

"Hi everyone," the journalist said when we had all introduced ourselves, "I'm Andrea Yu, it's an honour to meet you. It's so exciting to speak to the girl of the moment literally globally finally".

"Hahaha, I wouldn't go that far," I say modestly, blushing.

"Oh, I feel several people would disagree," she chuckles, "well I'm sure you're busy and I don't want to take too much of your time, I know I've been given just ten minutes, so let's get started. I just have a few questions. First, and I think this is on the minds of several Canadians, but how did a small Montréal girl go from her home in Rosemont (neighbourhood in Montréal) to the biggest K-pop group in the world?"

"Well... I... well I, like many Canadians I have mixed parents. My mother was Korean, so I already had that connection. We visited Korea a lot as a kid, so I always felt very connected to my Korean side. I'd often sing around the house, especially the shower," I chuckle, "and I'd talked about it with my parents and they both thought I should wait before trying my hand at a singer. But then my mom passed away and... and I don't know, it was a coping mechanism to flee, I guess. Maybe? I'm not too sure honestly, it was a bit of a whirlwind. My dad already knew this was something I was passionate about though and... well if I'm honest, I've actually never told anyone this but I auditioned without telling him so when I asked to go it came as a bit of a shock, but it showed him how serious I was about it so he let me go. I also think he saw it as granting my mom's last wish since she did want to see me pursue my passion. And then I got to Korea, trained, and debuted. The whole success part is mostly thanks to our company, producers, and the rest of the group so I can't really speak to that other than that a lot, and I mean a lot of work was put into it. Hours of practice and exercise and sacrifice".

"There are several other Canadians within the Kpop industry like Somi from IOI, Mark in NCT, Henry from Super Junior, and Wendy from Red Velvet," Andrea continues after a pause from what I assumed was her writing down notes from my answer, "are you guys friends? Is there a group chat?"

"... No, not really," I say, "Sorry to disappoint," I laugh slightly, "I've met Wendy and Henry a couple of times... Somi as well I think, but there's no Canadian group chat or anything. I mean a lot of them are from Toronto so I don't know how my dad would feel about me being friends with them," I joke referencing the deep hatred the two cities, Toronto and my native Montréal, had for each other.

Andrea laughs.

"How does it feel to be a Canadian so far away from home though?" she questions, "it can't be easy".

"Ummm, well like I said, my mom was Korean so Korea wasn't that foreign to me," I explain, "I think the hardships of trainee and idol life were tougher than homesickness, or they just didn't allow me to be," I chuckle, "I've always been keenly aware of my nationality however because Korea is a very homogenous country, it takes more than looking Korean to be seen as Korean, so I guess that aspect pushed me more into my Canadian-ness. But even then, I've always felt more of a Québecoise than a Canadian so it gets even more complicated".