When I was in third grade, there was a place near my house that offered violin lessons.

They always had videos of people playing on a screen out front, and I thought it looked so cool.

I told my mom I wanted to try it too, so I took lessons for about three months just for fun.

But once I actually started playing, it was way harder than I expected, and I gave up pretty quickly.

I mean, that’s what kids do, right? (laughs)

I’d already decided that I wanted to study music in college, but there were so many people applying for piano that the competition was really tough.

To be completely honest, I thought it over and ended up choosing the slightly less competitive route 😄

It also helped that for the audition, I could just focus on one piece.

Mine was Mozart’s “Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216”, and I practiced almost nothing else for about six months.

So I’d say I really started getting better at the violin after I got to college.

At my school, they tracked how much time each student spent practicing and ranked us by hours every week.

If you skipped practice even a little, your ranking would drop right away, and that affected your grades, too.

There was so much competition for practice rooms that students would start lining up at 6 a.m. even though the doors didn’t open until 7 (laughs).

I also rehearsed with the orchestra about twice a week,

switching between violin and viola, and I learned a lot from my classmates there.

We performed at every school festival, and I remember inviting friends from other departments, like physical education and fine arts, to come watch us play.

I started playing weddings after some upperclassmen passed the gig down to me.

We had a list of go-to songs,

and I’d let the bride and groom choose what they wanted from there 😄

“The reason why (告白の夜)“ was by far the most popular, and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida“ was always a favorite too.

It kind of felt like I’d become a local celebrity overnight (laughs).

During my student teaching, I mostly worked with kids who were just starting out on the violin.

To be honest, I’d never really been much of a kid person before that (laughs).

But when I met kids who really loved the violin or picked things up quickly, they started to seem adorable.

That experience made me a lot more fond of kids in general.

If I’d stayed on that path, I might be a teacher now — or doing something completely different.

So it still feels kind of surreal that I ended up becoming a singer.

I’m living a life that I never could have imagined back then.

When violin was my major and I thought I was going to make a career out of it, I put a lot of pressure on myself.

It’s kind of like the pressure I feel now with singing, dancing, and being entertaining (laughs).

Back then, I was always wondering why I wasn’t better when this was supposed to be how I made a living, or why I wasn’t improving faster.

Now that the violin is just a hobby, I actually enjoy it a lot more.

Whenever I have some downtime, I’ll play something I used to practice or a song I’ve been into lately, and it’s a great way to unwind.

I was really surprised at first.

I had no idea you could actually play the violin with a leek.

The production team showed me a YouTube video of someone doing it, so I gave it a try — and it actually worked (laughs).

Apparently, the sound really depends on the leek.

If it has too much moisture, you don’t get much of a sound,

So during the shoot, I kept swapping them out until I found a drier one that worked better 😄

I think quite a few people actually became fans after seeing me play the violin.

I also hear a lot that I have a totally different vibe when I’m playing (laughs).

I’m usually always trying to make people laugh, you know.

But when I pick up the violin, I guess I suddenly seem a little more elegant 😄

I was really touched by how much the fans loved it, especially since I only played for about 20 seconds.

It was so short that I thought they might be disappointed, but they enjoyed it even more than I expected.

It made me want to prepare something longer next time.

I’d love to play other instruments for them too.

I’d wanted to learn guitar for a while, but I never really had the time.

I’ve always loved “Why So Lonely“, so this felt like the perfect chance to play guitar onstage.

I learned the guitar part while we were promoting our debut album, and honestly, there were moments when I wanted to give up (laughs).

I had to play and sing at the same time, look for the cameras, and remember the Korean lyrics — it was hard to keep track of everything at once 😄

But we’d already planned the whole performance, so I knew I had to make it work somehow.

I kept practicing until literally a minute before I went onstage.

I was incredibly nervous, but thankfully, the fans loved it.

The violin is such a delicate instrument.

I’d recommend it to perfectionists — but then again, maybe I wouldn’t.

Getting the pitch exactly right is really hard.

Even now, I get frustrated when I can’t quite get a note in tune (laughs).

But that also makes it incredibly rewarding when you finally nail it after working so hard.

Learning the violin has helped me a lot with what I do now, too.

It’s trained me to pick up on the finer details in music, whether I’m singing or working on a song.

I think of the violin as a teacher —my teacher, really.

It’s what first set me on the path to music.

Even now, my mom is always asking if I’m still practicing and telling me not to give up the violin just because I’ve become a singer (laughs).

I’m actually still playing the same violin I bought when I was preparing for my college entrance exam.

I used to think I’d buy a better one once I got paid (laughs).

But for now, I think I’ll stick with this one a little longer.

I want to see how much more I can get out of this violin — how much better I can make it sound.

I’ve been playing it for so long that it feels completely natural in my hands, and its sound has changed so much over the years.

When it was brand-new, the tone was light and thin, but now it has much more depth and weight to it.

I think I developed my relative pitch through years of practicing the violin.

Some people are born with a naturally good ear, but I got into music relatively late, so I had to work harder to develop mine.

I think that experience also taught me how to adapt quickly.

When I became a singer, I knew I was getting a late start, so I pushed myself to pick up singing and dancing as quickly as I could.

It was the same when I came to Korea.

I knew I had some catching up to do, so I worked hard to learn Korean as quickly as possible.

I think we’re all on the same page and working toward the same goal.

To be honest, when I became the leader, I worried about whether the members would really follow my lead.

I wondered if they might be thinking, “What’s gotten into him all of a sudden?” (laughs)

But I guess they’d trusted me all along.

They’ve told me that my decisions tend to take us in a good direction, and that when we disagree, I’m good at explaining where I’m coming from and getting everyone on board 😄

While we were preparing our debut album, we talked a lot about wanting to make something really good, so improving our skills was our top priority.

I hope you’ll look forward to seeing us get more involved in songwriting and composing, too.

Our group name is “AND”2BLE, right? It’s “AND (&),” not “END.”

I wanted the lyrics to tell a story that belonged only to us.

And I wanted them to express our hope that we can keep writing AND2BLE’s story together with our fans.

We spent a lot of time thinking about how our voices would blend together.

When we were preparing to debut, I felt like I knew certain things about each member’s voice better than the company did.

So I thought it would help the recording process if I could talk to the A&R team beforehand about what made each member’s voice unique.

Sure! I’ll go in age order.

SEUNGEON has a bright, almost metallic tone, and his vocals are really solid and fit any song, so I never really have to worry about how he’ll sound.

RICKY has this airy, spacious quality to his voice that works especially well for intros and bridges.

GYUVIN’s pronunciation is really clear. Focusing on the emotion during vocal direction can bring out an even better performance.

YUJIN has an especially nice lower register, so his voice really shines when his parts are in the right range.

I want to have the kind of voice that can fit in anywhere — one that works naturally in any parts 😄

I’d love for people to remember us as a group with really strong vocals — and a strong leader, too.

With our first album, the biggest thing we wanted to convey was change — a fresh start and a new beginning.

We also wanted people to be curious about us, and I think we achieved that.

Of course, there are still things I wish we could have done better, but I want us to keep growing and show an even better version of ourselves.

Now that we’ve sparked people’s curiosity about AND2BLE, I hope the next step is getting them to fall in love with us.

I think life is about constantly trying new things and taking on new challenges.

That’s basically my motto.

I genuinely enjoy it. Before I got into music, I was studying geology, and I started learning the violin simply because I thought music would be fun.

Life would be boring if everything came too easily!

I want to keep challenging myself, both to live up to my fans’ expectations and for my own sake.

That’s what makes life interesting to me.

I want us to set trends rather than follow them.

It’s not so much about winning a particular award or reaching some specific milestone. I just want us to keep gaining momentum, reaching more people, and moving forward.

I hope we can be a group that keeps growing together.

AND2BLE is only just getting started, so I hope you’ll stick with us and see where we go from here.