Anytime JR was around, the place was brimming with laughter. At the studio, he borrowed a marker and playfully wrote his name on his coffee, and after the interview was finished, he left with a thoughtful, “Enjoy your dinner, everybody, and have a good one!” to keep everyone smiling. But when he was concentrating on talking about NU’EST, the fans and his personal values, he was the most serious person in the room. 

You look really good in pink hair.

JR: Thank you. Now I feel self-conscious. (laughs) I gave a lot of thought about my hair color this time around. I dyed it, thinking, “If it doesn’t look right, I can always change it.” But it looks all right, so I’m keeping it like this. Actually, I was going to go with black hair for this album. But it seems like L.O.Λ.E are looking forward to this color, so I’m thinking of keeping it this way till we’re done touring.


You wore a hat on V LIVE to hide your hair color, but we all saw from the side what color it was. (laughs)

JR: (sighs deeply) I know. All the fans know already. I couldn’t upload any pictures to social media because of my hair, but then my sister asked me to upload some photos. When I told her I can’t because of my hair, she said, “Come on, everybody in the world knows what color your hair is.” (laughs)
 

(laughs) The day you barbecued on your “Nu’lo9,” you drank cola from a wine glass.

JR: That was to set the scene. (laughs) I’d usually just drink it, but there was a wine glass there for some reason. I poured the cola in it because I wanted to look classy. But then, after the shoot, the glass fell off and broke while clearing the table. So I thought, I shouldn’t have used it! This is what happens when you try to do something that you usually don’t! (laughs)


We’ve seen you eating macarons a lot lately. I thought maybe you’ve been trying to bring new things into your everyday life.

JR: With the situation being what it is, there’s not a lot to do and so I started to say, Should we try ordering this food? Or, How about we do something new? I guess this way I’ve had a little taste of normal life. (laughs) I like getting in a car and watching the scenery lately. In the past I would’ve been on my phone or watched videos. I think all the frustration from COVID-19 made me realize how much it means to be able to go around outside without a mask on.

You must be pretty disappointed to be having your comeback during COVID-19.

JR: Yeah—I don’t even know what to say. Whenever this comes up, I say I’m disappointed, because there’s no word stronger than that that I can think of. But the way I really feel is worse than anyone can imagine. We’re going to be on a music show soon, and I thought, L.O.Λ.E won’t be there this time either, right? They can’t come? And that made me miserable. So it’s more meaningful and important to me. Plus, it’s been a long time since we had a comeback, so I want to see our fans particularly badly.


It’s the ninth anniversary of your debut, your first full album in seven years, and it’s been nearly a year since your last comeback.

JR: There’s actually nothing super special to me about a full-length album. We work hard on every album regardless of what kind it is—they’re all equally important. We’re NU’EST, and we’re presenting this new album, so we have to do our best. I keep that in mind while working. A lot of things come to mind after what you said. I think it’s amazing that this is our second full album in seven years. NU’EST could’ve stopped after just one album but we were able to make a second one thanks to our fans. I’m just so grateful.

 

How was preparing for this latest album, Romanticize?

JR: Of all the albums we’ve done, the lead single for this one, “INSIDE OUT,” took the most time to record. That’s how challenging it was. I tried it this way, I tried it that way, I tried it with a raspy voice, I tried it in a high voice—I tried it every which way. I literally was a mad man recording it. I kept practicing in the recording studio whenever I had time because I thought, I have to throw myself into this. I seriously don’t think I could record it better if I tried again. (laughs)

 

Cooperation must have been important for “INSIDE OUT” since the group choreography has a lot of important details that you had to get just right.

JR: There’s a lot of parts in this one where we have to be in sync. During practice I focused on lining up with the other members because it’s not about how good I am alone during those parts. Like, BAEKHO is strong, so when we’re pulling together, I asked him, “Could you use a little less force?” (laughs) We’ve been together so long that we have no problem working on ideas and coordinating our movements.

 

You must be able to work together seamlessly after all this time.

JR: Getting everything aligned right from the start is impossible, no matter what we’re working on. (laughs) We’re not perfectly in sync, but we’re getting there. We’ve spent a long time together but we still bicker a little or complain now and then. I think we’re always trying to keep step with each other better for the sake of the group. There’s something fun about getting better at working together while trying something new.


What about your musical collaboration, where BAEKHO writes the lyrics and music, then you write some lyrics and the two of you trade ideas?

JR: We work together by respecting one another’s ideas. If BAEKHO writes out a skeleton, I flesh it out. If he brings in some music he wrote, I follow that, and if I write some lyrics he follows them, too. There’s obviously a lot of variation in music and deciding what will work is hard. And so we work together respectfully, then once it’s done we share ideas, like, What if we try it this way? Or, How about like this instead? And we fine-tune it.

 

Is there any part of “INSIDE OUT” that you worked on that turned out particularly well?

JR: The part that sticks with me most are some of the lyrics I wrote: “Lots of looks / Looks like there’s only one left.” I tried thinking about how I would feel if I broke up with someone. I asked myself what would portray that feeling best, and it was about your way of talking and facial expressions. I thought that it’s better to capture someone’s face than their way of speaking in the lyrics, so I wrote about facial expressions.

 

You’ve been writing lyrics regularly since your debut. Do you feel you’ve grown or changed in any way?

JR: When I first started writing lyrics, I was really bold. Because I didn’t know what I was doing. Now I put a lot more consideration into writing realistically. I hope some people can relate to my lyrics, or that someone could think, Oh yeah, this happened to me, too—these lyrics make me feel better.

 

You also revealed your previously unreleased rough notes and lyrics in ON-CLIP in September.

JR: (laughs) I actually wasn’t too sure about revealing those. I thought it was kind of cringey to show them to L.O.Λ.E, but I looked through them for the first time in a long time, and they made me smile. So I thought it would be nice to release it so the fans could share in my feelings. I wanted to show what I thought about when I was younger, how I wrote lyrics, and what kind of changes I underwent.

 

You’re constantly showing us new sides of yourself. In ON-CLIP , you play drums and also give contemporary dance a shot.

JR: I have a strong drive to try my hardest at as many things as I can and improve from there. Drums are still really hard for me, to be honest. I’m a total noob. (laughs) I practiced that drum performance for something like two months. You use all your limbs separately when you play; you have to use the left leg, right leg, left arm and right arm all independently, so it’s really difficult. I think it might be a little easier to play other instruments if I start with learning drums. We’ve been busy with the comeback so I haven’t been able to practice lately, but I want to come back to practicing when we’re done.

 

You also talk about change in the lyrics to your solo song on this album, called “DOOM DOOM.”

JR: As you can guess, the theme of Romanticize is romance. I didn’t want to write about love. I thought a lot about other topics, then got to work thinking about how the changes I’ve gone through are a kind of romance themselves. But I also made the song thinking how I want to put on a powerful performance. It was made after many revisions, rearrangements, and passes at the chorus. (laughs)

 

Part of your change is that you’re not just rapping, but also singing more and more. You performed a duet of “If We” with BAEKHO in ON-CLIP and you also sang the intro to “DON’T WANNA GO” on the new album.

JR: When I asked myself where I could improve, the first thing that came to mind was singing. At any rate, being an idol means I could stand to show the most improvement there, so I ended up practicing how to make my singing more impactful. I didn’t have as long to practice singing as the other members, so I think it’s inevitable that I might lag behind. I’m always worried about singing. Worrying isn't all bad, though. It feels like a bigger accomplishment that way.

 

Maybe that sense of accomplishment is the source of your power.

JR: I have my fair share of fears, even if I don’t show it. On the inside, I’m often nervous or worried about things. The more that I face, the stronger I am when it’s all over. “Look at that—I did it! Turns out this is something I can do, too.” That’s how I feel. Since everything I do ends up being recorded, I don’t think I should ever feel regret or shame. I always want to be perfect, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t always meet my own expectations. There are fans who love me even though I’m not perfect, though, so while I think there’s a beauty in not being perfect, I still think I have to try harder. You can fill in your weaker spots but you can’t take back the things you regret.


Previously, in an interview with news1 for their “I’m the Leader” column, you said, “They can criticize me, but not my team members.”

JR: That’s what works for me. I’m okay if we’re criticized when we actually make mistakes. You just have to accept it and make up for it. But what bothers me is when I see someone taking abuse for something they didn’t really do. That pain lasts longer, I think. I still don’t know exactly what a leader is, to be honest. I think I was just lucky. I became successful because I ended up with good teammates. I think I came across as a good leader because our members already knew what they were doing. But, since I’m the leader, I have a responsibility to work harder than everyone else and do my best.

 

It seems like you really care about the other members.

JR: I’m going to stop caring from now on. (laughs) I’m kidding. Right now I think it’s more important that I figure out what I can do for them as a person than what I can do for them as a leader. The position of leader isn’t very important to NU’EST anymore, I think. There’s never been a single problem with keeping on schedule since the members are perfectly capable on their own. So my only thought is always, “Today’s shoot is going to go well and be fun.”

 

You’ve said before that the happiest moment in your life is when your performances are over.

JR: Performances are like a talent show for me. I’m worried people will think I don’t take them seriously if I call them talent shows, but I seriously feel like the stage is where I can show off all my best work. I think the whole reason we can keep performing is because there are people hoping to see exactly that. It makes me happy because I think, even after the performance, L.O.Λ.E, my family, my friends—somebody’s going to be waiting for me at the end. So even with any bittersweetness or emptiness at the end, it’s like I end up with more happiness than those other feelings combined.

 

What are you going to do when you can step down from the stage and see L.O.Λ.E again?

JR: I’ll probably just smile. What can I say? I’m sure I’ll be staring at them, amazed.


Article. Rieun Kim
Interview. Rieun Kim
Visual Director. Yurim Jeon
Project Management. Minji Oh
Visual Creative Team. Inyeong Yu, Yoonhee Jang(PLEDIS Entertainment)
Photography. Sungbae Park / Assist. Jiwon Shin, Jihoon Han
Hair. Okjae Park(@rue710), Jeongmi Um(@PRANCE)
Makeup. Juyong Moon(@rue710), Dallae(@PRANCE)
Stylist. Eunju Kim
Set Design. Darak(Seoyun Choi / Yehui Son, Ayeong Kim)