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[Trans] KKBox Interview: A Journey of Music and Writing– Interviewing Zhou Mi, His New Book and Song
06:23
A Journey of Music and Writing– Interviewing Zhou Mi, His New Book and Song
After the fan sign that was attended by 2000 people stirred up Taipei in April, Super Junior M member Zhou Mi took the opportunity to begin the Hong Kong promotions for his new book after the Super Show 5 stop in Hong Kong. With the ambition to become a singer since childhood, and striving to improve himself, Zhou Mi hopes to come out with a book series in the future. In the interview he also revealed the plans of his new song and drama.
(Zhou Mi's) Serious Vow, Guang Liang Surprised
During the Hong Kong fan sign, Zhou Mi performed 《Distance Embrace》with emotion. This was recorded in SJM’s second official album Break Down, which came out in January. Regarding the solo, which Zhou Mi requested from Guang Liang, Zhou Mi revealed that when he received the song, it didn’t have a name or official lyrics, but he fell in love with it the moment he heard it, and vowed seriously that he will sing it to the best of his abilities, which surprised Guang Liang: “Because we usually joke around in our conversations, I suddenly became serious that day, and diligently said ‘I will complete your work to the best of my abilities’ as if [I] was vowing it.”
Love songs rely on imagination, Communication between partners is important
Zhou Mi says that every time he performs this love song, it's easy for him to drop into a sad mood, but in order to avoid answering if it was because of his own personal experiences: [Zhou Mi said] "I think that in everyone's hearts, they have gone through the process of secretly loving someone before and it can arouse sympathy [in others]. When I sing, I'll think of myself as the boy who silently likes a girl."
Saying that he has not been able to find love for many years, following fate and not through force, Zhou Mi's hopes that his ideal partner will be able to speak Chinese, and will be able to communicate well and show understanding towards his job, and hopes to expand his circle of friends: "[I] wish for more time to return to the Mainland, go to Hong Kong and Taiwan, and meet more friends. I don't have many friends in Korea, so it's actually quite lonely."
Zhou Mi also writes songs himself, but [he] still thinks it’s not mature enough and lacks the confidence. So if [everyone] wants to listen to Zhou Mi’s own compositions, they must wait patiently. Although if you want to listen to him sing a canto song, that might [come out] faster.
“Since childhood, I've really liked listening to Canto songs, but there aren’t many opportunities to sing them for everyone, [I] performed Leo Ku’s 爱与诚 before, [I] hope there will be a chance to record my own Canto song; it can be counted as a dream I've had since childhood.”
Zhou Mi loves the Cantonese language, as well as Hong Kong’s delicacies, tea shops, shopping, and even up to the point of crazily taking the opportunity of two short hours between flights to head to an urban area by subway to get his favourite niu za (beef offal). Could it be that it is the kind that is cut at the side of the street? “Yes! You have to watch him cut it, it'll feel especially delicious. Hong Kong is the only place that has that flavor.”
A lot of writing for the book, Thai is highly difficult
Due to the fondness Thailand’s simple scenery and friendly people, Zhou Mi started to come out with a tourism book. Not only did [he] scrapbook it himself, [he] took the time to personally write it. Now that a simplified Chinese version is coming out, he has to squeeze out time to rewrite everything from traditional to simplified for publishing purposes, “I switched to not being able to write simplified anymore, haha! Now everyone types, and rarely writes. Picking the pen up after such a long time, [I] feel like ‘Woah! Why is it so hard?’”
Then in the future, if there was going to be a Korean version or a Thai version, wouldn’t [you] need to rewrite it? Zhou Mi smiled while saying: “I really want to try writing Thai, I asked fans when I was in Thailand how to write my name in Thai, but I can’t learn it no matter how much I try, because it looks a lot like a picture. I really want to try it but probably not, I'm scared that even the people in Thailand won’t understand my writing.”
A lot of stress writing about Korea, wants to write an inspirational story
Zhou Mi’s level of Thai is restricted to “A bowl of pigs feet”, but Zhou Mi’s fluent in Korean, so should you come out with a Korea tourism book?
“I always wanted to come out with a book for Korea, but often the more familiar you are with a place, the more time it will take; it’s hard to begin writing. The difference with Thailand is that I don’t understand it well, so as soon as something fresh pops into my mind, there's an impulse to record it. I want to spend more time on Korea, using my more fun experiences from these past years to introduce things with more essence.” But for the next book, Zhou Mi hopes it’s not a tourism book, but an inspirational autobiography. “Expressing my feelings or writing some of my stories, because everyone thinks that stories of chasing dreams are really inspirational, I want to tell everyone, how did I go from “wishing”, to the real, dream chasing singer that I’ve become.”
Likes to eat hometown food, but only knows how to make muddled fried rice
When recommending a Korean tourist spot, Zhou Mi and PSY both choose the shopping paradise, Dongdaemun. The places that [Zhou Mi] will go to more often are Sinsa-dong boulevard and Apgujeong, which are nearby the company [SM]. When not working, he would often meet up with Song Qian, or MissA’s Jia, Fei, whom are also Chinese artists that debuted in Korea. Zhou Mi would ask them to make some hometown food, [and he] would usually end up being responsible for buying the groceries. Could it be that you can’t you cook for your friends?
“I don’t think they would really want to eat it anyway, I’m OK if they want to eat it? My specialty dish? Zhou Mi’s personally invented fried rice-in a muddled fashion! Haha”
While very polite and serious during the interview, Zhou Mi was also seen also seen enthusiastically mingling with staff behind the scenes, having a conversation together, taking selcas, eating junk food, and joking around. In the future, he might have more time to meet with Taiwan fans, because there’s a drama still in discussion, if its successful, Zhou Mi will have a long stay in Taiwan in the latter half of the year. He will also come out with new songs, and he wishes to come out with a solo album. Zhou Mi hopes to collaborate with different musical artists, coming up with something fresh, fans please anticipate.
Zhou Mi’s recommended book:
Song Qian published a tourism book in Korea introducing Hong Kong and Macau “VICTORIA’S HONGKONG & MACAU”, it’s very unique, HK friends can read about what kind of places a foreigner would promote.
Zhou Mi’s recommended singer:
I’ve always liked Tanya Chua, and even started listening to “呼吸” during middle school. I think she is a genius that really knows how to sing and compose. She also wrote really nice songs for other singers too, so [I] hope there will be a chance to collaborate in the future.
Zhou Mi’s recommended song:
Olivia’s “海枯石烂” : It’s a very familiar rhythm. There’s a lot of familiar melodies and a sense of déjà vu. There are a lot of feelings if listening to it while watching the MV, because it’s my friend, Mike He, who acted in it.
[Note: As with the last article we translated, this interview was also conducted earlier this year. Thus some schedules Zhou Mi refers to have since been cancelled or postponed, for example his drama and "new song"]
Original article ☀
Trans by @TsweetYumi & @qmiwook for @SunshineZhouMi
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