[INTERVIEW] Singer-TV personality Tony An - Part 1

Tony An [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

"Top Star." The name to both Tony An's mini-album as well as its title track released for the first time since "Untold Story" in 2007. What does this mean to he who was a former idol star, is a successful businessman and current singer as well as TV personality -- someone with the presence of a star with whatever he pursues. That is why the product of his interview was expected to be a jumble of answers to questions asked from various angles. But instead, An spoke of he who had finally returned to being an individual named An Seung-ho who has rid himself of his sense of identity as a celebrity and the pressure of being a businessman. This does not mean he was dull. This is the story of the man who is attractive and thoughtful despite all that.

10: This is your first time releasing an album since being discharged from the military. And its title track "Top Star" is more cheerful than any of your past songs.
Tony An: It's probably the most cheerful song I've done after "Candy" and "Happiness" from my H.O.T. days. It actually wasn't easy to sing "Top Star" because I had sung mostly pop-style songs for my previous solo albums. And Psy had recorded the demo for this song but it was totally one of his own style of songs when I first heard it. (laugh) He has a vibe about him that is so amazing that I wouldn't even dare imitate him so instead, I tried to go about it in my own style, which was very frustrating in the beginning. I needed to figure out how I would sing Psy's song in my style. So I practiced the song a lot. You'll probably be surprised if you hear the original song. It's quieted down a lot because I sang it.

10: Well, you may be more calm than Psy but you seem to be enjoying yourself more than ever when you're on stage as singer Tony An.
An: That's what I was going for with this album. For me to have fun. I thought that would make the audience enjoy themselves more too. I mean, it had never been like that for me up till now. I was trying to look cool most of the time through a certain extent of image-making which probably made both myself and the viewers felt a bit uncomfortable. But I think that changed a lot after I went to the military. I used to sing when I was there but they're all men so I too was having no fun.

10: Songs where you try to look cool?
An: Those kind of songs and I had always sang in front of women so I had forgotten what it's like to sing in front of men. So it felt very awkward and uncomfortable to stand in front of them with my past songs. That in turn also made the audience feel uncomfortable so they wouldn't know how to respond to my singing.

10: They must've not known when to sing along as a group either. (laugh)
An: And yet they seemed to have so much fun when Psy or Dynamic Duo performed. That's when it hit me. That it's time for me to change. I wanted to do music that everybody would like and that it is time to. I think "Top Star" is such a song. That's what I'm feeling these days while promoting it.

Tony An [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

10: Is that also the reason you asked Psy for a song?
An: Because he's the best when it comes to such style of music. He's also good at noticing what's important.

10: What did you think of him when he performed at military bases? From the perspective of being a performer yourself.
An: I can't describe it in words. (laugh) I came to respect him as a singer. Before that, I hadn't seen him perform. And to be honest... it wasn't like I had a very good impression of him before I met him in person. (laugh) But he turned out to be great and I thought, 'Now that's a real singer' while watching him perform. Making a lot of fans and having a good image with the public isn't what's important. The audience, crew and even his own dancers go crazy when he's performing in front of their eyes. And he too usually can't wait to go on stage. It's something that rarely happens... that everyone becomes one. Also, he'd sing up to eight songs sometimes even when the cue sheet shows that he was supposed to sing only three. We're only soldiers so it wasn't like we'd get paid more for singing more songs. We received 20,000 won for the performances (laugh) so you can see that he did it because he loves it so much, not for the money. I respected that innocence about him. And that's when I looked up his songs and listened to them, and I liked them so I asked for one too.

10: Are there any other changes you decided to make other than those you did after watching other people's performances?
An: Well I'm 33 now so I felt that I should stop trying to look cool. I'll leave it to my juniors can do that. But I wanted to change in a way that I could influence them somehow. It's not like I'll be able to do music that makes me look cool ten years from now.

10: But some people become scared with aged and take the safer path.
An: I can start over again if I fail. I don't have much fear in that sense. At least in terms of failing. I'll try and if it doesn't go well, I can try something else. If people respond, "Huh, what's he doing?" to "Top Star," all I need to do is think, 'Maybe I went too far.'

10: Had you been afraid of failing when you released solo albums before?
Tony An: I think I kept making music that was similar because I was scared. I kept doing what I had done because I was worried things may go wrong if I let go of my image from my H.O.T. or JTL days. And I'm resuming my activities for the first time in four years so of course I'm scared right now as well. While I may get to make myself known to more people, I might also lose my original fans. But I was confident that everyone would like my new song. Nobody hates a fun and cheerful song. And it's not like I'm doing something like "Candy." (laugh)

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Reporter : Wee Geun-woo eight@
Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@, Jang Kyung-Jin three@