[INTERVIEW] Tablo - Part 2

Tablo [YG Entertainment]

<#10LOGO#> Talking about featurings, a lot of people did featurings for "Fever's End" which is also your first solo album.
Tablo: This album was a solo album because I was alone back then. I would've communicated with people if I had somehow been amongst a lot of them but I was alone when I was composing and writing the songs. That's why I don't feel a sense of satisfaction over it being a solo album. Because I made it alone since I was alone. And I guess that's why I had a lot of people feature in it. Because I was lonely after working on so much of it alone. I stopped feeling lonely once the featurings started. When I recorded "Home" with Lee Sora, Cho Kyu-chan did the vocal directing. I'd liked him since a long time ago and he was there when I went to record the song. So imagine how much of an honor it would've been for me. This might sound really funny but when we were recording the song, I was thinking, 'Wow... Lee Sora... Singer Lee Sora is singing a song that I made. Wow, this is great.' I couldn't believe what was going on, it didn't make sense.

<#10LOGO#> So did you not even dream of directing her? [laughs]
Tablo: I couldn't. How could I direct people like Lee Sora and Naul? I was just thankful for them singing in the way they want. Unlike in my past albums, in this album I played the supporting role. To compare it to a movie, I'd be the director who wrote the script and had other people play the main characters.

<#10LOGO#> Your songs saw a higher level of completion through the featurings. Was this important to you or more so that you took a step back from the spotlight?
Tablo: I actually like myself better as someone who composes melodies and writes lyrics than a performer. I have too many limitations as a singer. And I don't have a cool and manly voice like Mithra Jin for when I need to rap. So I sometimes just feel like making an album with people performing to the songs I've composed, written and rearranged. I even thought of not singing some of the songs for this album as well. For example, you'll hear me singing "Expired" but it was actually meant to be a guide for whoever else sings it.

<#10LOGO#> Were you able to have such great musicians feature in your album because you already knew them or did you also receive help from your new agency YG Entertainment?
Tablo: Other than Taeyang, I worked with everyone else in no relation to YG. In the case of Naul, I asked him because I knew him from rapping for one of his songs to his Brown Eyed Soul albums and I asked everyone else as well strictly in a professional way. That they should make a judgement based on the guide song and lyrics. And that they shouldn't feel any pressure because they don't need to if they don't think it's right for them. Even with Taeyang, I'd asked him through Hye-jung before because I'd wanted to work with him since a long time ago. Although before it was for a different song and after deciding to work with him this time around, I made "Tomorrow" with the thought that I'd like him to do something that he'd have more fun singing.

Tablo [YG Entertainment]

<#10LOGO#> Your image actually doesn't fit with that of a major agency like YG.
Tablo: YG is different from what it looks like on the outside. You'd think that they'd be more controlling as a major agency but it's rather the opposite. When you're at a smaller agency, you actually need to produce hits all the time. Everyone looked forward to it so it rather got in the way of producing better songs. Because I had to think of other things as well and do a lot of other things outside of music as well, such as appear on entertainment shows. But here, from the very beginning, Mr. Yang told me not to think about anything else and just focus on my music. I was very grateful for those words and that's how it's actually been. There's a studio on the third floor of our office and everyone, including the members of Big Bang, talk about music nonstop. It's amazing. There really is no room for thinking about anything other than music here.

<#10LOGO#> So there must be a lot of things you learn as well.
Tablo: I don't know if I was selfish or arrogant but I thought I'd be able to do everything well by myself. But the more that happens, the more one doesn't realize how there are even greater people around him. Because you'd do everything alone. But what I realized here was that wow, there are a lot of amazing people and that I'd learn more the more I work with these people. Now I just go to the agency's office even when I don't have work. A lot of the time, I even just go to Teddy's room and watch him work. There's just so much to learn even from watching these people work. It's fun.

<#10LOGO#> What people are most curious about with your move to a new agency is what'll happen to Epik High.
Tablo: Everyone's doing well. [laughs] Even before all of this happened, we'd really wanted to try going solo. So starting with our fifth album, we'd written 'Solo album coming soon.' It may have only been eight years since we debuted but we've done music together for a long time and want to do a lot when it comes to music so it's weird that neither of us has released a solo album. DJ Tukutz is working on something alone right now as well. I think that finding one's own style of music is important and more significant for when we all work together. I'm hoping that Epik High won't become a group that depends on nostalgia or memories. We should do what's mature and meaningful both musically and in a decent sense, not just because there are people who like Epik High.

<#10LOGO#> And I think you matured while coping with the hard times. You don't seem defensive either.
Tablo: I used to be cold and particular. I think I was hostile. I was the type that's somehow negative and would blow up if someone nudged me in the wrong way. And I didn't even know this back then. But when I look back on it now, I wonder why I was like that. I'm not like that anymore but I don't know if it's because I'm just tired or have matured.

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