Context: This interview was published by HMV Japan in July 2013, after D-LITE completed his first solo tour in Japan and just before the release of his first Japanese single, I LOVE YOU.
Q: You’re known for your wonderful smile, but do you ever get angry?
D-LITE: Starting with that question? (laughs) Of course I do. I’m human. Especially when I’m working on music, there are times when I get angry.
Q: I suppose that comes from taking your work seriously. Are you the type who doesn’t show it outwardly even when you’re angry?
D-LITE: (turning to his manager) What do you think?
Manager: He never shouts or yells, and generally he doesn’t get angry very often. But, for example, if something at a concert venue was supposed to have been prepared beforehand and it hasn’t been done, he’ll say what needs to be said, like, “If it wasn’t going to be ready, I wish you’d told me earlier.”
Q: Your first solo tour, “D-LITE D’scover Tour 2013 in Japan ~DLive~,” ran from March to June 2013, with 26 performances across 20 locations, including additional dates. After finishing the entire tour, did you feel any change in yourself mentally?
D-LITE: This is a little difficult to explain… For example, even if you sing every single day, if you take two or three days off in the middle, you can forget the feeling or sensation you had while singing. It’s almost like going back to where you started, or like the flow gets interrupted. I used to feel that way.
But after doing this solo tour, I realized that even if there’s a break in the middle - a period when I’m not singing - I still have to maintain that feeling. Through the tour, I also became more accustomed to doing that.
Q: The atmosphere among the audience feels a little different at a BIGBANG concert compared with one of your solo concerts.
D-LITE: Oh. It does? (laughs)
Q: With BIGBANG, it feels like people really psych themselves up before going, while your concerts feel warmer and more relaxed, like people can simply enjoy themselves without feeling tense.
D-LITE: Ah, yes. The fans feel almost like family to me.
Q: What did the other BIGBANG members think of your Japanese solo album, D’scover?
D-LITE: Nothing in particular. Really, nothing. (laughs) Maybe it’s because we’re all guys, but we don’t really sit down and formally talk about things like that.
Of course, they listened to the album and came to the concerts too, but even then it was just, “Good work,” or, “See you in Korea.” That’s it. (laughs)
Q: It’s nice to have a relationship where you understand each other without needing to say much.
D-LITE: Yes. That really is all they say, but even that one phrase communicates enough.
We’ve been together for seven years now since debuting in Korea in 2006, so even without saying anything, we’re always supporting one another, and we’re always watching over each other without needing to say it.
And then they express all of that with, “Good work.” (laughs)
Q: Listening to D’scover, it gives the impression that you enjoy music that’s a little different from BIGBANG’s sound as well, like rock, band music, and acoustic music. What kinds of music do you normally like listening to?
D-LITE: I listen to everything!
I think music is like a huge ocean, and there are all kinds of fish in it. Genre and language don’t matter.
Originally, the reason I wanted to become a singer was R&B, artists like Maxwell. But now I try listening to everything first. No matter what kind of music it is, there’s always something I can learn from it.
Q: I’d like to ask about your first single, I LOVE YOU, which will be released on July 31. The song was written by Yutaka Ozaki, who is considered a legendary figure, and it’s a famous song that has been covered in both Japan and Korea. How did you feel about singing what people would call a “classic”?
D-LITE: I was incredibly nervous.
Q: Did you feel a lot of pressure?
D-LITE: More than anything, I felt anxious. It’s a Japanese song, but I’m not Japanese. It’s also an extremely famous song in Korea because our senior Position covered it and had a huge hit with it, and it was already a song I liked.
So knowing that so many people had already covered it, and then I was going to do it too… I was naturally nervous.
Actually, I originally didn’t really like listening to cover songs. For anyone, their memories of the original song are the strongest, and to them that version is the best. No matter how well I sing it, I can’t recreate those memories.
That was what I paid the most attention to while making both the album D’scover and then the single I LOVE YOU. I wanted to preserve the atmosphere of the original songs and the memories people already had of them, while finding a way to naturally add my own thoughts and color.
That was what I was most careful about, and also what worried me the most.
With I LOVE YOU, I worked on it thinking that I wanted the first chorus to stay close to the atmosphere of the original, and then from the second chorus onward, I wanted to bring in a little more of my own color.
Q: What did you think of the world portrayed in the lyrics?
D-LITE: I really love what the lyrics are saying. I interpreted them in my own way, and there were certain parts where I thought, “I want to emphasize this,” so I tried singing those sections more strongly.
Q: It isn’t exactly a song with a positive message, and the future portrayed in the lyrics doesn’t seem particularly bright either.
D-LITE: Right. The Korean version by Position that I mentioned earlier has lyrics that are a little more beautiful than the original.
But when I listened to the original again before singing it in Japanese this time, I was really drawn to the idea of “a love between two people that the entire world opposes.”
Their courage, their fearlessness, their strength - I wanted to emphasize those aspects more strongly when I sang it. I worked on the song together with producer Seiji Kameda while thinking about those things.
Q: You worked with Seiji Kameda again after the album, and this time you also collaborated with violinist Taro Hakase. What impression did you have of him?
D-LITE: Because he’s a world-renowned violinist, I had this image that he might be strict and difficult to approach.
But when I actually met him, he was very cheerful and incredibly kind.
Masayuki Muraishi, who played drums on my tour, is someone we both know, so while talking about Muraishi-sensei, we naturally developed a really good atmosphere.
Hakase-san finished recording his part in about three takes.
Q: That’s incredible concentration.
D-LITE: Yes. And Hakase-san’s violin really is amazing.
Whenever I record, I always listen closely to the sounds of the instruments in the accompaniment and sing while feeling the energy coming from them.
The moment I heard Hakase-san’s violin, the image and world of the song became completely clear to me. Because of that, I was able to finish recording my vocals in less time than usual too.
Q: Hearing you talk about it is making me more and more excited to hear the full D-LITE version.
D-LITE: Huh? It’s really not that good. (laughs)
Q: Don’t say that after telling us all of this. (laughs) Finally, what is your dream for the future as a solo artist?
D-LITE: Rather than simply showing something to the fans from my side, I always approach my solo activities with the feeling that I want us to talk together, understand each other, and create memories together.
I’m not a perfect person either, and there are still many things I’m lacking in.
Rather than hiding those things, I want to show all of myself. And if there are people who can understand me after seeing all of that, and who like my voice, my music, and my style, then I want to keep walking together with those people for a long time.
That is my dream.
Translated by @kwoncircles on X