Billboard published an interview with FT Island on Februrary 11th that took place right before their first concert in New York on January 28th as they talked about their tour, the upcoming album, and their strong fan base.
About their concert tour, Billboard asked, “What are you most excited about for this concert?”
Hongki answerd, “The theme of the whole tour is that we’re performing familiar songs in our setlist, but it’s going to sound a lot different from what we’ve done. It’s really diverse and a combination of all the skills that we have. It’s going to integrate and show everything that we’ve got. It’s going to be the real FT Island.”
Billboard followed with, “Where else would you like to take the tour?”
The group agreed on wanting to go to many places, listing off, “England, Romania, Spain…Germany…Russia…we want to go to a lot of places! Everywhere!”. Hongki then added,”If there are 100 or 200 people that love us in a country, we want to go to them.”
Regarding their upcoming album the group was asked, “You’ve got a new album coming in March or April. Can you give some hints about it?”
The group shared, “Each song on this upcoming album means a lot to us. And the lyrics mean a lot of things to us — that’s really it.”
Billboard wanted to know more, asking, “What kind of sound or themes can we expect in the new music?”
The band responded, “Today’s performance is going to have a variety of musical elements from the upcoming album. This performance will be representative of this album.”
Concerning their large yet consistent fan base, “This year will mark FTISLAND’s eighth year together. What is your secret to your longevity and staying popular?”
FT Island shared, “We’ve been having ups and downs, but we’re going through it together. We think that when we were little and at the beginning of our careers, there were more fans who just loved us for our visuals and the ‘bling bling.’ We believe now there are more fans who love — who truly love — our music and trust in our musical ability and capacity. So, we recovered a lot of confidence in ourselves. We trust in our fans a lot and we want to continue.”
Finally, Hongki ended the interview saying, “I want to thank all the fans who trust us continuously. I don’t want to disappoint you ever.”
Meanwhile, they have been busy touring around the world as they recently wrapped up the United States leg of the tour. The group has demonstrated their international presence through this tour with their concert stop in France sold out! The band is currently confirmed for a comeback in April as fans are patiently anticipating their new album.
Source: Billboard
