Formed in 2009, Urban Zakapa have stolen the hearts’ of music fans with their soothing R&B music. Their songs are not only well-known in their home, South Korea, but also in other Asian countries. Debuting under FLUXUS Music, the trio have released several succesful singles, such as Beautiful Day, Blind and River. Before they release their new album this November, Urban Zakapa bilingually answered questions from us via e-mail. Let’s get to know this trio that consists of Soonil, Yongin, and Hyuna deeper through the following interview!

Your collaboration with SISTAR’s Soyu is considered fairly succesful. All-kill on the music charts just within hours after the release. Can you tell us how did you get involved in this collaboration? In your opinion, why did Soyu choose you for her collaboration project?

곡이 처음 나왔을 때부터 어반자카파의 남자 멤버들과 듀엣을 하면 좋겠다, 라는 생각을 하셨다고 하네요. 콜라보레이션은 회사의 제안으로 하게 되었습니다.

We heard that she wanted to sing with male vocalists of Urban Zakapa when she first listened to the song. And the company suggested this collaboration, so we could get involved in it.

정기고 씨와 했던 ‘썸’ 이라는 곡이 참 마음에 듭니다. 누가 들어도 노래가 좋은 것 같아서요.

We like Some that she sang with JunggiGo. I think everybody likes this song.

We heard that you are going to release a new album. Can you tell us about the album? So far, how is the preparation? When will it be released? Will it have more cheerful or gloomy feeling?

완성 단계에 있습니다. 아마 10월 말에 한 곡 정도가 먼저 공개되고, 11월 초에는 나머지 곡들을 들어보실 수 있을 듯 합니다. 전반적인 분위기로 말씀드릴 것 같으면 밝은 곡도 있고 어두운 곡도 있고, 다양하다고 생각합니다. 그리고 전세계의 팬들이 쉽게 저희 음악을 구매하고 감상하실 수 있도록 글로벌 뮤직 서비스 어플리케이션인 ‘Bainil’을 통해서 새 앨범을 동시 발매할 계획입니다.

It is almost done and maybe one song will be released at the end of October as a pre-release single. The other songs will be released in early November as a full-length album. Some songs are optimistic and others are sad. It’s really various.

And, since our international fans give it up for our music, we decided to simultaneously release our new album to be available all over the world through the brand new music application called ‘Bainil’ (www.bainil.com). We believe this will make our fans more easily enjoy our music.

Most of your songs are about love. Aren’t you worried that the listeners would get tired with the theme? Did you experience writer’s block of which kind of love you should write about this time?

저희 나이 대에 가장 많은 고민을 하게 되는 것이 사랑이라, 늘 사랑에 대한 이야기로 노래를 만들게 되는 것 같습니다. 노래를 만들다가 막혀본 경험은 많은데, 그럴 땐 작업을 멈추고 쉬면 좀 더 괜찮은 곡이 나오는 것 같습니다.

We sing love songs since we think about love a lot at our age. We experienced some hard times while making songs, so we just stop it and take a break. Then we can make better songs.

When you write songs for Urban Zakapa, is there any limitation or specific aspect you need to pay more attention to in order to make them ‘Urban Zakapa music’? 

딱히 그런 건 없습니다. 좋은 곡을 만들기 위해 매 상황마다 최선을 다합니다.

Not really. We always do our best to make good songs.

Whose music or songs that inspire each of you in making songs whose music are totally different from Urban Zakapa?

모든 음악과 상황들이 영감을 주는 듯 합니다. 세 멤버 모두 장르를 가리거나 하지 않고 다양하게 음악을 듣습니다.

Every musician, song and every situation inspires us. We all listen to various songs, not being choosy about specific genre.

What songs that you’ve been listening or addicted to lately? 

‘비긴 어게인’의 OST입니다.

Songs from Can a Song Save Your Life? Original Soundtrack.

Before Urban Zakapa, Soonil was a trainee in SM along with Super Junior and DBSK, Yongin was part of a group Bluewind Soul and Hyuna was part of a hiphop crew belonging to Verbal Jint, Overclass, with San E and Swings. If you were not in Urban Zakapa and were still doing what you were doing back then, what would you be like right now?

어떻게든 같이 만나서 음악을 하고 있지 않았을까 싶네요.

I think we would do music together somehow.

 If you were to receive a Grammy award, which category would you like to win in and why?

아직 생각해 본 적 없는 부분의 이야기입니다.

We have never thought about that before…

 If you are given chance to brag about Urban Zakapa in one sentence, what are you going to say?

‘친구’입니다. 멤버 이전에 친구이기 때문에 팀을 유지할 수 있다고 생각합니다.

We’d like to say we are literally ‘friends’. We are not just members of a team, so we think this maintains this group.

In your opinion, is it possible to hold Merry Urban Zakapa outside Korea, or even more worldwide? If there is any request to hold concert outside Korea, what kind of special preparations would you do?

특별히 어떤 나라를 선택하기보다는 여러 다양한 곳에서 팬 여러분들을 뵙고 싶습니다. 불러주시면 언제든 가서 노래할 수 있습니다.

We want to meet fans in many different places, not just one country. If you invite us, we can gladly go there and sing anytime.

 In the near future, do you have any plan to go other countries to greet your international fans?

정확한 계획은 없습니다.

We don’t have exact plans about that so far.

(We also gave a chance to some fans to submit their questions to Urban Zakapa via Twitter. Here are the answers from the group, lucky fans!)

@a_ddee : Do you know that there are many Indonesians fans who like Urban Zakapa’s music?

SNS 를 통해 알고 있습니다. 늘 감사한 마음입니다!

We know by SNS. Always appreciate it of course! 🙂

 @4907oxyfas : What was your memorable live so far and why?

저희 첫 콘서트 입니다. 처음이었기 때문에 설레고 긴장됐던 기억들이 아직 생생해서 기억에 계속 남는 것 같습니다.

Our first concert. Because it was our first time standing up on the stage as Urban Zakapa, we clearly remember that we were nervous and excited.

Instal Bainil application from Google Play Store or Apple Store and you can enjoy Mobile Album of Urban Zakapa!