Topp Dogg is back with their new mini album shortly after completing their European tour this summer. We met up with them for a short chat about how they’re feeling about the new songs, changing up choreographies for their older music, their style and a special message for their fans.
After completing their 2015 tour Topp Klass, the 10 members of Topp Dogg are excited to reveal their feelings and experiences.
“It felt amazing. We had been waiting to go for such a long time, so when the day finally came to go on a world tour it felt like a dream that came true,” says Pgoon.
“One of my favourite memories with fans of all time was the last show we preformed in Europe. It felt like we were really close to the fans, and it was very memorable,” Atom admits.
Jenissi recounts his favourite memories of seeing Europe:
“The atmosphere, people, scenery, architecture were some of our favourite things about seeing all the new places. London was very cool, but we didn’t have a chance to really see a lot there unfortunately. Paris had really nice cafés, and the beautiful Louvre. Milan was beautiful and had a lot of old buildings.”
Despite the busy schedule in London, the boys didn’t miss out on all the essential London experiences:
“We didn’t get to see very much because our trip was so short, but we did eat fish and chips!” Xero says while grinning.
Topp Dogg are hoping for another chance and opportunity to travel and perform in Europe again soon, and admits that there are already talks in the company of where to go next. We asked about their hopes for the future and where Topp Dogg sees themselves in 5 years:
“We want to travel around the world, and playing on big arenas of course would be awesome. But we also hope to have grown even more and found something that truly makes us unique, and that fans from all around the world will know Topp Dogg’s special style of music and performance,” says Hojoon, while Yano adds in about their musical style:
“We all naturally have different music styles. But with Topp Dogg we always have to think about making music that somehow matches all the members, so I think the styles we are doing now for the comeback are a good balance for that.”
Speaking of musical style, we were impressed by the groups cover of Ellie Goulding’s track “Love me like you do”, and of course a lot of people are wondering whether or not the boys will be releasing any other covers!
“We have a lot of songs we would like to cover, and we have some on the way, so I’m not going to say anything yet,” Songdo replies mysteriously. We’re certainly looking forward to seeing whether something is in the cards along with promotions for 4th mini album “The Beat”.
“The promotions just started so I’m guessing this interview will be out right around the release? It’s based on hip-hop but each song has a special feel to it. With regards to concept, we decided to go for a hippie-inspired concept, because that era feels very relevant to how we are feeling right now. Fresh, and fun, with a sense of rebellion and creative freedom. Starting something new,” Pgoon says.
With their 10 members, Topp Dogg is one of the larger groups in k-pop. We’re curious how this works with the dynamics within the group, what are the benefits and negatives of it?
“It takes a lot of practice to get the timing and choreography right, but the members are getting so much better and learning faster now compared to when we debuted.” Hansol is confident in his reply: “Lately of course, as two members left the group of course we have had to re-choreograph, and that’s a bit tricky. We also have been doing the same routines for our older songs for so long, so many times, so when they change it’s a bit confusing. But trust us, we can do it!”
After training together and already being debuted for a few years, even completing a world tour which many an older group has yet to accomplish, the members of Topp Dogg has come to know each other and their habits well.
“Jenissi likes character socks, and he often put on different socks on each foot, which is a bit weird. Bjoo he has some sort of jinx. If he is doing something important, like a big performance or something, he needs to use his “special” underwear,” Sangdo tells while laughing. “Hansol has many strange habits, but one is that he always forgets all of his things everywhere. You can see when he has forgotten something and he gets this confused blank look on his face, then slowly start tapping his pockets while starring into space, and we just think “what did you forget now?”
Finally, Topp Dogg has a special message for their international fans, assuring us that they do pay attention and are fully aware of more than we might think!
“This is something we often think about but not get many opportunities to say, but we sincerely want to thank our international fans. We know how many of you are out there, and we see your support and discussions online – on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr (Hansol adds “they think we don’t know about Tumblr” and laughs). So we really want to say thank you, and also you guys are really funny sometimes! I think Topp Klass don’t know how much energy, inspiration and ideas they give to us. From the bottom of our hearts – we love you!”
