Lee Hyori – Fresh Hyori – Interview

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

Even today, you’re still an issue. What’s the reason for you constantly getting such attention, for you being watched?

I guess it’s because I’m a bit different from what people imagine every time. It’s not that I tell myself I must be different from what others expect from me, it’s not that I’m special. It’s just that I’m different enough to have people be slightly suspicious and go “hm? Really?”. When I used to work a lot on TV, I even got the famous star status, so people would even look at me and go “she’ll do this next time”. There are actually many people who move according to this. However, I got married and I moved to Jeju Island. My image in my daily life, the fact that I’m living somehow differently from what people expect, I think this is what brings attention.

The blog you set up by the end of May already recorded 210,000 visits. Every time you write something, it becomes a hot issue. At this point, it’s as good as other medias. What thought did you have when you started your blog?

Living in Jeju Island, I went through so many beautiful moments. Every day, I just feel something on a regular basis. I wanted to share these small emotions. I wanted to show the beautiful Mother Nature to the people living in the city. I hoped that my blog would be a way for people to take a short break. On the contrary, there were people who told me they felt a sense of deprivation. That’s why I’ve been somehow worried these days. I’ve been wondering if running this blog was the right thing to do. To be honest, it takes time and efforts. However, if it can’t be a positive influence, there’s no need for me to cling onto it. It’s not that I wanted to become again an issue or getting popularity because of this blog. It’s just that I wanted to share with more people these good moments. I didn’t think it would backfire like this.

You must be upset that your sincerity is described and read in a different way.

It’s kind of sad. Honestly, a personal blog is about my interests or a window to share things with people I love. It wasn’t my intention to get so many articles about it and I think it created this atmosphere that puts pressure on the public. Of course, the blog is still at its early stage, so it can happen. When it gets quieter, I really hope it will become a place of communication for people who want to talk with me.

The text you wrote called “Contradictions in my life” was a great confession that aroused many people’s sympathy.

When you’re a human being, there are different sides to your personality, you have various kinds of thoughts. When you do, contradictory values can clash. I have a double image. I’m an entertainer, so there are many things I can show to people and they can become more extreme and exposed. That’s why I got more worried. When I looked at each aspect of my life as a whole, it was such a contradiction. I’m famous, but I dream of a quiet life. Still, I hate being forgotten. It’s not intentional, but as everything about my life becomes an issue, I sometimes think “is this my fate?” and when I think back about it, I sometimes wonder “am I the one who made the situation like this?”. While I want to get rid of these countless eyes on me, when I actually imagine this situation, I get scared. What scares me even more is to be recognized by people through only one image and get stereotyped. That’s why I’m cautious even about the smallest action and that gets me worried that I feel like I’m cornerized somewhere.

Do you mean you feel like you’re being restrained by others’ gazes or the world’s standards?

Hm, to be more precise, I’d say I’m afraid that my thoughts or my intentions get twisted around. What is a bit scary these days is I wonder if my life isn’t being blown out of proportions and gets a meaning attached to it. I’m a part of an animal proection activist group and I shared my thoughts about problems in our society, but it was only about taking actions to live “together” as someone who is a member of this society more than doing this because I have a goal or consciousness. These things touch me, I’m interested in animals because I love them, so I started to see the problems and the people I didn’t know about. That’s because (Sang Soon) oppa and I eat the vegetables we cultivate in our garden in Jeju Island and we just enjoy and are happy to live the way we do today. I’m not simple like that and I don’t live in a eco-friendly way like a “natural person”. I never told myself “I’m the only one living in the right way”. Will I ever use words like “simple” or “trivial” when I write on my blog or upload pictures? Honestly, the fact that people take out quotes like this is a bit burdensome sometimes.

However, more than covering how you feel, you show your strength by saying honestly “I’m unhappy, I’m going through a hard time”.

I wasn’t like this before. I really had low self-esteem. When I was a kid, I had nothing I was good at to make me stand out, so my parents never really complimented me and they scolded me a lot. Our family was in a difficult situation and I didn’t really love myself. After I debuted, I became popular, I made money, but this was a feeling I couldn’t easily erase.

You? You’re Lee Hyori, you have always been the best. You’re the one women wanted to be like, you’re the one men called an “icon” full of charm.

People with flaws consider it too hard to receive love. I really didn’t think I loved myself before. Receiving love from the fans was just weird. So I wandered and tortured myself even more. At some point, I thought I was pathetic. I told myself “you live with all that struggle, so why can you give yourself only critics and not compliments?”. People around me told me that I should be on my own side. This was when I started taking care of myself and cared for myself. Before, when I got money, my eyes went to shoes, bags, clothes. Then, I started buying things like clean towels, nice bed covers, pretty candles. As if by magic, from the moment I started looking after my body, keeping my heart under control, taking care of myself, my heart grew at ease little by little. I felt that my greed or anxiety disappeared and work also turned out better. My judgement also turned to a right way. Like my judgement about my husband, haha?

It does seem like it (laugh). It seems that you surrounded yourself with good people.

And I’m thankful for that. It happened before that I wondered if I was only surrounded by strange people. I think this was my problem, at the end of the day. As I headed to a positive direction, I started to see good people appearing around me. Of course, I’m still outspoken somehow and I’m still lacking a lot, so I will hurt and give a hard time to the people I’m close with, but I will try my best to face everything at a human level. Hopefully, thanks to these people that will be comprehensive and whom I’m thankful for, we will happily live together .

How is your daily life in Jeju Island? The weather must have a big influence more than it does when you live in the city.

Indeed. When there’s a typhoon, the wind blows a lot. I get up rather late. I drink a cup of tea and I walk my dogs. Then I have brunch and I tend to my garden, I pluck grass. I do the laundry if it needs to be done. In the evening, I either do embroidery or I paint/draw. Then I watch a movie with my husband, we have a glass of beer and we go to bed. We do nothing special. It’s great to see how quiet this place is. Being able to walk my dogs freely, being able to clearly separate the place where I rest and the place where I work, this is the greatest advantage about living in Jeju.

Is this full happiness possible because you have your partner by your side?

It is. Our house in Jeju is a bit of an out-of-the-way place. It can be scary. If it weren’t for my husband, I think I would have never had the courage to go to Jeju. He doesn’t have a 9-to-5 job and we do music together, so it was a good match. I think it’s an amazing blessing that we match each other in many ways. It’s good luck. There’s no one in this world that would be the perfect match, that would have all the qualifications that I want. Still, my husband and I are both lacking on some things, but I think it also makes us get along well and it’s something I’m thankful for.

It seems that embroidery is one of your hobbies nowadays. How good fashionista Lee Hyori’s embroidery skills are?

It’s fun to do. I do embroidery for curtains, bed covers, my husband’s clothes, sneakers. As of my ability, I’d say it was an art subject I liked and was good at in my school days. (laugh) I don’t create things like flowers and animals, I create funny drawings. I do it diligently, so I hope I’ll be able to put together a charity auction or an art exhibition for Kara which is an animal protection group I support.

It was the case before, and we still love and cheer for Lee Hyori’s life. One more thing would be that we want to see “Hyori” on stage.

Of course! I don’t want to let go of music. It’s still in my heart, but the way my environment, my thoughts change, it will clearly influence my music. Still, the singer Lee Hyori will not make a 180° turn. I want to take a step further by finding the good balance with the image I showed before. I want to keep meeting all of you with better music and performances. I’m constantly writing songs and trying my best. I hope I will be able to show it to you confidently when I’m ready.

Original article: First Look
Translation: @onesunnylady – www.thesunnytown.com

Comments

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

i just realised how far she lives from seoul, how does she get in to do shows and stuff? because if she flies like multiple times a week that's kind of hilariously incongruous w/ her greenpeace-y streak

[hellociara.livejournal.com]

great interview! i applaud hyori for living her life how she chooses to live it.
does anyone know the link to her blog? i came across it once before, but i forgot to save the link!

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

http://blog.naver.com/hyori79lee

[hellociara.livejournal.com]

thank you~!