BoA, who has already been crowned as queen of album charts in Korea and Japan. She is dreaming of becoming queen of a new world. As an actress and as a beauty model, BoA came to Seoul for the filming of L'Occitane advertisements from LA, where she was staying as she was cast as the female lead in the dance movie COBU which is her first entrance into Hollywood.
When the earthquake in Japan took place BoA immediately came to mind. I wondered about her safety as more of her time is spent in Tokyo than in Korea. However BoA was not in Japan but in LA. She was receiving dance lessons and acting lessons in LA for the filming of Hollywood movie COBU. BoA's Hollywood entrance project COBU, the directorial debut project of Step Up and Save the Last Dance writer Duane Adler, is the story of two dancers who grew up in different environments and fall in love as they compete in an underground New York club. Essentially, BoA has taken on the role of the female lead who overcomes her family's opposition and falls in love in this movie which could be said to be the dance version of Romeo and Juliet. Opposite her is dancer and choreographer Derek Hough who is well known as Cheryl Cole's boyfriend and has appeared in Footloose in London's East End and rose to stardom through popular American television series Dancing with the Stars. She's filming a dance movie together with someone who is garnering attention in Hollywood, and I became more and more curious about the story of BoA's Hollywood entrance.
When I announced that I was going to go meet BoA, those in the surrounding vicinity asked "She's in Seoul right now?" It appeared that everyone felt fascinated by the fact that BoA was in Seoul. The reason BoA flew from LA to Seoul is because she has become the model for skincare brand L'Occitane's newly released Angelica Line. Was BoA's complexion that good? A singer's stage makeup is flashy. In addition the makeup is applied heavily so that it is not erased by the sweat from dancing. As a result a singer does not remove makeup easily like an actor does, but instead cleanses almost to the level of scrubbing their facial skin. And so one must have preparation for easily blemished skin, and to speak from the ending, the BoA I saw at the filming location was very pretty. And her complexion held moisture and really sparkled. I could not help but to ask her about her skincare methods.
"I did like L'Occitane's body line. I like that they use natural materials, and most of all the scent of the product is nice. However I was surprised when they told me that an advertisement proposal came in from L'Occitane. From L'Occitane? It's not for their hue line but they want to use me as the model? The colorful image is strong for singers so I couldn't help but be surprised that L'Occitaine, an organic cosmetics brand, wanted to use me as their advertisement model. But it appears that people from the advertisers' side heard from somewhere that my complexion is good. In actuality I tend to put a lot of care into my skin but am unable to receive professional care from a dermatologist frequently. All it amounts to is going to 'CNP' dermatology when I'm in Seoul. Instead I work hard to do all I can for my skin care. To start with I sleep a lot, use a sheet mask two or three times a week, use a cream to sooth my skin if it becomes sensitive, and I also tend to use moisturizing cream and moisturizing packs often. But truthfully my secret for a good complexion is to not use anything. If I'm not standing on stage I barely use any makeup. I tend to enjoy drinking alcohol and the days after I drink I put forth more effort into skin care. I make sure to use a pack."
BoA, who says that lately she unfortunately does not have the time to drink. "I only drink when I don't have work the next day, but since nowadays I have to continuously work I don't have time to drink. Also, those who are older may say something if they hear this, but year by year my body is different. Last year when I went to the States I enjoyed vodka mixed with juice, but this year I can't drink it well." The conversation trickled from complexion to alcohol, and then to acting. I asked her about the reason why she decided to appear in a movie. "I really had no interest in acting. I received many acting proposals when I was active in Korea but I turned all of them down. At that time I was busy enough just with singing, and outside of singing I had no other interests. Truthfully if this movie wasn't a dance movie I would have refused it as well. However as I prepared for the movie I came to realize the appeal of acting. It's fun. To try living someone else's life, I mean. I've always been trapped in the frame of 'singer BoA' and lived by only working, but as I live a different life as I act the genre of acting feels very fun. I'm learning dances of a wide variety of genres through this dance movie. It's incredibly fun learning diverse dances like contemporary dance, tap dance, couple hip-hop dance, and so forth. If I had only promoted as a singer it would have been difficult to free up enough time to learn those many things. Even though I have deep desires to learn, as a singer my schedule is set for up until the next year so unless vacation time is set aside it is difficult to learn new things."
BoA, who has always received personal lessons from choreographers, found her way to a dance academy and received group lessons because she wanted to try and experience the life not of a singer but of a dancer, and discovered a new sense of joy as person BoA rather than as a singer or an actor. BoA's eyes sparkled with curiosity like a person who, for the first time, was tasting life's pathos such as facing a new challenge, being frustrated when it doesn't work out well, sharing affection with friends, meeting a person to love, having arguments, making up, and other such things that a normal person would undoubtedly feel. "I've always lived as a singer so I hadn't thought of life as a dancer, but as I prepare for this movie I feel as though I've glimpsed into the intense world of dancers," BoA said, appearing eternally innocent. "If I say this people may say I'm 'being audacious' but I'm thinking of working hard in acting in the future as well. The reason why I became a singer is because singing and dancing is fun. But as I act I'm feeling a similar sense of fun. Who would have thought that I would come to act? However now I'm thinking that if an opportunity arises I want to try challenging a new field. It's so much fun to attempt and challenge something new."
What image is BoA's character in the movie? Because it is BoA who showed the 'Hurricane Venus' style in 2010 with an armful of flowers atop her short blonde hair, I was curious of her style in the movie as well. "I think it's actually easier to set a style for stage performances. Because I can think about the concept and create it as I work on the album, as I rehearse the choreography, as I record. The concept for the Hurricane Venus album jacket was conceptualized at a hairstylist friend’s home. I was struck by an idea as I was looking at my friend's portfolio and I said to her 'I want to become a flowerpot. But I want to become a rather sophisticated flowerpot,' and that's the style that came from it. It was rather heavy when they set it on top of my head because it was all real flowers, but it was fun. I consulted with Director Jung Saem Mool about the makeup and decided 'Let's try painting around the eyes.' We said, 'Let’s revive a pattern around the eye because giving the eye line a transformation is common.' But trying to think of the styling for the character in the movie, I'm not really sure. I'm not able to get a feel for how I should take hold of the character yet. It's still difficult to depict the character by just looking through the script. I must consult with the director. I'm still a novice actor."
BoA, who has wrapped up the preparations for her movie in LA, has already arrived in Canada. Many movies that take place with New York as the backdrop are filmed in Toronto, Canada, and as expected the filming location for movie COBU is Canada. This then means that once again we will be unable to see BoA in Korea for a long period of time, but it is a fortunate truth that she enjoys Twitter. Through Twitter she converses with Uhm Junghwa about having met up in LA, sends words of congratulations to Se7en, and also gives fans a peek into her daily life with the caption "During filming." Close with Lee Yeonhee and Kim Heechul who are from the same company as she is, BoA is very sociable on Twitter. What is intriguing is the fact that even though BoA has spent so much time on overseas activities, her ties with other Korean celebrities are quite genuine. "I manage my friendships with Twitter. Truthfully since I have a lot of overseas activities it's difficult to have continuous contact with friends. When I'm in Japan I use my Japanese phone, when I go to the States I use my American phone, and then in Korea I use my Korean phone, so when I'm in Seoul my Japanese friends don't know my phone number and when I'm in America my Korean friends don't know my phone number. And when I finally return to Korea phone numbers have been changed, but as I began Twitter contact isn't cut off no matter where I am so I came to talk more with my friends."
For some reason I wanted to give BoA a hug. When I thought about how lonely BoA must have been before Twitter began I somehow felt sympathy for BoA, the woman who is a walking one-person enterprise and who possesses both fame and fortune. However, BoA responded coolly. "Well, everyone is lonely," she said. She added, "I do have a lot of overseas activities, but I haven't often felt that I'm lonely because of that. Since I always work overseas I haven't had much leeway to really sense life. Perhaps it's because I haven't lived a life of freedom since I was young but I think that whichever country I go to, they're all pretty similar." Fortunately BoA, who is composed with professionalism, appeared to not have the time to feel loneliness. "This year is the 10 year anniversary of my Japanese debut. But because of the filming for the movie I'm unable to do any Japanese activities. During the summer I'm going to work hard filming the movie and I'm scheduled to begin album preparations in the fall, the album will be released in the beginning of next year and I think as my comeback performance I'll be holding a nationwide tour." What type of music will BoA's new music become? I hoped she would give a slight hint, but she shakes her head. "Lately I'm hardly even able to listen to music, and I'm busy and frenzied just with memorizing the choreography for the movie. As of right now I have no idea what type of concept my new album will be. For now I think I will forget everything else and immerse myself fully in the movie."
BoA's age is 24 (25) years, what meaning could defining her present have, how much will BoA develop in the future as a singer and as an actor. She is an entertainer who bestows the fun of watching over that path as a gift. And so I await the movie COBU and BoA's new album even more.
source: uriboa
translations: live laugh love @ soompi
