Transcription
Hey everyone, what's up? My name is DPR Ian, and I'm super excited for this interview.
Thank you! Korean singer-songwriter DPR Ian recently visited Hong Kong for an outdoor music concert and to meet with local dreamers. In this exclusive interview, we will delve deeper into this charismatic and talented artist. Let's get to know more about him.
So, this is our first time performing in Hong Kong. I think we've always wanted to perform here, and we're super excited. Honestly, in the beginning, we didn't know how many dreamers—that's what we call our fans—how many supporters we would have in Hong Kong. But we were just so speechless when we saw the crowd cheering. I think that gave us a very big relief, and at the same time, it excited us even more. We were like, "Wow!" I remember me and the team were looking at each other, and we were like, "Wow, we didn't know we had that many supporters in Hong Kong." So, it's such a blessing. We're so grateful.
Well, first of all, just going on stage and hearing the sound of the fans was quite memorable. There were signs that people were holding, and I think one of the signs said, "DPR Ian, you helped me or saved me in my darkest times." I was like, "Wow, my music touches people even here in Hong Kong," and that's kind of what I wanted. Very memorable. Then there were other quotes that said, "Can I be your cat? Can I be your dog?" and I said, "Yes, maybe."
I think for me, when I was growing up, I loved everything that had to do with art. I loved expressing myself, and I went to a lot of musicals and shows as a kid. I was greatly inspired by everything related to production in general. As I got older, I've always wanted to create something that could give others the same type of experience I felt when I was younger.
For me, it started off with dancing because it was a form of expression, and then I fell deeply in love with music, which is also another form of expression. After that, one thing led to another. I kind of see what I'm doing as a big painting. You have a big canvas, and in order to make this big painting, you need paint. For me, dance is paint, music is paint, and the studio is paint. It's just a tool for me to express my medium for a bigger picture.
So, it wasn't really about whether I wanted to become a director or a musician or a dancer. It was more about needing these tools to create a bigger picture. Maybe I'll be acting one day; I don't know.
Well, I liked a lot of videos, but for me, Bobby's music video "Hold Up" was quite memorable because that was my first big project. That was the first time I really focused on working with a bigger team. The team that made that music video was about 20 to 30 people. Plus, it was the first time I was working with a bigger production on a larger scale.
At that time, no one really did a party scene like that, and I think it kind of pioneered a new form of visual storytelling for people in Korea. I remember when I got this song, I was in a club. They asked me, "Hey, do you want to do this music video for Bobby's 'Hold Up'?" I put on my earphones and listened to the song, and what was happening in front of me was perfect for the song. I just used that, enhanced it a little bit, and it became one of my favorite videos ever. It was a lot of fun.
A lot of the time, things don't go as planned. I'm sure some people may know this; things don't always work out, so you have to improvise. A lot of the shots we used—one of the best shots, actually—was in a scene in DPR Live's song called "Playlist." At the end of that music video, there's a samba bossa nova type scene where he puts up an umbrella. That scene wasn't planned; we just decided to do it on the day of, and it quickly became one of everyone's favorite scenes.
There are many moments where we aren't expecting something to be real, but it somehow becomes the best shot.
I have a lot of tattoos on my arms. For me, tattoos are kind of like scars; they serve as a journal. You know how people write journals as diary entries and talk about what happened on that day? For me, each tattoo represents that. For example, this tattoo right here—I got this in Peru. I got it in the middle of the Inca jungle, the Amazon forest, and it was done by hand poking. For me, when I see this, I am immediately teleported back to that jungle. It reminds me of what I was wearing, how I was feeling.
So for me, it's like a time machine. That's a good way to put it. Tattoos are more like a time machine to me. When I see them, I like to jump back into those moments, good or bad.
Currently, we're expanding the DPR universe, and there's just so much we're planning—obviously new albums, new projects, new storylines for our universe to continue. We've also signed to expand with a new team now, and we're super excited about that.
This year alone, we have so many shows and festivals, including Hong Kong. I feel like we're just starting to really open our doors to the world now. We just did Coachella, so it feels like we're on an extremely good high right now, and we're just kind of going into this.
There are so many things; I don't even know where to stop. But I'm sure our dreamers, our supporters, can look forward to something really incredible.
I want to say thank you so much. We felt your love extremely well through the last show, and I promise you guys we will definitely be back. So hang on tight and look forward to new things!