From Their First Days As Z-Boys and Z-Girls To The Latest Album “Singing For You” | Exclusive Interview

“To inspire and become a cultural bridge that connects the world with music.”

Z-Stars is a group consisting of two separate groups called Z-Boys and Z-Girls with a total of 13 members coming from 7 different cultures around Asia, pursuing a common goal.

First debuted on February 2019, the group released their second mini-album this July and also had their very first showcase in Korea. Many acknowledged them as a K-Pop group without a single Korean member, but there’s so much more than just a description of the group.

With that, on August 28th, 2019, Kpopmap visited the studio in Zenith Media Contents located in Seoul to simply get to know more about them and share their dream with the readers.

Congrats on your comeback with the second album “Singing For You”. Can you tell us what the songs are about?

“Holla Holla” is a hip-hop styled song, composed with strong rhythm and bass which makes you feel excited and it is also a song that contains a message saying that "We will reach our dreams, not in a plain way but rather through our own way and findings" Perry

Our latest release, “Streets of Gold” contains a message about finding one true love and the song is recorded with powerful vocals. We highly recommend putting this song on your summer playlist! (haha) Bell

 

What I noticed was that the song, "Holla Holla" has a similar message to the previous song, “No Limit”. Is this what Z-Boys are going for?

Both “No Limit” and “Holla Holla” contains a message to motivate and inspire the listeners in chasing their own dreams. We really try to send that message to both the listeners and all our GalaxZ(Fandom name). Mavin

Do you plan on exploring other themes?

I think we have a lot of potentials to try various genres since we all come from a different background, which means we have that much of diverse colors that we can explore. Mavin

https://www.instagram.com/p/B02DlGnHAWP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

What are the things that has changed compared to when you first debuted?

I think the girls got a lot fancier and more mature compared to our last song. The atmosphere of our second song, in general, is a bit sexier, having less kid-like pureness but show more of our women side.Carlyn

We want to show our sexiness! (haha) as you can see, we have a harness around our body haha. You can witness that in our choreography as well because the moves itself are a lot sexier than before. In our third single, we can maybe go further and be even MORE sexier hahaha! Mavin

What made you fall in love with K-Pop?

Of course, we all have different musical background and style but, K-Pop is very different and unique. For example, their performance is very attractive and above that, they sing and dance at the same time. So I think that was the most attractive point about K-Pop. Also, there are artists that produce their own music, so they are basically an overall package for an artist that you just can’t resist! Priyanka

What went through your mind when you made that final decision to be part of Z-Stars?

I was filled with mixed emotions when I first heard the news but I was so excited about it. We all prepared a lot and worked hard to be part of this group and I’m sure it goes the same for everyone that, we were all so happy. Sid

Weren’t you scared?

At first, I felt thrilled in the aspect that I got closer to achieving my dream and that I will be doing what I love. But there was a bit of pressure as well since each one of us represents our own country. For instance, I and Mavin are from Indonesia and when we joined this project, we are bringing Indonesian names to Korea so we had to be great in what we do. Vanya

As a non-Korean K-Pop group, inspired by K-Pop, what are the biggest challenges? And how did you overcome those challenges?

There were various challenges that we went through. For example, when we first came to Korea, it was during the winter and most of us never experienced winter in our lives! That was a bit hard to adjust at first.
We also came from 7 different countries so we had difficulties when communicating with one another. We tried translating apps and used a lot of body languages! But the company supported us with language lessons to fill out the gap and now we have no problem communicating!
The biggest of them all was the training. We had to go through intense K-Pop training which was very systematical, army training-like style and as an artist in K-Pop, being synchronized during choreography is a must! So we worked really hard to achieve that. Carlyn

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxSFzRJn6WV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

What did your parents think when you said that you wanted to train in Korea?

For me, when I told my mum about myself going to Korea to train, without any hesitation, she supported me and said: “Go for it!”
Blink
I auditioned for another company before I joined Z-Stars and when I first told my parents about it, they simply said no. I was a student at the time and they told me that I had to study but I had different thoughts and told them I wanted to pursue my training in dancing and singing. Even when I went to an institute to learn Korean, which I also had to pay it on my own, they thought I was going to give up soon. However, I kept on working harder and showed my passion for K-Pop. Finally, when I told them about Z-Stars, they gave in and said that they will support me in proceeding my dreams. Joanne

what were their thoughts about K-Pop? Do they listen to K-pop now?

Now they love it! When we had our first “Z-Pop Dream Concert” in Korea, they saw big artists like MONSTA X and ChungHa in the line-up and got really excited about it!
Carlyn
Yeah they asked us to take a picture with them! HahahaMavin

What are your hobbies that you do during your spare time in Korea?

We get free time on Sundays mostly when we don’t have any schedule and normally we would just go outside shopping, go for a walk, just hang out with the members. Carlyn
Oh really?? That’s different from Z-Boys! We’re always in the studio practicing! Hahaha
Well, Joke aside we do try to practice as much as we can because we all know that there’s always space for improvement and we do enjoy practicing!Mavin

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1DxdZQnlfB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

What is Z-Stars' ultimate goal?

We want to be an artist that can move others’ hearts and give true joy through our music to the people around the world. There are K-Pop artists that are really popular in America and Europe and we hope that we can follow those steps and ultimately, become a cultural bridge between all borders as Z-Stars.Blink

To wrap our pleasant encounter, we asked the members to send out a message to their family and friends back home.

Kpopmap would like to thank Z-Stars and the staff for this interview and wish all the best for the group’s upcoming journey!