It was a bright and sunny Monday after the monsoon season. Wearing shorts with her moist hair flying with shampoo smell, Tiffany walked into the studio in a bright and cheerful mood. After passing her the macarons that someone gave her as birthday present, the awkward and weird atmosphere immediately disappeared. It was her first time having a photo shoot on her own four years after the group’s debut. Strangely enough, she was enjoying the stage prepared exclusively for her and the staffs also became excited with her at the same time.
“It seems so fun. Because the concept is ‘Rock chic’, I was still worried that I don’t suit the style well. Now I think I can do it well!”
It’s rare to have such a cheerful and light-hearted person around you as her energy is almost contagious. Just 10 minutes after seeing her, you can feel what kind of person Tiffany is with your instincts. After 5 hours of long photo shooting, we moved to a sofa at a quiet corner inside the studio for the interview. Although we expected her to be very tired and exhausted, Tiffany continued smiling and told us about her interests and thoughts in her mind.
“Now, even if I feel hurt, I won’t cry. We all look fine when you see us from far”, “To think that I will step into a different new world as I continue growing, my heart is already pounding!”
As she said these and told us about the future she designed for herself, she appeared as the 23-year-old youthful Tiffany. She was so beautiful and lovely that even the editor gave her thumbs-up at the end of the interview.
When did you start to dream of becoming a singer? When did you start to feel your talent, or when did people around you start telling you that you have talents? What kind of talents are they?
When I was young, I’ve never thought that I have talents in singing or dancing. However long before I came to Korea, I had already realized that I’m good at singing and dancing, and I’m interested in them. When my brother, who is usually stingy with praises, said, “You sing well”, I received a lot more energy. From then onwards, I lived thinking of nothing but the dream of becoming a singer. I held on to this mindset back then and I’m still doing so now after gaining experience, that is – “As someone who works hard, you can’t win anyone.”
Having the dream to become a singer, in what way did you work hard? How much do you think that being a singer is a suitable job for you and how is it currently?
After we held 14 concerts during the Arena Tour not long ago, singing 30 songs for the duration of 3 hours for each concert, I felt that I do indeed have the physical constitution capable of standing on the stage. Although we receive a lot of stress during the tiring preparation, I never forget about enjoying the process with the members. Especially when we stood onto the stage, we completely forget about the tiring moments. The moment I stood on the stage, I thought to myself, “So, this is where I stand.” When we were having the long and tiring activities in Japan, I looked back at the activities we had done in Korea. I told myself, “Ah, I was once this young.” As I gained confidence since then, I look forward to activities in Korea much more than I once did.
Surely being part of SNSD is a happy thing, but it seems that even among SNSD members, there will be competition of beauty. Have you ever felt stressful over this?
Frankly speaking, we are just being ourselves and there isn’t any competition of beauty. We understand the beauty each of us possess. We also say things like “You put on some weight”, or give advices like “You look good with your hairs up”. We say one or two words to each another and always have fun by doing so. We hope that everyone gets prettier so we’re encouraging one another at the same time. It’s really true; I hope that you believe it (laughs).
SNSD’s group dance is most fascinating. How hard have you worked on it? Seems that practices and performances won’t be perfect every time, so were you ever saddened when you don’t dance well?
Of course there will be times it doesn’t turn out good. But there’s only one way to overcome it – to practice until you can do it well. Because Hyoyeon is the best dancer in our team, we will pester her to teach us until she gets irritated. In this way, we continue to practice, again and again.
Do you think that you have become a lady? When is the time you think that “Oh, I became more mature.”?
When I feel that I’ve become more forward-looking, I tell myself, I have also became a lot more mature. Also, when I see that the maknaes of our team, Yoona and Seohyun becoming more mature while changing their tastes to more feminine ones, I feel that we have grew up a lot.
Any thrilling experience that made you excited recently? It can be on the stage or coming across some ideal type.
There isn’t any time when I see an opposite gender and have the fluttering feeling inside of me. I think that the best feeling would be when we had just finished a concert and came down from the stage. The 14 concerts that we held in Japan and our long-awaited solo concerts in Korea! I feel great just thinking about it. After completing so many concerts, I feel that SNSD has grown stronger. Sunbaes (seniors) told us, “Singers will really become singers only after they hold concerts” and I finally realised how true it is now.
Is there any techniques to find a style for the beautiful expressions that belong only to Tiffany?
When we are having group or solo photo shoots, I prefer having expressions with feelings instead of just pretty expressions. Although I can’t imitate 100% and I need to continue working on it, I try to follow role models like designer Coco Rocha and Netherland’s top model Doutzen Kroes. It seems that I will have the prettiest expressions when I’m singing if I use them as references. I think I present my best image during our activities. Although clothes are for comfort, I only like feminine clothes. One day I chose my styling according to my mood, and later, when I gathered and looked at photos of me taken that day, I realised that compared to other members, I only choose clothes that is obviously feminine. Of course, for times like this when I do chic-style photo shoots for magazine, I will try my best to have a wide range of expressions and poses.
It is noticeable that you have become more slim and beautiful. Do you have any exclusive methods for skin and body figure management?
If concerts are coming, I will eat better than normal days. Only by doing this, I can present my happy image naturally. But when I become an MC or have schedules, I will drink a lot of water while managing my weight a few days before, because I have to wear dresses. According to the rule for our daily meals, we have to eat food that contains mainly proteins. We have to estimate the amount of food we eat the whole day while calculating the calories, then adjust the amount accordingly. That’s done only when weight management seems important! There’s a saying, “If you want to lose weight, eat more in the morning, less at noon, and starve at night”. But at night, I always want to eat more and more things so the possibility of failing seems high. I prefer starving in the morning, eating a little at noon and more at night, but still controlling the calorie intake and that seems better for me.
I don’t put much attention on skin. Although I care about make-ups on the stage, on usual days I will, at most, apply cream that blocks UV ray, and then go out with spectacles. For my image, I’m trying to drink a lot of water. I carry a plastic bottle around. I’m also trying to increase my dietary fiber intake. It seems that my skin is not in the best condition. Seohyun is such a healthy girl that she even takes care of her unnies’ health.
Being SNSD, you can’t neglect a large variety of concepts, fashion and hairstyle. What do you think is the best-looking style you have tried before?
As SNSD, we have tried many clothes and concepts, including many pretty ones. Among them, I will pick Gee’s blue jeans and white T-shirt fashion. Personally I like blue jeans and white T-shirts, so I think that I looked the best during Gee’s promotion period. Although gorgeous clothes are great too, I thought that lively and youthful clothes can really present the ‘SoNyeo’ charms better.
On the stage, you are always bright and possess unlimited energy. Any method not to reveal your feelings whenever you are down or not feeling well?
In the team, I’m said to be the member with most energy. I’m always working hard to live an enjoyable life and greet people brightly. Even so, there will be times when unhappy things happen. But the moment I stand onto the stage, my natural talents work well for me. To my surprise, even if I’m down or not feeling well, if I stand on the stage, I will forget about everything. It’s not a must to hide it when I’m on stage, but I consciously forget about it.
It’s an age when you think of attractive guys. Do you have any dream ideal types?
I don’t have any specific example of it. In fact, I didn’t even have time to think about that, although I vaguely know that it would be guys who have beautiful smiles and can make me smile. Especially if he loves me as much as I love him, it will be good.
In the future, how do you want to date others?
Since I’m someone who loves anything feminine, I will love romantic dates. I like it if it’s sweet and nice.
Do you prefer any fashion brand? What are the clothes and accessories you like to wear normally?
The colour sense of this season’s Prada is great. The vivid pastel colors captured me. Even for someone who doesn’t like blue, I fell in love with Prada’s blue. Besides wearing new clothes during CF filming or photo shooting, personally, I also prefer clothes that gives off a romantic and cute feeling. Of course if the clothes are uncomfortable, I will not like it no matter how pretty it is. Best clothes are those that make me feel comfortable. I do use a lot of accessories. Recently, long and thin earrings appeal to me. If you choose earrings well, it may even make your face look slim. I also like shoes. When you wear simple clothes, shoes like pumps suit well.
Although sometimes having mistakes or painful moments, you are SNSD’s Tiffany who looks lovely no matter what you do. In the future, what will you do to keep your reputation intact?
When our members were discussing with one another some days ago, we said, “We already came this far, we take pride in it.” When I came to Korea at the age of 15, I had really great anticipation. Then I worked hard, really hard. To think that I will step into a different new world as I continue growing, my heart is already pounding. Because we have been widely acknowledged, I have anticipation towards our future instead of anxiety. The goal that I dreamed of when I was young has already come true when SNSD received such great amount of love. From now on, we have to look further and aim higher.
It seems that you have the will to challenge other fields like drama and movie.
Until now, although SNSD became much more charming, each members have their own talents and attractiveness. So I think that in the future, members will continue to show their variety of talents. Rather than creating a new brand called ‘Tiffany’ out of the brand ‘SNSD’, I hope to reveal the talents naturally.
Any wish that you hope can come true in the future?
Even though I am satisfied by just having activities as SNSD, I hope to try roles in other fields and succeed in them. My wish is that I can participate in acting, musical or things related to fashion. I also enjoyed today’s shoot. It’s always an enjoyable job to wear clothes of a large variety of styles and have photo shoots. There are times when SNSD try out clothes for our stages and I learnt a lot reading from fashion magazines. Since young, I paid a lot of attention to fashion, so when I wear pretty and feminine dresses, I feel really happy. In any way, I am a girl so I like many styles of make-ups and dresses. I’m happy because the range of styles that I’m able to try out is widened. My goal is to design my happy future by making what I want to do into what I’m capable of doing. I’m someone who is prepared for everything all the time!
