[Herald Interview] E'last delves into Korean snacks, swears eternal love for fans

While its name may sound new to K-pop listeners, E’last proved its potential to become a rookie this year by showcasing its various charms and talents.

Having debuted in early June, the eight-piece group dropped its first EP “Day Dream,” featuring lead single “Swear,” backed by a chivalrous knight concept that is rare in the industry.

Previously known as Eboyz, E’last stands for “everlasting” and consists of Choi In, Rano, Seungyeop, Baekgyeul, Romin, Won Hyuk, Wonjun and Yejun. Clad in matching blue knight-like outfits, the boys stepped into the Korea Herald’s headquarters in Seoul on a rainy Wednesday evening to talk about its new album and connect with global fans via V Live. “I think this is our first official interview. We are quite nervous right now,” said Wonjun, who busily clicked his tongue before greeting fans in English. 

E`LAST (E Entertainment)

The hourlong broadcast was accompanied by a bagful of Korean snacks and drinks, which immediately loosened the bandmates. They even tried green onion flavored Chex for the first time, Kellogg’s new series that has been going viral in Korea. After showing various reactions, each member also received red roses that matched the band’s knight concept, a special gift from The Korea Herald reporters.

Asked who’s most likely to sing the most romantic song in this rainy weather, Baekgyuel, the band’s talented vocalist, sang a bit of the group’s poignant ballad “My Flower” with his dulcet voice. Boasting its teamwork, his bandmates also joined the singer to complete the harmony.

The boys went onto unleash their multitalented aspects by showcasing the highlight choreography of “Swear” and putting on some live performances of the band’s side tracks such as “Sunrise” and “Light.” They shared that the dance movement was so intense that many of them injured their knees during the practice and they’d put in grueling effort to polish their live-performance skills.

“When we perform onstage, we make our best efforts to make serious facial expressions that go along with the atmosphere of the song, as we value it as much as dancing and singing skills,” said Choi In. “Our manager always tells us to ‘tear off our lungs,’ which means that we should give our utmost efforts until our lungs explode,” said Won Hyuk.

The broadcast also saw Yejun and Wonjun putting on a freestyle dance battle, after which Wonjun swallowed five sour candies at once after losing the game. As a testament to the group’s all-round talent, the session was also spiced up with the vocalists’ melodious singing, as they sang soothing songs by Lauv’s “Never Not” and Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity.”

Wrapping up the conversation, Wonjun, one of the most fluent English speakers in the band, said, “The time is so short, I think. This time was fun, exciting and nice experience to us.”

“We were so concerned about this broadcast at first, but thank you for offering us these snacks and lots of gifts. I hope we could revisit as a more developed band in the future.”

Equipped with song-writing, dance performance and vocal skills, E’last has been picking up global steam since its debut, touted as one of the most promising rookies of the year.

“We swear to stay by our fans’ side forever, so please look forward to our activities,” said the bandmates in unison.

By Hong Dam-young (lotus@heraldcorp.com)

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