"It's an honor to be compared to the Buzz. But we'd like to present our own music."

They got all the ingrediants that form the idol group: God - sent looks, sweet smiling eyes, and the cheers from tailing fans. They, however, are merely a band of 5 teenagers.

FT Island is a 5 member band, Jonghun Choi (guitar.piano,17) Hongki Lee (vocal, 17) Wonbin Oh (guitar.vocal, 17) Jaejin Lee (Base, 16) Minhwan Choi (15, drum), and has all the key points of an idol group.

The name, FT Island is the shortened form of Five Treasure Island, and true to its name, the band is consisted of 5 talents.



Jonghun has been playing piano since he was 7. He picked up guitar when he was later discovered through the audition. Wonbin, who originally dreamt to be a vocal, also started learning guitar after he passed the audition. Now, he is not only a guitarist and a vocal but also a rapper.

From good looks to talents, these newbies got it all! (SCARY!)

Hongki Lee was originally a child actor who was casted in KBS 1TV's children's drama "Magic Kid Masuri" and MBC TV soap opera "Bingjum." He also received passionate applause from the audience when he sang on the final episode of EBS's "Ggangsuni." He boasts the talents of both the actor and a singer.
Minhwan Choi, who had actively participated in his school band in 7th grade, has been drumming since 6th grade.

When asked if his parents opposed his musician life, Wonbin replied "They didnt as long as I got my school work done. We may not be top of the class, we atleast could stay in the middle." However, its not like they do music as a hobbie. They practice 10 hours every day.

"We all got together 2 years ago. As soon as our afternoon classes were over, we gathered in the studio, ate lunch, and then practiced from 2 pm to 12 am. We practiced 10 hours daily without any holidays. So I guess that makes it about 7000 hours of practicing." - Wonbin.



"If I had to practice alone, I'd have given up in the middle of it all. But with 5 of us working together, I never got sick of it. When music...how should I say...came together, the excitement was like whoa." - Hongki

With their passion for music already greather than their age, they also revealed some greed about their debut album "Cheerful Sensibility."


Whatever that is being said about us, we'll fight back with our skill!

Their first album is divided into two chapters: 'emotional' and experimental 'Island.'

"As it says, 'emotional' chapter have emotional songs and 'Island' chapter features what we want to challenge as our own tune." - Jaejin.

The emotional chapter includes sweet melodious songs such as the title song "Love Sick" by Jae Hyun Ryu (Vibe) and "Man's first love goes to his grave" by Gun Yun. The Island chapter has self - introduction like "FT Island." "FT Island"s lyric, "I may seem young but I'm different. Dont look at me the same way," seems like the band's response to their critics.

"I want to perform infront of those who doubt our skill based on our looks and ages," said Hongki. He expressed the emotional agony that the band has been through by saying "I want to prove to them wrong." Jaejin defined the term 'idol' in 'idol group' as a role model for fans. "So its not wrong to be called an idol group, isnt it?"

Then the band justified themselves.

"FT Island is a band with color just like the five islands that have different looks and infinite possibilities. It's an honor to be compared to the Buzz, but instead of being called "[ ] the 2nd,"we'd like to clearly show off our own identity. Korea is not really big on band music right now, but if it does become big because of us, wouldn't there be "FT Island the 2nd?"

Credits: joynews.inews24.com + [takeKK] @ loveft-i forum (translation)