The popular girl group 4minute made their comeback with their first full-length album '4minutes Left' that marked a reinforcement of their femininity and they are also earning the support of male fans. Since their debut, it's the first time they wore skirts and sang about love; 4minute wore big smiles as they said "Women have to look pretty after all."

"The truth is that we don't have a lot of male fans. because we sported a military concept and sang about finding one's confidence, the female fans' response has always been greater. This time, we're wearing skirts. Our make-up is also tenderer. During the week of our comeback, we noticed the male fans a lot. People who took a break in their army service even came to our fan signings. Women have to look pretty after all. (laughs)" (Hyunah)

In this album, they come off more feminine and friendlier. 4minute has established itself as a strong girl group and their polished performances as well as their powerful songs became their distinctive trademark, but in this album, they intended to show 4minute's charms to more people.

"We have the confidence to say that we're a group that shows music. We also have a good competitive spirit when it comes to display various things on stage. During the one-year gap that has passed, we monitored the fans' opinions a lot. Because a lot of them said they wanted us to have songs that are easy to listen to and that they also wanted us to have a friendlier image, we picked the path that could meet their demands without ditching our color. We also wanted to hear that we're pretty." (Kwon Sohyun)



Since last year, 4minute has been focusing on their promotion activities in Japan and thus picked the same path as other girl groups. Rather than a Korean group, 4minute appeals as artists that rely on the quality of their performances. Compared to other groups, their impact has been less strong, but they're steadily getting more clout.

"There have been times we were depressed as well. When we thought about dancing in a cute way. But I think it wasn't that worrisome. While other groups regularly became greatly discussed topics, we got to appeal with another color. I think it's great." (Hyunah)

Now, 4minute has become the topic of discussions like a 'Hot Issue' at last. Because they had to change a part of their dance routine for 'Mirror, Mirror', that was deemed racy and that brought up a controversy.

"We had 6 versions for the modified dance routine. Everyday, in training suits, we went to the practice room and worked even harder during practice sessions than we did for our debut. We watched a lot of foreign artists' performances and, during the 2 months we spent on practicing the choreography, we didn't think it could be controversial." (Nam Jihyun)

4minute changed that part of their choreography and are carrying on their promotion activities. Even if they're okay with the fact they changed their choreography, they dreaded they might lose the public's interest in their performances.

"We changed our dance routine, but please show us affection and be considerate. We will work hard." (Jeon Jiyoon)

Source : OSEN
Translating & editing : Meeli @4-minute.com