In the early afternoon of March 31, the six-member group JUST B held a private press conference at the Vermont Hollywood in the heart of Los Angeles, CA. The day marked the tail end of the group’s extensive Just Be With You North and South America tour, which kicked off in New Jersey on March 15. Across eight cities spanning the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, JUST B met their fans, called Only B, up close and personal. From their solo concerts to intimate fan signs and even impromptu busking events, the tour was filled with several memorable moments.
Despite a minor delay due to the group’s soundcheck rehearsal, the dedicated staff and volunteers worked swiftly to set up the venue for the press conference. Shortly afterward, Geonu, Bain, Lim Jimin, JM, DY, and Sangwoo walked in, sporting their iconic black and blue embellished stage outfits from their grand “Medusa” performance at last year’s Mnet Asian Music Awards. With microphones ready and refreshments at hand, JUST B dived into their Just Be With You tour experience, activities outside of music, and more.
Some interview responses have been revised for clarity and conciseness. Translation credits to: Terry, D M., Lisa & Alex Y.
Q: Congrats on reaching your final stop of your 2024 North and South America tour! What has the experience been like for you all?
DY: This is our first North and South America tour and it was, to say the least, very tiresome to go around. However, seeing our international Only B, and giving them a really good performance was satisfying. We’ve also musically grown over the tour and thought that we’ll be able to show even better performances in the future.
Sangwoo: It’s been a blessing for us to go on this first tour and really see even more Just B fans all over the world, and through Only B we got so much love. So next time, we’d like to gift an even better performance.
Q: What was the process of coming up with the setlist like?
DY: We’ve been touring a lot now and particularly with this tour right now, we wanted to offer something new and refreshing. Even with the same songs, to show a new style, we put a lot of effort into creating this setlist and focused heavily on arrangements for the fans to enjoy on this tour.
Q: What was the process of coming up with the solo stages?
Geonu (in English): So it was kind of interesting and really enjoyable and fun because we had to search for what fits this member the most, and we chose what we wanted to show to you guys. You guys can maybe see it tonight.
Lim Jimin: First and foremost when it came to picking songs, I think that the stages where the members can look their best would be ideal. When I thought about performing on international stages, I thought, “What can be viral?”
Q: Can you share some fun, memorable moments from the tour?
Sangwoo: We‘ve been busy and moving a lot but the memorable thing personally for me has been while on the stage. Especially the moments during the encore where we can see that our fans’ expressions have been memorable.
Q: Which song do you all enjoy performing the most?
Lim Jimin: If I need to pick a song it would be “Domino.” As you guys can see when we perform the song we can tell that all of the fans out there are enjoying and very energetic when it comes to that song.
Geonu (in English): “Daddy’s Girl” is our brand new song. It’s unreleased but you can see it tonight. We will show our best energy to perform because this is our last stop on our tour. Please look forward to it.
Q: You’ve already visited cities in the United States and Latin America, and L.A.’s last. Which food left the most impression on you?
Geonu (in English): I can say that I love tacos. The interesting thing is that I didn’t have the chance to have a whole taco on this tour. I had little bites [here and there] and it was really good. I love tacos!
DY: Even though we travel around the world and try many local cuisines, I have to say that, from the bottom of my heart, the local Korean cuisines that we had around the different venues brought tears to my eyes because it’s the taste of home.
Lim Jimin: For me the best I had was yesterday. It’s a snack called Yugwa, it’s really good! It’s traditional baked rice puffs.
Sangwoo: For me, nothing compares to the french fries in America, it just beats anything around the world. So it doesn’t even matter which fast food french fries it is. French fries are the best.
Q: (To Geonu and Bain) You recently participated in Mnet’s “Build Up: Vocal Boy Group Survivor.” What was the experience like for you both?
Geonu (in English): “Build Up” was a really awesome and good experience for me because I could show more various vocal and dance stages. I made some good friends like Soomin, Jay, Seohyung, Haram, and all the others. It was such a good experience!
Bain: It has been a blessing to be on the show, where I can showcase my talent as well as just what I could perform. Going forward, I hope there are more opportunities to show what I can do. It was also an honor to meet and work with a lot of colleagues who are also talented artists.
Q: (JM and Geonu) Your drama “Love is Like A Cat” will be airing very soon, congratulations! Is there anything you would like to say about it?
JM: [In a short, short time,] you’ll be able to actually watch the show premiere! We hope that you enjoy the relationship between Pino and Lee Daebyul as they go through efforts as [they live the single life], as well as the well-matched relationship between the two characters. I hope you guys enjoy the character build-up, as well as the whole story behind it.
Q: Which Just B song would you recommend for Only B to listen to while taking a walk?
Lim Jimin: I think that all the songs that DY writes are overall so nice to listen to. Out of all of them, listening to “Night Stroll” at night would be best, so I would like to recommend that.
Sangwoo: One song I would recommend is “Youth.” After we first recorded and got our demo, I typically walked to work and listened to the demo version a lot while walking.
Q: If you could collaborate with any artists around the world, who would you choose and why?
Geonu (in English): I’m not sure if you have heard about Jon Bellion. He’s a crazy good producer and he’s a good artist. He makes [such] nice and cool effects so I think it will be really interesting and fresh [to work with him.]
JM: So as you guys know, we have a drama coming out with Mew Suppasit on April 1st. In terms of collaboration, other than within the drama scenes, I would also like to collaborate on a song with him as well.
Q: What goals would you like to accomplish by the end of this year? Whether as a group or individually.
Geonu (in English): As a group, a much bigger tour [with] lots and lots more fans coming to our show. More love, more energy, more health. [We have] lots and lots of things to do and accomplish this year. We will make it, so please keep your eyes on us.
CONCERT PHOTO GALLERY
Thanks for the press conference and the beautiful photos! Miami concert in an outdoor seated venue at the beach was amazing, music, songs, dancing, JUST B team all lit by the sun as it turned to the golden hour was magical! Three solos were also unexpected gifts, such talent, so much emotion and beauty.! So much light, so much positive energy and messages, so much fan interaction from 2:30 pm to 9 pm an unheard of gift to Only Bs! Fan meet and greet the day before with the charismatic Just B group, and Geonu ‘s perfect English translating for all of us held at KpopKastle was also fun! Geonu worked hard all day, all tour, sharing their thoughts in English for us. High five to all, each one brought a unique style and energy to the stage. Looking forward to their tour next November!