It’s Showtime

Kiss Me Five go for jazz

By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb

In 2010, quintet Kiss Me Five introduced themselves to the public with dance song “Moring Kiss.” Recently, the girls reduced their number to four when Kitty Kanyavee left the group to focus on her studies.

They changed their energetic image to one that's sweeter, with lots more pink, to promote their jazz-inspired dance song “Ab (Pretend)” that features on their upcoming album, Showtime.

When Student Weekly met up with the quartet — Krittiya Wuddhihiranpreeda (Mild), 19, Natcha Eksangkul (Gail), 18, Pakakanya Charoenyos (Bam), 17, and Maylada Susri (Bow), 16, — at the RS offices, the girls were obviously worn out and a bit sleepy because they'd been up all the night before. But the girls kept themselves awake and told us all about their latest single.

Student Weekly: What adjustments did you have to make when Kitty left the group?

Gail: We had to adjust everything — even posing for pictures, since there are fewer of us. We also had to put more energy intp everything. But singing isn’t a problem at all because we can all sing every part. We're just responsible for different parts now.

Student Weekly: Did you ever consider changing the name of the band?

Mild: Kiss Me Five has pretty much become all of our last names. We've had that tag for three years. It would be weird to change the name of the band. Even though we don’t have five people, we still want to maintain the same name.

Student Weekly: Do you think you'll ever work with Kitty again?

Gail: We always want to work with Kitty. She's our friend. If there's ever any chance to work with her, we'd be happy to.

Student Weekly: Why is your upcoming album called Showtime?

Gail: We intend to feature a variety of music on this album. The first single, “Pretend,” is Broadway style combines with jazz, but the next single will be something totally different.

Student Weekly: What was the idea behind the Broadway style?

Gail: It's trendy right now, and we think it's beautiful. Dancing to jazz is challenging. On the first album, we performed hip-hop dances. We want to show that we can do jazz dances as well.

Student Weekly: Why did it take a year for you to release this single?

Bam: Our producer, Champ, wanted us to have a song that we all liked, so it took time to find a kind of music that everybody could get behind.

Gail: We'd also like to give a solid performance that shows how we've improved.

Student Weekly: Can you tell us more about “Pretend”?

Bam: “Pretend” is suitable for our ages because it isn’t too sweet or serious or heartbreaking. It's like puppy love. Fans around our age can relate to the song.

Student Weekly: What's it like to perform jazz dances?

Gail: It is tough. Some people think that the routines don’t require a lot of energy. In fact, jazz routines require flexing all muscles and great balance while making the movements. Fortunately, we have some basic of jazz dance experience, so that helps.

Student Weekly: Gail, is it true that you plan to be vegetarian in the future?

Gail: I cut down on meat because I feel healthier when I don’t eat a lot of it. Having heavy meals makes us feel like not practicing. When we celebrated Bow’s birthday, we ate pizza and fried chicken. After that we couldn’t dance. [Laughs.] Anyway, I won’t cut out all meat. I'll still eat fish.

Student Weekly: Mild, are you still a bookworm?

Mild: I used to like to read a lot; especially detective novels, because mysteries are exciting. Now, I have to focus on textbooks instead because I need to catch up with my classmates.

Student Weekly: How do you guys keep up with your studies?

Bow: I take a lot of tutorial classes whenever I have time because I have to prepare for my university exams.

Mild: After working in showbiz, we're all more enthusiastic and have better concentration on our studies than we did before.

Gail: I agree, because we realise that we don’t have much time. Whenever we have time, we have to learn as much as we can.

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