Back in the summer of 2012, everyone was going "Gangnam Style." A simple yet fun horse-riding dance, both amateurs and pros alike were galloping like crazy at home, at parties, and even in the streets. And then, there was Waveya. Run by Ari and MiU, Waveya caught the internet's attention by publishing the sexiest cover of "Gangnam Style" ever on YouTube, garnering over 146 million views.
Ari:
Miu:
allkpop Buzz had the pleasure of interviewing Waveya on their YouTube success (with 1.1 million subscribers and counting!). From dancing to K-Pop, the sweet girls of Waveya told all. Check it out!
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1. Hi Waveya! Can you please introduce yourselves as well as tell us how you got into dancing?
Ari: "Hello. I'm Waveya's leader, Ari."
MiU: "Hello. I'm MiU."
Ari: "Yes, MiU and I made Waveya in 2006. There are people who still don't know this, but we're sisters. We both really like dancing and ever since we were little, we would always dance together at home. Because there were people who wanted to learn how to dance from us after seeing our online videos, we held auditions for a dance team. I personally trained the team and together we started doing activities."
2. You launched your YouTube back in 2011 with a cover of Beyonce's "Sweet Dream." What made you want to start sharing on YouTube?
Ari: "Before YouTube, Waveya was active on a Korean portal site called UCC since 2006. Since 2011, we have uploaded over 180 YouTube videos. Since 2006, we have shared even more videos than that. Currently, people mostly know us through YouTube. We now have over 1.1 million subscribers. Because we wanted to show ourselves to both Korea and the rest of the world, we started this project! ^^"
3. You became YouTube famous with your cover of Psy's "Gangnam Style," which now has over 146 million views! What do you girls think of your success?
MiU: "We can see how 'Gangnam Style' can be considered the launching point for the waveya2011 YouTube channel as we gained many subscribers and over 400 million views in total after it. Even still, the 'Gangnam Style' cover is gaining a lot of love. We are so, so thankful and in the future, we hope to continue to show everyone our steady growth and hard work."
4. With over 180 YouTube videos, you've done many covers, but you're definitely not limited to K-Pop. Do you have a favorite genre of music? Which cover would you say was your favorite to do?
MiU: "My favorite dance covers are Beyonce's 'Run the World' and Taeyang's 'Ringa Linga.' As for songs that don't already have choreographies, among Waveya's (Ari's) original choreographies, I like Serebro's 'Mimimi' and Britney Spears's 'Work Bitch' a lot. When I dance, I get really happy. Whether it's a strong dance that takes all your energy, a dance that brings life to your body line, or a K-Pop dance, I like them all."
Ari: "I like hip hop. And I like Beyonce. My favorite Waveya dance covers are Psy's 'Gangnam Style' and 'Work Bitch.'"
5. Ari and MiU, aside from doing covers, you two make a lot of original choreography for the group. What would you say is your best work that everyone should check out?
Ari: "Among the covers we've uploaded, 'Sexy Ladies' and 'Work Bitch'.... There are covers we have yet to publish. We plan on publishing them soon so we would love it if you looked forward to them."
6. Last year, you worked with 'B-Classic' and did a sexy dance to classical music--specifically Dvorak's "Symphony No. 9 Allegro con fuoco." How did this collaboration come about?
MiU: "A Belgian director personally contacted us saying that they wanted to fuse classical music--which younger generations don't listen to much--with a fun and sexy dance to make classical music fun again and that they wanted to do this project with us, Waveya. Even though there are many other dancers and singers out there, we were happy because they chose Waveya. It was also an honor for us to be able to participate 100% in the choreography. The Belgian director and producers visited us in Korea. We had fun filming for three days."
7. We have to ask this: as famous YouTubers who regularly cover K-Pop, do you have any favorite K-Pop singers/rappers/groups?
Ari: "For me, I like the sexy HyunA and the overwhelmingly charismatic CL. Among male singers, I like G-Dragon and Yonghwa."
MiU: "I like GOT7's Jackson and... I'm going to be selfish here... I also like Hyorin, Ailee, HyunA, and Niel; I like their overall stage manners and style. Among groups, I like EXO the most~!"
8. You're a huge hit wherever you perform live and you recently even performed in Macau and Indonesia. Is there a city/country where you would like to perform next in the future?
MiU: "I want to go any country where there's a Waveya fan, even if there's just one. There have been a lot of comments from Brazilian fans asking us to come over so... I'll answer with Brazil! ^_^"
Ari: "MiU and I just returned from Indonesia. It was our first time going to Indonesia to perform but we were so surprised. There were a lot of people who shouted loudly, 'Waveya!' together, who recognized us, and who gave us love. I was really grateful; I want to go again."
Performing EXO's "Growl" in Indonesia:
9. Ever since your 2011 YouTube debut, you continue to grow as a channel, even branching off to your new channel 'AriMiULoveLoveCat' for your rescued kittens! Can you tell us more about it?
Ari: "Last May, we rescued these kittens who were abandoned on the streets; now we are raising three cats. This is our first time raising cats. MiU and I rescued these newborn kittens that were around two days old; for one month, we took care of them with only 1-2 hours of sleep.... Somewhere along the line, we came to love these babies.... Because we didn't want to keep these beautiful babies to ourselves and wanted to share their faces with our fans, we made the channel AriMiuLoveLoveCat. Before we knew it, we gained over 10,000 subscribers [on the new channel]. The babies, who were smaller than the palms of our hands, are now really big. You will probably be surprised, hehe."
10. What more can fans expect from you in 2015?
MiU: "Currently because it's only Ari and MiU, we're holding a member audition. We plan on actively showing cooler and sexier original choreography as well as K-Pop dance covers. We are working hard to upgrade our choreography and visuals as well as putting in effort to make dancing more fun to learn through our tutorial videos! We plan on updating fans soon."
Ari: "I've been resting for the past two months due to an ankle injury; although I haven't fully recovered, I've gained strength thanks to MiU and the fans who cheered me on a lot. We are preparing a surprising concept for an original choreography in 2015. We want to show it quickly. We believe fans will like it. We ask that in the future you also maintain a lot of interest and love for Ari and MiU ^^."
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