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SEOUL, March 23 (Yonhap) -- Last year was probably one of the busiest years for Ateez, a rising fourth-generation K-pop group. The octet performed in front of 430,000 fans in the past one year and two months during its two "The Fellowship" world tours in North America, Europe and Asia.

"It was good to show various performances to fans, whom we had not seen for a long time, and we were able to better understand their needs regarding our future path or what kind of songs they want to hear more," team leader Hongjoong said during a group media interview at a Seoul cafe Wednesday.

He added he could see in person fans' preferences in the band's songs are all different depending on their regions.

Member San chimed in, saying, "I realized this is what should be expected from the interaction between fans and artists."

The two members singled out Paris as the most memorable stop of the tours.

Fans in Paris had a special way to welcome the group, which was to stamp their feet, during its first world tour in 2019.

"I slightly expected the same thing when we went there again this time, and it did happen. Since there were more spectators, I found the energy coming from the cheering very fresh and marvelous," Hongjoong said.

Wooyoung, a main dancer of the team, chose Belgium and Denmark because it was personally his first time to be there, and people cheered and sang along more often and more loudly.

The band now feels they have grown thanks to the recent tours, in particular in terms of good teamwork as well as performance and self-management skills.

Ateez debuted in October 2018 with its first EP, "Treasure Ep. 1: All to Zero," and has since released such hits as "Wave," "Wonderland," "Deja vu," "The Real" and "Guerrilla."

The group entered the Billboard 200 main albums chart for the first time at No. 42 in 2021 with its seventh EP, "Zero: Fever Part. 3." In 2022, the band reached No. 3 on the chart with its eighth EP, "The World Ep. 1: Movement." It became the band's first album to sell more than 1 million copies.

In order to present more music and performances with most pandemic restrictions lifted, 2023 will be a very important year for the group, Hongjoong said. Another reason he cited was that the band is now in the fifth year of its career, sitting in the middle point between being a rookie and a veteran.

Known for its intense and fierce music and performances, the group is now getting increasingly popular in South Korea following the latest hit, "Guerrilla," although the size of its domestic fandom still doesn't match that out of the country.

Asked whether it has any intention to veer off course to win more public appeal, Hongjoong confided: "Actually, we also have thought about that for a long time. Everyone would agree that having at least one hit song is good for artists, but that's not something one can achieve when they want."

He said the group will continue to keep from pursuing any change to appeal to broader music fans.

"However, we want to continue to produce music that more people can relate to within our framework," he added.

Disclaimer: This article belongs to Yonhap News Agency. Find the original source here. 31 May, 2018.

Photo: topstarnews

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) -- HYUKOH, one of the hottest indie rock bands in South Korea, released a new record on Thursday featuring themes that the quartet has never drawn on before: love and happiness.

The new EP, "24: How to find true love and happiness," released at 6 p.m., is a compilation of six soft rock music pieces with lyrics written in English, except for one song.

The title track -- "Love Ya!" -- composed and written by the band's point man Oh Hyuk, is a tribute to lovers, a theme the four taciturn members have not explored since the band's debut in 2014.

"It's our first song about lovers. I wrote the song with a message that we extend our support for all the lovers in the world," Oh said in a press conference ahead of the planned record release.

The lyrics of the lead song and four other tracks including "Graduation" and "Gang Gang Schiele" were written in English by the 25-year-old Oh, who spent most of his boyhood in China.

It's primarily due to the feeling of "diction" that he chose English as the dominating language for the new record, according to him.

Oh wrote all six songs, with the band's guitarist Lim Hyun-jae collaborating on the composition of two of the songs.

"The six tracks all feature the key words I came up with while thinking about how I could find true love and happiness," Oh said.

The fifth track, "Gang Gang Schiele," written in Berlin amid the whirlwind of inter-Korean reconciliation earlier in the year, sends out the band's message of hope: "We wish reunification (of the two Koreas) would come quickly. We felt that we needed to make a heartfelt apology to an old friend."

British visual artists Mark and Frank Lebon, who are also father and son, each filmed a music video for the album, for the title track as well as the only Korean song "Sky World."

The new record is a continuation of HYUKOH's signature poetic lyrics and calming melodies and voices that characterized the band's previous studio album and two other EPs and singles. But the new record is lighter in theme and tone compared to the previous ones.

"In departure from the past gloominess, we wanted do something new this time with our new album," Oh said.