CRAVITY racing with dreams “Someday, like Seventeen seniors…” [Interview+]

Group CRAVITY returned with refreshing youthful energy. Those who debuted during the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) period and are continuing to be active on the world stage with the end of the pandemic have appeared even more energetic. I could feel the strong confidence in his voice when he said, “I hope there is a representative song that immediately comes to mind when we think of our team.”

Cravity (Serim, Allen, Jungmo, Woobin, Wonjin, Minhee, Hyungjun, Taeyoung, Seongmin) will release their sixth mini album ‘SUN SEEKER’ at 6 PM on the 11th.

A comeback after about 6 months. In a recent interview, Seongmin expressed his thoughts, “This time, we are making a special comeback with two title songs. I think we will be able to show a variety of stages, and I am curious about the fans’ reactions.”

Cravity, who is putting a lot of effort into the album’s narrative, conveyed the message that ‘each piece comes together to achieve empathy’ through their previous work ‘Master: Peace’, and went further to achieve their dreams by finding the strength and individuality that only they can have. The story shows the overflowing energy of youth.

Hyeongjun said, “‘Sun Seeker’ means someone who chases the sun. The sun can be said to be our goal. If we found our goal in ‘Master: Peace’ before, this time we will focus on the goals of our fans. “I have a deep intention to find it together,” he explained.

Woobin continued, “Don’t each individual have their own goals? It means, ‘We will always be by your side when you work hard at certain things in life.’ We will help each person achieve their goals and provide strength. “It’s an album that contains the message that I want to do it,” he added.

The title songs are ‘Ready or Not’ and the pre-released ‘Cheese’. In ‘Ready or Not’, Cravity expresses the infinite love of youth that they want to achieve by throwing everything in an overwhelming performance. With ‘Cheese’, the song sings about Cravity’s special, pleasant day, maximizing the bright and refreshing mood.

Seongmin said, “We always chose one song as the title song and focused on performing on stage, but this time we wanted to promote our album to fans in a slightly different direction.” He added, “We can draw interest in us by showing the pre-released song first.” “I thought there would be, and the feel of the two titles is different. I think the things that can be shown are also different,” he said.

He continued, “In ‘Cheese’, we tried to show a slightly more refreshing and cool atmosphere. The performance we prepared also focused on ‘chemistry’ that would show us playing among ourselves. For ‘Ready or Not’, we modified the point choreography several times. Strong performance. “I will be able to show you well,” he added.

Cravity tried many new things for this comeback. Not only the double title song but also the music video was filmed overseas for the first time. Wonjin said, “We filmed in LA, and the atmosphere was great. It felt like we were going out to have fun. I think we came out with a more comfortable and fun music video thanks to that.”

Allen, whose hometown is LA, laughed and said, “It was a new feeling. My mom came to the filming set, and I was embarrassed to show her how I was working, but I was also very excited and happy because I thought it would remain as a good memory.”At the same time, he said, “She told me that she was very proud and proud of her mother as she watched her struggle with all the members.”

As Cravity has earned the title ‘Performance’ for their energetic performances since their debut, their voices explaining the performance were powerful. Minhee emphasized, “We do a lot of songs with a very refreshing concept, but refreshing doesn’t mean the performance is easy to watch. We also prepare strong performances. There is a lot to see in this performance as well.”

Taeyoung said, “The performance is very flashy, but I added dance elements that are popular in foreign countries as a highlight to make it a little more popular and so that fans can follow along. I carefully predict that many people will follow along while it is powerful.”

As seniors with whom he would like to take on the challenge, he chose actor Lee Kwang-soo, singer K.Will, and Monsta X’s Shownu & Hyungwon, who are seniors in the same company. Allen is “my longtime role model,”she said, referring to SHINee’s Key, who is making a comeback on the same day.

Above all, it was CRAVITY that was expected to show remarkable growth. They debuted during the COVID-19 period and were unable to engage in face-to-face activities. They are holding their first world tour since their debut, ‘2023 Cravity’s First World Tour Masterpiece’, and are touring six cities in the Americas and throughout Asia.

Hyeongjun said, “There is a lot of acting involved in this title song. I think facial expressions and gestures are the points to focus on, but during the world tour, I gained more freedom and the facial expressions and gestures I can show to my fans have increased.”

Wonjin also expressed satisfaction, saying, “By experiencing many countries and learning about their cultures, we learned about atmospheres we didn’t know about. We were able to express the feelings and atmospheres we felt for the first time through songs that fit better. It was good in that respect.”

The members expressed their wish, “I don’t think there is yet a representative song that comes to mind when thinking about Cravity. I hope we work a little harder and create a representative song that immediately comes to mind when thinking about our team.”In addition, he raised expectations by saying, “We think we are a ‘delicious restaurant with b-side songs,’” and “I think we will be able to show a variety of sides through b-side songs.”

He also expressed his desire to increase participation in the song. Serim said, “I have been involved in writing lyrics with Allen until now, and I want to participate in composing as well,” and Woobin said, “Thankfully, I am consistently putting about three self-composed songs on Cravity albums, and I have a big desire to produce the entire album like Woozi of Seventeen.” “I have a goal,” he said.

Kim Soo-young, Hankyung.com reporter swimmingk@hankyung.com

▶ Check out everything about classics and art at ‘Arte’
▶ Subscribe to Korea Economic Daily, Mobile Hankyung, and WSJ