Photo credit of ONF, WM Entertainment
Firstly, shout out to the Platform PR team (Korean heart signs to you, Angela!) for getting us this interview with one of K-pop’s rising acts ONF. Secondly, congratulations to the boys of ONF for their latest album “City of ONF” — a sleekly repackaging of 11 tracks from ONF: MY NAME and three additional songs. Whatever you might feel or idealise about the messaging, moves or music of K-pop itself, “City of ONF” is one hell of a banger.
Here, the six members — Hyojin, E-Tion, MK, J-US, Wyatt and U — take us through what’s been going on in their own superstar led lives.
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Hello boys, for anybody unfamiliar with ONF (how dare they!), please introduce yourself. Or even better, let us know your nickname!
Hyojin: Hello! I’m the leader and main vocalist of the ON team of ONF!
E-Tion: I’m ONF’s Lee Changyoon, the sensation, E-Tion. I’m the vocalist of the group.
J-Us: Hello, I’m J-Us, the leader of the OFF team of ONF.
Wyatt: Hello, I’m Wyatt, the main rapper of ONF, aka the brave guy.
MK: Hello, I’m MK, the lemon voice of ONF. I’m the vocalist of the group.
U: Hello, I’m U, the performer and the youngest member of the group. Nice to meet you.
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What do each of you enjoy doing in your free time?
Hyojin: I think I watch a lot of TV dramas. Sometimes, I enjoy playing games.
E-Tion: I read books and exercise.
J-Us: I watch TV drama, read books, or go for a walk on fine days.
Wyatt: I usually work on making music. I like making music so I would normally write lyrics or make beats.
MK: Usually, I enjoy playing computer games!
U: I search for music to listen to and these days, I watch TV series or movies on my iPad in our dorm.
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Which was your favourite track to perform on Road to Kingdom and why?
Hyojin: It’s “We Must Love”. First of all, two of my favourite songs were arranged into one and the dreamlike version really captured my ears and my heart. I think our performance also showed each of our member’s charm really well.
E-Tion: For me, “It’s Raining”. I think we tried to lay down the burden and enjoyed ourselves on stage. It was the song winning first place and it received a lot of attention and love. So, it’s the most memorable track.
J-Us: It’s “We Must Love”. It was a mash-up with the track “Moscow Moscow” and the story that we wanted to tell was well expressed in this song. Also, I think the lyrics and stage performance went well together. I felt good about the result of the performance which was well portrayed after putting in a lot of time thinking about how to show and direct the stage performance. It was more meaningful while preparing for the performance with YooA from Oh My Girl.
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Tell us the story behind the new song, “Ugly Dance”.
Hyojin: We filmed the music video for our new song “Ugly Dance” using a camera called Robot Arm. I think the amazing camera movements made the choreography of “Ugly Dance” even cooler. This will probably be the most difficult choreography of all the ONF songs.
E-Tion: The choreography of this song is intense. We all danced endlessly for 15 hours on our feet except for our mealtime. I remember for the first time while shooting the music video, I dropped down on the floor as my knees gave out.
MK: I remember changing my hair colour early in the morning the day before the music video shoot. I dyed my hair ash gray before and changed it again to a mix of black and green the previous day.
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Congrats on winning on The Show, how does it feel to each of you?
Hyojin: We won this award thanks to our fan club FUSE. Thank you for always supporting us by our side and giving us strength. I want to repay them by working harder to make them happy every day. Love you, Fuse!
J-Us: The support from many people made it possible for us to win first place. We wish to continue to repay them with greater songs and performances. I want to make FUSE proud and always do our best to give our fans strength.
Wyatt: I want to thank everyone who supported us to win first place. I think it’s all due to FUSE that we were able to win. It’s still unbelievable. It was an achievement with four years of our debut so it will be memorable for many years to come.
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Can you pick one track from City of ONF as your favourite? And why?
Hyojin: It’s “The Dreamer”. I was shocked when I first listened to the song. It feels like the end of the song is connected to a song called ‘The Realist’ and I find this part very attractive.
E-Tion: My favourite track is “Trip Advisor”. It’s a perfect song in the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and I hope it will end soon. So, it is my favourite.
J-Us: It’s “On-You”. I miss seeing my fans in person more and more every time we come back. As we can’t meet right now, it feels really nice to listen to the song where I can tell how I feel in a positive way and that I’m always by their side.
Wyatt: ‘The Dreamer’ is one of my favourite tracks. The song continues from “The Realist” and I think the message of the song can also bring hope and freshness to many people so I recommend it.
MK: “Light’s on” is a song that I’m most attached to. As you listen to the song, you can see our stories unfold at the same time.
U: It’s “My Genesis”. I’ve been working out lately and the song gives me energy when I work out listening to it. I really like the overall melody and flow of the song so I often listen to it..
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Which then of the three new tracks is your favourite and why?
Hyojin: I’ll choose “Ugly Dance”. You can check out our new sides you haven’t seen before and the song gives off different energy from the title track of our full album, beautiful beautiful.
E-Tion: “The Dreamer” is my favourite. I like the positive energy from the lyrics.
J-Us: I also like “The Dreamer”. It feels like it’s linked to “The Realist” in the album “My Name”. so it feels special among the tracks and I like the hopeful vibe of reaching your dream.
MK: I like all of our songs. But if I have to choose just one, it will be “My Genesis (Übermensch)”. It’s a multi-genre song colourfully crafted with Rock and Jazz in one. I chose this song because it shows a new vibe of ONF music.
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If you could, tell us a funny story you have about a member from the band.
Hyojin: When I’m determined to go on a diet, other members will always feed me with something tasty or order in. That’s why I often failed my diet!
E-Tion: I remember we promised to practice our choreography for ‘Ugly Dance’ three times nonstop to build up our physical strength. But after two times, we all said in unison, “This is it for today’s practice.”
J-Us: We tell each other that we will go on a diet when we’re not promoting. But when someone suggests eating chicken after practice, we deny it at first but eventually, we make a compromise and eat it together.
Wyatt: Our youngest member U became more playful so other members tease him a lot and love him more. Sometimes you can see his face is full of mischievous expressions when he’s playing around.
MK: E-Tion once said something funny to boost our energy before singing ‘Ugly Dance.’ It was so ridiculous that we laughed.
U: While waiting for the Robot Arm to be set up during the ‘Ugly Dance’ music video shooting, we played a ‘three-letter game.’ We had a lot of fun and it made the time enjoyable throughout the set.
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Lastly, any words for members of FUSE?
Hyojin: Thank you FUSE for always giving us great strength. Although we can’t meet in person, I hope this time will pass quickly so that we can have a good time together. I love you!
E-Tion: Thank you always! I will make you feel proud and not regret being with us.
J-Us: Like the title ‘Ugly Dance’ I hope the song will make all the FUSE members who listen to this song enjoy and want to jump up and dance!
Wyatt: We exist because of FUSE. I love you all so much and thank you for always being with us! Love you.
MK: FUSE, you always support us and care for us! We will work harder to be the source of strength to you all. Love you.
U: FUSE, you always support us by our side. There’s less opportunity to meet you in person so we’re sad and we miss you. But the day will come when we can see each other and perform together. So let’s stay healthy and cheerful. We’ll always do our best to be your strength so please look forward to us and keep watching out for us! I love you!
Once you’re done with this story about ONF and their take on their latest album “City of ONF”, click here to catch up with our April 2021 issue!
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