[INTERVIEW] ‘FIRST CLASS’ Debut? ‘SURE THING’! 82MAJOR Talks Debut Preparations and More!

The Seoul Story had the opportunity to sit down with 82MAJOR who recently debuted with their first single, ON! Members Nam Seong Mo, Park Seok Joon, Yoon Ye Chan, Cho Seong Il, Hwang Seong Bin, and Kim Do Gyun talk in length about their debut preparations, long-term goals as a group, as well as their love for BTS, among others.

Q: What attracted you to have music as your career and what made you decide to be an idol?

Ye Chan: I don’t know if you guys know, but my brother is a Korean idol (P1Harmony Keeho), and my family has a very long and extensive line of musicians. My mom was a pianist and she worked at YG, and my uncle majored with a guitar, while my other uncle majored with drums. Our whole family has worked in the music industry, so I’ve always been surrounded by music. I feel like I was naturally compelled to do this.
Seong Il: As I was thinking about what career path I should take, I thought about how I loved singing and dancing. I decided to audition and eventually landed a spot in the company, leading me to debut as an idol.
Seong Bin: When I was 16, I was mesmerised by Post Malone‘s stages, which eventually inspired me to take the path of an idol. I found solace in his music and it inspired me to pursue a path as an artist. I was deeply moved and wished to provide that comfort to others as well.

Q: On your journey to debut, did anything funny or memorable happen that you will remember forever?

Ye Chan: During our Mnet’s Eightest reality show filming, there was a part where I yelled Do Gyun’s name during the end, and our fans really liked that part. I feel like that will be one of the memories for our OG fans that will go for a while.
Seong Il: During the filming of the music video for FIRST CLASS, the weather started out great but took a turn with sudden rain in the evening. We were concerned about continuing the shoot, but the director proposed capturing the current atmosphere, so we ended up filming the music video in the rain. The director did a great job in bringing out the vibe even when it was raining, and I think it came out better than what was originally intended.

Q: What emotions and experiences stand out from the preparations leading up to the debut?

Seok Joon: Until about five days prior to our debut, it didn’t feel like I was going to debut at all. I kept asking myself, “Am I really going to debut?” I was somewhat nervous, but I think the uncertainty played a role in that feeling. During the debut showcase, the presence of all the people in front of me washed away any nerves I had.
Seong Il: Listening to the same song repeatedly can lead to fatigue, but as we prepared for our debut and kept listening to what our members had created, I never grew tired of it. The song sounded great, which boosted my confidence and helped to calm me down.

Q: Ye Chan, did your older brother give you any advice before the debut?

Ye Chan: He never really gave advice before I debuted unless I asked. However, I feel like the time where he gave me the most advice was after I debuted. I feel like after I debuted, he would tell me a bunch of things because he didn’t have anybody to tell him when he debuted.

Q: After your debut, what has changed in your life personally?

Seong Mo: The immense love and support I received during this promotion period were completely new to me. Over the three weeks, I had the pleasure of meeting so many incredible people, making it an immensely interesting and enjoyable experience.
Seok Joon: To me, it is my first time to receive so many letters.
Ye Chan: I don’t know if you know this, but being in a dance practice room for 12 hours a day kind of makes a person go crazy. So, when we’re out of the room and meeting our fans, I feel like life feels so much fun.

Q: What is one thing that is very different between being a trainee and a rookie idol?

Seong Il: I think our daily schedule changed a lot. Before as trainees, we would always practice here. Now that we’ve made our debut, we tend to practice elsewhere. Also, we get more time to interact with our fans, which I find to be great.
Seok Joon: For me, when I was a trainee, I did not have the confidence that I will debut for sure. Now that we’ve made our debut, I want to show a better side of us, and it motivates me to do well during practice sessions as well as lyrics writing.
Do Gyun: I think I was able to gain new experiences, and it allowed us to come together more as a team and improve our teamwork.

Q: What is something that you really look forward to now that you’ve debuted?

Ye Chan: It has to be the performances and also writing songs. Performing in front of other people too.
Seok Joon: When our debut was confirmed as we received the songs for the album, I really looked forward to finding out the songs that we will get to perform.
Seong Bin: I’m really excited for getting the opportunity to collaborate with other artists.

Q: As rookies, who are some senior artists in the industry that inspire you? Is there anyone that you’d like to collaborate with?

Seong Il: While performing on music shows, we met a member from ONF who was very kind to us. He encouraged us to address him as hyung (brother), which boosted our confidence and helped ease our nerves.
Ye Chan: Personally, I get a lot of inspiration from NCT. It’s just because I really love their style and their creative process, especially because Taeyong sunbaenim makes his own dances as well and he makes his own raps and he produces as well, so that’s what I’m trying to do. Seeing him and Mark sunbaenim perform, I was like “I want to be him!”.
Ye Chan: In terms of collaboration, there’s a lot of rookie idols like us that are really, really good at rap. Personally, I just want to all come into a room and just rap together, and make music together. I just feel like that would be sick.

Q: What were some of the factors that motivated you individually to make a strong debut?

Seong Bin: For our debut showcase, we aimed to stand out from other idol groups by presenting the raps we’d written. It was our chance to showcase the distinctive colors and unique style of 82MAJOR to our fans.

Q: What strengths do you think each member brings to the group?

Ye Chan: Our maknae (youngest member) Do Gyun, he’s our singer, so he brings everything that us rappers can’t bring to the table, so he’s an essential member. Everybody’s an essential member. Our tall and beautiful looking member here, Seok Joon has a deeper voice than all of us, so we need him as the opposite ends of the spectrum. We have Seong Il here, the person that focuses on the dance the most, and who takes the lead whenever we have dance practice. Seong Bin, he’s a rapper and is probably the only person that spends a lot of time making music and writing lyrics (among us), so when we need something special that relates to music, we go to him. Seong Mo is also a rapper. He writes music and lyrics and songs, but he has a wide variety of music knowledge, so when we have any genre that we don’t know, we will check with him and most of the time he will know the genre. For me, I guess you can see me as an all-rounder. I do basically everything that everybody else does, just on a lower scale I’d say.

Q: What is a memorable moment from recording your debut single album?

Seong Il: We had to film a teaser for our debut. When Seok Joon finished his scene, there was a bit of narcissistic moment where he said “I did great”. The way he said it was very funny so that was the most memorable moment.
Ye Chan: For SURE THING, I actually only had a couple of days to practice it, so during those couple of days, I was practicing with our teacher Roydo during the recording session to figure out how to do this. Fortunately, it came out really well. He knew what I was good at and what I was bad at so he tried to avoid what I was bad at and tried to show what I was good at in the song.

Q: Do you have any particular goals for this debut single? 

Seong Il: Even though we just made our debut, it is my goal to receive the Rookie of the Year award. It is the biggest goal that we have. After receiving the Rookie of the Year award, we will do our best to receive the grand award through our next album.
Seong Mo: I really want to be first place on a music show.
Seok Joon: We aim to showcase our group’s incredible presence to the public. With tracks like FIRST CLASS and SURE THING offering different vibes, our goal is to excel in expressing those diverse vibes through facial expressions and gestures, highlighting our capability to pull off such different concepts.

Q: What are the group’s plan in participating in the creation of the songs?

Seong Bin: We want to create music that can provide comfort to many people.
Ye Chan: I want to show a more unique side of us, so obviously SURE THING and FIRST CLASS they’re also like things that we can do, but they’re not uniquely for us, and it’s not like uniquely us as well, so I want to be able to show that “oh, 82MAJOR makes this type of music and they specialise in this and that” you know, I really wanna show people that as an artist.
Seok Joon: Also, I want to create a song that can land on the Billboards chart someday.
Seong Il: And I want to go to the Grammy Awards.

Q: Some of you have contributed to the song writing process for this album. Can you offer some insights to the song writing process and the messages that you wanted to convey through the lyrics?

Seong Mo: When I first heard the melody of SURE THING, it brought a positive, hopeful feeling. It inspired me to write lyrics as if directly communicating with our fans. Crafting these lyrics, a lot of beautiful words came to mind. In a section mentioning “a small firefly,” I remembered being a child and witnessing a firefly, amazed at how something so small could emit such a bright light. I aimed to be a similar source of light, even if small, for our fans. That’s how the lyrics came together.
Seong Bin: While creating FIRST CLASS, my focus was on the aspiration for 82MAJOR to reach a first-class status in the future. I aimed to express this ambition through the song’s lyrics.
Ye Chan: While I was working on FIRST CLASS with Seong Mo and Seong Bin, I just feel like it was very natural for us because at the same time we’re very confident in our writing skills and rapping skills as well, so when it came down to writing and being like “oh, like we’re first class”, and “this is who we are and we are good at what we do”, I feel like it was very very easy for us to write the lyrics that match the song.

Q: If each member can choose a song that represents their personality, which would it be and why?

Seong Il: For me, SURE THING because it resonates with my bright and optimistic image, more so than a strong or intense vibe. So I think the vibe from the track resembles myself more.
Seong Mo: It is FIRST CLASS for me because I’m an easy-going and passionate person.
Ye Chan: For me, it has to be FIRST CLASS. I’m a very bubbly person and a very outgoing and loud person as well, but at the same time, when it comes down to work and doing what I love to do, I’m very serious about it. I’m a workaholic per se, so I feel like my personality matches more with FIRST CLASS than it does with SURE THING because at the end of the day, I’m a very serious person, and I’m a professional with my profession.
Seok Joon: I find that both songs reflect different facets of my personality. When I’m cheerful and smiling, SURE THING captures that upbeat and cute energy. On the other hand, when I’m in a more laid-back or cool state, FIRST CLASS embodies that heavy, charismatic vibe.

Q: Your first album has a concept of traveling. Which countries would you like to visit?

Seok Joon: I want to go to every country in the world.
Do Gyun: Me too. Every country!
Seong Il: We will go anywhere in the world that invites us.
Do Gyun: I want to go to every country.
Ye Chan: I really want to go to Europe to places such as Greece, Czech (Republic), Norway, France, United Kingdom. I’m born and raised in North America so I’ve basically seen everything and done everything there, and I currently live in Asia (South Korea) right now, so the only places I haven’t gone to are Oceania and Europe, so I either wanna go to Australia or Europe.

Q: Out of the two songs in your album, which one was the most difficult to do?

Seong Il: The choreography for FIRST CLASS required more power and speed than SURE THING. Also, we had to sing live while dancing to a very rigorous choreography, which made FIRST CLASS more difficult than SURE THING.
Do Gyun: However, the difficulty opens up more chances to showcase our capabilities to the fans.
Ye Chan: The one characteristic about FIRST CLASS is that there’s no break time in between dance moves, so usually with dances even if it’s like a really hard dance, there’s like a bridge part where it’s very very calm and you’re not moving much, but for FIRST CLASS, there’s not really any places to breathe. After we finish (performing) we’re panting and we (feel like) we’re about to die.

Q: Can you talk about the experience of writing lyrics and what message you hope fans take away from your songs?

Ye Chan: For my lyrics in FIRST CLASS, it’s:

떠오르는 별 at the night sky

No parachute when I skydive

두려움을 느낄 수 없어 난

We got the rhythm, baby, I’m fly

Ye Chan: Basically, how I interpret my lyrics is that “떠오르는 별” means I’m a rising star, and “No parachute when I skydive” means I’m just fearless. And because I’m a rising star, I’m gonna go and do whatever I can, and I’m gonna grasp opportunities that are right in front of me. So basically, this is the start, and we’re going to start rising, show you how fearless we are, and how strong we’re going to come out onto the stage.
Seong Bin: As I penned the lyrics for SURE THING, I focused on delivering our sincere feelings to our fans. I wrote with confidence, expressing the things we wanted to convey to them.
Seong Mo: Also, I imagined myself talking directly to our fans as I wrote the lyrics to SURE THING. For the song, FIRST CLASS, I focused on delivering our passion and our confidence in the lyrics, talking about how eager we were to perform on stage.

Q: Can you break down the meaning behind the lyrics from FIRST CLASS? (“As soon as I appear, I become your top star. Try laughing at me, that’s the fun part because I am already at a different height (…)“).

Seong Mo: This part talks about our overflowing confidence, and it was a witty way of expressing that into our lyrics.

Q: What is something that happened recently that made you feel like you are first class?

Seong Bin: This very moment. It is a great honor to be interviewed by so many reporters.
Seok Joon: During our debut showcase, I did not think that all seats would be occupied. Fortunately and to our surprise, all the seats were filled so that was when I felt like I’m first class.
Ye Chan: For me, it was probably during our last broadcast for FIRST CLASS. It’s because a lot of our fans came. Through our ears, you usually cannot hear anything, but you can hear the fan chants and hear everybody screaming our name. To me I just felt “first class” at that time. I just felt really good.

Q: Can you please share with me some of your musical inspirations, and explain how they influenced you as artists?

Seong Il: I’ve drawn inspiration from JUNGKOOK, who’s an exceptional vocalist, rapper, and dancer. I’m inspired by his versatility and aim to be an all-rounder, just like him.
Seong Mo: BTS is a significant inspiration for me, not only musically but in how they embrace cultural elements in their music, showcasing Korean culture to the world. They’ve left a strong impression on me, and I aspire to become an artist like them.
Ye Chan: We are all BTS fanboys.
Ye Chan: Personally, the genres that I listen to are very versatile, sometimes I’ll listen to Taylor Swift, Bryson Tiller, The Weekend, Erykah Badu and Aaliyah. I also listen to country music, and psychedelic rock. It’s like a wide spectrum of music, so whenever I make music or whenever I feel inspiration is usually when I’m listening to something new. So I just try my best to replicate that kind of feeling I felt when listening to the music and those genres.

Q: Can you share with us one hidden skill of yours that fans doesn’t know yet?

Seong Mo: I actually auditioned for this company as a singer. So I can also sing. Please look forward to it!
Seok Joon: Though I’m a rapper, I think I’m good at coming up with top lines. I’m also quite flexible.
Ye Chan: I think my special talent would be knowing how to snowboard and ski.
Seong Il: I hit high notes pretty well. I also was a badminton athlete up till high school.

Q: What was your first impression of each other?

Seong Bin: When I first saw Seong Il, it was as if he was a foreigner. 
Do Gyun: When I first met Seok Joon, he wore thick glasses due to his poor eyesight. Later, at the dorm, seeing him after showering without his glasses was surprising – he looked quite different!
Seok Joon: Seong Mo tends to be more outgoing when he’s familiar with people. Initially, he was quite reserved and shy when we first met, as we weren’t very close at the time. Now, he is a very funny person. He makes a lot of funny jokes.
Seong Il: Around the members, Seong Mo is the most outgoing and active person. But when he encounters someone for the first time, he becomes incredibly shy.
Ye Chan: It’s crazy how nobody’s talking about me.
Seok Joon: Ye Chan‘s always been the funny one, now and back then. 
Do Gyun: And he is really kind.
Seong Bin: He is really cool as well.
Do Gyun: He is just too sweet!
Ye Chan: You all are too late.

Q: What’s one song that you want to do either a vocal or a dance cover in the future?

Do Gyun: I want to cover the song, Love Again by BAEKHYUN who is my role model. I love you, sunbaenim!
Seok Joon: I would love to collaborate with artists working in other fields, such as singers and dancers, that are not necessarily idols.
Seong Il: I would love to collaborate with JUNGKOOK, who is my role model since I was young. He recently released a new song, and I’d like to cover that.

Q: Is there a skill that you want to learn?

Seok Joon: While I’m primarily a rapper, I also enjoy singing and would like to develop my vocal skills. I handle lower pitches, but I’m eager to explore higher notes and expand my abilities in singing.
Seong Il: I want to learn how to play musical instruments. Currently, I compose while listening to beats, but I believe integrating instruments into my music creation process will be a novel approach and it will allow new inspirations. 
Ye Chan: I produce, so obviously I know how to do the basic stuffs, but I also want to explore audio engineering, the special stuffs. Automation, mix mastering, all the cool details in beatmaking.

Q: What does a major global presence look like to you?

Seong Il: Being a “major” for me means worldwide recognition and fame. It’s about being so well-known that when asked, people on the street could easily respond, “Yes, they’re 82MAJOR!” Plus, it’s about being a group that inspires others.
Do Gyun: “Major” to me means being a group that brings comfort to people, whether they’re sad or happy. It’s about being a constant presence, providing support in their daily lives.
Seong Mo: Being “major” also means being a source of learning and a positive influence for others.
Ye Chan: For me, “major” probably means selling out arenas and touring the world.

Q: Do Gyun, as the maknae (youngest member), which of the members do you find comfortable to talk to and hang out well with you?

Do Gyun: They are all like actual brothers to me, so I’m comfortable around all of them.

Q: What inspired you to name your group after South Korea’s country code, 82?

Seong Il: We decided on the name together with the CEO of the company. As K-pop comes from Korea, we pondered over elements representing the country. That’s when the idea of using the country code came up; the number 82 instantaneously makes you think of Korea.

Q: If you had to choose 3 words to describe 82MAJOR, who is listening to your music for the first time?

Seong Bin: Powerful, energetic, and amazing. 
Do Gyun: Confidence.
Seok Joon: O.M.G.
Ye Chan: Definitely confidence.

Q: What are 82MAJOR’s charming points that international fans can focus on in order for you to become major?

Ye Chan: Our faces. (laughs) Our music colours. We make music for everybody to enjoy and to love. We make different types of music, that is why we have SURE THING and FIRST CLASS which are two different vibes, so if you don’t like SURE THING’s vibe, then you’re going to like FIRST CLASS. 
Seok Joon: Our fan service. (ways to show love to fans).
Seong Il: Performance.

Q: Looking at your current life, to what extent do you think your surroundings shaped you, creatively speaking, and in what ways?

Seong Il: The staff’s support truly mattered. When we felt our energy was too low or felt too tired, their encouragement—saying, “Let’s do this!”—helped us rekindle our spirits and push forward.
Ye Chan: In addition to that, when we were at music shows, they always talked about what we did good and what we can improve on. I feel like that really helped us with our confidence because on the flip side, if they talked about what we did wrong and what we did bad, I feel like we’d lose a lot of confidence and we’ll not perform as good. I feel like that helped a lot with our nervousness and our confidence.

Q: Where do you see yourselves five years from now in the music business?

Ye Chan: Making hella good music. 
Do Gyun: I think we will live up to our name.

Q: What are your long-term goals as a group?

Seong Bin: With all six of us in the group, I want to leave a lasting impression that 82MAJOR is a cool group that others aspire to become.
Ye Chan: I want to step away from receiving demos from other producers and possibly produce a full album ourselves. Everybody can write songs, they can write melodies, they can topline. We have two producers, a third one (Seong Mo) on the way, so I don’t know, hope we can be making our album soon.  Hopefully in the future.
Do Gyun: Also, we want to create music that is distinctly our own color and present it to the public.

Q: What’s in store for 82MAJOR in 2024?

Seong Il: We’re still in the planning stages, but for 2024, we anticipate launching a new album and actively promoting it. With a solid fanbase, we’re aiming to expand our audience, gaining more fans who’ll hopefully offer their love and support. And for sure, we’re gearing up to deliver an even more engaging performance!
Do Gyun: We will try to go see our international fans in person!

Q: Do you have a message that you want to leave for your fans?

Seong Bin: Thank you so much for supporting us. You are the reason for our existence. We love you!
Ye Chan: I think all of us are in the same mind and heart. To our foreign fans, thank you very much. We read all of your comments, and watched all of the TikTok videos that you guys posted. Don’t feel left out! We love you guys too!
Seok Joon: To our international fans, I hope to see you in person someday through a tour. We will work our best and try to make that happen.

About 82MAJOR

82MAJOR is a six-member South Korean boy group under GREAT M Entertainment. The members include Nam Seong Mo, Park Seok Joon, Yoon Ye Chan, Cho Seong Il, Hwang Seong Bin, and Kim Do Gyun. Their name was inspired by South Korea’s country code, 82, and the group’s aspirations to introduce a new direction to K-pop and establish themselves as a major presence globally.

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Thanks to Great M Entertainment and 82MAJOR for the interview opportunity!

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