The triumphant boyband WEi (@wei__official) has shown an interest in forging new K-pop classics for more than two years, but the unbridled talent and inviting personalities attached to its six irreplaceable members are about as timeless as it gets. And with WEi’s striking new EP Love Pt. 2: Passion, their desires, legacy, and increasing success are all perfectly aligning to construct what anyone would define as a game-changing moment in an already exceptional artistic existence.
Of course, individually speaking, the men of WEi (consisting of DAE HYEON, DONG HAN, YONG HA, YO HAN, SEOK HWA, and JUN SEO) have already shown off highly coveted performance-based skills prior to WEi through televised competition programs and previous interpersonal dynamics that eventually led to their placement in this rather crafty division of artists. Though, as a freshly unified force, these six faces behind WEi have regularly utilized their reliable platform to not only spotlight their immaculate gifts – but to naturally grow into a brotherhood that’s swiftly maturing right before our eyes.
In the past, listeners have already developed quite the appetite for their faultless pop music selections like the group’s 2020 debut track “TWILIGHT,” the nostalgic boyband sounds of “BYE BYE BYE,” and even their recent Japanese single “Maldives,” but with the recent EP’s title track, “Spray” WEi boldly pulls fragments of their brief dip into more aggressive hip-hop-fused eras to build the ultimate showcase of contrast in their adaptive technicality.
As we continue to spectate this recent 2022 evolution of WEi, it’s not too hard to imagine what initiated the massive shift in momentum either – considering that they’re also on the heels of a successful world tour that took the group to 15 cities across six different countries to connect with their listeners. Furthermore, the group managed to hit a brand new high with their Love Pt. 2: Passion release as well, more than doubling the sales of their debut album and cracking the top three albums on the domestic Circle Chart (previously known as Gaon Chart) which is yet another compelling example of their promising career modification.
With plenty of career achievements to be grateful for and bountiful examples of art that’s yet to be created, we were thrilled to make WEi our new Vanity Teen Magazine digital cover group to break it all down. Plus: we’re offering their own interpretation of Barbiecore boyband chic in the process!
Last month marked your two-year anniversary as WEi and have so much to show for it! How would you describe the group’s career at this very moment?
DAE HYEON: Through each of our comebacks, we learned that we can change and show different parts of our color as a group according to each concept. Also, our members and I always consider how to distribute our parts in each album, so throughout that discussion, we learned a lot about what each member’s style is like in the team.
JUN SEO: I feel like I’ve changed how I act and express myself on stage. During the early days I tend to feel awkward and embarrassed, but not I have the confidence to express myself a lot more.
In the time you’ve been together so far, what has been the biggest obstacle you’ve either cumulatively overcome as a group, or individually faced in order to get where you are today?
DAE HYEON: Because I am the leader of the group, and I also produce music at the same time, I sometimes feel the pressure and anxiety that I keep to myself. Whenever I see and interact with my fans, the worries seem to ease away and I feel more comfortable from that stress.
DONG HAN: I think there would be more obstacles to come. But every time I know that I have my members by my side, so I’m not too worried.
You recently concluded your first major world tour, which offered you a chance to perform for fans who have been eager to see WEi in person! What would each of you say was a specific moment or highlight from the tour experience that you’d be excited to recreate if given the opportunity?
YONG HA: Through this tour, I was able to experience how different fans of each country enjoy our performances, and what kind of performances they prefer. Now that I’ve experienced this once, the next time I go on tour I would like to prepare for more stages that each country’s fans like more.
JUN SEO: Because it was our first time performing on stage overseas, it was so cool to see people that recognize us and love us. On the next tour, I would love to visit more countries and enjoy the stage, and also get to learn the language and talk with our RUis.
Aside from your creativity in music, I believe the tangible connection between each of you also plays a big role in your group’s collective energy. Considering that you also live together, how big of a role would you say that you have in each other’s day-to-day lives outside of music?
SEOK HWA: I don’t have a special type of role but it feels aesthetically pleasing to clean the bathrooms… [laughs] so I guess my role is the bathroom cleaner.
JUN SEO: I am in charge of cooking in the group. I’ve made spaghetti several times for my members [laughs]. They got tired of it really soon, though.
Creatively, your group is very much next-level because it appears that you all have a really unique skillset and bring something irreplaceable to WEi. What’s something you’d each like to learn or improve on that might be inspired by the talents of another member?
SEOK HWA: Because JUN SEO’s beauty is at its peak these days, I would love to learn and copy JUN SEO’s good looks, haha.
YO HAN: YONG HA is a soft guy and has a pure smile offstage, but that changes really quickly, and becomes charismatic when he is on stage. I think that is a great talent, and I would love to learn that from him.
DONG HAN: DAE HYEON has the ability to compose and write songs for WEi, and I would love to learn that from him one day. He also has the ability to track our strong and weak points, so he would recommend us different kinds of songs that would suit our style. I really want to improve myself in that way too.
Your songs are naturally magical, from “TWILIGHT,” to “Too Bad” and the recent “Spray” which funny enough, are each kind of perfect representations of opposing sides to pop music. How has the overall sound of WEi evolved since your earliest studio days together?
YO HAN: Because we always have the desire to show different kinds of styles to our fans, we implied that into our music and turned out to be different genres. We will make sure to continue on with different genres, but full of WEi’s color.
JUN SEO: I feel like we are able to express our true colors more. Now that we have more confidence on stage, we are able to perform at its fullest. We still have a lot to go, but we will continuously grow as an artist.
In regards to your new music, something that makes the title track “Spray” stand out amongst your other releases is that it also kind of marks a new bolder phase for WEi where you’re getting to exit that “rookie” era. What types of styles or sounds did you hope to incorporate into this more established phase of WEi?
YO HAN: I’d like to try a more soft, sensitive concept, but also something dandy and groovy because we haven’t tried that yet.
DONG HAN: We’ve been showing you a lot of genres in our song so far, but I feel like we haven’t shown you a really conceptual, or sexy song yet. I’d love to try that one day.
This recent in particular really delves into the significance of love through passion, which manifests some really compelling music! Since passion is something that united each of you from the beginning – did this album offer any opportunities for you to strengthen those bonds?
DAE HYEON: While we were preparing for this world tour, we were actually preparing our 5th mini-album as well. We always reminded each other that we have to work as a team and have each others’ back since that is a lot of work. I think because we got to meet our fans overseas for the first time, that got us motivated to continue full of energy on our 5th mini-album promotion.
With your story of passion behind you, do you know what the third aspect of love is going to be for your next album? Any hints you can offer about what that could entail?
SEOK HWA: Throughout the Love Series, we were able to show you the images of first love, and through the latest album we were able to show you a passionate perspective of love… so maybe it’d be great if we can show the ‘warmth of love’ for our third chapter.
YONG HA: Maybe we can show you a more mature, masculine image of love? Please stay tuned and keep guessing!
