The nine-member boy group under Keystone Entertainment, BLANK2Y, featuring members Siwoo, Sodam, Louis, Youngbin, Sungjun, U, DK, Mikey, and Donghyuk, made their official debut on May 24, 2022, with their mini-album 'K2Y I: Confidence [Thumbs Up],' which features the title track "Thumbs Up."
BLANK2Y recently made their first comeback, with the extended play 'K2Y II: Passion [Fuego],' serving as the second chapter to the group's trilogy. "Fuego (Burn It Up)" serves as the album's title song, while "Fuego (Fearless)" and "I Wish - Fan Song" are the album's B-side tracks.
To commemorate the release of 'K2Y II: Passion [Fuego],' BLANK2Y sat down with allkpop to talk about the album as well as its creative process, the group's aim to win the 'Rookie of the Year' award, the group they would want to work with, and more. Keep reading to know more about BLANK2Y!
allkpop: Congratulations on the release of your album, 'K2Y II: Passion [Fuego]'! Please tell us a bit about it. Also, there appears to be some sort of chapter on your releases — 'K2Y I' and 'K2Y II' — is there a storyline that you want to convey with the albums?
DK: First, the meaning of our name is a combination of "blank" and "key," which means the key to opening the blank space, which also could mean opening our way to infinity.
Donghyuk: There's one more coming out after 'K2Y II,' which is 'K2Y III.' There is a total of three albums as a series for BLANK2Y, and the first of them is our names. The names for each album show our state of mind, which for the first album, it was "confidence," second, it was "passion," and for the third one, we're not revealing it yet. The albums basically reflect our state of mind, so we can't wait to show what's on our mind to the fans and the public.
allkpop: What was the creative process for this single album like? Did each of you get a certain persona that you had to portray for this comeback?
Sodam: The concept of our album was having superpowers. So each of the members had to portray their own superpowers. Siwoo's superpower was to become invisible. For me, it was mind control. Louis's superpower was seeing as far as he can; seeing the other side of the horizon. Youngbin's was time control. For Sungjun, it was teleportation. Donghyuk's superpower was controlling gravity. DK's superpower was changing the sizes of his own body. For Mikey, it was healing. And for U, it was foreseeing the future.
allkpop: Why do you think "Fuego (Burn It Up)" is an excellent choice for the album's title track? There's also a beautiful fan song included in the EP. Please tell us more about the B-Side tracks "Fuego (Fearless)" and "I Wish - Fan Song" as well.
Sungjun: The reason why "Fuego (Burn It Up)" is such a perfect title song for the album is that the word "Fuego" itself represents fire. It translates into "fire" in Spanish. And, because our second album's name is 'Passion,' we felt like "Fuego (Burn It Up)" is a perfect fit because of its meaning. Also, "Fearless" almost became our title song because of its addictive beat and powerful rhythm. So it was so good that we had to put it on the album. We decided to put it as a B-side track within the album. While "I Wish" is a fan song. It's a song dedicated to the fans, and we wrote the song as if we were writing a letter to our fans. "I Wish" portrays our sincere hearts and what they want to say to our fans.
allkpop: In Spanish, "Fuego" means both "fire" and "passion." Identifying one's true passion is difficult; we wanted to know how your passion for music, or music in general, affects your life positively.
Louis: Before I had a dream of becoming an idol, I wanted to become a professional baseball player. However, after I moved on from that dream, I had a time in my life when I didn't know what to do with my life because all I wanted to do was play baseball. But since that dream moved on, I didn't know what to do, which is why during that period, I listened to a lot of music to heal my mind, to ease the depressed mind I had. And the music that I liked to listen to during that time is "Heart Shaker" by TWICE. Listening to "Heart Shaker"... gave me energy and a positive mindset during difficult times. And I thought to myself, I want to become someone who gives positive vibes and positive energy to people as well.
allkpop: How did the recording of these tracks go? Did any of you have any difficulties, or was it just a great and enjoyable experience in which everything went smoothly?
Donghyuk: The recording process itself was different for every member because some of us have gone through this process, but some of us is the first time doing the whole recording process, so we start to give each other pieces of advice on how to record and about just the overall process. It was fun doing the album preparation. And also, the songwriter, the producer of this album, really taught us many things about the whole album-creating process. So it wasn't difficult for us to [record the songs]. We just vibe along with his instructions.
allkpop: Are there any interesting and fun behind-the-scenes stories from the recording studio and music video set?
DK: During the music video filming, it was very hot. The environment itself was very hot, and the weather was hot as well. So when we were trying to grab some lunch, we had our own lunch box. But because of the hot weather, the lunch box has gone bad, so we couldn't eat the lunch box that was already prepared for us. And, because of the hot climate, Louis actually dyed my hair yellow for the music video, and I was wearing a white shirt, but because he sweated so much, the yellow dye actually dripped along with the sweat and just painted his shirt during the music video shooting.
allkpop: As a new group, what do you consider to be the most valuable aspect of being an industry idol? What have you discovered so far in the industry?
U: One thing I find that's valuable about working as an idol is I recently found out that my cousins are telling their acquaintances that I'm an idol in South Korea. I'm getting a lot of good comments about myself being an idol, so I believe that's a very valuable part. Also, because of those incidents, I thought to myself that the place where I am right now is something that a lot of people dream to become. I feel kind of privileged to be in this space right now. And one thing that I learned about the K-Pop industry is that we need to behave well in public, to behave well like a celebrity as a public figure.
Donghyuk: I also find the value of working as an idol because I am able to send the message through our album or our songs, such as our first album 'Confidence' or our second album 'Passion.' So I believe that sending a message through a song is a very valuable thing that we can do as an idol.
allkpop: We're curious to see how each member brings something new or out of themselves for BLANK2Y. What does each member believe they bring to the table?
Siwoo: Within the group, I am in charge of fun activities and messing around, and pranking. Also, I'm in charge of just speaking whatever I have in mind.
Sodam: Within the group, I am in charge of some seriousness.
Louis: I am in charge of sexiness, whether it's my facial expressions or body movements.
Youngbin: I am in charge of the team's physical attractiveness because I love to work out as well.
Sungjun: I am in charge of the mild cuteness within the group. I wouldn't consider myself extremely handsome or extremely cute, but I have mild cuteness and mild attractiveness.
U: On the other hand, I am in charge of too much within the group, meaning, I always express myself — too much of an expression or too many power dance moves on stage.
Mikey: I'm in charge of the BLANK2Y style.
DK: I'm in charge of a very good mind, a kind-hearted soul within the group.
Donghyuk: I'm the mother of the group. I take care of all the members.
allkpop: What was something that you've learned from your debut that you were able to apply to this comeback?
Siwoo: Since our debut, the members and the CEO had a long conversation, and we reached the conclusion of taking care of three main aspects, which are thinking as if you are someone else as if you are the other person, and then acting as if, and thirdly, timing. To explain, timing as in always being at the right time to bring out the maximum, most ideal result, we need to be at the right timing. Secondly, as if, meaning, the CEO said to act as if you are a celebrity, act as if you are an idol, so no messing around, acting as if you're a public figure. Lastly, think as if you are the other person. We should know how the fans would feel when we are performing on stage or interacting with them. We should know what the fans want and what they would feel and like.
allkpop: How do you usually work toward improving yourself? How do you identify your flaws and correct or improve them in your next comeback?
Louis: Preparing for the second album, we have felt more pressure physically. We were more exhausted physically than in our preparation process for the first album. So coming up, we are preparing for our third album; we are determined to go to the gym and work out to make our bodies have the ideal state of performing and not feel easily exhausted. Also, I plan to live a controlled life, waking up early and sleeping early, and getting enough sleep during preparations for our third album.
allkpop: Is there any artist you'd like to work with in the future?
BLANK2Y: The Boyz have been the idols we admire since our debut, especially Juyeon. And if we get the opportunity, we would love to collaborate with Juyeon, whether it's through a dance performance or by creating a new song together.
allkpop: What music-related or personal goals would you like to achieve this year?
Sodam: It's been a long goal for BLANK2Y to win the 'Rookie of the Year' award in the K-Pop industry, so we set winning the award as our goal. We also aim to come back in a short period of time like we came back with 'K2Y II: Passion' in three months period after our debut this time.
allkpop: Do you have anything else to say to our readers and your fans? Please say your final greetings!
BLANK2Y: We are going to improve more and develop more over time, so please look forward to our performances and our future. And to any of the readers who are not a K2YWE yet, I hope you guys drown in our charms, really fall for us and become a K2YWE in the future as well.
Watch their music video for "Fuego (Burn It Up)" below.
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