K-pop sensations Cravity made their mark on 2024 early this year with their seventh mini album Evershine. Establishing themselves as a bright spark with their youthful sound, this mini album delivers on all fronts in spite of its short length. Following their successful first world tour, KCon LA performance, and official debut in Japan, Cravity are putting their best selves forward with a confident united front, determined to make 2024 their best year yet.
This album reflects their name perfectly, a portmanteau of creativity and gravity, as ultimately listeners gravitate to their talent and creativity showcased in these six tracks. The album shows the group’s range as artists, from pop album opener C’est La Vie, to the heavier EDM sound on the track Mr, with Serim and Allen’s work as co-writers on the song, but also WJSN’s Exy. Fan favourite and feature track Love or Die stands out with its fast-paced energy, a signature of the Cravity sound we’ve come to know and love. Love or Die was released with an accompanying music video, following the story of the group’s journey for love, and the challenges they face and overcome. Each track on Evershine poses a unique listening experience, blending and exploring various new genres with ease and making them their own.
Cravity have grown exponentially as a group since their debut in 2020, collecting titles such as Rookie of the Year at various award ceremonies in Korea. Comprised of nine members - Serim, Allen, Jungmo, Woobin, Wonjin, Minhee, Hyeongjun, Taeyoung, and Seongmin – Cravity have been Starship Entertainment's new boy band for the first time in five years since Monsta X. With this latest mini album, Cravity are continuing their upward trajectory taking their sound to new heights. In conversation with METAL, they share their highlights from tour, their first record they bought, and some insight into what comes next for Cravity.
What was the first music you remember buying for yourself, and how did it influence your musical tastes?
Taeyoung: The first album I bought with my own money was DPR IAN’s Moodswings in This Order that was released in 2021. It gave me so much energy while we were promoting our album at that time. DPR IAN changed my whole music taste and now I’m really satisfied with it.
Serim: It’s not an album I bought but an album that influenced me a lot is The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Part 1 by BTS. I think I was able to become a part of Cravity because of that album.
Seongmin: I also didn’t buy it myself but my friend’s dad worked in the entertainment industry and gave me a Mamamoo album. That was my first K-Pop album!
Hyeongjun: I really loved Mamamoo’s first studio album Melting. I spent my school years listening to it so it’s a meaningful album to me.
Woobin: I liked Block B’s Blockbuster album especially the track Nillili Mambo. It didn’t really have a strong influence on my musical taste but it was such a sensational song at the time and I really liked it.
Wonjin: I remember I bought Twicecoaster: Lane 1 by TWICE. It didn’t particularly influence my personal music taste but at that time I really liked TWICE so I always thought that I want to debut and meet them one day.
Jungmo: The first album I remember is an album by The Carpenters. My mum bought it for me when I was about four years old and the songs bring back a lot of memories.
Allen: My brother actually bought a Guns N’ Roses album, I don’t remember exactly which one but we both listened to it. I grew up listening to Guns N’ Roses due to the game Guitar Hero and I really like their songs. Those songs influenced me musically because I really came to love guitar sounds.
Minhee: An album that I liked was also The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Part 1 by BTS. I especially liked the track Boyz With Fun and grew up listening to it. I remember it because it was my alarm sound so I would wake up to it every morning and get ready for school.
Seongmin: I also didn’t buy it myself but my friend’s dad worked in the entertainment industry and gave me a Mamamoo album. That was my first K-Pop album!
Hyeongjun: I really loved Mamamoo’s first studio album Melting. I spent my school years listening to it so it’s a meaningful album to me.
Woobin: I liked Block B’s Blockbuster album especially the track Nillili Mambo. It didn’t really have a strong influence on my musical taste but it was such a sensational song at the time and I really liked it.
Wonjin: I remember I bought Twicecoaster: Lane 1 by TWICE. It didn’t particularly influence my personal music taste but at that time I really liked TWICE so I always thought that I want to debut and meet them one day.
Jungmo: The first album I remember is an album by The Carpenters. My mum bought it for me when I was about four years old and the songs bring back a lot of memories.
Allen: My brother actually bought a Guns N’ Roses album, I don’t remember exactly which one but we both listened to it. I grew up listening to Guns N’ Roses due to the game Guitar Hero and I really like their songs. Those songs influenced me musically because I really came to love guitar sounds.
Minhee: An album that I liked was also The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Part 1 by BTS. I especially liked the track Boyz With Fun and grew up listening to it. I remember it because it was my alarm sound so I would wake up to it every morning and get ready for school.
Cravity, as a group, presents this bright energy of youth. How do you find yourselves channeling that into your music?
Minhee: We try to always have a bright, youthful and chill mindset and make sure we’re healthy so we can portray that energy into our songs.
Jungmo: When we record, we really try to express this bright energy and actually laugh when we’re in the studio.
Allen: In several of our songs, for example My Turn, there’s a lot of chanting and through that we’re able to show our youthful energy.
Jungmo: When we record, we really try to express this bright energy and actually laugh when we’re in the studio.
Allen: In several of our songs, for example My Turn, there’s a lot of chanting and through that we’re able to show our youthful energy.
You started as a group in 2020, during the pandemic. How do you think this affected the way you create music; did it inspire the central idea of this band or alter the process of writing in ways you didn’t expect?
Serim: Personally, I felt a lot of different emotions while going through the pandemic period. I think all those emotions and experiences help me when I’m working on music.
Your new mini album, Evershine, is out now. This marks your seventh mini album since your debut in 2020, which is amazing. Could you tell us how you manage to produce music at such a rapid pace?
Minhee: We work with our company to always prepare a lot of things! We’re always working on the next thing.
Taeyoung: We’re always busy and we want to come back with new music for our fans as soon as possible so we work really hard to prepare for the future.
Taeyoung: We’re always busy and we want to come back with new music for our fans as soon as possible so we work really hard to prepare for the future.
Could you discuss the process of incorporating both English and Korean lyrics into your songs? Do you find this affects your creative process at all, or makes you think about songwriting in a different way?
Allen: As someone who speaks both languages, I really want to make sure both languages are cohesive in our songs. For example, if something doesn’t sound quite right in Korean, we usually say it in English instead. We try to make it as cohesive and easy to understand as possible.
Love or Die stands out on this mini album, with your signature energetic vibe in the rhythm, to a track that really reads to be about resilience and dedication to love. Was there any particular inspiration behind this track that you can share?
Minhee: We can’t live without luvity and love them to death, so we got our inspiration for this track from them of course.
The music video for Love or Die is also a visual treat. Can you talk us through the recording of the video, or can you share any behind-the-scenes stories from recording the music video?
Taeyoung: It was really cold that day and we had a scene with rain, so it was even colder. It was our first time experiencing that and it was hard, but very fun and exciting.
The mini album covers a lot of different genres and sounds in just six songs, from a rock inspired sound to EDM beats. What artists or genres or albums did you find that inspired this mini album, particularly with Serim and Allen’s involvement as co-writers on a lot of the tracks.
Allen: For me, when I write Korean lyrics, I tend to look at Day6’s music. I really like the way YoungK writes his songs and how he makes his songs so relatable and easy to understand. I get a lot of inspiration from Day6 as well as Stray Kids Bangchan. He actually inspired me a lot to write my first song Over & Over and I thank him a lot for that.
Serim: For this album, I didn’t have any specific source of inspiration but the tracks on this album all had very specific concepts and I already had an idea of what I wanted to write.
Serim: For this album, I didn’t have any specific source of inspiration but the tracks on this album all had very specific concepts and I already had an idea of what I wanted to write.
Collaborating with WJSN’s Exy on the track Mr. must have been exciting. How did this collaboration come around and are there any other artists you dream of collaborating with in the future?
Hyeongjun: WJSN’S Exy helped us with our other album too and always supports us a lot so she helped us on this album as well. In the future, I’d like to work with Joohoney of Monsta X again. He worked with us in our early years, and we’d love to work with him again or all of Monsta X too.
Performance and dancing are integral to K-pop. How do you approach choreography sessions? Do you have any pre-performance rituals?
Seongmin: For our dance practices, we practice the timing and details with each other a lot and focus on that. Before we go on stage, we make sure to stretch and mentally prepare too. We make sure to encourage each other and hype each other up too!
Allen: For our promotions now, we have a routine with our luvity that we always do before performing. We yell “To death” in Korean and then our fans shout “Love you” back to us, so together it becomes “love you to death”.
Allen: For our promotions now, we have a routine with our luvity that we always do before performing. We yell “To death” in Korean and then our fans shout “Love you” back to us, so together it becomes “love you to death”.
Your successful world tour and performance at KCon LA must have been memorable. Can you share any highlights or fun stories?
Seongmin: After performing in Japan, I was so hungry, so I went to each Ichiran Ramen. I tried draft beer for the first time, and it was very memorable.
Taeyoung: Our members swam in the hotel swimming pool together while we were in the Philippines so that was really fun. All the memories we had all together during our tour are all nice to look back on now.
Hyeongjun: I visited San Juan for the first time while we were on tour and all our members went to the beach together there. It was so beautiful and it’s still such a nice memory for me.
Serim: When we’re on tour, our members always play games together so all those times we played games together in our hotel rooms are really nice memories for me.
Wonjin: When I was young, I visited Times Square, and I loved it there. When I went back to Times Square with our members later on during the tour, I reflected back on my memories, and it was so nice to be there again with our members.
Minhee: I remember San Francisco a lot because we went to see the sea lions by the pier. I left my wallet in the taxi on the way there, but the driver was so nice and returned my wallet to me at the hotel. I can’t forget that memory.
Jungmo: I loved visiting San Juan with our members because we all ate at a restaurant by the beach together so that was really memorable.
Allen: I was finally able to see my long time role model, Shinee Taemin at KCon LA last year. He inspired me to become an idol and I was able to confess my love to him and his influence on me on the big stage. It was really memorable to me because we were standing on the same stage together in my hometown. It was an unforgettable experience for me.
Woobin: I remember there was a time during our tour our members gathered together in the hotel to eat pizza after our performance. It was just a nice time together when we could just talk and reflect.
Taeyoung: Our members swam in the hotel swimming pool together while we were in the Philippines so that was really fun. All the memories we had all together during our tour are all nice to look back on now.
Hyeongjun: I visited San Juan for the first time while we were on tour and all our members went to the beach together there. It was so beautiful and it’s still such a nice memory for me.
Serim: When we’re on tour, our members always play games together so all those times we played games together in our hotel rooms are really nice memories for me.
Wonjin: When I was young, I visited Times Square, and I loved it there. When I went back to Times Square with our members later on during the tour, I reflected back on my memories, and it was so nice to be there again with our members.
Minhee: I remember San Francisco a lot because we went to see the sea lions by the pier. I left my wallet in the taxi on the way there, but the driver was so nice and returned my wallet to me at the hotel. I can’t forget that memory.
Jungmo: I loved visiting San Juan with our members because we all ate at a restaurant by the beach together so that was really memorable.
Allen: I was finally able to see my long time role model, Shinee Taemin at KCon LA last year. He inspired me to become an idol and I was able to confess my love to him and his influence on me on the big stage. It was really memorable to me because we were standing on the same stage together in my hometown. It was an unforgettable experience for me.
Woobin: I remember there was a time during our tour our members gathered together in the hotel to eat pizza after our performance. It was just a nice time together when we could just talk and reflect.
It’s been a massive few years for K-pop as a genre, and it has really become a world-wide favourite. What does it mean to you to see so many K-pop artists setting records?
Jungmo: A lot of K-pop idols work really hard so it’s nice to see that their efforts are acknowledged with so many records. It makes me feel very proud and happy as a K-pop idol myself.
What can fans expect from Cravity in the future? Any upcoming projects or goals you can share with us?
Minhee: We’re always working on new music so hopefully we can meet our international fans again soon with another tour! We’ll work hard to meet our fans around the globe soon.
Hyeongjun: We started early in 2024 with this album so hopefully we’ll be back with another album later this year! Taeyoung: We want to go on tour and meet you all soon!
Woobin: We’ll be back with another album!
Seongmin: We want to have a concert this year!
Jungmo: More time together with our luvity!
Wonjin: I want to show our fans new sides of us.
Serim: I’m working on writing music. I want to include it in our album one day.
Allen: New performances and new songs so stay tuned!
Hyeongjun: We started early in 2024 with this album so hopefully we’ll be back with another album later this year! Taeyoung: We want to go on tour and meet you all soon!
Woobin: We’ll be back with another album!
Seongmin: We want to have a concert this year!
Jungmo: More time together with our luvity!
Wonjin: I want to show our fans new sides of us.
Serim: I’m working on writing music. I want to include it in our album one day.
Allen: New performances and new songs so stay tuned!
