The day that we discovered Xdinary Heroes was a happy one. Under JYP Entertainment’s sub-label, Studio J, this South Korean Rock band is literally EXTRAORDINARY. Consisting of Gun-il, Jungsu, Gaon, O.de, Jun Han, and Jooyeon, these six musicians are rewriting the Korean Rock ‘N’ Roll rulebook. 

Xdinary Heroes officially emerged on the music scene on December 6th, 2021, with their debut single, Happy Death Day. Their talents ought to be celebrated for their involvement in writing, composing, and producing their songs. The aforementioned song quickly became a sensation, as it debuted at an impressive number twelve on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart. The group wasted no time in following up on their successful debut, and on July 20th, 2022, they released their first EP, Hello, World!. The extended play was quickly followed by their second EP, Overload, which debuted at number fourteen on the Billboard World Albums Chart.

Xdinary Heroes have recently released their fourth mini-album, Livelock, which, yet again, showed their talents in writing and making their own music. On November 8th, the group will present itself to UK fans for the first time ever! Xdinary Heroes will participate in KOREA ON STAGE IN LONDON, which will take place at the OVO Wembley Arena.

So, our dear Villains, prepare to turn the volume up to eleven because you’re about to jump headfirst into the Rock ‘N’ Roll mayhem with none other than Xdinary Heroes! And if you are a Rock fan and you’ve been in search of a band that’s part musical maestro, part comedic chaos, and all-around rockstars, look no further. These guys have been tearing up the music scene with their energetic performances that are hotter than a guitarist’s blistered fingertips after a shredding solo. And ahead of their performance in London, we had the pleasure of chatting with the band about Livelock, including the creative process behind it and their vocal arrangements for that release, as well as KOREA ON STAGE IN LONDON. 

View of the Arts: Your band’s name, Xdinary Heroes, suggests that anyone can become a hero. What’s the story behind this name, and how does it relate to your music and identity as a band? 

Gun-il: The name Xdinary Heroes means Extraordinary Heroes, and we have a slogan of “We are all heroes”. At first, our name was just “Xdinary”. Then, Producer J.Y. Park had the idea of adding “Heroes”. We always focus on making music that will make the listeners feel special and give them the strength to overcome difficulties. We want our listeners to realise that they can be heroes in their daily lives.

Jungsu: We wanted to present ourselves as boys with dreams of being rockstars, singing stories that other people may have been concealing from themselves. 

Gaon: Our story begins with six normal boys from different areas possessing different music tastes who gather in one place to reach out towards their dreams. This concept suits us well because the story actually references us. That’s why we are able to create new genres that are not limited to only one style of music. 

O.de: Our name started from ‘Heroes’ without Xdinary (Extraordinary), and I think our music is just as ‘Xdinary’ as that name.

Jun Han: We make music that listeners can relate to or be inspired by. I believe that is the identity of heroes. 

Jooyeon: Just like our slogan, “WE ARE ALL HEROES”, we express that everybody is important and is able to do anything through our music. 

VOA: What I find amazing about your group is that you effortlessly combine Rock and K-pop. Can you tell us about the creative process and challenges of blending these genres to create your signature sound? 

Gun-il: The reason why we are able to combine Rock and K-pop smoothly is because we have some members who love K-pop and some who love Rock. At first, there were some hardships in combining different opinions while developing a song, but now we use it to our advantage to produce unique music.

Jungsu: Sometimes we question if it is okay for us to be roaming around with such different sounds. However, we want to continue to make music that we can call our own genre.

Gaon: I honestly don’t think it’s an easy task to blend the K-pop genre with Rock music. So, at first, when we wrote songs, they tended to lean towards being “too K-pop”, or “too band-like”. After many trials and attempts, we were able to narrow that gap.

O.de: It may seem simple because there are no right or wrong answers in terms of creating music, but I truly think there are a lot of challenges. We hope to become a band that can implement Rock music into the major music scene. 

Jun Han: I think we blend the electrical, strong-sound aspects of K-pop with Rock music quite well. Unlike common guitar solos or lines, we have a lot of unique sounds in our music. 

Jooyeon: We often brainstorm ideas about our identity as a band and our public appeal when it comes to creating our music. We put a lot of effort into balancing the two factors out to avoid the risk of leaning towards one side. 

VOA: As musicians representing South Korea on an international stage, how does it feel to be a part of an event like KOREA ON STAGE IN LONDON, which celebrates 140 years of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and South Korea through music and culture? 

Gun-il: We feel extremely honoured to be a part of this historical event. We will be doing our best to make our stage an unforgettable experience for everyone who will be there together. 

Jungsu: It’s very exciting and a bit nervous to perform in London for the first time. We plan to make the most of our performance while being on an amazing stage! 

Gaon: It’s an honour to be on the stage, representing Korea as a band artist. We’ll do what we do best by having a blast on stage with the audience. 

O.de: We are very thankful to participate in this huge event. We will be gearing up, ready to rock the stage! 

Jun Han: We are honoured to be invited to perform on this meaningful occasion, and we are currently preparing a lot for the stage. We’re excited to interact with the audience in London and make new memories! 

Jooyeon: First and foremost, we are honoured and delighted to be on stage with this opportunity to perform with other amazing artists. We will do our best to prepare ourselves for the big show too! 

VOA: With the event being broadcast worldwide, how do you think this cultural exchange through music will impact the global audience, and what message would you like to convey to viewers who may be experiencing Korean music and culture for the first time through this festival?

Gun-il: I believe that music is a symbol of peace. We want to send a message that, under music, all humankind can be equal. No matter the race, language, or culture, we can all feel the same emotion to smile, laugh, or cry through music. We hope that our music will contribute to global peace through this festival. 

Jungsu: I believe that K-pop fans all around the world will be able to unite through the show being broadcast worldwide. Also, I believe it will be a wonderful experience since the viewers will be able to listen to other artists of different genres as well.

Gaon: I want to send a message and let the viewers know that there are Korean artists who perform different kinds of music, and there are Korean artists who know how to make great music! I would feel extremely happy if these messages reached fans all over the world, letting them know that we are all together, no matter where we are. 

O.de: I feel like it is a great opportunity to let people know about our music. I want to give them those special moments and let them know that “anybody can be a hero”. And we wish people would know that we are always by their side with our music. 

Jun Han: There are a lot of people whose lives were influenced by music, including myself. I wish we could send joy and support through our music to our listeners. 

Jooyeon: I hope audiences from all over the world will relate to our energy-filled message and will revisit us through more of our music in the future. 

VOA: You have just released your fourth mini-album, Livelock. It is an absolute diamond. Can you share some insights into the themes and inspirations behind these releases? 

Gun-il: Each of our members’ musical tastes are very different. We get inspired by one another’s ideas during the song-making process. We use this as an advantage to fill our albums with songs that have a wide spectrum of genres. 

Jungsu: We always consider our storyline when we develop music. At times, we would modify and add changes to our songs to match the concept. We also get a lot of inspiration from our everyday lives – like regular conversations with people and the scenery that we pass by! 

Gaon: Through this album, we are telling a story about the main character, who is trapped in their everyday life, breaking their limits outside the box. We always get the motivation to write better songs in the future from the feedback of our fans. So, I take notes on inspirations that pop up all the time. 

O.de: Thanks to a bunch of people and our company, they have created an amazing concept for us. I try to study and keep notes to maintain this concept. 

Jun Han: Whenever we compose music, there are a lot of influences from other music that we have listened to. The combination of the different genres of music that we listen to creates all kinds of ideas for our music.

Jooyeon: We are trying our best to find the perfect balance between creating an easy listening experience and our concepts, and we get a lot of inspiration from different media and our imagination. 

VOA: Each member of Xdinary Heroes is involved in writing, composing, and producing your music. This also happened with Livelock. How does this collaborative approach influence the band’s creative direction and overall style? And what was the creative process like on this fourth mini-album? 

Gun-il: I believe that all six members’ unique personalities and preferences influence the team positively to make our music and style unique. The process of creating our Livelock album all together was actually pretty smooth. After spending years together, we learned to respect each other’s opinions and combine those opinions into one. 

Jungsu: I feel like we were able to express more of our opinions than before. So, when we listen to our music, it becomes clearer what kind of message we are portraying. Our concept for this album is all about “us becoming bolder”, but along with the boldness that can be obviously seen, we tried to implement some other expressions and stories that are hidden inside that boldness. 

Gaon: Our music is born after countless trials, discussions, and brainstorming. Rather than certain people carrying the whole production, we all sit together and work as a team on writing music. For this album, we focused on the story of going beyond one’s limits, just like the main topic of our title song. 

O.de: We usually come up with brilliant ideas while working as a team, and there are members who come up with the best ideas according to the style of music. 

Jun Han: Because all of our members contribute to creating music, we all have a deep affection for each of our songs, and it sets the environment for us to grow as musicians. Along with that, we are naturally able to familiarise ourselves with the styles of different genres. 

Jooyeon: The message that we send to our fans for our music is nothing but genuine. And if the music fits the concept and style of the album, then it is added to the tracklist. 

VOA: Looking at Livelock, on which song do you think you have delivered your best, emotionally and technically speaking? 

Gun-il: Personally, PLUTO is the song on which I have best delivered my emotions, and Break the Brake is the song on which I have best delivered my drum techniques.

Jungsu: I would also like to say PLUTO. Of course, our title songs have shown our vivid personalities, but songs like PLUTO also show a different side of our group. It feels great to show different styles, and it is also exciting to show what other music we have in the future!

Gaon: I personally think PLUTO. The track is of a genre that we wanted to try for a very long time, and we love this song because it contains a burst of emotions that we wanted to express. 

O.de: Our title song, Break the Brake. I feel like this song reflects our strong Rock sound and performance. 

Jun Han: I actually think it’s still challenging to define a colour that we have for our music. It’s difficult to pick one song that we delivered our best performance on.

Jooyeon: Break the Brake, because I think it expresses our individual talents the best; there is a reason that it became our title track.

VOA: I must say that this release, like your previous ones, is beautifully arranged when it comes to your II vocals… How did you decide on arranging the vocals for Livelock?

Gun-il: The most important part of the vocal arrangement was that there had to be at least one point that could explode with energy. We also focused on making a melody that was easy to sing along to. 

Jungsu: Of course, we always put in our best effort to show our listeners that we have grown as musicians. For this album, we actually tweaked things a bit – we switched the chorus from JOOYEON-JUNGSU to JUNGSU-JOOYEON, or let one member continue with multiple parts. By doing this, we always ensure that we’re trying to do something new with our music. 

Gaon: We always prepare for recording by discussing which member could be perfect for each part through numerous trials. 

O.de First, all of the members listen to each track. Then, we send out our opinions and combine them to arrange the vocals for each member. 

Jun Han: We usually agree smoothly on who gets which part while we listen to the songs before we record. 

Jooyeon: The guide that we listen to affects which member gets what part. While listening to the songs, members would make an appeal regarding which part they would like to take. 

VAO: After listening to Enemy, a truly explosive track, I can hear Rock influences from many American Rock bands, with one particularly coming to mind: Thirty Seconds to Mars (these are purely my personal feelings). When you created this album, have you been influenced by Western Rock bands much? 

Gun-il: Many of our members, including myself, grew up listening to Western Rock bands and still listen to those bands on a daily basis. So, I believe that we were always influenced by those bands. 

Jungsu: We do listen to a lot of Rock music for inspiration, so it definitely did affect us!

Gaon:  I’ve listened to a lot of Western Rock music since I was young, so it naturally became an influence, but we adapted this influence to fit our own unique style. 

O.de: We always enjoy a lot of Rock music regularly, so it did influence us indirectly. 

Jun Han: We all love Rock music, so we get influenced by a lot of parts from them. 

Jooyeon: Yup! I personally try to implement the vibe of Bring Me the Horizon. 

VOA: Livelock is mostly a Rock-infused mini-album, with one softer Pop-rock track, Paranoid. Why have you decided to tone down this release with this song? 

Gun-il: We wanted there to be a song in the album that isn’t such a blast on the ears like all the other songs on Livelock. 

Jungsu: Xdinary Heroes can not only bring out strong, energetic music, but we can also nail soft and emotional tracks as well. Beyond our album story of “us being bold”, we also wanted to express a hidden emotion that can look a bit different, and that is where Paranoid came in. 

Gaon: Our team has a lot of energetic sounds, but we all agreed that it would be great if we could add a softer side to Xdinary Heroes. We were able to do so because all of our members also enjoy calm and relaxing music. 

O.de: We always try to show different genres in Xdinary Heroes’ style in each album. Paranoid is one of those songs. 

Jun Han: We thought that maybe it would be overwhelming for all of the songs in one album to be too strong… So, we decided to add in songs that would change the mood. 

Jooyeon: Since there are people who listen to our whole tracklist, we felt the need to add different songs that would switch up the atmosphere. 

VOA: And then comes AGAIN? AGAIN!, which surprised me the most with its sound. The tune itself reminds me of Green Day’s sound. What was the creative process behind this particular track?

Gun-il: We imagined what XH members would look like when falling in love and wrote a song based on those images. It is the first song that directly uses the word “love”. 

Jungsu: The genre of this song is Punk-rock, which is a music style that we have never tried before. The question, “What would Xdinary Heroes’ Punk-rock feel like?”, is where it all started, and we’re thrilled to include this song in our album. 

Gaon: The first thought that popped up in my mind was, “Yes, this is my jam”. Punk-rock is a genre that I wanted to do for a very long time, and I was very eager to participate in this track because it was also a popular style. A behind-the-scenes moment that was memorable was that it took us a long time to write the chorus part, and after many attempts and modifications, we were able to make a fresh melody. 

O.de: I remember that we were very energetic while working on this song, just like the track’s vibe. We were also excited about this because it was the first song in which we directly expressed love. 

Jun Han: GAON has participated a lot on this track because of his love for Punk-rock music. Thanks to that, the song turned out to be really exciting. 

Jooyeon: We all decided to move on with the Punk-rock genre for this song as soon as we listened to the chords. It had strong Punk aspects and reminded us of Green Day. It was such a fun song to work on. 

VOA: I would like to go back to Happy Death Day, which marked your debut and achieved success on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart. How did you feel about the response to your debut? 

Gun-il: When I heard the news that our song got on the Billboard Chart, I felt like I was dreaming. 

Jungsu: It blows our minds to this day because we did not expect this. We feel honoured to start with this achievement, and we hope to continue this momentum in our future work. 

Gaon: We were ecstatic. At first, I thought it was some error in the system. Now it has become a huge motivation for us to push forward and give our best. 

O.de: We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. It was something so unexpected that it was hard to process. 

un Han: I thought that we were off to a good start. To be honest, at first, it didn’t really hit me because I did not know well how big deal it was.

Jooyeon: It was such a big honour, and the biggest thought that came to mind was that we would have to repay our fans with more amazing songs. 

VOA: As there are six of you in the group, you must have different music tastes. Is there music you like that never fails to make you feel good? 

Gun-i: My all-time favourite song is MUSE’s Falling Away with You. 

Jungsu: I usually listen to calm and lyrical music. I really like Bruno Major’s songs, but I recently got into them more, so I would like to recommend To Let A Good Thing Die! 

Gaon: When I listen to Basket Case by Green Day, it feels like I am back in my childhood, and it makes me feel happy again. 

O.de: I recommend VENOM by our seniors, Stray Kids. The song itself is so cool and energetic, so I listen to it a lot.

Jun Han: I would like to recommend Given Up by Linkin Park. The scream part in the latter half of the song is so exhilarating. 

Jooyeon: Our song, PLUTO. It’s a subtle and dreamlike song with a smooth melody that you can be comfortable listening to repetitively. 

VOA: What can your fans expect from your performance during Korea on Stage in London? And is there a message you would like to share with the UK fans? 

Gun-il: Hello, UK Villains! Because of your continuous love and support, we are able to go to London to see you guys in person! We wouldn’t be in London if it weren’t for you guys. Thank you so much. Our live music is going to be very powerful. Be ready for your heart to beat as loud and fast as ever before. 

Jungsu: Since it is our first time performing in London, I want to express our excitement, and we hope you look forward to our special stage that you can only see there! 

Gaon: Starting with our performance in London, I believe there will be many more opportunities to meet everybody in different parts of the world. Wherever Villains are, we are ready to run to you, so please wait for us! UK Villains, I’m so glad to finally perform our music for you! I hope we can make a lot of exciting memories together! Thank you so much for all of your support, and please stay tuned for our music in the future as well! 

O.de: Hello, UK Villains!!! This is the first time that we will be performing in front of you. We’ve prepared our songs and also a special stage, so we hope you enjoy it with us! 

Jun Han: Thank you so much for your continuous love and support. We will continue to make great music for you. Thank you!

Jooyeon: We hope our London fans will enjoy the intro performance that we prepared. Villains of the UK, we are prepared to make you proud, so you better be ready!

Writen and interviewed by Maggie Gogler

MVs © Studio J / JYP Entertainment

_{View of the Arts is an online publication that chiefly deals with films, music, and art, with an emphasis on the Asian entertainment industry. We are hoping our audience will grow with us as we begin to explore new platforms such as K-pop / K-music, and Asian music in general, and continue to dive into the talented and ever-growing scene of film, music, and arts, worldwide.}