PJ, Chanyeon and Jiseok have spent the past two years doing something no one before them had done in K-pop. As Big Ocean, the industry’s first hard-of-hearing idol group, they have had to find their own ways of singing, dancing, staying in time and performing while experiencing sound differently, but their hearing was never supposed to be the only interesting thing about them. It will always be part of their story and has naturally influenced the way they work, but Big Ocean have come a long way since their debut in April 2024, and by now there is much more to talk about than the fact that they were the first.

The past two years have taken Big Ocean much further than those first performances, with two EPs behind them and shows in different parts of the world giving PJ, Chanyeon and Jiseok the chance to grow as performers while also learning what works for them when they are travelling and performing night after night. Technology has naturally remained part of that journey, from visual cues and vibrations to the sensory metronomes that help them feel the timing of the music, but the conversation around those tools is beginning to change too. Instead of simply explaining how Big Ocean are able to perform, the members are now looking at what they have learned from using that technology themselves and wondering how it could eventually be developed for other deaf and hard-of-hearing artists who want to make music, perform, or simply experience rhythm differently.

Their lives have also started taking them into places that have very little to do with what we normally expect from the promotional schedule of a K-pop group. In September, Big Ocean presented a fashion collaboration at New York Fashion Week, incorporating details such as hand-shaped buttons and references to sign language into clothes that PJ insists still had to work simply as clothes. Later that month, they appeared at the United Nations during Digital@UNGA, where technology was no longer something working behind their performances but something they could actually discuss with people involved in deciding what the next generation of digital technology might look like. And somewhere between New York Fashion Week, the United Nations and conversations about accessibility, the group also made a flirtatious love song.

“Love Sign” might actually tell us just as much about where the group is now as any of those bigger moments. Produced by deaf Grammy-winning producer Frankie Biggz and written with all three members involved, the song takes experiences that are completely ordinary to them signing, hands, touch, lip-reading and communication – and allows them to become part of a love song rather than an explanation of disability. Its chorus brings together several sign languages, while the title itself plays with the different meanings a “sign” can have when you are trying to communicate with someone you happen to fancy.

Perhaps PJ says it best in our conversation when he explains that Big Ocean do not want every comeback to have to answer the question, “What does it mean to be a deaf idol?” Sometimes, as he puts it, they simply want to make a fun song and look good doing it. And that is an important point in Big Ocean’s career, because representation should also mean having the freedom to be ordinary, funny, romantic, fashionable, ambitious or simply entertaining without everything you do having to become a lesson for somebody else. At the same time, the members know that being visible has consequences they could not have fully understood when they debuted, especially when deaf, hard-of-hearing and disabled young people tell them that seeing Big Ocean has made something they previously thought was impossible feel a little more possible.

When View of the Arts spoke with Big Ocean for the third time, our conversation therefore went well beyond another comeback. We talked about “Love Sign” and working with Frankie Biggz, bringing different sign languages into one piece of choreography, creating fashion that represents small pieces of their identity, taking conversations about accessible technology all the way to the United Nations, and developing a sensory metronome that they hope could eventually be useful to people beyond the three of them. And with Europe waiting for them once again, we also wanted to know something much simpler – after everything that has happened since 2024, who are Big Ocean when they walk onto a stage today?

View of the Arts: We have spoken with you twice before, and a lot has changed since those early days. You began your journey as the first hard-of-hearing K-pop idol group, but now you are also showing other deaf, hard-of-hearing and disabled young people that a career in music and performance is possible. Has the responsibility that comes with that become more real to you as Big Ocean have grown? 

PJ: Definitely. I think the responsibility became more real as people started asking us to do more than just perform. We’ve been invited to the UN, worked with organizations like UNDP and ITU, and had opportunities to speak about accessibility and technology from our own experience. That made us realise that people aren’t only listening to our music; sometimes they’re also asking for our voice. And when someone tells us that our music gave them the courage to try something they thought wasn’t for them, we’re honestly very grateful and moved by that. It makes us want to keep doing more.

The more stages, projects and spaces we can genuinely take part in, the more possibilities become visible for other disabled people too. 

VOA: “Love Sign” looks like a new side of the group – more confident and flirtatious. All three of you helped write the lyrics, so what did you want this song to say about who Bis Ocean are now? 

PJ: That Big Ocean doesn’t have to stay in one emotional lane. We can make a song about hope, then come back and flirt with you. I think “Love Sign” shows that we’re more comfortable letting people see different sides of us now. We don’t want every comeback to answer the question, “What does it mean to be a deaf idol?” Sometimes the answer is just: we made a fun song and we look good doing it.

VOA: Frankie Biggz produced “Love Sign”, and what makes this collaboration particularly interesting is that he is also deaf. Did working with a deaf producer change the communication or creative process in the studio, and was there an understanding between you that didn’t need to be explained?

PJ: It saved us a lot of explaining; we could talk about lip-reading, fingertips or silence, and Frankie already understood why those things could be interesting. Then we started realising how many everyday Deaf experiences could become part of a love song. “Sign” could mean sign language, but it could also mean flirting. Hands could mean communication, but also touch – that shared background became creative material instead of something we had to stop and explain first.

VOA: The chorus brings together Korean, American, British, Mexican and Colombian sign languages. How did you decide which sign languages to include, and what was it like learning and bringing them together within one piece of choreography? 

CHANYEON: The original demo from Frankie already used real sign-language names in the hook, and we loved that idea. We were already familiar with some signs through meeting Deaf fans around the world, and there were also things we studied specifically for “Love Sign.” What was interesting was seeing how differently the same idea can be expressed from one sign language to another. Then, when we brought everything into the performance, we had to make sure the choreography still flowed without making those differences disappear, and there are so many sign languages we couldn’t include this time. So maybe this is only volume one.

VOA: You are taking Big Ocean far beyond music this September, including presenting your own collection at New York Fashion Week. The collection even incorporates sign language into the design through the hand-shaped buttons. How involved were you in developing the concept, and what did you want the clothes to say about Big Ocean? 

PJ: We didn’t want to make Big Ocean merchandise and put it on a runway; the clothes had to work as clothes first. Then, if you look closer, you find us – the hand-shaped buttons, the sign-language details, the materials. I also went to Shanghai for fittings and visited Andy’s office and factory, so we got to be part of the process pretty early. I like that you don’t have to know Big Ocean to wear it, but if you do know us, you’ll notice the little clues.

VOA: On 21 September, you will speak and perform at Digital@UNGA during the UN General Assembly. That is a very different environment from performing at a concert. What does being invited to the United Nations mean to the three of you, particularly when accessibility and technology have been part of Big Ocean’s journey from the beginning? 

PJ: Usually, technology is backstage for us; it helps us train, stay on beat and perform. At the UN, suddenly the “backstage” part became the main conversation. That was interesting because we weren’t only showing what technology does for Big Ocean. We were talking to people who can influence what gets designed next. Our message was simple: don’t build everything first and think about accessibility later.

VOA: Your sensory metronome has always been an important part of how you perform, and you are now developing your own bracelet version. Do you see technology like this eventually becoming useful beyond Big Ocean, perhaps making performance more accessible for other deaf and hard-of-hearing artists?

CHANYEON: Actually, the best outcome would be if people stopped thinking of it as “Big Ocean’s special device.” We made it because we needed another way to feel timing. Now we’re learning that the same idea could help other Deaf artists, or even people learning music and rhythm for the first time. So yes, we hope the next version can travel much further than the three of us; if someone else takes it and finds a completely new use for it, even better.

VOA: You also have upcoming European dates ahead. After everything that has happened since your debut in 2024, what are you most excited about when it comes to meeting European PADO again, and is there something you would particularly like to do or show audiences in Europe this time?

JISEOK: I want Europe to meet the current version of Big Ocean; a lot has happened even just this year. We have new songs, a different kind of confidence on stage, and honestly, we’ve become much better at performing live because we’ve been on the road so much. After the spring cancellation, I think that first show will feel especially emotional. But once the music starts, I don’t want it to feel like an apology anymore; I just want it to feel like a really good concert.

Written and interviewed by Maggie Gogler

Featured image courtesy of Parastar Entertainment

_{View of the Arts is an online publication dedicated to film, music, and the arts, with a strong focus on the Asian entertainment industry. As we continue to grow, we aim to deepen our coverage of Asian music while remaining committed to exploring and celebrating creativity across the global arts landscape.}