Boy Next Door, returning after 4 months, presents a more free and expanded musical world with their new album 'No Genre', which transcends genre boundaries. Having achieved unexpectedly great results with the previous work 'Today I LOVE YOU', they expressed their determination to solidify the team's identity with bolder and more authentic attempts in this album.
Recently, Boy Next Door held a mini-album 'No Genre' release commemorative interview at a café in Mapo-gu, Seoul, where they discussed their new album.
Returning after 4 months since the release of their first digital single 'Today I LOVE YOU' in January, Boy Next Door noted, 'I wanted to show the stage so quickly, and I believe we have grown significantly as a team and as individuals during the activities and tour of 'Today I LOVE YOU'. We will show you wonderful and great appearances based on our experiences.'
'Today I LOVE YOU' received great love, ranking high on the music charts right after its release and still being in the top 10 of the weekly charts, so there is bound to be pressure this comeback. Unhak noted, 'Honestly, the expectations are high. We received unexpected tremendous love during 'Today I LOVE YOU', so we prepared a lot to show an even better appearance.'
Boy Next Door's new album 'No Genre' embodies their ambition to create music without confining themselves to genre boundaries. The members sing that their unique personalities do not change in any situation.
Jaehyun explained, 'The reason we named the album 'No Genre' was because we wanted to convey to many people the message contained in this album and how free-spirited and unconventional Boy Next Door is. There are really a lot of tracks from various genres in this album. We wanted to show that while the title is 'No Genre', the members actually represent 'All Genres', illustrating how wide our musical spectrum is.'
The title track 'I Feel Good' is a dynamic track that highlights Boy Next Door's energetic presence, combined with a heavy BASS, solid guitar riffs, intuitive lyrics, and vocals switching between rap and singing. Myung Jaehyun, Taesan, and Unhak participated in the song's production, adding authenticity.
Taesan said, 'From the beginning of this album, I had a strong feeling that this song would definitely be the title just from listening to the instrumental. While we were on tour, we thought about how we wanted songs that would allow the audience to jump around with us during the performance. That's why I expressed my desire to title it, and we started working on the album with that initial decision in mind.'
Continuing, Jaehyun stated, 'This time, our approach to title selection was different. The desire to enjoy and jump around with the audience on stage was very strong, so as soon as I heard the beat, I thought we had to make it the title. I believed we needed very fun lyrics and a catchy hook that immediately captivates listeners, and that led to the part in 'I Feel Good', which became the song's title.'
When asked about the song production process, Unhak commented, 'We really worked in various ways. First, we gathered and played songs in a camp-style setting, freely attaching melodies as we went along. Then we split up in the studio and worked separately, but I think because we were in a free-spirited atmosphere, we ended up creating more fun melodies and lyrics.'
Regarding the areas they focused on, Jaehyun shared, 'Personally, I have two main considerations. While everyone's standards for good music differ, the first is creating performances that only Boy Next Door can deliver, and the second is wanting to create songs that many people can resonate with. I tried to borrow familiar melodies and create parts that people could sing along to.'
Finally, when asked about the goals for this album, Taesan stated, 'I hope the music chart ranking will be higher than 'Today I LOVE YOU'. I want to grow beyond the previous album, so I've often discussed wanting this activity to receive even more love.' Lee Han also expressed, 'I once cried alone early in the morning when I saw the ranking of 'Today I LOVE YOU'. I hope I can shed tears again with this album.'
[Photo] KOZ Entertainment
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