The GRAMMY Museum Stage was impossible to miss since it was lit up with rainbow colors and surrounded by hundreds of smiling fans. On April 22, the schedule featured artists BamBam, ONEUS and ENHYPEN participating in a 30-minute interview moderated by Emily Mei, a song performance and Hi-touch. VIVIZ also participated in the Hi-touch segment. Both the Q&A and the performance were open to all attendees of the festival, while Hi-touch was reserved for fans who purchased it as an add-on.
I was able to attend both ONEUS and ENHYPEN’s segment of the schedule and was thrilled to learn more about the groups. Many of the questions asked during the interview were fan-submitted, which made the experience feel more personal than a typical interview.
ONEUS entered the stage and was met with an excited crowd waving posters and lightsticks. They discussed various topics, including that the group’s ninth mini album, “PYGMALION” which will be released on May 8.
When asked about the new album, member Keonhee asked the fans if they knew about the Pygmalion effect. According to Scribbr, the Pygmalion effect “refers to situations where high expectations lead to improved performance and low expectations lead to worsened performance.”
“So, with that concept, we wanted to embody that as a group and also into the album and show it all to you guys,” Keonhee said.
The title track of the album is called “Erase Me.”
“We’re really looking forward to showing it all to you guys and we’ve been preparing so much so that you all can enjoy it in the future,” Keonhee said.
The group was also asked about the creative and writing process when it came to writing the album.
“For our upcoming album, we think this might actually be the most complete album that we’ve been able to put out,” Hwanwoong said.
Members of the group were also asked which songs they would recommend to a new ONEUS fan. Some of the responses from the members included “Valkyrie,” “LUNA,” and “A Song Written Easily.”
ONEUS also got a great reaction from the crowd after members performed part of two viral songs on TikTok, Meghan Trainor’s song “Me Too” and Kai’s “Rover”.
The group then performed “Same Scent,” which is from their 2022 album “MALUS.” The members were so in sync and energetic during their performance, and I would not be surprised if they collected hundreds of new fans after it. On my end, “Same Scent” has been added to my playlist and on repeat since seeing it live.
About an hour before headliners ENHYPEN were scheduled to attend the GRAMMY Museum stage, the crowd began to grow as more fans came together to watch them.
Mei mentioned that the group was preparing to release an album soon, but at the time of the interview, there was not a release date. On April 23, it was announced that the new album “DARK BLOOD” will be released on May 22.
Mei asked the group about their personal goals as artists, and their answers were very considerate of their fans. It was hard to hear the responses of members Jay and Heeseung due to the applause and encouragement from the crowd, but Jake said “always making our fans happy” and Jungwon said “to perform in front of our fans for as long as I can.”
Sunghoon said “I want to be an artist that my fans can be the most proud of and so I hope all of us can be that together” and Ni-ki said “I wanna make sure that we can show you guys the best songs and the best performance that we can.”
Sunoo said, “My goal is that we can continue performing on very large stages for all of you guys.”
The members were also asked about their creative process for new music, albums, and how they put on concerts.
“So, till now I think we’ve always striven to include our own stories into all of our work and our albums. I think all of our music and albums are this way and our upcoming albums as well. So, I think we’ll continue to strive to include our stories and prepare great comebacks for all of you,” Jungwon said.
When asked which song their favorite was to record, Jake said “SHOUT OUT”, Jay said “Attention, please!”, Heeseung said “Polaroid Love”, Jungwon said “Drunk-Dazed”, Sunghoon said “Given-Taken”, Ni-Ki said “ParadoXXX Invasion”, and Sunoo said “TFW (That Feeling When).”
For the performance segment, ENHYPEN performed their song “Polaroid Love” which is from their 2022 album “DIMENSION: ANSWER.” The performance had everyone in the crowd singing, as they walked around the stage and waved hello to fans. “Polaroid Love” is one of the group’s most well-known songs, and the sound to more than 600,000 videos on TikTok, according to Billboard.
For more information about We Bridge Music Festival and Expo, visit webridgeexpo.com.
For more information about the GRAMMY Museum, visit www.grammymuseum.org.