‘We Put A Lot Of Consideration & Thought Into Choosing Each Track’

Imagine singing with a hungry hawk perched on your forearm. Or with massive angel wings busting from your back muscles. How about while being suspended in a harness that dangles you just over the floor? With waterfall-like showers or flaming steel behind you? All soundtracked to a sparse, slithering, knocking beat? The vivid and intense details that make up the new CIX single sound far beyond the scope of a traditional boy band, but this is a group that ensures every detail matters.

With the release of CIX’s new EP, the quintet reestablishes itself as one of K-pop’s most experimental and artistically innovative acts in the scene. According to the group, that specific sense of ambition starts internally and is transferred outwards to their collaborators and in the eventual songs that fans hear.

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Titled ‘OK’ Episode 1 : OK Not, the group’s latest is a stark contrast to CIX’s bright and summery single “Wave” from last summer. With the new single “458,” the group embraced a high-speed racing theme with the title acting as a nod to the famous Ferrari model number, the final digits of the speed of light, and representing the phone keypad letters of “ILU,” a.k.a. “I Love You.”

The lyrics speak to resisting falling too fast into love while also not wanting to sprint away from it entirely, bringing the complicated storyline to life with the stunning display of provoking visuals.

Yet it’s all par for the course with CIX, who have become known by their fans, affectionately known as FIX, and among K-pop listeners as an act that will always surpass traditional pop expectations. Read on for what motivates the members to push the boundaries, reflections about their new album, first U.S. tour and more.

Jeff Benjamin: Congratulations on your comeback, CIX. ‘OK’ Episode 1 : OK Not is another impressive, ambitious album. Can you talk about the messages and meanings behind this release?

HYUNSUK: With “love” as the keyword for this album, we expressed different worries to find the essence of “love” through the songs in this album. We’d like to say that this is an album that blends our mature selves through new emotions like pain and emptiness derived from “love.”

BX: And through the title track “458,” we wanted to express the keyword “instinct” from the essence of love in various ways. We wanted to show a conflict between the instinct to go to someone at the fastest speed and the desire to escape from such instinct. We expressed a wild image in the word “instinct” metaphorically through our identity concept story and our “458” music video and visuals!

Jeff Benjamin: You shared how you worked with new producers, choreographers and changed many things for Be OK. It led to great results. You have the same producer, choreographer and stylists for this new album. How do you develop your teams?

SEUNGHUN: We make sure all five of us talk among ourselves first and then talk to everyone who’s involved in the making of the album. For example, we would discuss among ourselves, “Who should we pick for the choreographer?” Because every choreographer has different styles, so we just want to make sure that it goes well with the album, the whole song, everything. For Be OK, like you mentioned, we got to work with a lot of new producers, choreographers, and new members so it was just a very refreshing work to get through.

BX: We’re experiencing different things in each album. Of course, we are writing songs a lot, but we are just trying to find the right songs to fit our color as well. That’s actually the hardest part in songwriting and producing—to actually find the song that really suits all of us and fit our group’s color. We’re working very hard on that too.

Jeff Benjamin: The last album was a “Prologue,” this new album is “Episode 1.” Do you know how the new era will unfold?

BAEJINYOUNG: We would love to spoil you a little bit on the next album, but we don’t know anything yet. We’re still discussing a lot of details so we are not even sure what’s coming next. We have our own universe of albums and storyline that follows through, but we also want to try different genres and styles in future albums. So, we hope you keep an eye on that, please.

Jeff Benjamin: Let’s go back to your first U.S. tour you recently completed. A fan-meeting tour announced for 2020 was postponed by the pandemic, but you finally made your way two years later.

SEUNGHUN: During the COVID, we were just waiting to perform. We were waiting to share our performance with everyone around the world, to see our FIXs and other K-pop fans coming to our performances and having fun. It was very exciting to see. And we just got so much love and support from everyone, so we are very grateful for the experience.

BX: Going over six cities in the U.S., we were very excited to have our final performance in New York and meet you again too. It was really exciting for us.

BAEJINYOUNG: In Korea, because we were under certain circumstances and under conditions that were just beyond our control, we did feel like it was missing something when audiences couldn’t cheer. We were just waiting for the cheers to come, but we couldn’t get that until we got to the States. We actually got to meet our fans so close in the States and onstage, and we felt really accomplished hearing them cheer and chant so hard for us.

HYUNSUK: It was definitely nice to see our fans face to face finally. It was perfect timing. Of course, we hope things get even better so we have more opportunities to meet our fans very close. We were just very thankful for all the fans who came out to meet us.

Jeff Benjamin: I think CIX’s music is dependably great. We named “Cinema” one of Billboard’s Top 10 K-Pop Songs of 2021. Do you notice the acclaim from international listeners?

BX: Even though we release albums in Korean language, we make sure that all international fans and every K-pop fan can listen to them and relate to them. So, we put a lot of consideration and thought into choosing each track for each album.We discuss a lot with our staff members, producers, and among ourselves as well.

Jeff Benjamin: What kind of discussion were your discussions about making “458” and OK Not?

BAEJINYOUNG: Just like the previous album, we exchanged a lot of ideas about our hair, fashion styles and choreography with each other. We especially had many thoughts for this album because we thought we could show a more intense side of ourselves through this album. I came up with an idea for one part in the second verse of the “458” choreography, and I was proud of myself because the members liked it.

YONGHEE: While preparing for this album, we talked a lot about the song selection. SEUNGHUN and I tried new hairstyles that we’d never shown before. We looked for various styles that would suit the album concept, asked for members’ opinions, and tried to show our unique color by referring to inspirational photos.

SEUNGHUN: We all share a lot of opinions when we practice the vocals and choreography, but as BAEJINYOUNG said, we paid more attention to this album because it’s so visually different from our previous album. When we filmed the music video, we considered a lot of things and exchanged feedback about how we could show the intense concept and visual of this album and its title track [single]. While promoting this album, we’re trying to constantly ask our supportive fans through messages about what they want to see from us and to work hard to show what fans have told us.

Jeff Benjamin: It’s not just your title track singles that are strong; there are a ton of good B-sides from past albums. Could you each recommend one B-side song to listeners?

BX: I would recommend “Rewind.” I think its performance is very amazing. I haven’t listened to it for a while, but I listened to it recently and I found the rhythm very catchy and really cool, so, I listened to it a lot on tour, actually.

BAEJINYOUNG: I would recommend “BAD DREAM.” It’s got a really good beat, amazing choreography, and a good level of energy. If you want to get going and you need some adrenaline, you listen to that song.

SEUNGHUN: I would choose “Like It That Way” from our first album. I think fans loved it as much as the title track from that album. It’s a very fun song, but it’s got more of a sexier choreography to it, so it’s got different sides to show in one song. It was promoted a little later than the actual debut and we did perform a little later. I would definitely recommend it.

YONGHEE: I would recommend “Imagine” from the first album. I actually love all the B-side songs from the first album, particularly. It makes me very nostalgic for the day when we debuted and released our first album. So, I would definitely recommend all the B-side tracks in that album.

HYUNSUK: I would recommend the track called “Young.” It’s got a very heavy rock band sound. I actually liked it since we heard the guide version of that song, but when we finished recording it, I loved it even more. So, we definitely hope you go check it out.

Jeff Benjamin: You’ve said CIX will “go at our own pace,” I see that as totally true. You had your best album sales last year, your first tour this year, and the comeback is a major statement. Many want immediate success; how does CIX trust everything will “Be OK”?

BX: One of the secrets we have as a group is we talk a lot among the members. Whenever we face something—hard times or have concerns—we will sit down and talk among ourselves to really figure it out and find an answer. I think that’s what helped us a lot.

BAEJINYOUNG: Like last year, we really wanted all the tracks—including the title and the B-side tracks—to follow the seasonal story. Because it was the summer, we wanted to have a fresh and bright concept in that album, and we made sure that we also have that image and keep it going throughout the whole promotion. We had to get ourselves into a bright, summery mindset.

Jeff Benjamin: YONGHEE, you shared that reading fan messages helped you overcome a bout of depression. CIX’s English track “Here for You” feels like a message to the fans, but it all sounds like a two-way street. You send messages to the fans and they respond with their own messages. Can you share more about that relationship?

YONGHEE: We upload photos or our daily lives on our official SNS [social networking sites]. There’s a platform called “Private Message” [on the music fan app Universe], and we would send our private messages to our fans. We just try to keep a close connection as much as we can. We make sure we deliver our daily lives and how we’re doing, and we also love to listen to them talk about their daily lives. We try to keep that strong connection with our fans.