Over the past decade and some, South Korean producer duo Black Eyed Pilseung — composed of Rado and Choi Kyusung — have produced countless of hits for K-pop artists. With songs like SISTAR’s “Touch My Body” and TWICE’s “Like Ooh-Ahh,” “Cheer Up,” “TT,” “Likey,” and “Fancy,” it was only a matter of time these K-pop producing powerhouses would establish their own label, High Up Entertainment, and debut their own girl group.
In 2020, STAYC (an acronym for “Star To A Young Culture”) debuted as a six-member girl group under High Up with a “teen fresh” concept that would take bubble gum pop to another level; exploring sounds to complement the variety of vocal colors within the group. Their single “So Bad,” from their self-titled single album, is an electrifying pop track that combines drum and bass with synth waves. The six-member girl group — composed of Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon, and J — then went on to become hit viral sensations with their second single “ASAP” that had South Korea and the K-pop community dancing along. Their popularity only continued to consistently go up, as a slew of single-albums and EPs continued to flow into their discography; awarding them with the Digital Song Award for “ASAP” and Best Rookie Award at the Golden Disc Awards in 2022. In 2023, their music video “Bubble” won Best Music Video at the Melon Music Awards.
As the group soon approaches their fourth anniversary this November, the group released their first studio album, Metamorphic, earlier this month (July 1) with their lead single “Cheeky Icy Thang” and supporting track “1 Thing”. Just like the title, the album celebrates STAYC’s colorful sounds and voices while continuing to stay true to their electro-bubblegum pop roots. The 14-track project explores solo (“Roses” by Isa), unit (“Find” by Sieun, Seeun and J; “Fakin’” by Sumin and Yoon) , and group tracks.
Ahead of KCON 2024 in Los Angeles, California, Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon, and J briefly chat it up to discuss this chapter in their careers and what’s to come.
So, how does it feel to finally release a first album?
Sumin: So, in general, since this is our first album where we were able to try different styles, we’re really happy. There were some songs that fans have been waiting for – that we’ve been preparing – and now we were finally able to include that in Metamorphic. We also participated in writing the lyrics for some of the songs, so it was very meaningful in that sense.
How long did it take to produce this album?
Sumin: Maybe 2 years? ‘Cause there were songs that we had been working on for a long time like maybe not the entire thing but there were some things that we’ve been preparing for a long time.
The baseline in “Cheeky Icy Thang” is somewhat similar to “RUN2U,” so many were curious if this would be an extension. What were your impressions when you first heard the lead single?
Sieun: Actually, when I first heard “Cheeky Icy Thang,” it was so unique and really different from the usual guide that we listen to. So I was like, “Can we do this?” But all of sudden, I found myself listening to the guide vocal and then just dancing to myself in the car realizing the beat was really unique and rhythmic.
There has to be some behind the scenes because two years of gathering and prepping songs, on the side, is quite a long time.
Isa: So in “Cheeky Icy Thang”, some of the choreography got changed; originally verse 1 and verse 2 were me and Sieun; and since we were working with new producers, we were able to find different styles of vocals in each member and skills as well.
Were there new discoveries you found in your artistry?
J: I didn’t realize how wide my vocal range was but there were so many different types of songs in this album that we got different types of parts in each song so I was able to try different voices and I was able to discover all those voices in me.
Yoon: In general, as STAYC, as a group we feel like we’re no longer really limited by the genre of the music and since we’re trying different types of genres we’re able to embrace and be able to really embody all of those different things and now in general we feel like we’ve become fuller. And we have more confidence and pride in ourselves as well. And now that we have more confidence we also feel that responsibility to do even better.
Currently, girl groups are the powerhouse of K-pop right now and you guys are part of it. How does it feel to be a leading act in this generation?
Sumin: I feel all the girl groups all embody different genres; some are energetic, some are more lovely, some have more different concepts and STAYC also has its own genre and concepts as well. It’s very important that we’re all very unique to ourselves. And as another girl group in this generation, I’m really happy that I’m able to really portray different types of music to the world as a girl group.
Who were your female solo inspirations as you were either debuting or creating this album?
Sieun: I think it’s not just for this album, but I really get a lot of inspiration from Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift and also IU’s one of my role model artists. And also BLACKPINK. I really love BLACKPINK ‘cause they’re really unique.
What do you want the world to know about STAYC that they haven’t learned yet?
Sieun: I wish the audience would know that we’re going to keep challenging ourselves to create our own genre of STAYC. Our music genre is STAYC. We’re gonna keep trying harder to show you better performances and better music. So I want them to just keep looking forward to us.
To play on the supporting track “1 Thing”, if there’s one thing each of you want at this moment for your careers, what would it be?
Isa: I want to be the top in this scene.
Sumin: I want to perform in a stadium.
Sieun: I wish our song was on the Billboard chart someday.
J: Dome tour
