(The Korea Herald)

As much as the tickling feeling coming from its name, Verivery, a newcomer to the K-pop scene, is the epitome of a bright and youthful boy band.

It’s been just over a month since the seven-piece act debuted under Jellyfish Entertainment, home to acts like Vixx and Gugudan, but the band and its debut single “Ring Ring Ring” have already been receiving a substantial amount of attention worldwide.

Yongseung, Kangmin, Hoyoung, Dongheon, Yeonho, Minchan and Gyehyeon of the rising rookie group recently sat down with Kpop Herald to talk about their experiences so far, personal stories and what they hope to achieve in the future.

“My first impression on our group name was that it sounded quite cute and sweet, and I actually had some concerns about it. But after learning about the meaning of Verivery -- an acronym for various, energetic, real and innovation -- those worries about the girlish image vanished,” said Minchan.




While “Ring Ring Ring” is effusive in sound and ebullient in its music video, in which the teenagers deliver a playful choreography wearing pastel outfits and with romantic smiles on their faces, Verivery seemed a bit more than mere feel-good stars.

Dongheon and Hoyoung wrote the rap portions of “Ring Ring Ring,” while other tracks from its “Veri-Us” EP credit other bandmates as both composers and lyricists. The group also creates its own video contents on their social media page, while running a separate Twitter account from the group’s official one in order to communicate with fans more directly.

“At first, the procedure of making a song took us all day through the night as we were novices. It was such an intense experience. Now we got used to it, learned how to embrace conflicting opinions from each member. For instance, Yeonho prefers a simple melody, while I like to twist it a bit,” said Gyehyeon.




Minchan, who is in charge of creating video contents for the group, went on to share his insight into video editing.

“Between busy schedules, I try to make videos while waiting in our music show green room. Now I’m thinking of what kind of contents I should make for the group,” said Minchan, who is called “idea bank” by his bandmates for his creativity.

“In the future, I’d like to make videos that zoom into our song-making process, or a mukbang (eating show), shedding more light on our personal sides. Also, I hope to deliver our own view of this world to fans through storytelling videos, though we haven’t settled on the keywords yet,” he added.




Among the many factors that make Verivery a prominent rookie group are its solid teamwork and friendship. The warmth of their bond could be felt in the air as they made small jokes about each other and voiced their affection for one another.

Sharing their personal stories, Yongseung said he originally wanted to become an astronomer, but decided to pursue a K-pop career after becoming interested in dancing, which had begun as mere exercise.

The band also chose Kangmin, the youngest in the group, as the member who transformed the most after the debut.

“Before the debut, Kangmin was quite blunt and hard to get close to. But now he’s just so adorable and cute. Maybe as the youngest member he has learned how to warm up the mood. He really grew up a lot,” Dongheon said.

Gyeheon also commented, “We try to keep our teamwork by drawing a line between public and private. We don’t hold grudges against each other.”




Asked what they hope to achieve over this year, the band talked global promotions, success on YouTube and the expansion of their careers.

Hoyoung, who hails from New Zealand, said he hopes to perform in his home country, while Gyeheon said he hopes to perform in Europe, where the group’s “Ring Ring Ring” has ranked highly on iTunes K-pop charts.

“Above all, we want to be called as ‘Almighty creative idol,’ as we create everything for ourselves from songs to videos,” Yeonho said.

“I’m just going to say it. I hope we could make a viral video that can top ‘Despacito,’ on YouTube, the most popular video on the platform of all time,” Dongheon added.




By Hong Dam-young (lotus@heraldcorp.com)