New album conveys WayV’s vibrant energy

WayV, a subunit of popular K-pop group NCT, showcased a fresh side Monday with the release of its fifth EP, “Give Me That,” filled with bright and cheerful tracks.

The album marks the first release from the group in seven months since “On My Youth,” its second studio album released in November.

The China-based group delivers a bright and cheerful sound on the six-song EP, which features both Korean and Chinese versions of the title track.

During a media showcase for the album in Seoul, member XiaoJun introduced the title track as a pop-dance number of a funky old-school style.

“We’ve tackled a lot of powerful and dark concepts for our lead tracks,” the Chinese singer said in the Korean language. “But this song will give you a fresh feeling — it’s bright and upbeat.”

The song’s lyrics are about a bold love confession to someone admired at first sight, he added.

Asked about the reason for the group’s shift in concept, group member Ten responded, “We wanted to show a new musical color of us for our return after a while.”

He added that label staff also encouraged them to embrace their natural personalities as “bright and fun guys.”

YangYang emphasized the group’s desire to be versatile: “I don’t know what kind of song will come to us next time, but we’ll always give it our best shot.”

WayV debuted in 2019 under SM Entertainment’s China-exclusive label, Label V, and joined NCT as its third fixed subgroup the following year. The multinational group consists of six members from various countries — China, Thailand, Macao and Taiwan.

Despite their diverse backgrounds, all members confidently communicated in Korean throughout the media event.

Ten highlighted the group’s multilingualism as a strength.

“WayV members can speak diverse languages. This can occasionally lead to communication errors though,” he said.

XiaoJun added with a smile: “Personally, my Korean isn’t perfect, but I can get by using simple words that fans understand well. They even find it endearing.”

When asked about the team’s core strengths, Kun and YangYang pointed to their strong bond and teamwork, respectively.

Hendery concluded by mentioning a comment they often receive: “We recently filmed a lot of video content, and the filming staff is wondering how we manage to stay so energetic from morning to night. I think we just have a lot of energy as a group.”