[YouTube comment] WHY ISN’T THIS GROUP MASSIVE is the exact question that’s been keeping me up this past fortnight. I was an instant fan after seeing What I Said, I’m bowled over by the quality of everything they do and how hard they work. Let’s hope they get recognised and keep going! I’m very hopeful for them.
The album is great btw, and Han Seungwoo did a solo EP (6 tracks, largely self-penned: YouTube, Spotify) that’s been on constant rotation over here as well. The two previous Victon title tracks (Howling, Mayday) are good, btw: great MVs, so you can see they’re not one-hit. I believe they’re working their way out of the “teen Kpop” niche into a top league group and I’m totally excited to watch.
[reply to another comment] yes! I totally see the ambition and grit! Since posting that, I’ve also learned that their company seems to be improving as well – I don’t know the ins and outs of that, beyond that the agency got renamed to Play M (after a merger of Plan A and FAVE in 2019), but it looks to me like they are finally putting the investment into Victon. They are backed by Kakao, so there’s that! I’m noticing higher quality song-writers / video people / stylists and so on (although IMO their style has been great since at least Nightmare), and there’s a lot of Behind the Scenes material and other stuff they’re doing to raise their profile.
[different YouTube comment] So I’m a new fan as well – discovered them right after they released What I Said and have been obsessed ever since. This album has been on daily rotation, it’s that good! So it’s nice to get a full album reaction.
Lots of people have already pointed out the info you weren’t aware of before: I recommend checking out the credits on Genius, they have got some great talent writing songs AND contributions from the members, such as Hanse writing all of his raps and Seungwoo writing lyrics and composing.
Chan wrote and co-composed his solo and there’s a choreography he made as well. For Seungsik’s solo, that was written by the other 6 based on their letters to encourage their new leader (when Seungwoo was away with Produce X 101 / X1), and there is indeed a solo performance. There aren’t solos by Subin or Byungchan, but they’ve both been acting in dramas and Byungchan is also on an entertainment show IIRC. Maybe we’ll get solos later, who knows?
No solo by Seungwoo on the album, but check out his 6-track EP “Fame” from Aug 2020. There’s are 2 MVs for Sacrifice that are ASTONISHING (MV, Performance), as well as performance videos for Fever, Reply, I just want love and Forest. The EP is on constant repeat in my house. His VOICE, man! (and his performance / emotion, and his visual / modelling, and and and…)
While he was making Fame, he kept a video diary that shows the process of writing, practicing, planning, shoots, and all the rest. I find that insanely motivating for my own life, which is also the vibe I get from VOICE: TFIN. Just a whole bunch of talent PLUS hard work and perseverance and ambition.
Others have said that “We Stay” (and “All Day”) are for the fans: they made a video for it too. I love how much they LOVE their fans and live to perform for them again! They say this but you can also see it in every vlog and behind-the-scenes, they are just aching to get to concerts and fan meetings again. So sweet! As a European fan, this is the most unusual aspect of Korean groups for me – most Anglo bands are “too cool for school” and almost arrogant towards their fans, I feel like.
I don’t have a source on this but IIRC, Circle is about the fears and anxiety the group feel sometimes, wanting to run away. I’m not 100% clear on the “circle” motif – I guess it doesn’t translate well? – whether it’s that running away only brings you back to your starting point or whether it’s the wheel image, or even “running in circles” out of anxiety? Anyway they’ve performed this on music shows (M2, The K-Pop, M-Net) and the choreography is really nice, too.
I like that, as well as the “hype” songs and the ballads, there are personal reflections and more vulnerable sides. This group really have been through the wringer, from their debut in 2016 and releasing various singles/EPs after that with quite a boyish image, to nearly disbanding and the “fallow” period of about 18 months when Seungwoo and Byungchan went off to Produce X 101 to represent their company and raise the group profile, to Seungwoo being the leader in X1 and then caught in the vote fixing scandal before returning full-time to Victon… then Continuous and Mayday and his solo EP over the summer of 2020 (all with a darker and more mature image) before finally getting to come out with the album… man, it’s a journey!!
I’ve loved seeing all the promotional effort from Play M for the album, the videos and performances, and the guys really delivering every time. I’ve been thinking about how age-wise, Victon are roughly the same ages as BTS! Or to put them in context – they’re about 10 years younger than Big Bang, BoA, and TVXQ, about 5 years younger than EXO, VIXX, and SHINee, and roughly the same age as Monsta X, SF9, Golden Child, NCT, and Got7. RM (BTS’ leader, but not their oldest) is 3 months older than Seungwoo, while BTS maknae Jung Kook was born the same month as Hanse. I say this for two reasons, 1) I’m aware that in Korean/Asian cultures, your birth year is significant and influences the respect culture, so the group will be very aware of where they “fit” chronologically and this could create some pressure on them to make it; and 2) alongside the obsession with youth in Kpop, there’s also the military draft looming which will disrupt the group for years: with birth years from 1994 to 1999 and draft lasting 18 months (I believe), you can imagine – this really is their one chance to make it! So I really hope that, like you, people will discover their album and enjoy it and support them going forward. Although everyone’s on Lunar New Year break right now, it looks like they will be straight back to work almost immediately and hopefully we will get to see much more of them soon. Thank you 💙💛
SkorpionUK 