They have become more free and energetic.
Starting 2025 on a high note with ‘Today Only I LOVE YOU’, Boy Next Door has declared ‘NO Genre’ this time, preparing to meet their fandom, One Door, while seeking to surpass musical limits and charm.
The mini album ‘No Genre’, born from the six members' desire to express ‘current emotions’ through music without being bound by ‘genre’ or messages, is the best representation of Boy Next Door in the present.
From the thrilling first love of a boy to the first breakup, and the various emotions felt in that process, Boy Next Door, who has built a storyline within a larger framework, attempts a deviation with ‘No Genre’ this time. The tracklist, which does not allow overlaps of genres from ‘rock sound to city pop’, hints at a determined will to show an expanded musical spectrum beyond the changes of the friendly neighborhood boys. Of course, the ‘Boy Next Door’s empathy’ that sings about experiences and emotions everyone goes through and the live skills represented by ‘handheld microphones’ remain unchanged.
As leader Myung Jaehyun said, “I wanted to show that Boy Next Door can showcase a variety of genres while appearing happy just to be making music, rather than focusing on one theme,” ‘No Genre’ was closely related to Boy Next Door’s ‘free-spiritedness’.
It’s been 4 months since the success of ‘Today Only I LOVE YOU’, and you’ve returned with mini album ‘NO GENRE’. I’m curious about your feelings on coming back with new songs.
Myung Jaehyun: We received a lot of love from ‘Today Only I LOVE YOU’. I’m grateful for the opportunity to repay that love as a singer, and I think the only way to repay it is to create better music for our fans. Since we received so much love, we prepared to deliver comfort and overflowing excitement to many people. I hope the message of ‘not being confined to a mold, genre, or message’ contained in the album is well conveyed.
Seongho: It’s been 4 months since ‘Today Only I LOVE YOU’. During that time, I met fans from various countries through a concert tour, and I want to show a cooler side based on the various experiences I learned from that.
Riu: I’m happy to return to the fans as soon as possible. Above all, I feel a lot of anticipation and excitement because the release date of ‘NO GENRE’ on May 13th seems like a good date.
Taesan: I was grateful for the love we received while promoting ‘Today Only I LOVE YOU’, but at the same time, I felt pressure about the ‘next’ step. However, rather than being suppressed by that pressure, I wanted to use it as motivation and create a good album with a sense of responsibility. I plan to do my best on stage to bring this to life as much as we prepared.
Ihan: We have come back to meet One Door with even more intense performances and music. I hope it becomes good music for the fans after ‘Today Only I LOVE YOU’.
Unhak: I have returned from ‘Unagi’ to ‘Unadult’. I turned 20 this year, and I want to work hard to convey the passion of being 20 in this activity. The title track of ‘NO GENRE’, ‘I Feel Good’, has a different atmosphere from ‘Today Only I LOVE YOU’, and I think it will be an activity that can show a different charm. I’m really looking forward to how much more we can enjoy this song.
What kind of album is ‘NO GENRE’?
Taesan: It’s an album that contains what Boy Next Door wants to express without being bound by genre or message. While we focused on storytelling or character settings in previous albums, this time we created music with the thought of ‘whether people will enjoy it and find it approachable’ in mind.
Myung Jaehyun: ‘NO GENRE’ shows that Boy Next Door can digest various genres while conveying that ‘the act of making music itself is happiness’ rather than focusing on ‘one theme’. ‘I Feel Good’ has a charming funky sound and free-spirited choreography, and I think it’s a song that shows our hearts without being confined to a mold.
I'm curious about the reason for selecting ‘I Feel Good’ as the title track of ‘NO GENRE’.
Unhak: Boy Next Door is a team that excels at having fun on stage. I wanted this title to be a song that we could jump around with the audience. Before the actual work began, when I listened to the beat of the songs to be included in the album, I immediately thought, ‘This song has to be the title!’ when I heard the beat of ‘I Feel Good’. I thought that if we just put the lyrics and melody well on the beat, we could have a great time with the audience, and the work went smoothly.
Myung Jaehyun: I didn’t decide the title after listening to the completed song, but I thought, ‘I should make this the title’ as soon as I heard the track. I thought that it needed a catchy hook while working, and during that process, the hook of ‘I Feel Good’ was established, which I personally think is a part that expresses the song well.
Is there anything in particular you paid attention to while working on this album? The choreography seems to have become more powerful than before.
Myung Jaehyun: The most important part I focused on was to well capture the characteristics of each track's genre. Although the album title is ‘NO GENRE’, what I really wanted to show was, as mentioned earlier, ‘how far can Boy Next Door go’. The members of Boy Next Door wanted to show that it’s not ‘NO Genre’ but ‘All Genre’, so we recorded while well capturing the characteristics of the genres.
Taesan: I wanted it to be easily approachable to people. I worked on the music with the thought of how to make listeners think it’s ‘good music’. Since it’s ‘NO GENRE’, I approached each song differently, and especially for ‘I Feel Good’, since the theme is important, I thought a lot about how to best express the theme, interpreting each song differently while working on it.
Myung Jaehyun: ‘I Feel Good’ is free-spirited, but the choreography is the most intense and difficult I’ve ever encountered. When we practice live, we turn off the instrumental sound, and the reason is that it’s raw when monitoring, but that’s how honest it is. We are practicing ‘I Feel Good’ in that way to create a live stage that we can be confident in front of our fans without feeling embarrassed. We are working hard to show performances and live that match the love and expectations given by our fans.
Unhak: For those who come to see our stage or performance, we will definitely make them jump, so I think it’s time to get nervous.
Riu: Until now, Boy Next Door’s choreographies have involved members acting according to the lyrics or expressing the song, but this time, we run through the entire performance as ‘full choreography’ without any resting or acting intervals. There are even many intense choreographies where we kneel down or express strong emotions. Throughout the practice, we often said it was the hardest ever.
Ihan: We are working hard to express it in a way that is cool and conveys the mood and energy well.
What are Boy Next Door's standards for a good song?
Ihan: I think a good song is one that doesn’t get old no matter where or when you listen to it. If I had to pick one from ‘NO GENRE’, it would be ‘I Feel Good’.
Myung Jaehyun: I think a good song is one where the message being conveyed is well delivered. If the speaker of the song is sad, then it should make you feel sad when you listen to it, and if it’s a song made to make you excited, then it should be exciting. Since ‘I Feel Good’ is a song inviting everyone to have fun, I hope you feel and enjoy that emotion together.
Myung Jaehyun, Taesan, and Unhak have once again credited their names in the new album. Is there anything in particular you paid attention to while working on this song?
Myung Jaehyun: What I felt while working on this album is that I am growing little by little. It’s not just limited to simple music, but I feel like I’m growing as a person named Myung Jaehyun, and I think that has changed my working style. In particular, during this work, I had a lot of musical exchanges and tried to make new attempts. I have been rapping at the beginning of the second verse, but this time, I found it fresh to write and spit out the rap. So I thought about giving it to other members, and while working with Seongho or Ihan in mind, I felt new when I saw them handle it well.
While working, I always want to break the mold of ‘manerism’. When you keep working, similar melody lines come out, and there are many times when lyrics you’ve written before come out, but there’s fun in the results and work that come from breaking that and trying something new. Above all, as a songwriter, I am constantly trying to make it so that many people can listen and empathize.
Taesan: This time, the working method changed. What I felt while working on the album was ‘let’s not be confined to a mold’, and I wanted to work as freely as possible. To give an episode, ‘Step By Step’ was a song created even before the album was made. I made a song called ‘Step By Step’ 5 months ago, and when I heard that I had to work on city pop, I moved the theme, lyrics, and melody I had previously created into the city pop genre. Many people listened and liked it, so I thought, ‘This is how I can work freely’.
When I feel the limits of my abilities, I think about wanting to break the mold, and every time I do, I want to grow even more. I always think about whether I can break the mold and approach it from a different perspective when I fall into manerism.
Unhak: Every time I work, I always think about what only we can do and what is uniquely Boy Next Door. There are points in ‘I Feel Good’ that show direct lyrics or narration parts that only Boy Next Door can do. I approach song work with the confidence that only we can resonate with the audience. If it doesn’t seem to fit, I delete the file. In my heart, there’s only Boy Next Door. This time, I challenged various genres, but rather than studying genres separately, I think the rhythms naturally melted into my head as I listened to various songs frequently.
Unhak mentioned that he wants to reveal his own songwriting style so that people can recognize his work without having to disclose that he composed or wrote the song. Do you feel like you have found your own style now?
Unhak: I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like I’ve found a certain ‘method’. For example, I’ve learned how to break through when I get stuck while working on a song, or I go directly to the members to find fresh ideas, that kind of know-how.
[Geum Bitna, MK Sports Reporter]
