Girl group STAYC has changed completely. On the cover of their fifth single ‘S’, which will be released on the 18th, the vivid colors that come to mind when you think of ‘StayC’ are nowhere to be found. The expressions of the six members, wrapped in all black outfits, are extremely solemn. Seeing STAYC with such charisma is “a first time in their lives”not only for the fans, but also for the members themselves.

Since their debut in 2010, STAYC has mainly shown off their cute and lively charm through numerous hit songs such as ‘ASAP’, ‘Teddy Bear’, ‘GPT’, ‘Bubble’. Thanks to this, a new word, ‘TEENFRESH’, was created among K-pop fandom to represent STAYC‘s unique individuality.

STAYC, who changed the team color that they had solidly built up for 5 years 180 degrees in an instant with ‘S’ and the title song ‘BEBE’, recently confessed in an interview commemorating the release of their album, “We were worried at first, too.” However, the reason they chose to change was “to change the public’s perception.”

“Maybe because we‘ve mostly shown a cute and energetic image so far, we often heard people say things like, ’You‘re cute’ and ‘You still look like rookies’ even though it‘s our 6th year. We felt that we needed to break the public’s stereotype. More than anything, we wanted to do something cool too. All the members were in their 20s and I thought they had steadily grown as artists. Then, PD Rado of Black Eyed Pilseung said, ‘It seems like it‘s time for a change.’. We all jumped into such a bold attempt.”

What gave the members courage was the title song ‘Bebe’, which “made our hearts race and gave us energy as soon as we heard it. Once the title song was unanimously decided, everything went smoothly from there. They said that even the ‘all-black’ outfits that they thought would look awkward made them exclaim, “We look cool!” once they actually put them on.

“Through this single, we want to show that STAYC has no limits. It would be nice if the new concept was well-received by the public, but I think that just the fact that we took on the challenge added another ‘weapon’ to STAYC. We will try to vividly incorporate the new change in our new world tour ‘Stay Tuned’, which starts on April 12th and 13th at the Olympic Hall in Olympic Park, Seoul.”

Having solidified their position on the K-pop stage where numerous girl groups are pouring out, they said, “That is why I want to evaluate our five years as successful, and we will continue to run with that belief in the future.”

“Looking back, there isn’t a single moment that I regret. If our story were a drama, every scene was necessary. We grew and were happy at every moment. That is why I love STAYC’s music and want to keep going.”


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.