[Herald Interview] Cravity says 'follow your gravity' in 'Sun Seeker'

Cravity (Starship Entertainment)

Through its new album, "Sun Seeker," boy band Cravity tells its fans to follow their sun and go toward where their hearts gravitate.

Ahead of the new album release on Monday, the nine-piece group on Thursday held a joint press interview with local media in Seoul and introduced the new album. According to the members, it continues the story they had rolled out through its previous album, "Master: Piece," released in March.

"With the last album, we asked our listeners, 'What is the power that pulls you?' This album extends from there and says, 'Follow your power of gravity,' thus, 'Follow your sun,'" Hyeongjun said, speaking about the core message of "Sun Seeker."

Cravity -- whose name combines "creativity" and "gravity" -- has built a universe centering around the idea of gravity through its music.

The name is also short for "Center of Gravity," which had been the core message of the previous album, "Master: Piece," which divides into smaller pieces in "Sun Seeker."

"Until the previous album, we dealt mainly with a shared goal -- the center of our gravity. Now, we address more individual ambitions. Whatever it may be, we sing that we'll stand by you through the medium of 'sun,'" Wonjin explained.

At the lead of the new album are two title songs of distinctly contrasting mood. "Cheese," prereleased on Sept. 1, is an easy listening R&B pop tune filled with uplifting energy. Striking on a completely different chord is "Ready or Not," which sings about an ardent yearning for love over its bombastic pop-rock beats.

Speaking on "Ready or Not," the members emphasized that a lot of effort was put into crafting the choreography.

"I think we reviewed the choreography the most out of all our songs until now," Serim said.

"We were involved that much in completing the choreography, and through those changes, we turned it into a song that many people can easily follow," Serim continued, adding they made such changes in line with the online dance challenge trend.

Also included on the album is a self-made song by Woobin, "Vibration," which drifts away from the album's overall bright tone and plunges into a darker mood.

"It's my third self-written song. Until now, my songs were mostly optimistic and easy listening. But this time, 'Vibration' goes more powerful and heavier on the beats, singing of deeper things through its lyrics," Woobin explained.

Serim and Allen also helped to write the lyrics for "Vibration," which took around six months to complete, Woobin explained. He began making it with the band's previous album, "Master: Piece," in which another of his self-made songs, "Light the Way," was listed as the last track.

Having started songwriting in freshman year of high school, then looking up to American singer-songwriter Lauv for his simple yet enchanting tunes, Woobin said he now hopes to become a musician like Seventeen's Woozi, who is the main producing member of the 13-piece group.

"The fact that my songs continue to get included means the company and the fans acknowledge my talents, and I'm grateful. I hope to improve myself and eventually become someone who can produce a whole album by myself, like Seventeen's Woozi," Woobin said.

Serim and Allen took a major role as lyricists for the new album. Along with "Vibration," the two members contributed in writing lines for "Ready or Not" and two other side-tracks, "9 O'Clock" and "Love Fire."

Serim said he usually writes out the emotions he feels after watching films and dramas in his lyrics. For example, the recent Disney animation "Elemental" was a big inspiration for "Love Fire."

"When I first heard the song's title, 'Love Fire,' I was instantly reminded of the film and its theme of fire and water. Like that, I usually include the elements of film and dramas in the song's title or the lyrics," Serim said.

Allen said it was their fans, Luvity, who were the first and foremost source of inspiration for him.

"Luvity write letters to us every day, and I jot down beautiful words and quotes from the letters on my phone and return to it when I write songs," the Taiwanese-American rapper said.

"9 O'Clock" also carries a special meaning for Cravity and Luvity, Serim noted. All new content by Cravity is mostly released at 9 p.m., and the song conveys the pleasant excitement the members and fans share as they wait for that time of the day.

"Sun Seeker" is the first album Cravity has fronted with two main songs, portraying the bandmates' wish to introduce more new songs to their fans as fast as they can.

The anticipation is higher than ever as the new album comes just six months after the boys hit their career-high with "Master: Piece," which had racked up the band's highest album sales since its debut in 2020. In May, the EP surpassed 250,000 units in sales and earned the group its first platinum recognition from local music sales tracker Circle Chart.

While preparing for the new album, the group also embarked on its first global concert tour, "Masterpiece," in May. So far, it has traveled around six cities each in the US and Asia and is slated to hold the finale show on Oct. 28 in Bangkok.

Touring around to hold live gigs while gearing up for its comeback, not to mention making its Japan debut in July, it was a huge endeavor for the group. It had to practice in front of a glass window in the hotel gym lobby and worked on the songs late into the night after the concerts, yet it couldn't have been more fulfilling for the members.

"As a group that debuted amid the COVID-19 lockdowns, the world tour felt so distant for us. We were just so grateful to meet our fans worldwide who would have waited so long for us," said Allen.

"There are still many cities we couldn't visit and we're looking forward to (going to) them all to meet more Luvity in the future," Taeyoung said.

Cravity, consisting of Serim, Allen, Jungmo, Woobin, Wonjin, Minhee, Taeyoung, Hyeongjun and Seongmin, debuted under Starship Entertainment in 2020 as the agency's first boy band in five years following Monsta X.

With "Sun Seeker," the boys aspired to make themselves more known.

"I hope we earn ourselves a hit song that reaches not just our fans but the general public as well. We'll work harder so that we can become a group whose song plays wherever we go," said Taeyoung.

Chiming in, Seongmin said, "We labeled ourselves 'Perfor-vity' since our debut, aspiring to become a group that excels on the stage. Hopefully we could live up to that name and get more acknowledgement from the public."

Wonjin didn't forget to address the group's beloved fans: "We've been telling various stories in relation to gravity, reaching out to our fans like a friend. We hope to continue to be remembered as a group that stands beside our fans, (one that is) empathizing and comforting."

Cravity's sixth EP "Sun Seeker" is set for release at 6 p.m. on Monday.

By Choi Ji-won(jwc@heraldcorp.com)