[FanTalk] TIOT draws blueprint for itself with 'Prelude to Possibilities'

TIOT sat down with Celeb Confirmed to talk about the band and answer questions from fans around the world.

TIOT sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily and Celeb Confirmed to talk about the band and answer questions from fans around the world. [CHO YONG-JUN]

TIOT, a quartet consisting of contestants from Mnet's boy band audition program “Boys Planet,” is gearing up for an official debut in the first half of next year — as the band wind up its predebut activities with the album "Frame the Blueprint: Prelude to Possibilities."

"Frame has the meaning of it being the outline, which means that the album acts as an outline, a backbone that we are building before our official debut," Kim Minseoung, the oldest member of the yet-to-debut boy band TIOT, said in a recent interview with Celeb Confirmed, a K-pop news brand by the Korea JoongAng Daily.

"We are still in the process of drawing our blueprint for our official debut, and we are currently diligently preparing for our official debut, aiming to do so in the first half of next year," member Hong Keonhee said.

About a month-long promotion of their predebut album has been quite successful, selling 86,000 copies in the first week of its release in August, making it the 14th most-sold debut album on the first week of its release and the most sold predebut album on the first week of its release if limited to albums with predebut indications.

The album features five total tracks: "This is our time," "Bungee," "Surfing" and "Starlight," alongside the lead track "Unbeatable," a remake of first-generation boy band Click B's 2001 song, which is stylized as "Undefeatable" in English.

While having an album might sound like the group has already debuted, K-pop bands have been releasing predebut albums in recent years to familiarize the band and its members before they make a full-on debut down the line.

TIOT sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily and Celeb Confirmed to talk about the band and answer questions from fans around the world. [CHO YONG-JUN]

TIOT consists of four members: Kim Minseoung, Kum Junhyeon, Hong Keonhee and Choi Woojin. All four members made appearances on Mnet's boy band audition program "Boys Planet" but did not make it to the final nine contestants, with Kum Junhyeon coming at a close 14th place.

TIOT sat down with Celeb Confirmed to talk about the band and answer questions from fans around the world.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Click B's "Undefeatable" was released more than two decades ago. How did it feel to remake a song released such a long time ago?

Kim Minseoung: We actually didn't know about Click B's music at all before [preparing for a remake]. We were all born after the album's release.

Hong Keonhee: So, to be honest, we didn't have any big reaction when we were first told about it because we didn't know what kind of song it was.

But we've seen other sunbae [senior] singers doing a remake of past songs, and to remake a sunbae artist's song ourselves was a bit of a worry for us, as we feared we wouldn't be able to pull it off well.

Kum Junhyeon: I even called my mom to ask whether she knew about it. And my mom just sang the verses of "Undefeatable" on call, which was on speaker, so everybody got to listen to that.

Q: What kind of genres would you like to try during TIOT's official debut?

Kim: I like hip things, so I want our band to be hip as well. While "Unbeatable" had a bit of hip-hop blended in the song, I wouldn't necessarily call it hip. It was more of a bold and strong track, which is why I'm inclined to do a proper hip-hop track.

Choi: I, too, want to try something hip. While you still can see each member's distinct style very well [with 'Unbeatable'], I think with a hip-hop style, we will be able to show the grooves and vibes of the individual members better. We would have to practice a lot for it.

Hong: I want to go for a moody score. TIOT is loved for our contrasting image, where we are cool on stage but playful and friendly off-stage. A moody song [sung on stage] can completely reverse that image. I feel like that's what our fans want to see as well.

Kum: I hope we get a song that can give out manly vibes.

Hong, Kim: I think our CEO wants us to go for a refreshing concept. While that can be appealing, we still want to ask for a "manly, hip and moody" track!

TIOT sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily and Celeb Confirmed to talk about the band and answer questions from fans around the world. [CHO YONG-JUN]

Q: Kim and Hong took part in the lyrics and songwriting for the album's third track "Bungee." Can you tell us more about it?

Kim: "Bungee" is the first song that we took part in [that got released], and we had a lot of twists and turns. The theme and lyrics of the song changed, and even the title of the song changed. It was not "Bungee" at first. We changed the lyrics completely five to six times during the song's production, and we put a lot of effort into it, so I am very affectionate about the track. I also plan to keep writing lyrics in the future. In fact, I've been writing some right before I came to FanTalk.

Hong: The original title of the song, proposed by the co-producers of the song, was "Penthouse"— which I don't think anyone else, including the other two members of our team, knew about until now. We changed it to "Bungee" because we felt that the title was not suitable to include our own stories.

I've been writing a lot of lyrics with my rap teacher during my rap training, but I was really writing it for the sake of completing the assignments. But because "Bungee" is a track that we produced that we are presenting to our fans for the first time, we were very keen when we wrote the lyrics.

Q: Do you have any fun episodes you had during your predebut promotions?

Hong: During our very first weekly music show prerecording, we just recorded the stage and left the stage right after because we thought that's how it worked. Turns out, prerecording sessions involve artists interacting with their fans, so now that we think of it, our fans must have been very confused and disappointed. I think we can call it a cute rookie mistake. Since then, we've been calling our fans 'teachers,' and we receive lessons from our fans.

Q: What will you do if you can be a fan of an idol for one day?

Kim: I learned fans take 'courtesy shots,' where fans take photos of their food with the photocards of their favorite idols. It seemed so cute how fans cuddle up and pose for a photo, and I've always been meaning to try it out myself. I probably won't do it with a photocard with my face on it, though.

Hong: I would like to participate in a prerecording session. While my tall height probably means that I won't get the front-row experience, I want to go and see the prerecording session from the perspective of a fan. I want to feel the experience because I don't think I've ever done it as a fan.

To find out more about TIOT, visit Celeb Confirmed!

TIOT sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily and Celeb Confirmed to talk about the band and answer questions from fans around the world. [CHO YONG-JUN]

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]