YOUNITE Talks About Tearing at Their First Solo Concert: "Last 3 Years Made Us Stronger"

Celebrating their third anniversary, the group YOUNITE has returned with their seventh EP album 'YOUNI-T'. YOUNITE plans to continue evolving with a 'youthful freshness' that's characteristic of their twenties.

Meeting with the press on the 22nd to celebrate their album release, YOUNITE shared, "It's been a year since our last EP, so the members are all very excited. This album, in particular, features a lot of unit tracks, which sets it apart from our previous work."

The title track 'Rock Steady' showcases YOUNITEs boundless energy with a funky charm in a new jack swing hip-hop song. The company's CEO and producer, Rhymer, participated in writing the lyrics. Notably, the retro tectonic element was an idea from the CEO himself.

"CEO Rhymer has a lot of experience and ideas, so he gives us a variety of suggestions during planning. At the beginning of our debut, he tended to listen to our opinions a lot. Especially for this album, he allowed us to incorporate a lot of our ideas into the unit tracks," said EUNSANG. "There's no conflict of opinions," added DEY.

This album includes diverse unit tracks like HYUNGSEOK, DEY, and KYUNGMUN's 'Who's Next?', EUNHO and STEVE's 'Twilight Rush', and EUNSANG, WOONO, and SION's 'Miracle Day'. The members were divided into units based on their musical preferences to work on ballads, R&B, and hip-hop tracks.

Additionally, the album features 'Gasoline', a track worked on by AB6IX member Lee Daehwi, a senior artist from their agency. This marks the second time a song by Daehwi has been included in a YOUNITE album. EUNHO mentioned, "Senior Daehwi not only directed us but also gave us a lot of support, which really energized us."

The members unanimously agreed that aside from the title track, 'Gasoline' is the song they are most excited about. KYUNGMUN said, "The style and melody of the song caught our attention right away. He knows our vocal colors well, so he was able to highlight each part effectively. It also has a subtle sexiness that we wanted to try."

Previously, YOUNITE held their first solo concert 'YOUNIVERSE: CONNECTED' on the 19th and 20th, ahead of their new album release, where they met with fans.

STEVE recalled, "Since it was our first solo concert, thinking back on all the hard work we put into preparing for it brought up a lot of emotions, especially seeing our families and long-time fans in the audience made me cry. It was even more meaningful because my younger brother came from the US to see it."

SION also shared, "I was so happy to share two and a half hours showing our passion and sincerity to our fans." He added, "One fan wrote in their sketchbook, 'I traveled 10 hours round trip to see your concert, and it was worth it,' which really stuck with me."

The members of YOUNITE have grown closer through their participation in last year's Mnet competition program 'Road to Kingdom: Ace of Aces'. They've taken the past three years as nourishment to evolve from their fresh image to incorporate more sexiness. They also expressed a desire to expand their activities overseas.

"We're really thinking about how we can meet more of our international fans. Including foreign languages in our song lyrics to share emotions with fans is something we're considering. We want to increase our overseas performances in the future," said EUNSANG.

"We want to meet our fans through more diverse activities. We were music show first-place nominees during our sixth album promotions, but this time, we want to win first place," EUNHO expressed.

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)