BTOB Talks About Making Group Comeback After Military Service, Reaching 10th Anniversary, And More

On February 21, BTOB held an online press conference for the release of their third studio album, “Be Together.”

All six members of BTOB, including Eunkwang, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, attended the press conference. “Be Together” is BTOB’s first group release since Eunkwang became the first member to enlist in August 2018. With the exception of Peniel, who is American, all of the members have now completed their mandatory military service. In that time, the BTOB members have been busy with solo and unit work.

Eunkwang said, “It feels so different. I’m so happy. It’s a feeling I haven’t had in years, so I’m even more excited. I couldn’t sleep last night.” Yook Sungjae added, “If we feel like this, how much more for Melody [fan club name], who have been waiting for us?” Eunkwang continued, “I think that it was thanks to Melody and the people who loved BTOB that we were able to release an album when our military hiatus was over. I want to thank all of them.”

Hyunsik and Yook Sungjae were the last members to complete their service, being discharged last November. Hyunsik said, “I poured everything into working on music. I had a lot of desire and greed to work on music while in the military, but I let all that loose this time.”

Yook Sungjae said, “I think that I played really hard. I did everything I wanted to do, prepared for our comeback, and also prepared for my drama. I didn’t even think of our in-person fan meeting as work, it was just play for me. I think of it as playing with Melody. Even this press conference seems like play.”

Eunkwang, who was the first to come back from the military, said, “I really like [being together again]. It’s only when we’re a group that we can feel, ‘This is BTOB.’ It’s so dependable to work with them, and the energy is completely different. We were really happy while preparing. We want to share this happiness with everyone, so please look forward to it.”

About their new album, “Be Together,” Hyunsik said, “Since this is a full album, we put a lot of thoughts into it. Minhyuk and I created a lot of diverse tracks for it. We went back and listened to the BTOB songs that have received a lot of love in the past, and we thought that while we should bring back a little of that color, we should also show our growth as professionals since it’s our 10th year together. I think that in my entire 31 years, I worked the hardest during this album production process.”

Minhyuk said, “It became a habit for us to say ‘Save us’ while working on this album. It was that tough, but when we thought about Melody, we would gain new strength. We were excited to show BTOB together as a group again. We focused a lot on how to make BTOB’s diverse charms shine and showcase what we’re good at.”

About their comeback goals, Eunkwang said, “This feels most like ‘us.’ Through this album, I want to express the message that we want to be singers that stay for a long time by people’s sides. It would be nice if we received a lot of love and got No. 1, but we want to promote without focusing on that. More than anything else, this is meaningful for us because it’s our 10th anniversary.”

Yook Sungjae said, “I hope that Eunkwang can be healthy. We’ve been called ‘healing idols’ in the past, but now we just want to be ‘healing.’ I want people to think of BTOB when they think of ‘healing’ and think of ‘healing’ when they think of BTOB.”

BTOB debuted in 2012, making 2022 their 10th anniversary as a group. Changsub said, “The reason we were able to come this far is because we are all really sincere about making music. Hyunsik said that it felt like we’d gone from amateurs to true professionals.” Hyunsik said, “We’re still lacking, but I think that if you reach 10 years, you can call yourself a pro.” Eunkwang said, “It’s absolutely clear that we were able to reach 10 years thanks to Melody. Thank you.” Hyunsik added, “Our fans are pros now too!”

Yook Sungjae said, “We’re really grateful to Peniel for waiting for us while we were in the military. I thought that I was working with such great hyungs.” Peniel said, “It was like, ‘They’re gone,’ ‘And another has gone,’ ‘He’s come back,’ ‘Another has come back,’ ‘They’re all back,’ ‘It’s over.’ I’m also happy to be working together as a group after waiting.”

In 2018, BTOB had said, “Instead of climbing higher, we think it’s more fit for us to say we want to go further. We want to go further and further. We want to try new challenges musically and show new sides of ourselves.” Yook Sungjae said, “The words we said four years ago are still true. But now when we speak of going further, we’ve expanded that definition to not just in time but also in the world, from the United States, to the world, to space, to Mars.”

He continued, “If you look at our senior and junior groups, they’re so popular around the world, and K-pop and K-content is really popular in foreign countries. We’ve developed the desire to be known as a K-group far and wide. Eunkwang wants us to make it in Hollywood so he’s been studying English.” Eunkwang said in English, “No, no, no. This is secret. Hey. Next time.”

Peniel said, “It feels like just yesterday that I came to Korea for the first time but it’s already been 10 years. Thank you to those who cheered for us and loved us until now.”

Check out BTOB’s music video for “The Song” here!

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