Like a catchy song on the radio, Gomak Boys, a special K-pop project group launched by Kakao Entertainment that introduced themselves to local media on Tuesday evening, hope to get stuck in the ears and hearts of music fans as they make their debut in the K-pop scene.
Produced by South Korea’s entertainment giant, the highly-anticipated boy band was featured on Kakao TV’s original series “Gomak Boys,” which aired in September.
Gomak Boys, which translates into eardrum boys, refers to celebrities with voices that can mesmerize people. In particular, the phrase is used in the music scene to describe singers that sing ballad tracks about love that resonate with listeners.
Hoping to make a big splash on December’s music charts with their iconic voices, the five bandmates -- Paul Kim, Kim Min-seok of MeloMance, Jung Seung-hwan, Ha Hyun-sang and hip-hop artist BIG Naughty -- rolled out an impressive set of debut songs.
“We are a team formed with vocalists. We named ourselves ‘Gomak Boys’ to melt peoples’ eardrums, and we’ve prepared some soft and nice songs for that,” Paul Kim said during Tuesday’s offline press conference in Seoul.
Although the band’s road to debut was long, Seung-hwan seemed confident about putting out songs that can make it to many listeners’ playlists this winter.
“It was awkward at first, but we hit it off with each other by having many conversations. I’m a big fan of their music, personally. We might have had a hard time shooting the reality program, but I knew that we could do well in terms of music,” he grinned.
Like the band’s slogan, “melting your ears,” the band’s debut musical project, “Gomak Boys,” is a two-track package brimming with two titulars.
Min-seok described “You and Me,” the first song on the album, as a piece of music that shows the quintet’s determination and their unique bond with one another.
“We wanted to express that we have a very close and intimate relationship. We hope to cement those ties through this song, which is how it ended up as ‘You and Me,’” he said.
Seung-hwan chimed in to talk about the band’s second title track: “‘Sweet Thing’ is a song where people can get a glimpse of our other sides.”
“If you see the music video, the five of us turn into boys deeply in love, so those watching the clip can see our acting skills. The song itself is addictive, and as our name suggests, it’s a track where people can see our boyish sides.”
Paul Kim added to what Seung-hwan said, “If you spell the Korean word sweet in English, it’s similar to danger. Since (our voices) are so sweet, they can put music listeners into a critical situation,” he laughed as he warned fans.
Also, the group’s only rapper, BIG Naughty, listed himself as a lyricist for “Sweet Thing.” Asked how it was taking part in the rap-making process, the singer said he penned a rap verse that could best fit the song.
Gushing about Gomak Boys’ album, leader Hyun-sang talked about how the group pieced things together for its debut release.
“There were several tracks nominated as our title songs, and the two tracks that got the most votes by our members were picked. ‘Sweet Thing’ is a song where I thought we could show our charms, while ‘You and Me’ is a track we can do well. We thought it would be a bummer if we did not use those songs as our main song,” he said.
Although Gomak Boys was formed as a special project group, the five bandmates hinted at possible future musical activities with the band.
“All I can say is that since we’ve built a new relationship, we won’t let go of this connection easily,” Paul Kim said.
Gomak Boys is set to perform at the 14th edition of the Melon Music Awards at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, southwestern Seoul, on Saturday.
The five-piece act’s two-track package hit global music platforms on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
