BTOB: Thrilling on their own terms

BTOB: Thrilling on their own terms

Their latest EP Thriller shares the same title as Michael Jackson's multi-Grammy-winning 1982 album.

But K-pop boy band BTOB would have you know that their current musical direction couldn't have been more different from the late King of Pop's.

In an interview via Google+ Hangout video chat last Friday, the swoonsome septet, speaking from their home turf in Seoul, shared their inspiration behind Thriller, which comprises six new catchy electropop numbers.

"We have utmost respect for Michael Jackson. He has influenced us in our everyday lives as entertainers, but we can't say that Thriller is a homage to him," said 22-year-old leader Eunkwang, while another member, Minhyuk, also 22, attempted to pull off his best MJ impersonation.

Minhyuk's spontaneous dance moves elicited laughs from the five participating groups of reporters based in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan.

"Our concept for Thriller is very different (from Jackson's). For our music video of our lead single Thriller, we actually got our main inspiration from Hollywood director Tim Burton's animation flick The Nightmare Before Christmas," said Eunkwang.

"We wanted a creepy, eerie atmosphere to emanate through our video."

The clip, which has garnered more than 560,000 views on YouTube, features a dark, smoky backdrop, an abandoned old house and a scene with Eunkwang tied up in chains, skulls scattered all around him.

BTOB, which also consists of Changsub, 22, Hyunsik, 21, Peniel, 20, Ilhoon,18 and Sungjae, 18, debuted early last year and were one of the headlining acts at Singapore's music extravaganza Sundown Festival 2012 in December.

Changsub added that they are not worried about comparisons to Jackson.

"I feel that we've definitely put our own spin on the word 'thriller'," he said.

"If you listen to our music, we have our distinctive style and colour."

Jackson's iconic 13-minute Thriller music video featured his transformation into a scary werewolf, and a mass dance by zombies.

Earlier this month, as part of their promotional efforts for Thriller in South Korea, the boys did what Hyunsik described as "an unprecedented move" - they sang one of their new hits, When I Was Your Man, live on national radio, even before the album hit the shelves.

"The pop industry is in a really competitive age now, it's all about standing out from the pack. We've always felt that our forte is our live singing and we pride ourselves on having good vocals, so we decided to do that," explained Hyunsik.

"The response from our fans was great."

BTOB - who cite R&B crooner Chris Brown, producer-rapper Pharrell Williams and renowned producers Quincy Jones and Teddy Riley as some of the superstars they'd love to work with - also saw one of their members venturing down the path of songwriting in their latest studio effort.

Hyunsik co-wrote When I Was Your Man with his Cube Entertainment labelmate and senior Lee Gi Kwang from boy band Beast, and penned the smooth urban track Star on his own.

"I wrote Star during my trainee days. I remember walking outdoors and looking up at the open sky filled with stars," Hyunsik recalled.

"The song is about our desire to become rising stars in the music scene, stars that shine all over the world."


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