BAE173 embarks on a new Odyssey as a self-producing group

When you first play start on Odyssey: Dash, the last mini album from BAE173, you can immediately feel the difference in style and how the members became bolder with the last release. Officially published on August 17th, the last work of Junseo, J-Min, Hangyul, Yoojun, Muzin, Youngseo, Doha, Bit, and Dohyon is a three-song gift for those who love K-pop.

BAE173 - whose name is the acronym of “Before Anyone Else” with the addition of the number first number also known as the perfect number, 1, and the mathematically lucky number 73, debuted on November 2020. Still, they had already explored multiple genres showing their versatility. Dohyon entirely produces this new album. If the title track, ‘DaSH’ shows the group’s strong will to run to the top, no matter what difficulties there are, and the second track, ‘get him UGH’ shows the new sounds explored by BAE173, toez is the real deal of this album thanks to its sensuous trap beat, captivating melody, and its dreamy psychedelic singing rap.

Panorama.it spoke with them.

Nice to meet you guys! Can you please introduce yourself to the Italian public?

J-MIN: Hi, I’m J-MIN, the eldest member of BAE173!
HANGYUL: Hi, I’m HANGYUL, the leader and main dancer of BAE173.
YOOJUN: Hi, I’m BAE173’s YOOJUN.
MUZIN: Hi, I’m MUZIN, the main dancer of BAE173.
JUNSEO: Hi, I’m JUNSEO, the main dancer of BAE173.
YOUNGSEO: Hi, I’m YOUNGSEO, the main vocalist of BAE173.
DOHA: Hi, I’m DOHA, the second youngest member of BAE173! 😊
BIT: Hi, I’m the twinkling ‘BIT’(means ‘light’ in Korean), the vocalist of BAE173.
DOHYON: Hi, I’m DOHYON, the youngest member of BAE173 and the producer of this album.

Let's start by talking about your group name, BAE173: Where did it come from and what did you think about it when you first heard about it?

JUNSEO:
“Our BAE173 is an abbreviation of “Before Anyone Else”, and it is a combination of 1, the first natural number, and 73, the mathematically perfect number, meaning that as the most perfect group, we reach our fans first, before anyone else. When I first heard the name of the team, it was difficult to convey the meaning, but it was good because it seemed to be a name with a good meaning.”

Having nine members, how does it feel like working together?

DOHA:
“Each of the 9 members has a distinct personality, filling each other's gaps. That's why I think we can rely on each other more and trust each other.”

When you first met, which member caught your attention first?

MUZIN:
“DOHYON was the member who caught my eye the most when we first met. The reason is, unlike his cute face, he was a “Giant Baby”.

So... time to talk about your music. Odyssey is your first chapter. It has a very meaningful name. Can you tell us more about it?

J-MIN:
“Just as “Odysseus”, from Greek mythology, overcomes adversity and hardship, this album marks the beginning of BAE173's long journey, which contains the aspiration that we will overcome any difficulties in K-Pop.”

Then there is “DaSH”, your title track. If you had to describe it in one word, which word would you choose?

YOOJUN:
“I think it’s “passion”! It's because it is “passion” with our sweat and effort, contained in 3 minutes.”

"get him UGH", is a very charming hip-hop track that shows all your potential. Can you tell us more about it?

DOHYON:
“It's a genre we've always wanted to challenge as a team. Rather than caring about the elements of a typical K-Pop track, we focused on the message so that the flow would be natural.”

And last, but not least: “toez”. Personally, this is my favorite track. It caught me since I first heard it. Can you tell us more about the message in this song?

DOHYON:
Come to think of it, “toez” is a challenging and experimental track. It's a song that reveals the musical atmosphere I wanted to show, and when I wrote the lyrics, I put my honest story like a rapper by following the mood rather than making up a theme.

DOHYON, as you produced the whole album, how was the process behind it?

DOHYON:
“Looking back, various emotions came and went in a short period of time, and I think there were a lot of lessons to be learned while producing the album. It was my first “challenge” for myself, so there were times when I was anxious, but I persevered thinking about achieving a wonderful result. I feel grateful to the members who helped me create great results, and I will continue to challenge myself in the future!”

Do you have any role models in the industry?

BIT:
“BTS and SEVENTEEN are my role models. I want to emulate their perfect performance on stage.”

What's next for BAE173?

HANGYUL:
“Our goal is to introduce our group, BAE173, to K-Pop fans around the world!”