Dreams Do Come True

Even though they are barely a year into the game, South Korean idol group BOYNEXTDOOR is more than knee-deep in perfecting the balancing act of stardom and celebrating the fleeting euphoria of boyhood.

- Charmaine Tan

What does it take to trust in the good of life and its whims while being well acquainted with the constraints of reality? What does it take to acknowledge the risks of chasing dreams and embracing the unfettered freedom of youth, and still go ahead with both of them anyway?

Courage, gratitude and a generous dollop of passion it seems according to SUNGHO, RIWOO, JAEHYUN, TAESAN, LEEHAN and WOONHAK of BOYNEXTDOOR. First introduced to the world earlier this May, the idol group stands refreshingly apart from the times' intensely charismatic and feisty peers, giddy with hope and brimming with a sunny disposition; embodying a kind of boyish charm that the K-Pop industry once stood by as a conceptual form of rite of passage.

But a conversation with the rookie six-piece reveals anything but blind innocence and immaturity - each member offers candour, wit, wisdom and a healthy amount of contagious wide-eyed wonder knowingly grasping at the privileges of being in the pink of youth by choosing to live in the present. There is a learned self-awareness that makes speaking to them pleasantly surprising; they continue to dream and get lost because they feel they not only can but should, and this love of dreaming manifests in curious doublets.

Further along this story, the interview breaks into three sections in hopes of honing in on the charm of said pairings: RIWOO, the performance leader and youngest, WOONHAK, take on questions about living the dream and its expression on stage; TAESAN and the oldest, SUNGHO, tap on their lucidly introspective compasses to guide us through their takes on youth; leader JAEHYUN and the eccentric LEEHAN muse about the surrealism of dreams, offering a buoyant showing of the group's sincerity towards celebrating boyhood.

YOU'VE MADE IT TO THE END OF 2023 AS BOYNEXTDOOR. HOW HAS YOUR RUN AS IDOLS BEEN SO FAR?