WayV’s Special Winter Album, 白色定格 (Eternal White)
SM Entertainment
The holidays are upon us, and Asian-pop group WayV is ready to share that Winter Wonderland spirit.
WayV, the Chinese subgroup of K-pop supergroup NCT, consisting of Ten, Kun, Xiaojun, Hendery, Yangyang, and WinWin, has released their winter special album, 白色定格 (Eternal White). (Winwin is currently focusing on his solo activities in China.)
It has been five months since their last album, BIG BANDS 狂想曲. Rather than put out another general release, WayV decided to showcase another side of their artistry with something centered on that holiday feeling.
“We’ve never had a winter special album before,” Yangyang says over Zoom from the SM Entertainment offices. “We wanted to show more of our other, new side to our fans. In this album, there are a lot of songs we never really tried in our other albums. That’s the concept that we’re going with this time.”
Typically, when people think about ‘Winter’ feelings, they will mention Christmas, the holidays, snow, hot chocolate, and warm fuzzy feelings. Kun and Hendery both mention ‘snowboarding’ when they think about winter.
“I look forward to winter because I’m a snowboard lover,” Hendery explains. “Every winter, I go snowboarding very often. I love winter, [because] I can have my own time.”
WayV’s Special Winter Album, 白色定格 (Eternal White)
SM Entertainment
Yangyang’s thoughts on winter and the album are a time of reflection, especially as it is the end of the year. The album’s title track, “白色定格 (Eternal White),” is a dance-pop song filled with energetic drum beats that explores moments frozen in time and takes them in before moving forward to the next step in life.
“It’s a very good end to a year that we had that we can reflect on ourselves and what we’ve done this year,” says Yangyang. “And, to improve ourselves in the next year.”
Xiaojun is pensive when he thinks about what winter means to him. All his members mentioned sweet moments. He looks straight into the camera and says bluntly, “I always feel alone during winter.”
His members turn to look at Xiaojun, bursting into laughter. He then doubles down on his answer and chuckles, “Cold and alone. So our special winter album is sweet and warm, so we can bring our fans love [and warmth] this winter.”
The album contains seven tracks, filled with emotional songs that resonate with the feelings of winter – both heartbreak and love. We talked about other winter-themed love songs that reflect both, like Wham!’s “Last Christmas” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” This was a similar feeling they wanted to convey.
Ten adds, “I do agree with Xiaojun because if you listen to [“白色定格 (Eternal Love)”], the song is very happy. It’s what they call a Christmas light kind of song, then suddenly, every other track slows down. Sometimes, [the holidays] will make you feel happy, like the festival and celebrating Christmas, but at night, when you’re alone, you might feel lonely. Many people feel lonely during Christmas. I feel this album is going to help them feel like they are not alone during Christmas.”
WayV’s Special Winter Album, 白色定格 (Eternal White)
SM Entertainment
The other songs include a symphonic ballad, “我之后的你 (Lover After Me),” that expresses feelings of regret and sorrow at the end of a love affair. Xiaojun recalls crying while recording the track because the message was so “simple and heartbreaking.” He hopes fans will listen to the song and that it will resonate with them, helping them heal.
“陌生的泪 (Strange Tears)” is about self-growth from these lingering emotions, while “月光蚀刻 (Moment in Time),” Yangyang’s favorite from the album, is a soft, poetic track reflecting lost love.
“It’s not about the lyrics, but the whole melody and vibe that just suits Christmas very well,” Yangyang admits. “That’s the only song that I kept listening to after we recorded the song. I kept playing the demo. I hope our fans really like the song, because I feel it’s been one of the most challenging for us so far. After I heard the recording from all the members, it sounds super good. I hope all our fans can enjoy the song with us together.”
Kun composed and arranged one of the songs, “初白 (First Time),” which portrays the fluttering emotions of a first encounter and the purity of love. Often participating in SM Entertainment’s composing and writing camps, Kun actually wrote the song before it was decided for the winter release.
“When I first composed the song, I wanted to deliver the warm atmosphere and emotions,” he says. Actually, TMI, the real demo title of this song was ‘Super Pretty’ because I wanted to deliver that fluttering, warm emotion. That was the actual name of the demo. So when I was arranging and composing it, I included some warmth in the sounds to make sure that those emotions and initial topics could be delivered.
Though Kun worked on “初白 (First Time),” his favorite track was “第五个季节 (The Fifth Season)”, an a cappella that expresses longing and lingering affection for a loved one. He’s always had a strong interest in a capella music, so he actually got to do it here.
“For this song, we actually shot a live clip outside where the snow is falling,” Kun says. “Despite the cold weather, it actually feels very warm and cozy.”
WayV’s Special Winter Album, 白色定格 (Eternal White)
SM Entertainment
Continuing their tradition of an English track, the song “Stay,” written, composed, and arranged by Dem Jointz, Leon Thomas, and Phillip “PSII Logan” Scott, is a charming synth-filled R&B groove that explores being torn in a relationship.
“We have a lot of full English songs in our albums,” Yangyang explains. “Last year, we had ‘Filthy Rich’ and ‘Love Talk.’ We want our international fans to sing along with us. That’s our motive to have a full English song.”
WayV really wanted to give fans something different with this album, especially from the last one. Known for their high-impact, energetic beats and strong music, 白色定格 (Eternal White) offers a slower, sweet Christmas gift about friendship with the title song.
“The name of everything – album and title track, it sounds like heartbreak, but if you listen to the layers carefully, it’s a hidden message,” Ten reveals. “There’s a beautiful message in all of the lyrics. It’s not based on a broken love story, but on a friendship, on our time with our friends, on our hardships, and on how our fans’ love empowers us. Everything is written inside the lyrics. We’re telling our fans we are thankful to have them. We wanted to repay them with this special album.”
Yangyang adds, “One of the messages we also want to send is that no matter what happened in your life, WayV will be right beside you. So we will face all the problems together.”
As the album comes out in December, WayV will enter into a new year of fresh starts and new beginnings. They hope to bring more music to their fans, as well as themselves, to the masses. They have visited the United States for KCON and SM Town concerts, but have never been on a full North American tour, so they would love to do one.
“We’ve been on the WayV tour (within Asia) since last year, so I want to keep going on this tour,” says Hendery. “Maybe do a third WayV tour. I hope it can happen.”
WayV’s Special Winter Album, 白色定格 (Eternal White)
SM Entertainment
Ten smiles, knowing “all the tea,” but unable to spill it at that moment. He says to expect a different side to WayV, maybe “more English songs in the future,” and “there’s gonna be so many new things coming up next year.” He loved the idea of releasing multiple tracks in different languages, since all the members are multilingual.
“It might be funny if we do songs: one full Thai, one full English, one full Chinese, one full Korean, one full Japanese, and so on,” he says, ecstatically. “We can record in different languages because we have done Japanese, a Thai cover song, and even Cantonese. We’ve done English many times. We’ve covered so many languages. If next year, we could release a six-track [album] in different languages. It’s going to be fun, but during the recording time, our brains’ gonna explode when we finish recording.”
Kun thinks Spanish would be fun to try. He says, “I’d like to try working on Spanish songs because I’ve been challenging myself with many different languages.”
One thing is for sure: as WayV gets older, so does their music and concepts. Several members will become 30 next year, which means they’re growing as individuals and as a group.
WayV’s Special Winter Album, 白色定格 (Eternal White)
SM Entertainment
“I do feel like we’re going to be a more mature WayV,” says Ten. “Every one of our members is going to be showing more of themselves next year. I would say next year will be you getting to know the WayV members individually.”
“Not an individual era!” Yangyang quickly corrects him to avoid misunderstanding.
Ten laughs, and elaborates, “Not in our individual era, but a more mature era – a mature, no censor era.”
WayV’s special winter album, 白色定格 (Eternal White), is out now on all streaming services. Physical copies of the albums are available at select retailers.
