For much of PLAVE’s early career, every milestone seemed to arrive with another question attached: What could a virtual idol group actually do?
Since debuting in 2023, YEJUN, NOAH, BAMBY, EUNHO and HAMIN have answered largely by doing. They have taken an active role in creating their music and performances while steadily expanding the scale of the stages they stand on. Most recently, the five opened their KEEP IT MANIC world tour with their first stadium concerts in Incheon — a milestone that brought them further than they once imagined.
Three years in, the questions around PLAVE are beginning to change. As their music reaches a broader audience and their stages grow larger, another question is coming into focus: What kind of artists do they want to become from here?
Their upcoming fifth mini album, HYPERDRIVE, arrives at that turning point. YEJUN likens the record to “the first scenery you encounter after coming out of a tunnel” — an image that captures a group looking ahead after a chapter defined by rapid growth.
Speaking with Billboard Korea ahead of HYPERDRIVE, PLAVE reflect on their first stadium concerts, meeting U.S. audiences in Los Angeles, the individual creative identities revealed through their solo stages and the kind of artists they hope to become from here.
