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For K-pop girl group STAYC, releasing a cover of “FANCY,” a song by their seniors TWICE, feels like they’ve come full circle.
“This song was TWICE’s first comeback after I became a trainee. It made me wish that I could debut with such a great song like this, so it’s such an honor to be able to cover it through Spotify singles,” member Yoon told Rappler in an exclusive interview.
Arguably one of TWICE’s hit songs — the “FANCY” music video reached a whopping 42.1 million views for its first 24 hours when it was released in 2019 — the STAYC members admit that they “feel a little bit of pressure” remaking such a successful track.
But they’ve taken it as a challenge to not only pay tribute to TWICE, whom they regard as one of their role models in the industry, but to also have the cover commemorate their growth since their trainee days.
“It’s such a great honor to be able to join this project. Reinterpreting the song of our favorite senior idol group makes us feel a bit nervous, but I really hope the fans like it,” Sumin shared.
Sieun continued: “Having to reinterpret the original song made us feel a little bit of pressure to produce a decent result, to be honest. But after finishing the recording and filming, I thought this was a great project to showcase our new charms.”
STAYC isn’t new to covering songs by TWICE, with the group previously doing a cover of “OOH-AHH” and member Sieun also doing a dance cover of “MORE & MORE.” But for “FANCY,” Isa noted that the group focused on “bringing out the charms of both the choreography and the song.”
“We tried approaching it as differently as possible from the original,” J said. “The original ‘FANCY’ is such a solid song, so we did our best to perform it in our own style.”
Sieun added that while she loved the song since she was a trainee, she thought STAYC’s cover could “show a more feminine and R&B version.”
Aside from their “unique voices” in the cover, J expressed her excitement in having both fans of STAYC and TWICE see their own dance performance for the cover. “There’s also a very cute point choreography,” she noted.
Sumin also teased that it’s a “totally unexpected performance.” “We prepared a choreography that’s completely different from the original, so I hope they like it.”
As such, they hope that fans would be able to see them as a group with true versatility. “I hope they think we can pull off various concepts and show many colors,” Seeun said.
The cover, released on Friday, March 15, is part of the 10th anniversary of K-pop ON, Spotify’s flagship playlist dedicated to the K-pop genre. Boy groups ENHYPEN and MONSTA X’s Shownu and Hyungwon have earlier released their covers for BTS’ “I NEED U” and 2PM’s “I Hate You,” respectively.
Moreover, the anniversary project’s “First Crush” campaign aims to have listeners “reminisce about the first artists who ignited their love for K-pop.”
“Liking K-pop is similar to having a crush,” Yoon said about the project. “Even though a particular song isn’t written just for me, listening to it often and feeling comforted and moved by the song is similar to having a crush. I’m always in love with K-pop. I imagine our song would be the first crush for someone, too.”
And if they’ll be given a chance to write a song about their first crushes, Sumin said that they’d like for the song to tell the story “about hiding the feelings but still showing it would be fun.” While Seeun shared that she’d like to “convey various feelings that we go through when having a crush.”
Aside from their involvement in the Spotify Singles project, we also asked STAYC about their love for their fans, SWITHs, and what’s in store for them in the coming months. Here’s what they have to say:
RAPPLER: STAYC is known for its “teen fresh” genre. Why do you think that style resonates so much with your fanbase?
SIEUN: I think they like our unique energy! The positive, healthy, and pure energy that they could feel from our music, stage performances, and chemistry between our members!
YOON: I think the charm of “teen fresh” is that it’s not limited and that it is full of honest and confident energy. The fans say that our energy makes them smile and our stages give them strength. That must be why they’d like to keep seeing us pursuing the teen fresh concept.
RAPPLER: Are there any concepts that you’d like to try in the future?
ISA: An energetic concept with band sounds!
SEEUN: We performed with a band at our concert, and I still remember how we really enjoyed it, so I think it would be really great to have a band version of our songs.
RAPPLER: 2023 has been very monumental for the group, with breaking album sales records and going on your first international concert tour. Is there any pressure to top those this 2024? What’s your personal and group goals for the rest of the year?
SUMIN: This year, I really hope we can release a full-length album that SWITH has been waiting for. Personally, I’d like to hone my skills further and perform richer and more varied music.
SIEUN: I hope we can try to showcase various music this year. I’d like for us to make albums with a wide range of concepts and genres!
ISA: I hope to let more people know what kind of a group STAYC is, and I hope for everyone’s health and more chances to meet with SWITH this year!
RAPPLER: You’re now three years into your career and have a steady growing fanbase. What’s the most memorable compliment about your work that you’ve received so far?
SEEUN: “Thank you for always making me happy” is one of the most memorable. Even before my debut, I hoped for others to feel happy watching me, so hearing that from a fan made me really happy.
YOON: “Your voice is beautiful” is the most memorable compliment for me. We do a lot of fan signing, and whenever the fans compliment and love my voice, it really makes me glad to have started this career and motivates me to work harder.
J: “It’s nice to see you always getting better.”
RAPPLER: Looking back on your career, what do you think helped catapult STAYC into popularity?
SUMIN: I think SWITH themselves inspire me. My daily life itself is centered around SWITH. I hope to do more and show more of what they love.
ISA: Even during the pandemic, SWITH kept supporting and loving us and our music and provided much feedback, allowing us to try various genres.
YOON: As I mentioned before, we put in so much effort to show many things to SWITH and to not let them down. I think we grew so much during that process and learned a lot about expressing our feelings more to the fans.
RAPPLER: How do you continue to evolve as K-pop artists?
SIEUN: All of our members are passionate about music and our career, so those personal efforts really inspire me. We think a lot about our group’s musical direction or concept, too, which all help us grow as a team!
SEEUN: All the members are ambitious and value the quality of our performance so we can grow personally and together as a team.
J: We were often in a situation where we had to prepare for the end-of-year stages, concerts, and comeback all at the same time. We had trouble memorizing the performances at first, but now, everyone quickly learns the choreography and knows how not to forget them easily.
– Rappler.com
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