Like all music, Big Ocean’s performances transcend language barriers. Blending sign language with K-pop dance moves, the group has the power to move their listeners like a gentle current at times, and like powerful crashing waves at others. And when they were named Billboard’s K-Pop Rookie of the Month, they were just getting started. We talked with members CHANYEON, HYUNJIN, and JISEOK as they reflected on the excitement of the past year, plus what lies ahead on their voyage—one filled with such passion and zeal that, just like their namesake, it stretches out beyond the horizon as far as the eye can see.
Sign language meets dance
CHANYEON: People call us the idols who sing with sign language. What started as a simple question—What if we combined sign language with dance?—has now become a one-of-a-kind identity for us.
JISEOK: Our debut song “Glow” is a remake of the classic H.O.T. song. The original is so well known, and people unfamiliar with sign language might think the signing parts are dance moves and not think twice about them. We try and clearly separate the two to show both the dance moves and how fun it can be to communicate through signing.
CHANYEON: For instance, when one of us is signing in the center, the others make sure the focus stays on the center by doing things like minimalistic dance moves or changing the formation. For each song, we first learn both the sign language version and the choreographed version separately, then we work out where we should integrate them to make it look seamless and natural. We always prioritize those little details when we’re doing that.
HYUNJIN: And when you’re doing hip hop, there’s a lot of movements that involve bouncing to the rhythm, but prioritizing the bouncing too much could make it so the meaning we’re trying to convey through sign language gets lost, so we do a lot of experimenting between ourselves to find ways of balancing the two.
CHANYEON: Aside from our own songs, we’ve also posted sign language covers of famous songs like “Candy” by NCT DREAM and “Dynamite” by BTS on our socials. Hopefully we can cover cool songs like these more often from now on.
Free-soul pop music
HYUNJIN: Our group’s main defining characteristic is how we combine sign language with choreography when we perform. But on top of that, we’re pioneering a new genre called free-soul pop, which promotes finding your own happiness through music that’s made just for you. I see this genre as a journey where you discover music you love and enjoy it, or even the whole process of coming to feel happy. It’s a genre without any rigid rules that everyone’s free to enjoy.
JISEOK: What’s great about the free-soul pop we’re making is that it’s not just fun for people listening to it, but to people watching it, too. By using sign languages from different countries, we can even send special messages tailored just for them.
Creating a performance
JISEOK: Sometimes we struggle to communicate with each other when we’re practicing. In those cases, we try explaining things step by step to one another, then practice any number of ways, like counting the beat or making a sound like chk to get a feel for it. If it’s something we can’t work out right away, we practice individually and then come back to share feedback, like, “I think I moved too fast on this one part.” There’s a ton of things we go through after that where we keep watching each other to fine-tune everything. And I can think of plenty of times where we doubled down our efforts getting ready for a performance when there were changes to the choreography suddenly. It made me realize plans can change in an instant. (laughs)
CHANYEON: We put out the song “FLOW” last November and it lives up to the name with all the wave moves and jumps. We gave special attention to perfecting those wave moves and worked really hard on synchronizing how long we’re in the air for the jumps. I’m the main rapper, but I started learning sign language later than the others, which made it tough to nail signing fast rap parts. I start slow, practicing every sign, position, and direction of each move one by one, gradually picking up speed. If I have trouble with something, I’d consult with the other members. For my pronunciation, I practice by biting down on a pen, opening my mouth as wide as I can, and thinking about where the sound is produced.
HYUNJIN: I couldn’t hear where the intro to “FLOW” starts as well as the others, but they really helped me a lot. They told me, Just go boom boom six times, and then “one, two, three,” and if you do that, you’ll be right on the beat. So I memorized it exactly like they told me and practiced that way.
First overseas shoot
JISEOK: We shot the music video for “FLOW” overseas, which was a first for us. There was an event in a huge plaza where a crowd joined us to dance. The backup dancers taught every single move to all those people on the spot, and seeing them all dance together as one was a really profound moment for me.
HYUNJIN: We flew out the day before my birthday, which is October 24, so it felt like we were going to Paris to celebrate it. (laughs) We met Pink Blood Crew, the dancers, there, and (showing off his bracelet) they even gave me a birthday gift—this white bracelet. It was a little tricky for us to talk to each other in English, but even talking back and forth through a translation app was a really fun and unique experience.
“You got a million fans / You only make me dance”
CHANYEON: The three of us all have hearing impairments, and a lot of PADO have disabilities too. There’s this line in “FLOW” that HYUNJIN sings: “You got a million fans / You only make me dance.” I think it reflects the symbiotic relationship between Big Ocean and PADO, highlighting how we support, cheer for, and comfort each other even more because we share difficulties in common. From that viewpoint, the “you” in “you got a million fans” could either be us in Big Ocean or each and every PADO. If you put the focus on PADO, it’s about not just us but also PADO cheering each other on, and if you put the focus on us, then it can also be about how much all those PADO mean to us. And “you only make me dance” is about how we dance for PADO, but then also how our fans connect with our music through the dances.
HYUNJIN: “FLOW” is actually all about falling in love without even realizing it. I think it could be a message to PADO or even to people who don’t know about us yet. We’ve performed it a lot in concerts, including one time in the Cayman Islands. I remember telling the audience there, “I personally think this song’s great to listen to on your own, but since it’s about love, it might be even better for couples.” Ultimately, the song’s really about the process. There’s so many different processes by which we approach all emotions, not just love, and I felt like we were singing about how we can become one and share those feelings by accepting and feeling those processes for what they are and learning to love ourselves and others more deeply through that.
Idols are often seen as a source of hope and inspiration for their fans, and sometimes actually idolized by them. And as an idol myself, I’m also a source of energy for PADO, but I actually get energy from them, too.
We’re all leaders here
CHANYEON: Big Ocean doesn’t have a designated leader. Since we each have our own strengths, we can balance one another out, so we try to keep that in mind when we’re working together. We’re often following JISEOK’s lead when we practice choreo. For talking to audiences, we look to HYUNJIN. And when we need to clear up anything else, I take over. (laughs)
HYUNJIN: At first, it was mostly JISEOK giving feedback on choreography, but as time goes on, sometimes CHANYEON gives even more feedback than he does. I can get ahead of the beat sometimes, and CHANYEON gives me guidance, saying, “You need to slow down here,” or, “Tone it down a bit for this part,” and works through each point step by step.
CHANYEON: HYUNJIN and I spend a lot of late nights practicing together. I can help him out with the parts he finds particularly tricky, and practicing late into the night together while I give him tips has brought us closer together. (laughs) There was a time when I didn’t know much about dancing and didn’t understand some of JISEOK’s pointers, but as I learned more, his insights slowly started making sense. Now we actively discuss things and iron out ideas together as we work. I think we’ve grown closer because of it. (laughs)
Big Ocean, little family
HYUNJIN: Living together is joyful and fun in a way that feels different from living alone. I just like spending time together and getting to see what they like and what they’re into up close. Sometimes just having been through a tough time together can turn it into a great memory. (laughs)
JISEOK: Before we became singers, we all lived completely different lives. At first, CHANYEON was just the studious one, and HYUNJIN the YouTuber—that was my first impression of them, and that’s why it felt natural to embrace our differences, but now that we’ve been working together as a group, it’s even clearer how different we are as people. (laughs) I was a competitive skier for years, so I’m used to group living situations, but living with these two has made me more accommodating to them. I’m a naturally impatient person to some degree, and, for example, when you share some things, sometimes they might get broken by accident—which actually happened just yesterday. (laughs) But even in those cases, I’ve learned to play it cool and just say, hey, it happens. And now I value just being able to make time in our schedule for the three of us to do little things like go see a movie or go to a cafe. All I want is for us to keep sticking together and do a good job.
CHANYEON: All the little things make us happy. (laughs)
CHANYEON and JISEOK flip the age pyramid
JISEOK: I can’t play the role of the youngest in this group. (laughs) Sometimes the others ask me to buy them something to eat, and it makes me think I should take better care of them. And I’m naturally quite blunt, but I try to be more thoughtful when talking to them about certain things so I don’t hurt their feelings. I tend to be curt, but since they’re so cheerful and affectionate, it feels like they’re even younger than I am. (laughs)
CHANYEON: Deal with it. (laughs) I’m the oldest in Big Ocean, but I’ve actually experienced being the youngest in the family and other social groups a lot.
HYUNJIN: I’m similar to CHANYEON. It can be hard to handle him when he’s acting cute, but … (laughs) teasing each other while we work is fun, and I think that vibe helps us try and be more open to each other’s ideas.
A lot can change in 10 months
CHANYEON: When we leave the country for a gig and land in another country, I’ve noticed that there are more and more people there to welcome us. It’s something that really makes me feel how much interest and love for the group there is each time it happens. Comments like, “Thank you for giving my life meaning,” or about being inspired to live a better life because of us, really stick with me.
JISEOK: When we debuted, there were so many negative comments. Even I wasn’t familiar with the term “barrier-free” at first. But as we kept at it, more people started sharing how they discovered the charm of sign language through us. Now some people think of Big Ocean as soon as they hear “barrier-free.”
HYUNJIN: There was one YouTube comment that said, “How do you manage to synchronize perfectly even though you can’t hear well? It takes my breath away.” It took my breath away reading that. Some people think it’s absolutely impossible we could dance to the beat, but the fact that somebody can look at us and be so taken aback that they say it takes their breath away is proof of how much we’re capable of. I also remember a comment from someone who had given up on their dream of becoming a singer because of their own disability but found the courage to pursue it again after seeing us. Things like that make me confident we can inspire even more people in the future.
JISEOK: I remember PADO saying, “Thank you for stepping out into the world.” That made me realize we can be someone’s reason for doing something or be a guiding light for them. It’s incredibly touching to know we have so many PADO out there backing us. I think, as an idol group, we bring hope and motivation to countless people out there. We don’t want to be seen as being restricted by expectations or limitations. What we want to convey is what’s not seen—something that resonates with people and can’t be put in a box.
Extending beyond the horizon
CHANYEON: Since we all face the challenge of being hearing impaired, I look at Big Ocean’s journey as one continuous effort to overcome challenges like that. We’ve faced so much trial-and-error to get where we are, but somehow, we’ve pushed our way through. There’s still plenty of hurdles ahead, but I believe we can make it over them. Our story isn’t about making the impossible possible—it’s about how we handle challenging situations and persevere through them.
HYUNJIN: The name Big Ocean reflects our ambition to spread good, positive energy all across the world in the same way the ocean has that potential. That’s also why we do a lot of livestreams in English: so we can connect with people globally. We’re also trying to use an even mix of International Sign and individual countries’ sign languages to communicate with them.
CHANYEON: PADO from abroad come to see us sometimes, too. We make an effort to learn to say simple things like “hello” or “thank you” in their languages so we can connect with PADO from all over the world.
From fresh new faces to global icons in 2025
HYUNJIN: We’re holding a concert in Japan on March 9. We’re working hard on both individual performances and group songs for when the day comes. We’re practicing every single day so we can show off everything we’re capable of.
JISEOK: Each of us has a little talent prepared for PADO. I hope they like it.
CHANYEON: Spring is just around the corner. They say there’s a cold snap coming, though, and some say it’ll get progressively colder, so take care not to catch a cold, PADO. Not only are we holding the concert, but we’re also going to try out a bunch of different genres and some new concepts to work on, so I hope everyone’s looking forward to that.
JISEOK: We’re leaving no stone unturned as we get ready for 2025. This year, set your expectations high. We’re going to stop at nothing to make sure we can put on shows for an astounding number of people. I hope lots of people see us and can go on to achieve way more, too.
HYUNJIN: I’m deeply grateful for the unexpected outpouring of love and attention from PADO. It’s more than we deserve. Some people might see what we do as impossible, and a lot of people have said it looks really hard—and, honestly, nothing about this process has been easy—but we firmly believe that with perseverance, even when the progress is slow, we’ll succeed in the end. I hope PADO will watch what we’re doing closely and I really want to prove that it’s all working out. Like I said, I see what we’re doing as being about sharing energy with each other. I hope we can keep sharing good vibes back and forth with PADO this year, too. I promise to keep giving it my all.