A new generation forges its own world, curating pieces from a legacy once thought complete. The freedom of expression that comes after everything you accumulate over 19 fierce years of life. It’s JAMES from CORTIS.

Before debuting, you created the signature hand move for the hook in “Magnetic,” which was one of biggest hits of the year last year.
JAMES: Did I? (laughs) I got magnetic vibes off “Magnetic” as soon as producer Slow Rabbit played it for me, so I tried doing this (does the hand motion) and he absolutely loved it. MARTIN even filmed me doing it on his phone, and then it became part of the official choreography. Usually when I’m involved in making choreo, I spend time thinking over each move, but this time, the idea just came to me on the spot while working on the melody. It was a surprising and fascinating way of going about it.

Even though you’re still a teenager, it feels like dance and music are already an integral part of your life.
JAMES: Music was always playing at home when I was growing up. My dad loves rock bands like Queen, the Bee Gees, and Bon Jovi, and my mom’s a huge Eminem fan. We’d start listening to music in the morning, and on the way home from school, Beyoncé or Michael Jackson would be playing in the car. I listened to classical music before hockey games or exams. Seeing Michael Jackson’s performances made me want to try out dancing, so I asked my dad about it, but my dad’s solution to everything is to just use an iPad. (laughs) So, of course, he said the same thing again—“Learn it from the iPad first.” (laughs) So I practiced dancing from the iPad until I thought, “Okay, I can kind of do this now,” and then started taking lessons. Hockey, swimming—he’d always hand me the iPad and say, “Try it,” and then I’d spend all day on the iPad and practicing. (laughs) My dad was actually teaching me, too. I remember the two of us being at home, dreaming up these training sessions together.

You learned sports through an iPad? That must’ve been a unique experience for you. (laughs) I heard you even practiced Taekwondo for five years and were semi-pro in hockey.
JAMES: I was kind of frail as a kid, so my parents sent me to an elementary school where I could get more in touch with nature. I guess they were worried about me. That school was seriously deep in the forest, with butterflies flying around and monkeys in the trees. (laughs) I think that’s why they signed me up for things like Taekwondo and hockey, too—to help make me stronger. To be honest, I don’t think I’m the type to excel immediately from the get-go. I always have to invest a huge amount of time, like with hockey, where I really had to put the effort in.

You’re still in your teens and you’re already writing songs and directing performances. You seem quite strict with yourself. It probably ties back to how much experience you have teaching yourself things.
JAMES: I think my dad taught me that way because you only really get better by figuring things out yourself first. Try it on your own, then ask questions if you need help. My dad has pretty unique interests. If you go into his room, it’s full of toys and all these unexpected things, and he spends a lot of time by himself making things like paper models. When he was in university, he took a lot of photos and did a lot of projects, and I got to see a lot of them. That naturally got me into doing art and I entered some competitions. That had a big influence on my musical tastes, too. I want to develop my own style when it comes to videos, too. Seeing my dad has taught me that no matter how old you are, you have to keep having fun so you can keep being creative.

I heard you lived in several different countries before coming to Korea. That must’ve left a mark on you, too.
JAMES: My family’s from all over the place, and when we all sit down for a meal together, I’m the only one who can speak all the different languages, so I speak in Chinese for one of them, then in English for someone else, and then Thai for another. It’s sort of exhausting (laughs) but it’s also a really unique experience.

Even though you’ve lived in so many countries, coming to Korea to be a trainee must’ve been a new and unfamiliar experience for you.
JAMES: I was back and forth between Taipei and Bangkok auditioning and coming to Korea. My mom’s actually a fan of BTS—especially Jimin (laughs)—so when I joined the label and first saw him, it didn’t feel real and was just so amazing. I ended up slated to debut as soon as I joined BIGHIT MUSIC, but living with the rest of the group was a whole new experience for me. I really value my personal time, but it was never quiet with everybody there, so I ended up buying a really nice pair of headphones. (laughs) But the whole process of growing through planning and figuring out my training schedule myself really suited me. I assume it goes back to how my dad raised me. It was a great experience for me in that regard. (laughs)

As the oldest of the group, I’m sure growing close with the other members was a process in itself.
JAMES: Oh—when I first met them, which was already two or three years ago, my first thought was how young they were. And MARTIN wasn’t even as tall back then as he is now. (laughs) But as he started growing taller and taller (gradually raises his gaze upward), I was like, “Huh?” (laughs) SEONGHYEON and KEONHO progressively got to that “huh” point too. When I look at old photos of us, it feels like everyone’s changed so much. When I first met MARTIN, he was worried about how to look graceful while dancing because of his height, while KEONHO and SEONGHYEON didn’t even know how to dance yet. To be honest, I felt a need to rush through things at first, and I think I was a bit strict with them, but the times we practiced the choreography I made for monthly evaluations together, I thought a lot about how to keep things simple when teaching them and how to make doing the formations more fun. That whole process helped us understand each other better.

CORTIS is known for working ideas from everyone in the group into every detail—the music, choreography, videos, even the album colors and merch. Isn’t it hard to bring everyone’s ideas together when you all have such distinct personalities?
JAMES: It is hard. (laughs) It’s rare that all five of us think the exact same way, so we usually end up thinking and discussing a lot. MARTIN, for example, really thinks things through and gets deep in thought, while I’m the kind of person who tries to clear his mind as much as possible when I’m doing creative work. I thought those different perspectives might clash at first, but now it’s great because he notices things I would’ve missed on my own. Then there’s JUHOON, with his ability to see everything objectively. SEONGHYEON has his own clear take on the world, and KEONHO always thinks about how to make everything feel more “us.” Meanwhile, I just keep throwing a bunch of really weird ideas out there, and MARTIN’s always working on bringing out whatever he thinks is cool. (laughs) When we’re making something, it doesn’t feel like work at all. Someone looking from the outside in might think we’re just messing around or that we’ve got no structure, but some of the ideas we come up with while messing around actually end up being used for performances or elsewhere. We keep it wide open and bounce ideas around without restraint until it’s like, “Wait, this is actually great,” and then we dive deeper into it. For example, the five of us choreographed “GO!” in a studio in LA in just a couple of days and shot it right away. After it was done, we all went out for samgyeopsal together. That was such a rewarding experience.

What were you personally focused on while choreographing “GO!”?
JAMES: I think the hook is super important when it comes to both music and dance. It’s great if the moves are something people remember. It’s really satisfying when people say it sticks with them. When we were working on “GO!” and came up with (pumping arm in a circular motion with a thumbs-up like in the chorus) this move, we thought it’d be great if, instead of people saying it looked cool, they were like, “Let’s try this move—it’s awesome.”

There’s also “What You Want,” a slower boom bap track where the dance moves are naturally slower to go along with it, meaning they have to be that much more perfect. It also means leaning into each of your unique styles and vibes. It seems like a much harder performance than it looks like.
JAMES: I was honestly concerned about that right from the song camp. We were working with Teezo Touchdown and listening to the song, and I thought, “Wow, this is amazing,” but at the same time, I told Supreme Boi and Hiss Noise, the producers, “This song’s incredible, but making choreography for it would be really hard.” But they were like, “Anything can be choreographed, man!” So I went, “You’re right! Anything can be choreographed.” (laughs) The treadmill idea was something that came up while talking with the performance director, and filming the performance film on the beach was another thing we all came up with together.

So you saw hurdles coming, but decided to deal with things in a laid-back way.
JAMES: I always think people who keep cool, look cool, too. I think it’s really cool when someone just goes out and has fun when they’re performing. Taking something challenging and making it look effortless is one of the hardest things there is. When I used to play hockey, my role model was Patrick Kane. He’s so quick with his hands, but he always makes it look easy. So, even when I hear a challenging song, I think it’s cooler to stay relaxed and let myself really feel the music.

The lyrics to your rap in “FaSHioN” feel like a reflection of that, in that you’re taking something small and turning it into something cool—“My tee, 5 bucks / My pants, 10,000 won.”
JAMES: Actually, before that song came to be, I wrote another one called “Dongmyo,” and back then, my allowance wasn’t much to work with (laughs) so I wrote a lot of lyrics about not having any spare cash. Also, when my friends and I want to brag about something, it’s never, “This was expensive”—it’s more like, “I got these two pairs of shoes for less than 100,000 won.” Even when the other members and I went to LA recently, we were all saying stuff like, “I got this for real cheap,” or “This was a steal.” (laughs)

Is CORTIS like a family, where the younger siblings borrow clothes from the older ones? (laughs)
JAMES: They used to do that a lot, but now we all have our own tastes, so we wear our own things. But still, sometimes I’ll give them something if I don’t wear it anymore. But MARTIN’s not exactly the cleanest person. (laughs) I lent him one of my favorite hoodies once, and the next day, it had a huge sauce stain on it. I just said “keep it” and gave it to him. (laughs) To be honest, I’ve never really taken on the role of big brother much, and when I first came to Korea, I wasn’t used to the hierarchical culture, so instead of sticking strictly to the big brother role, I try to keep things comfortable and casual between us.

You’ve mentioned being more of an individualistic person, but it seems like you’ve been giving a lot of thought to the importance of the group.
JAMES: I feel like I made the right choice by joining CORTIS—not just with the group itself, but with all the people on staff who help us out, too. I think my perspective would’ve been pretty narrow if it were just me, but being with the group exposes me to all these different ideas, and it feels like I’m discovering a new world every day, so I’m excited to keep moving forward with them. We have a lot of resources and a great training environment thanks to the groups that came before us, which would make it that much easier to just take it for granted. That’s why, for this album, we really tried to express our determination and the mindset we’ve held onto and work that sincerity into the music.

You can really sense that sincerity in the album’s final track, “Lullaby.” The line “People say ‘sleep!’ but I’m not interested / Still I put myself to bed” feels like it reflects your perfectionist side.
JAMES: Yes, and to be honest, there was a period of my life where I had way too many thoughts and couldn’t really sleep, so those lyrics are something I relate to on a personal level. “FaSHioN” and “What You Want” show our edgier side, but on “Lullaby,” we’re a little more… “vulnerable”? I feel like we’re exposing what’s on the inside with that track, and I really love that about it. Honestly, I’ve failed more than I’ve succeeded, so I feel like it’s okay to show that part of ourselves.

When I listened to the album, I personally felt like it’s the sound of a new generation. In “GO!” there’s this confidence in the line, “We don’t need any other sign,” showing that you can express yourself over any beat out there, and in “What You Want,” there’s this message to “take what you want,” even in a world where so much is already complete when you get there.
JAMES: When I first went to the US, I saw Tyler, the Creator perform in LA. He has a clear vision for his albums, he’s humorous, and his style’s so clearly his own. I remember just feeling so hyped, laughing and even crying with my friends. All these emotions just rushed out at once. I felt like I was stepping into his world during that concert, and I want to invite the fans into our world in the same way. When we get up in front of our fans for the very first time, I think it’ll hit really different. There’s so many ways to keep in touch with fans these days and connect with them like friends. Personally, I hope we can be open with our fans about this journey as we grow, and be a source of strength for one another.