Putting his all into letting go. Accepting that sometimes less is more when it comes to being cool. What might seem like a contradiction is becoming a conviction in SEONGHYEON’s world.

Your life has changed a lot since your debut. You performed “MIC Drop” live at the end of the year, the same BTS song you sang at your audition, for instance.
SEONGHYEON: That was actually the first time I’d really sung and danced to “MIC Drop” properly. It wasn’t something I could’ve imagined back when I was auditioning, so it felt surreal and really satisfying to get up onstage and perform that song. Now when we’re out and about, so many people recognize us and go, “It’s CORTIS!” And every time that happens, I think, “Wow, we did come pretty far.” Since the making of our debut album, I was hoping more and more people would end up loving our music. As a musician, it feels great that I’m starting to experience little moments like that.

You’ve been experiencing more and more, like going to the US and performing at the NBA All-Star Game and checking out Amoeba Music. What kind of influence are these changes having on you?
SEONGHYEON: It’s refreshing, and it’s just genuinely fun. It keeps me wanting to seek out more new experiences like that. I was in China for the first time yesterday, and getting to try so much different Chinese food was a whole new thing for me. I loved it.

Those changes must be affecting your day-to-day rhythm too. Did you start following a yoga channel as a way to maintain your inner rhythm amidst all the recent changes?
SEONGHYEON: Exactly that. I try to do yoga whenever I have time. I also do yoga nidra [guided yogic sleep] a lot when I’m getting ready to sleep. When you dance this much, your body and mind need that release. And I’ve always loved eating out, but with my schedule these days, a lot of the time those little everyday things just aren’t possible, so when I do have an opening, I make a point of doing more stuff like that.

With less free time these days, I imagine you’ve had to work out how to find inspiration for your creative work.
SEONGHYEON: We poured so many ideas into our debut album, but then it was time to start working on the second one before we knew it. Having to write songs while promoting made it feel like there wasn’t enough time to get inspired the way I did for the first album, so we kept talking about how we needed some way to recharge. I guess it felt like there was less time to experience the outside world than before, so we got back into the little everyday things we hadn’t been doing as much, like seeing a movie in theaters with popcorn, playing basketball on a school court, that kind of stuff. We also tried a lot of new things together. That’s where we found the inspiration to write.

Did you come up with a system so you don’t forget any ideas you have while promoting?
SEONGHYEON: I used to love spending hours alone in my room working, but now that I don’t really get that kind of time anymore, my laptop goes with me wherever I go to work and I lay down beats during downtime. If I’m in the middle of vocal or choreo practice by myself and want to do something else, I make some music. When I get the chance I try to work with MARTIN or JUHOON too. It’s like I’m constantly making sure not to let the creativity slip away.

That reminds me of the time you and MARTIN were working on “Mention Me” when you were supposed to be checking out of a hotel room and kept saying “just 10 more minutes” over and over.
SEONGHYEON: These days I try to finish whatever I’m working on before wrapping up. You never know when you’ll get another window to work, so it actually speeds up the workflow. It was the same thing for that one. I kept thinking about how, if I just had a little more time, I could get it all done, so I wanted to finish it then and there. You might end up forgetting your ideas otherwise, so it needs to be right here, right now.

You must have felt a real rush after putting all that work into it when the part you wrote came on. (laughs)
SEONGHYEON: It was my first time writing a song for a soundtrack, so I honestly didn’t expect it to get a thumbs up on the first try. I was just relieved it went smoothly, and when I heard my part in the movie, I felt great. (laughs)

You must take a different approach when writing a song for a movie since you’re working from someone else’s story rather than your own. How did you tackle that aspect of it?
SEONGHYEON: I actually hadn’t seen the movie yet when I was working on it—they just told me what it was about. So, before I got down to work, I looked up the director’s other movies and their soundtracks, and I got a sense that the lyrics tended to be relatable and straightforward rather than super intricate. The line that really stuck with me was “Smalls can ball.” I just put myself in that situation and worked within the range of my imagination, then wrote really honestly and directly about that. I felt like the best way to get the message across for that song was to go with my instincts.

Then there’s “GREENGREEN,” which perfectly captures the busy life you boys have been living.
SEONGHYEON: When I was working on “Wassup,” the first thing that came to me were the opening lines: “The trunk of the Carnival's got traces of yesterday / Lookin’ out, we pass the same streets, hamster wheel.” After getting through a busy day, the trunk of our van ends up stuffed with clothes, shoes, bags, and all the stuff still there from the day before. It’s such a regular occurrence that I ended up writing about it. I also wrote the lines that open “REDRED”: “Hot vanilla latte, take a sip / Caffeine’s back and kickin in.” I think it’s lyrics like those, that come from our day-to-day lives, that make this new album shine.

Do you drink vanilla lattes that much? (laughs)
SEONGHYEON: It was right in the middle of winter in Korea when we were working on the album, and I do love a good hot vanilla latte, so that’s how that ended up in the lyrics. If it’d been summer, it probably would’ve been an iced vanilla latte. (laughs) It’s just regular, everyday stuff.

Another difference with “GREENGREEN,” besides all the day-to-day details, seems to be the focus on moments in the music and choreography that really stick with the listener.
SEONGHYEON: We were looking to emphasize a rough, raw feeling when we were making it. Musically we tried for a vintage sound, and when we were all working on the choreography together, we wanted to have moves that would really grab people. We figured that’d make them easy for people to dance along to. We put a lot of care into the album, and COER had to wait a long time for it, so we just really want to get it in front of them.

Why did that feel like the right direction for the group? On “EUNCHAE’s Style Diary,” you described “GREENGREEN” as being “a bit more like” the group and “very CORTIS-like.”
SEONGHYEON: I think we just really gravitate toward authenticity. Even when we were working on the first album, what we wanted was something unrestrained, raw, and unfiltered, but once we debuted and started performing live, all five of us had this feeling that we could push things even further, so even for the visual aspect of this album we focused mainly on keeping things raw. We kept the makeup minimal too, to the point where you can even see our pores, and some of the photos reflect the way we actually dress day-to-day. I feel like it’s that sense of effortlessness that makes us cool.

That makes me think of the photo from the Weverse Albums version where you’re completely sprawled out on a sofa. (laughs)
SEONGHYEON: We took those photos for each other. (laughs) The idea was to show us being totally normal, so we went into the shoot feeling pretty relaxed. Now that I’ve had my photo taken so many times and done a bunch of photoshoots for promos, I’ve gotten better at expressing myself the way I want to for the camera.

When you were working on “YOUNGCREATORCREW” and freestyling some lyrics, you mispronounced “utgyeobeoryeoseo” [“ridiculous”] as “utgeobeoryeoseo,” but it ended up in the final version.
SEONGHYEON: I think that’s more my style, actually. I do want to be good at everything and actually be perfect, but I also don’t want to come across like I’m trying too hard. Yes, it was a mistake, but anyway, if it sounds good when you hear it, it works. I tend to just go with whatever feels right. (laughs)

You can see that mindset in the way you dance, too. Rather than simply dancing with the highest possible intensity, you seem focused on putting your own twist on it, which might actually be harder to do.
SEONGHYEON: The dances for the new album were all tough, each in its own different way. “TNT” has a lot of moves where you’re really bending your body, so I experienced a lot of back and neck pain while practicing, and “ACAI” feels like it’s full energy the whole time, like with “GO!”, “REDRED” has a lot of moves where you’re tensing up then releasing, so you have to keep that tension in your body at all times, which was its own kind of challenge. And while giving it everything you’ve got can look amazing, I feel like it can fall short of my standards of what’s cool. I find that if I just dance however it feels natural to me instead of overthinking it, what I’m all about comes through on its own. There’s still a lot I’m figuring out, but this album has a lot of parts where I could move freely, so I felt freer to express myself. It’s hard, but it’s fun. (laughs)

It sounds like you’re figuring yourself out while turning the idea of being cool over in your mind. You’re always showing off your own sense of style, whether that’s wearing a hoodie with a cap like you did at the hotel or wearing sunglasses on your head.
SEONGHYEON: Since I perform onstage and make music, I think the visual aspect is important too, so I try out whatever look I’m interested in putting out there. Vintage shopping is new to me, but I’ve been buying a lot of clothes, and if there’s a style I just like or something that catches my eye, I’ll try it out. Even when I was younger, rather than using someone else as a reference, I just kept doing whatever I felt would be good. When people look at me, I just want them to think, “He’s got style.”

You seem to have a clear sense of what you’re after. JUHOON has described you as someone who’s persistent and knows what he wants.
SEONGHYEON: There’s no such thing as right or wrong when it comes to creative work, so I guess I just end up sticking with what I like. That’s probably why everyone says I have a distinct style and am persistent.

Is it possible you’re only intense like that when it comes to working? There was a time when you were so introverted that it would take you five minutes to answer a question from JAMES, but now you say things like “Wanna grab a bite?” playfully when you guest hosted “M Countdown” and you look after your fans like it’s second nature to you.
SEONGHYEON: I honestly just didn’t know how to talk back then. (laughs) I think the five-minute delay thing was because I didn’t know what to say, but now, I want to put forward my best self, so I figured I might as well put in the work to prepare while I’m at it.

You say you didn’t know how to talk, but in the “2025_cartalk” video, you showed a real aptitude for adjusting your communication style depending on who you were talking to. With KEONHO, who tends to give shorter answers, you kept your own answers short too, taking the pressure off, and with the ones who wanted to go deeper, you’d speak at length more and open up the conversation.
SEONGHYEON: It must be out of habit at this point. I don’t really do it consciously—I’ve just always been that way, I guess. For the sake of connecting better with people. (laughs)

That’s probably the reason MARTIN has said you feel like an older brother to him in a good way and that you’re someone he can rely on. You seem to listen to everyone around you, but when it comes to your own concerns, you don’t really let them show.
SEONGHYEON: I think I’m just more comfortable sorting things out on my own. Instead of getting help from somebody, I usually find a way to work through it myself one way or another.

But, being part of a group, aren’t there times where you find yourself relying on the others without even realizing it?
SEONGHYEON: I’m not really a talkative person, so during group interviews I do find myself leaning on the other group members. These days I’m trying to speak up more though. (laughs) I used to not really like putting myself out there, but having people this easy to be around next to me makes me want to try a bit more.

I guess you could say that willingness to keep trying is your “GREEN.”
SEONGHYEON: Anytime I start something, I try to do it properly. If I feel like I can do better and I’m not satisfied, I’ll push a little harder. I started going to an English academy because my parents signed me up, but once I was there, I wanted to do it right. I became a trainee because I was scouted, so it wasn’t always a dream of mine, but as I got into it, I figured I might as well do it properly, so I worked hard at it. I just want to do a good job at whatever I call my own.