WayV: New Year Tunes
Chinese boy band WayV share their collective memories of the season, and how the joy of togetherness inspired their playlist. Having debuted in 2019, WayV has had a meteoric rise in the world of pop idol music groups. “Chinese New Year is a day to reunite with family and friends,” say WayV. “Many of our individual family members don’t live in the same city, but the entire family always comes together for the New Year, so it’s a really special time. Also, while each member of our group hails from a different hometown and celebrates Chinese New Year separately with our own families, every one of us get to enjoy the same delicious home-cooked food when we return to our homes for this festive season.” WayV are all about the traditions of the season. KUN and YANGYANG remember going around collecting and giving red packets, while WINWIN, LUCAS, HENDERY and XIAOJUN recall all the delicious dishes that are part of the grand holiday feast. TEN shows his holiday spirit by dressing up in red to celebrate. The defining sound of the New Year for the group is fireworks. “For some of us, the sound of firecrackers is a very strong childhood memory from the New Year.” As for music, the pop group loves the classics. “The first song that came to our mind is ‘Tonight Is Unforgettable’ by Guyi Li. This is because this song constantly comes up during the annual Spring Festival Gala by CCTV, which lots of families watch every year.” For KUN, his personal theme song for the festivities is “Rice Field” by Jay Chou. As for YANGYANG, it’s his tradition to watch the movie Flirting Scholar every Lunar New Year, so the holiday season always reminds him of the theme song. But it’s not just about entertainment—the festivities remind them of their goals. “Our New Year goal is in line with our EP Dream Launch—to propel our own dreams to fly even higher.” Their playlist is as fun-filled as the day itself. “New Year’s for us has a warm and lively feeling, so we chose songs to capture that. The connecting theme is that these are songs that we listen to regularly. Some of them are personal favourites of group members. Some are very classic New Year songs. Some songs we hope will let everyone forget any sadness from the past year. We also included some of our own songs and we hope that our songs will bring you joy this holiday.” It’s not Lunar New Year without the sending of good wishes. “For many, finding prosperity and wealth is a happy thing, but of course, it’s even more important to have success in everything that we do. So we wish you prosperity and wealth. May everything go as you hope!’”