WayV: Introducing you to my favorite band

WayV is on the cusp of their first World Tour. I could not be more excited for this to happen.

What is WayV?

WayV, which stands for We Are Your Vision, is a band. While members are from China and Thailand, they are signed to the SM Entertainment record label and therefore are based mostly in Seoul, South Korea. While they certainly fit in amongst their contemporary peers in the K-Pop industry, WayV are in a word: unique.

Sing in English, Chinese, Cantonese, Thai, Korean and Japanese? Yes.

Speak and entertain in all of those languages, plus German? Yep.

Compose music? Done that.

Balladeers? Beautifully so.

Dance anything from hip hop to contemporary to classic Chinese traditional? Yes.

Act? Yes. Two of their members have starred in acclaimed drama series and as a band, they have filmed tons of entertaining comedy skits. They really are hilarious.

Host music and talk shows? Um, yes. They do that too.

Rap? Soul? R&B? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Cover artists such as Celine Dion and vocally slay it? You bet.

In fact, that is how I discovered WayV. One day, I happened to be walking into a room where someone in my family was playing YouTube videos. I heard the song “Ashes” from the Deadpool soundtrack being belted out. That shouldn’t have surprised me because Celine Dion is one of the world’s best and most soulful singers. But it wasn’t her angelic voice that I heard. It was a young man. Stopped in my tracks, I went over to see who in the world I was listening to. I asked my family member about this phenomenal singer who had just blown me away. I was told it was Xiaojun, one of the members of WayV. I too asked then and there, who is Xiaojun and what is WayV? (To see this performance, you can do an internet search for “Xiaojun Ashes Lee Mujin”.) Or click HERE.

That was in June of 2022. I found out who WayV was and have been a devoted fan ever since.

WayV’s humble beginnings are as follows: They debuted as a band in January of 2019 and started delighting listeners with a digital EP, two mini-albums and a single that would become their anthem song globally. Love Talk English Version, to this day, remains their highest streamed song with over 146 Million streams on Spotify. Although it’s hard to say with certainty how much impact the Covid pandemic had on WayV’s initial rise to stardom, one thing I know for sure is that due to the worldwide shutdown, they were unable to go out on a proper tour. Still, they kept working. Kept recording music and content for their fans. Kept practicing. They were able to hold a concert through the platform Beyond Live which allowed them to showcase their talent to an online audience. I’ve seen that concert several times now from home and it is fantastic, but I know seeing this band in a full concert, live and in person, is going to be epic! Post pandemic, WayV parted ways with one of its members and recollected as a strong band of brothers. They have been able to perform smaller, in-person sets for live audiences as part of music festivals, award shows, fan meetings, showcases and the amazing concerts in which they perform alongside their labelmates NCT. Perhaps the best thing about WayV is how much they love getting to sing and dance for their fans who are located all over the globe! From China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and to France, England and the United States, slowly but surely, WayV have stuck to it and are doing everything they can to fulfill the promise of meeting their WayZenNi. (WayZenNi are the official name of WayV fans and the word means “WayV cherishes you”.) After reading this article, I hope that you will happily call yourself a WayZenNi too.

I was over the moon back in August of 2023 when WayV came all the way to the United States for the very first time to perform at KCON-LA (Los Angeles). They performed 3 songs, and those 3 songs blew me away. The best part? Watching WayV’s faces as they sang Love Talk, and the ENTIRE Crypto.com Arena, about 20,000 fans strong, sang every word at the top of their lungs right along with the band. It was electric and something I will always remember.

But 3 songs, as wonderful as they were, were not enough! WayV has amassed a catalogue of 57 official songs (you can find them easily on Spotify) and that does not include the songs where they participated and are credited as NCT and NCT U. Nor does it include the solo recordings by many of the members, nor the official and unofficial covers to their credit (many of which can be found on SoundCloud and YouTube).

It has been five years since this band came to be. They have worked diligently the entire time, through some pretty tough odds and ups and downs as a group, all the while gaining and growing their own experience and their fan base. Millions of people love them and follow them.

Why tell you all of this? Because I don’t want you to miss out on something this special. Because when Kun, Ten, WinWin, Xiaojun, Hendery and YangYang come to your town and play for you during their very first world tour, I want you to go see for yourselves and experience the magic that is WayV.

I want you to be amazed by their brilliant performance, but I also want you to take a second and watch their expressions. Because their humbleness, gratitude, and yes, their amazement at seeing your appreciation for all they’ve gone through, is going to be written all over their faces.

Don’t worry, as soon as the first ever WayV Tour is announced, I will share the cities and dates here with you on my blog. It’s the least I can do to say thank you and spread a little love. A little much needed love and healing, WayV style.

Thank you, WayV. See you soon! (I believe in Miracles, and I can feel it in my bones.)

WayV’s newest album, On My Youth, is out now and it’s one of their best works so check it out!!

Stay in the know with WayV:

Instagram: @wayvofficial

X(Twitter): @wayv_official

YouTube: @wayv

TikTok: @official_wayv

Facebook: @WayV.official