Like putting together an intricate puzzle, tripleS came together slowly, then all at once – and, with every piece that followed, they’ve assembled one of the most loyal fanbases in K-pop. Over the last two years, the 24 members of the girl group were slowly introduced through eight different sub-units (including the beloved Acid Angels from Asia, the critically acclaimed LOVElution and more) – steadily revealing the full vision of this ambitious project, one that’s primed to take on the world of music.
Their first album as a full 24-member group, the sublime ‘ASSEMBLE24’, was a statement of arrival, and its powerful lead single ‘Girls Never Die’ acted as a rallying anthem for girls everywhere. But within their expansive universe of releases, there’s a single motto that unifies them – each being “an idol of all possibilities” – and it’s here where tripleS set out to define their own future of unlimited potential. The first step? The performance-focused 12-member sub-unit, Visionary Vision.
The term ‘visionary’ often describes someone who sees beyond the present reality, capturing a broader perspective of an ideal future. It’s an apt name for tripleS’ first sub-unit since becoming a full group, one that is an “opening a new future” that will allow them to showcase their “many, many sides”, SoHyun tells NME over a video call from Seoul, joined by members YeonJi, HyeRin and Xinyu.
Their new future kicked off with Visionary Vision’s first album, ‘Performante’, fronted by the bold single, ‘Hit the Floor’, a groovy ode to old-school hip-hop. Though, when the members first heard a demo for the song, they weren’t quite as sure if they could pull it off. “It made me both slightly nervous but also really, really excited,” recalls the composed Xinyu. YeonJi echoes her mixed sentiments: “When I heard this song I was like ‘Oh my god, we can really do this’ but also ‘Can we really do this?’,” she says animatedly – an internal dilemma that made the others burst into collective laughter.
When NME asks about the challenges faced during the making of the record, HyeRin pushes the drink in front of her aside to make room for dramatic hand gestures while describing the choreography for ‘Hit the Floor’ as “way harder than expected”. It was one that required them to push their physicality to its limits – “Our choreographer would see us and go, ‘Hey do a handstand, can you do it?’ So, we’d do it every day to show him that we’ve been practising” – though, from the quartet’s laughs, it seems like it was all worth it.
“I mean yes, we are a girl group, but we will not be distilled by the traditional view of what a girl group has to be” – SoHyun
But the increased difficulty goes hand-in-hand with Visionary Vision’s whole concept of ‘Performante’, which, as SoHyun points out, is Italian for “high performance”. “I think we really tried [to] melt that idea into the album itself,” she explains. “We try to have a near-perfect performance, something that shows real high function.” She adds that “everything [about the sub-unit] was a new challenge” for the girl group – then again, that’s kind of the point for tripleS.
“All 24 of us, from this album forward, will show that tripleS as a group will take on new challenges,” SoHyun states with a glint in her eye. “We have many, many sides to us, you know? I mean yes, we are a girl group, but we will not be distilled by the traditional view of what a girl group has to be. Taking on new challenges, we’re trying to break the perception of what we can do as girls.”
The girl group’s future, though, is not theirs alone to shape. tripleS share a rather unique relationship with their fans, since it’s them who (mostly) decide which member ends up in these various sub-units through online votes. In fact, the fans even have a say on which songs will go on to become singles and the concept for photoshoots, among other things. It sets the group apart in such a competitive industry but, more importantly, has helped change what the members think being an idol means.
“Before the debut, of course, I’ve had fantasies about what being an idol was like,” says SoHyun. Polished, prim, proper – these were the parts she thought she had to play to perfection as an idol, having to “somewhat hide yourself, and not show your imperfections”. Now, she’s come to realise that “it’s [more] about the journey you take to better yourself”, and she’s got her fans – whom they affectionately refer to as WAVs – to thank. “Because we’re communicating with our fans, we’re showing them how we are and the fans vote for us based on that […] They are looking forward to our potential and what we can achieve.”
“Just us being revealed as 24, we got to put our names out there even more,” YeonJi adds. Though the group’s sheer number of members is often met with confusion, disbelief or both at first – she believes that feeling creates a distinct impression on potential fans. “‘tripleS… Oh yeah! That 24-member group’,” she playfully narrates an effect that’s made possible only with “all 24 of us [performing]”.
Blossoming into adulthood isn’t a journey that’s always lined with glitter and gold, and it’s these unglamorous sides of girlhood that the group intimately embrace – alongside that idea of growing together – that makes tripleS so intoxicating to follow. If their peers like NewJeans embody the heyday of youth in all its bubbly, sunlit nostalgia – these girls contrast that with a parallel narrative of growing pains, perseverance and getting back up despite it all.
This narrative, captured brilliantly in ‘Girls Never Die’, is further explored in ‘Hit the Floor’. “The idea of even when you go down, you stand up shining even brighter. It felt like almost a continuation of ‘Girls Never Die’,” ponders YeonJi. It’s a connection that was met with nods of agreement from her members, with SoHyun – the producer-turned-idol who has been long involved in the creation of tripleS’ music – pointing out how “all tripleS songs are linked together”.
“We want to give hope in a way, telling stories that will help make a better society,” SoHyun says of tripleS’ approach to music. Xinyu then trails her sentiment, describing their music as the kind that comforts and stays with you through hard times. “We want to be a group that [never stops] making music that speaks to people […] the kind that transcends languages,” she adds poignantly. “People, no matter who they are or wherever they live in this world [can be reached if] our music has this universal appeal.”
“I’d like to be an idol that goes all over [the world],” she then adds – as the rest excitedly agree, taking turns to tease where they just might visit next. HyeRin has her mind set on one day being able to perform for their European fans, while SoHyun, completely enamoured with stories told by seniors ARTMS from the Latin America leg of their tour, says she wants to “feel that heat myself”.
With all that’s been said, one thing is certain, tripleS are a rising, unfaltering and ambitious force in the K-pop scene. With such grand plans and novel ideas, there’s a lot that could go awry. The secret to how confidently they run towards their future though, as HyeRin shares, lies in the members themselves. “All 24 of us, we [each] have a strong character. We all have our own individual colours, so when we make sub-units, it’s always a mix of different colours – and it makes a new character and defining theme for each sub-unit.”
SoHyun continues with HyeRin’s concept of colours, painting tripleS as a “palette” that’s always evolving. “Like, when a new colour comes in, [I’d think] ‘Oh! We need this as well!’.” She completes HyeRin’s metaphor by drawing a parallel from the girl group to subtractive colour theory: “When we’re all together, we’re black. It’s strong and noticeable – also we do wear a lot of black! But, when we’re apart, we make various dazzling combinations.”
tripleS Visionary Vision’s new album ‘Performante’ is out now on Spotify, Apple Music and more.