Big Ocean, the first all-deaf K-pop group, recently concluded their latest North American tour in support of their latest album. The trio of PJ, Chanyeon and Jiseok brought The Greatest Battle to stages across the country, showcasing their musical talents to adoring audiences and redefining the musical experience in light of their hearing impairments as a group. Atlas spoke with Big Ocean via email while they were on the road about performing the new songs, memorable moments since their debut and connecting with their fans.
Atlas Artist Group: You recently put out a full-length album back in March. What was the process like for creating this record? How did you approach the songwriting and decide what you wanted to say with these songs?
PJ: This album started with a very clear message in mind, so we drew the big picture first and then chose only what truly belonged in it. “One Man Army” was actually the first track we locked in to capture the spirit of everything we wanted to say. From there, every other song had to earn its place in the arc. “Alive” had to open the album because before you talk about fighting, before you talk about winning, you have to first say: I’m still here. Then “Back” then “Cold Moon”- each one a different chapter of the same war.
What made this process different from our previous albums was how much of ourselves we put directly into the composition. All three of us were involved in “One Man Army” for the first time, and we spent a lot of time discussing which sounds and frequencies each of us could actually perceive clearly, and how to make the music feel whole for listeners who experience it differently.
Atlas: The response to your music since your debut has been amazing- is there a particular moment or memory that has really stuck with you since this journey started? What goals are you still hoping to achieve as you move forward?
Chanyeon: There are so many moments, but the ones that stay with me most are when a fan tells us that our music helped them get through something genuinely hard in their own life. That kind of message hits differently. It reminds me that what we’re making isn’t just for a stage- it lands somewhere real, in someone’s real life, at a moment they need it.
Going forward, we want to keep doing what we’re doing, building more visibility for our community and pushing the industry to be more inclusive, one performance at a time. And beyond that, we really want to close the distance with PADOs in Latin America and across Asia, where the love has reached us from so far away. We want to turn that into real, shared memories.
Atlas: Your group has absolutely made history as an all-deaf trio so you’re experiencing music in a different way and the soundscapes you’ve created with your music so far are just incredible. What does that mean for you in the creative process- feeling the music as opposed to hearing it? How has that influenced the type of music you’re making and where you want to take your sound?
PJ: Because of our hearing loss, even just a small fragment of sound, the very first moment music reached us, was genuinely overwhelming. That experience made us understand the power of music in a way that’s hard to put into words. And that’s what we want for everyone, whether you were born without hearing or lost it later in life, we want the music to reach you with its full emotional weight.
When we make music, we each hear across different frequency ranges, so we’re constantly in conversation with each other, constantly becoming each other’s ears. What one of us catches clearly, another might not. But because of that, we end up experiencing music more through our bodies than anything else. And I think that’s actually what makes our music feel the way it does. The body doesn’t lie, you know. So neither does the music.
Atlas: You’re headed out on tour this month- congratulations! What song or songs are you most excited to perform? Is there a particular track that you’re really looking forward to showing your fans at the shows?
Jiseok: “One Man Army” without a doubt. Performing it with twenty dancers, the crane-wing formation unfolding through sign language, the whole room feeling the weight of that battle. You will feel like a whole army on stage. That said, our tour stages won’t always have the same space to recreate everything exactly as it was at the showcase. So in that sense, I’m actually really looking forward to “Cold Moon” on this tour. It’s our double title track, and the energy of that song is brighter, more open- something the audience can ease into and sign along with more naturally.
Atlas: What else is coming up for you guys after your tours? Any spoilers you can share?
Chanyeon: We will never stop evolving, that much we can promise. We want to explore bolder concepts, sharpen our performances even further, and keep finding new ways to reach people with music that actually matters. As for spoilers, we’ll just say that the places we haven’t been yet are very much on our minds. The love we’ve felt from afar, from Latin America, from across Asia, we want to go there. We want to close that distance in person. That’s what PADOs can look forward to.
Atlas: Is there anything else you want the fans to know about you or your music? Is there anything you wish you could talk about more that people may not ask you?
PJ: After nearly two years together, PADO already knows us pretty well- almost everything there is to know, honestly, because we talk to them all the time across our platforms. But for anyone just finding us, what we’d want them to know is this: every hand movement on our stage is a complete thought, a full sentence, not choreography added on top, but the song itself told in a second language simultaneously. For us, sign language is not just a way for deaf people to access music. It’s an emotional interpretation, another layer of feeling that hits straight to the heart. When you watch us perform, you’re watching two performances happening at once. We hope people feel that.
Check out Big Ocean and stream The Greatest Battle, out now!
