SEVENTEEN member Woozi has shared more about the creative process behind his new solo mixtape ‘Ruby’.
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Earlier this week (January 3), Woozi unveiled his first-ever solo mixtape ‘Ruby’, which is performed entirely in English. The song was written, composed and arranged by the K-pop idol, alongside frequent collaborators Bumzu, Park Ki-tae and more.
“I thought a lot about what language would fit the song best. At first, I wasn’t thinking about English per se,” he recently told Teen Vogue. “But as I began writing the song, I just thought that English was very intuitive, very cool. When I thought about a language that could incorporate the colour of the song fully, that was English.”
Despite not coming from an English-speaking background like fellow SEVENTEEN members Joshua and Vernon, Woozi said he that had decided that it was the right fit for ‘Ruby’, and went ahead to write its lyrics in English.
“Although it was challenging, I thought it was very appropriate,” explained the idol. “And I got a lot of help from my colleagues, which was really great.”
Later, he compared his process for ‘Ruby’ to that of SEVENTEEN’s songs, describing it as “very different”. Woozi is known for having helped write and compose nearly all of the group’s discography.
“When it comes to creating music for SEVENTEEN, we start with discussing the overall message and then we start touching on the music with the computer,” he shared. “But, as a soloist, instead of starting with a computer, I started with musical instruments. I remember [for “Ruby”] I started working with a guitar first.”
The release of ‘Ruby’ is expected to be accompanied by the next instalment of SEVENTEEN’s ‘The Thirteen Tapes’ interview and photo book series. The series had been launched in early 2021 when member Hoshi unveiled his first solo mixtape ‘Spider’.
At the time, Pledis Entertainment said that the series will “[commemorate] the releases of the SEVENTEEN members’ mixtapes”. Pledis had also added that “A new volume of [‘The Thirteen Tapes’] will be published each time a member releases their mixtape”, hinting at possible solo releases for all thirteen members of the group.
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