IN CONVERSATION WITH CLOSE YOUR EYES

interview by JANA LETONJA

Rising K-pop group CLOSE YOUR EYES are continuing to define their sound with their fourth mini album, 256th Note. Inspired by the freedom and spontaneity of jazz, the seven-track project moves across hip-hop, R&B, electropop, bossa nova and balladry while focusing on fleeting, unfiltered emotions—the title itself referencing one of music’s shortest possible notes. Formed through PROJECT7, CLOSE YOUR EYES have built an international following remarkably quickly since debuting in April 2025. With 256th Note, members JEON MINWOOK, MA JINGXIANG, JANG YEOJUN, KIM SUNGMIN, SONG SEUNGHO, KENSHIN and SEO KYOUNGBAE are showing another side of their evolving musical identity.

all image courtesy of UNCORE

Congratulations on 256th Note. The album is inspired by the freedom of jazz and the idea of capturing emotions as they happen. What drew you to that concept?
JANG: I think a lot of ideas came from our approach to the genre of jazz. Since jazz has a free, improvisational side to it, I thought it would also be great for expressing emotions just as they are.

JEON: I've always thought that one of CLOSE YOUR EYES’ strengths is our sense of freedom. Continuing to try new things since our debut also feels like a free-spirited path in itself. So I thought it fit well with who we are right now.

A 256th Note represents an incredibly brief moment in music. What does the title 256th Note mean to each of you personally?
JEON: I believe these brief, fleeting moments gather together to become a single song, and beyond that, can even stretch into eternity. That's why it feels so precious to me.

MA: To us, 256th note means that even the briefest moment can hold clear emotion and meaning within it.

JANG: A 256th note represents an extremely brief moment and is a note that isn't used very often. Just like this album's title, I've come to think that even if this album ends up being just a single moment in my life, it will stay with me as something special.

KIM: A 256th note represents an extremely brief moment, but I think when moments like that pile up one on top of another, they create harmonious music. Since our 256th Note is also an album filled with a lot of new attempts, I feel like each member's small changes and attempts all came together to create the music that's uniquely ours today. So to us, 256th note feels like a process of showing a new side of ourselves that cherishes even the briefest of moments.

SONG: To me, 256th note is a moment that, even though it's brief, becomes a memory you remember and look back on for a long time.

KENSHIN: To me, 256th note feels like it means that brief moments come together to become one piece of music. Things like the emotions we feel on stage or the moments we share with fans pass by so quickly, but in the end they stay with us as precious memories. I think this is an album that captures those kinds of moments in music.

SEO: A 256th note is a note that represents an extremely short amount of time, and it's actually a note that isn't used very often, so I felt like it actually suited this album really well. Even if this moment right now eventually becomes a brief memory, I think it will stay as a special moment I'll remember for a long time in my life.

How do you think this album shows your growth since your debut?
SONG: Ever since our debut, we've kept making albums with new music and concepts, and this time too, since it's a genre we're taking on for the first time, I think it shows us continuing to grow through new music and a new side of ourselves.

SEO: I think you could say our own free way of expressing ourselves has grown a bit more. Each of us has improved a lot individually, and I think we're each developing our own way of expressing ourselves and our own path.

Jazz plays an important role throughout the project. Was exploring jazz challenging for you, particularly within the context of K-pop?
MA: At first, it wasn't easy to express jazz's sense of freedom within the familiar framework of K-pop. I thought it was important to bring out jazz's characteristic spontaneity and ease while still not losing CLOSE YOUR EYES's own color.

KIM: When I first encountered the genre of jazz while preparing the album, I thought it was a genre that's unfamiliar within K-pop. Even within jazz, there were so many songs with diverse kinds of expression, and hearing those varied expressions made me think “Oh, you can express it this way,” which felt fascinating and fun.

Is there a track on the album that you think reveals a side of CLOSE YOUR EYES that fans haven’t really seen before?
JANG: I think it's probably Eternity, since all of the members took part in writing the lyrics. Since it's the first song all of the members worked on together, I think it feels even more meaningful and fresh.

KENSHIN: I think it's Open Your Eyes. I think it's a song that lets us show a mood that's a little different from what we've shown so far, more mysterious and emotional. So I think when you watch the stage, you'll feel like “Oh, CLOSE YOUR EYES had this side to them too.”

Baby Bossa Nova brings Brazilian bossa nova into the album and features Joo Hyerin. What was most interesting about experimenting with that sound and collaboration?
JEON: The genre of bossa nova and collaborating with Joo Hyerin feels like things you don't often see in existing K-pop. Even so, it was nice that the song turned out easy and comfortable to listen to. I also liked that it shows our music's range is getting wider.

SEO:  I was really looking forward to it since it's a sound I personally love a lot, and it was fun working through the process of naturally bringing our own color into it. Especially working together with Joo Hyerin made the mood of the song feel even richer, I think.

With seven members, you each bring different personalities and musical tastes to the group. How do those differences influence the CLOSE YOUR EYES sound?
KIM: Since each member has different tastes and personalities, I think our musical colors come through fully in our songs. We really all have very different personalities, and I think that's exactly what gives CLOSE YOUR EYES our special vocal feel and color.

SONG: The music and personalities of each of us show up a lot in our vocals, and I think it's exactly those differences that make CLOSE YOUR EYES's music sound so charming.

When you’re recording, how do you decide which member’s voice or style fits a particular moment in a song
JEON: Since we make the album together with people who have great musical skill, I think it gets decided through a lot of different people's opinions.

MA: First we try a lot of different approaches, and it's only after trying several versions, whether a lower voice suits this part better, or singing it high and strong suits it better, then we can really tell.

You were formed through PROJECT7, with more than 17 million global votes and a particularly strong international response. How has starting your career with such a global fanbase shaped the way you think about your music?  
SONG: Since we were able to debut thanks to so much attention and love from our global fans, I've thought a lot about what kind of music and stages we can show for CLOSERs who always cheer us on, even from far away. Going forward, I want to make music that anyone can like and relate to, beyond language or nationality.

KENSHIN: We got to debut receiving so much love from international fans right from the start. So I've really felt that music has the power to convey your heart even when the language is different. Thinking about how many people are waiting for our music, I've come to want to put even more sincerity into the music we make and show going forward.

As performers, what do you hope people notice when they see the 256th Note songs performed live that they might not hear simply listening to the record?
KIM: They're really great songs, even just as audio, but when you watch us live, I hope you can feel the overall flow of how we, CLOSE YOUR EYES, express our songs. Each song has a different mood, so I think you'll be able to feel that well live too.

SEO: When you listen to the tracks live, I think the songs will hit you even harder if you watch our expressions while listening. Since the tracks have such a variety of sounds, I think the way we express them will be varied too.

You’ve already experimented with a wide range of genres. Is there a musical style or concept you haven’t tried yet that you’d love CLOSE YOUR EYES to explore?
MA: I think there are still so many genres we haven't tried yet. Personally, I'd love to try something with a more refreshing, cool mood, or a completely different, more intense concept from what we've shown so far.

JANG: I think about wanting to musically unpack a darker, hidden kind of story. It's a message that's hard to present, but I'd like to work it out musically in a way that brings comfort to the people listening to our music.

When you look ahead to the next chapter of CLOSE YOUR EYES, what is one goal you would love for the seven of you to achieve together?
JEON: We want to release a full album that tells our story from beginning to end, and go on a world tour with that album. My dream is to go find every CLOSER around the world and share with them the stories we've built together.