VERNON and THE 8 on creative freedom, collaboration, and building V8

When SEVENTEEN's VERNON and THE 8 started talking about making music together last year, they weren't trying to reinvent what a K-pop project could be.

Their primary goal was figuring out what they wanted to say when they had the freedom to build a project entirely on their own terms. Where many K-pop albums begin with a creative brief and bring in collaborators to execute that specific vision, VERNON and THE 8 did the opposite, personally building a community of artists and producers they admired. Those relationships became the foundation of the record. The result is their new EP V8, released June 29 — a restless blend of EDM, bloghouse, hyperpop, and alternative pop, stitched together by a shared musical language and a sense of curiosity.

Read Next: Beat Construction: Mechatok

Over the 10 months VERNON and THE 8 spent recording the EP, they assembled a powerhouse team spanning Seoul, Los Angeles, and Berlin: Mechatok, Alice Longyu Gao, Pharrell Williams, KIRARA, 100 gecs' Dylan Brady, and more. Gao recalls the group creating a "sonic moodboard" together, sharing obscure DJ edits, internet deep cuts, and favorite remixes before writing a single song. There were no elaborate mandates from label executives — just long conversations, folders of demos, late-night recording sessions, and the kind of trust that lets ideas evolve naturally.

"It just felt like making music with friends," Mechatok says. Roy remembers his friend VERNON functioning as "a singer, producer, and A&R all at once," overseeing everything from songwriting and arrangements to visuals and mix revisions while making the studio feel "comfortable, efficient, and collaborative."

Speaking with The FADER via videocall from Seoul and London, VERNON, THE 8, and Mechatok — along with several of the EP's key producers — discuss their collaborative dynamic, creating across continents, and why the best music starts with people, not a plan.

The FADER: How did V8 actually start?

THE 8: It actually started with me suggesting that VERNON and I should do a unit together. Once we landed on the name V8, we started building everything around that.

VERNON: The engine became our central metaphor. But instead of making an album about the engine itself, we wanted to make an album about what fuels it — our time with SEVENTEEN over the past decade, and really even before that. From there, we started reaching out to people we wanted to work with. Alice Longyu Gao helped connect us with collaborators behind songs like "Beat," "Rat Race," and THE 8's song "8DM," while Robb Roy, who's a close friend of mine, helped shape the album from start to finish, especially with arranging and finishing songs. It really became this global project.

Robb Roy (producer): We wanted to show something completely different from what people had seen before. As a producer, I have a great deal of respect for SEVENTEEN and everything they have achieved, so I had no desire to imitate what they had already done. If anything, I felt that would have been more disrespectful.
Honestly, we felt that the music had to excite us first and feel meaningful to us, regardless of whether it would be successful. It didn't make sense to expect listeners to connect with something that we ourselves weren’t excited by. That’s how we ended up landing on EDM, a genre VERNON has loved for a long time, and THE 8 recently fell deeply into. Once we had a clear direction, we held constant songwriting sessions. Not only did we work in Korea, but we also continued writing together during their U.S. tour, including sessions in Los Angeles.

The producer lineup you've assembled for V8 feels incredibly intentional. How did Mechatok become part of this world?

VERNON: Honestly, we were just scavenging for good songs. Through a mutual friend, I ended up getting one of Mechatok's signed albums. I posted it on my Instagram Story and tagged him. Then I found out he'd actually seen an interview in 2022 where I recommended one of his songs with Bladee. After that, I knew we had to make something together. He sent me a folder of beats — maybe a dozen or more — and I started writing with Robb Roy. As soon as we finished the first draft of "singasong," I just intuitively felt like, This has to be the focus track. Luckily, Mechatok was coming to Seoul for his tour, so we were able to finish the song together in person. That ended up being really crucial.

Mechatok, what was your perspective on all of that?

Mechatok: It wasn't even a DM at first. VERNON had recommended one of our songs in an interview, and suddenly Bladee and I were getting all these Korean listeners. I remember thinking, "What's happening?" That's how I became aware of what VERNON and THE 8 were doing. Then, when they formed this unit, it felt like the right time to work together. Nothing was forced. It all happened really organically.

VERNON, when you first reached out, you didn't give Mechatok a creative brief. You just asked him to send whatever he wanted. Why?

VERNON: I didn't want to box him in from the start. I wanted to see what kind of vision he naturally had for us before giving him any direction. I'm really glad we approached it that way because, in the end, we got "singasong." I love that song so much.

Mechatok, that's a pretty broad request. How did you approach it?

Mechatok: Honestly, that's how I've always worked with my friends. It's always, "What have you been making lately? Send over a folder." So when VERNON asked, it didn't feel strange at all. Maybe in the context of K-pop it seems unusual or rebellious, but to me it just felt like making music with friends [...]
What really stood out to me was that VERNON and THE 8 are producers in their heads. They might not be sitting behind the laptop making the beat, but they know exactly what they want. They'll say, "This section isn't working. Bring the old bridge back. Change this arrangement." That's incredibly fun to work with because everyone has a clear vision. Those few days in Seoul were so productive.

Especially because people have very fixed ideas about what a K-pop project is supposed to be. This process sounds much more open than that.

THE 8: We weren't trying to be rebellious or think outside the box. We simply wanted to be true to ourselves and put our own colors into the album. Once we had that direction and found the right producers, everything came together naturally.

Mechatok: The funny thing is that, even though everything felt relaxed and like a homie vibe, these guys are operating at an unbelievably high level. When THE 8 walks into the booth and delivers vocals exactly the way you're imagining them, it's like someone handing you gold. That's what really surprised me. They have the freedom to experiment, but they're also incredibly disciplined. If we wanted the smallest vocal inflection changed, they'd nail it immediately. I don't know many people who have that kind of work ethic. We'd still be recording vocals at four in the morning.

THE 8: There was one point where Mechatok had fallen asleep on the couch because he was so jet-lagged. Meanwhile, we were still recording vocals. The funny part is that "singasong" has all these moments where we're literally singing "Mechatok." Every time someone sang his name, he'd wake up for a second.

Mechatok: I felt terrible for falling asleep. We also had this huge Korean barbecue before the session, so between all the food and the jet lag, I completely crashed. But honestly, that's what I'll remember most. Outside the music, VERNON and THE 8 treated me so well. There was just such good energy around the whole project.

Was "Mechatok" always part of the chorus?

VERNON: Since the very first demo.

Mechatok: At first, I honestly thought it was just placeholder lyrics. By the fourth version, I realized ... Wait, are you actually keeping my name in the song? I was just incredibly grateful.

VERNON: I actually thought we'd replace it eventually, too. But once we started writing the final lyrics, nothing else felt as satisfying in that spot. We kept coming back to "Mechatok." Honestly, I like that your name stayed because your sound is so distinctive. When people ask me what genre "singasong" is, it's hard to answer because I don't really hear anyone else making music that sounds like yours.

You mentioned working in Seoul and Los Angeles, but there were collaborators from all over the world. Did that naturally shape the sound of the record?

VERNON: Definitely. Even when we weren't working in the same room, like with UHD in Berlin, it still felt like a global collaboration. At the same time, a lot of our biggest references actually came from our own lives. Songs like "Friend" are full of references to our experiences, previous SEVENTEEN songs, and little moments that only longtime fans would recognize. Those details were very intentional.

Robb Roy: One of the moments I remember most came near the end of finishing "Friend." We always knew it would be a song for the fans, and we wanted it to reflect Vernon and THE 8's journey from debut until now. We felt like one piece was still missing when Vernon suggested opening the song with a childhood recording of THE 8. He immediately posted on the fan community asking if anyone had old videos of him. After going through countless clips, we found an interview THE 8 had done as a child. When he was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he answered, "I want to be a star." As soon as we heard it, we knew it belonged in the song.

Listening to the album, there's this really propulsive energy running through it. Were there any musical touchstones you kept returning to while making it?

VERNON: There were a lot of references, but most of them were personal rather than genre-specific. One of the most niche inspirations is actually connected to my solo song "mia." My friend Robb Roy recommended an EDM remix of Blur's "Song 2," and I became obsessed with it. That eventually made me want to work with KIRARA —because I knew she could reinterpret that feeling in her own distinctive way. That collaboration turned out exactly the way I'd hoped.

KIRARA: To me, “mia” is almost like a punk song made with electronic sounds. In many ways, it reminds me of the bloghouse movement that swept across the world in the late 2000s. It was a time when everyone seemed to be DJing in leather jackets and skinny jeans. The reference VERNON shared with me was Madeon’s remix of Blur’s "Song 2." The moment I heard it, the first thing that came to mind was bloghouse.
I looked into tracks like The Black Eyed Peas's "I Gotta Feeling" and 2NE1's "GO AWAY" as references. I wanted to build an accompaniment driven by steady eighth-note rhythms, with the entire frequency spectrum densely filled and a deep sidechain effect running throughout — something that would make people want to move almost instinctively.

One of the things that struck me most about V8 is that it doesn't really sound or look like what people expect when they hear the words "K-pop project."

THE 8: I think the soundscape itself will feel new to a lot of people. More than that, it's the way we approached the entire project. The way we experimented and played with different ideas feels very different from what we've done with SEVENTEEN, and I think fans will really enjoy discovering that side of us.

VERNON: I hope people can hear all those influences and also hear us in them. At the end of the day, we just wanted to make something that felt honest to who we are.