Ones2Watch Home

Photos by Chet Oshima

The first hard of hearing K-pop group, Big Ocean, wants one thing: to be known as “Sexy Hands, Big Ocean.” With the help of technology, members Chanyeon, PJ, and Jiseok embody the group’s slogan, “See Music, Feel Music,” expanding what both accessibility and being a musician can look like. Each member uses hearing aids or cochlear implants, and their choreography incorporates signing in Korean, American, and International Sign Language into their performances. 

The trio want to continue to make history, and have no plans on slowing down any time soon. In the past year alone, Big Ocean has become the first K-pop group to launch a collection at New York Fashion Week, spoke at the Digital@UNGA 2026 Conference, and gained support from none other than Martha Stewart herself. After the release of their song “Love Sign,” we chatted with the members in Los Angeles about the new song, incorporating sign language and technology into their performance, and what their fans, PADO (meaning “wave” in Korean), can look forward to. 

OnesToWatch: Welcome back to Los Angeles! You are currently on your Fall 2026 U.S. tour spanning 8 cities across the states. How has the tour been so far, and what has the reception been like from U.S. PADO this time around?

Jiseok: I feel so happy. I'm excited because I met PADO and so many people in so many cities. 

PJ: I'm looking forward to meeting our fans, PADO. It’s our second time in Los Angeles, and we just came out with our new song “Love Sign.” We will perform the song for the first time at the LA Korean Festival, and I can't wait to see our fans. 

You spoke, presented an award, and performed at Digital@UNGA 2026 during the UN General Assembly in September. In your presentation, you mentioned using AI to supplement your recording process and wearing vibrating metronomes on your wrist when dancing. Can you speak about the technologies you are using in your music-making process, and has this process evolved at all since your debut?

PJ: Recently I gave a speech about AI technology at the UNGA event, and I wanted people to see what those tools do for us. We have a sensory metronome [on our wrists], a vibrating metronome that helps us feel the beat. At the same time, we can catch the rhythm through a flashing light on our devices. Then we can catch the note through an AI application, an AI voice converter solution. The AI learned our vocals and the guiding vocals, and it changed the guiding vocal into our own voices. In the final version, you can hear our own voices through our songs. We realized after our debut what we need for singing and dancing, and we've learned what is better for us and each other throughout the way. 

Did the technology change at all since your debut? 

PJ: Definitely, the standard has changed. For example, when we were on stage, if there were too many noises, we couldn't match well in sync. Thanks to our experience, we reflect the idea of how we can match more, so that's why we made these devices together. Originally, from the beginning, we just had the basic vibration smart watch, there were no flashlights. There were two options: a vibrating smartwatch and a flashlight on the monitor. But we couldn't catch both at the same time, so very recently we combined these two options on these devices. According to the situation and environment, we changed in this way. The flashing light was first only in black and white, but then we changed to green, yellow, blue, red. It later became a flashing light so it could be really striking to the eyes—all of the technology has been evolving and adapting to our needs. 

You became the first K-pop group to launch your own collection at New York Fashion Week, with the Big Ocean x Andy Yu debut collection at Official New York Fashion Week Men’s Day. How did this collaboration come about?

PJ: We recently launched our own fashion collection called Big Ocean x Andy Yu. The collection is about inclusivity, and the concept is denim because everyone wears it, and nobody is left out. The fabric is pineapple leaves, so it's very eco-friendly. There are some buttons on the outfits with sign language, so we wanted to connect our message through fashion. As you know, we sing with sign language, so you can catch our message at the same time with choreography and sign language. 

What was a highlight? 

Jiseok: I liked the clean line outfits and the hand signs buttons. 

PJ: I really love it. It's about our collection inspired by ourselves, Big Ocean, so I think it's more meaningful. Before New York Fashion Week, I visited Andy's office in Shanghai, he invited me and there were so many outfits. It was a very special experience for me, and finally, we launched. Honestly, I can't believe it. Our fans are also loving it, I'm very thankful.

You not only perform and communicate in Korean and English, but you also communicate in KSL, ASL, and International sign language. What is the process like in terms of incorporating all of these languages into your performance? 

Chanyeon: We learned three sign languages: KSL, ASL, and International Sign. We first learned the sign language together and [then] mixed sign language and choreography.

PJ: We used 3 sign languages: Korean, American, and International Sign (IS). We wanted to show our Korean Sign Language in our songs where there are a lot of Korean lyrics, American Sign Language for English [lyrics], and for IS the range is very wide, so we can express one by one. As Chanyeon said, we combined sign language and choreography, so we needed much more time for making the songs and choreography, but I think it's a more meaningful process. Thanks to our sign language, our fans can feel our music well in a different way. You know that our music is not only heard, you can also feel it through watching. Our slogan is “See Music, Feel Music.” 

The lyrics and music video for “Love Sign” are some of the most mature that you’ve released in your discography to date. How did it feel to release this song? 

Jiseok: With “Love Sign,” we want to become singers with sexy hands, and it’s also about guys who sign trying to love their hands. Every line has two meanings: one is about signing, and the other is about seducing. For example, there is a line “I can work my fingers until you scrеam.”

Were you looking forward to seeing the fans’ reactions to the song? 

Chanyeon: We wanted PADO to scream because “Love Sign,” is very suggestive and more spicy and grown-up than other albums. When we released our music video teaser, many people [were] screaming. I saw one comment say “WT…” [laughs] so yeah, it's a lot. Our goal [was to make] PADO scream, and we succeeded. 

PJ: I think it's very simple. I just want to hear this one thing: “Wow, Big Ocean, they have such sexy hands.” When we’re greeting, we say “Attention! We are Big Ocean!” but we want to change to “Attention! Sexy hands, Big Ocean!” We just finished our concert a few days ago in Chicago, and now we are in LA. The LA Korean Festival is coming soon, and we are very much looking forward to being there. I want to hear that again: “Sexy hands, Big Ocean!”

You debuted on April 20, 2024, Korea’s National Day of Persons with Disabilities. Now over 2 years since your debut, what have you learned about yourselves through performing as Big Ocean? 

Jiseok: I see myself giving back all the love I have received. I think I can give other people [love] back because I think our fans, PADO, [give us love through our] concerts, fan meetings, and now [doing] interviews. As we continue with more shows and fan meetings, we are learning many ways to express our love in return for the love we've received. After debut, we were solely focusing on what to show on performance, but nowadays our focus is on PADO and what they would love to get from us. Our point of view has changed. 

PJ: I think I learned I don't need to pursue perfection. From the beginning, I just wanted to show my perfect side to our fans. As you know, if you prepare something, you want to show [your] professional [side]. But when I was on stage, I made a lot of mistakes. For example, I forgot the choreography, and at the time, I thought that our fans noticed that I made a mistake. But over time, I think it's very natural and they're just enjoying [themselves]. I can show my natural moments and I don't need to worry about mistakes, I can show everything.

Chanyeon: Honestly, I think I didn’t have cool moments before we were Big Ocean, but over time I kept going, and now I have more cool and sexy moments. Big Ocean is very impressive to me, and I hope I will find more sides to me.

You have already had a very historic year, but are there any goals that you are hoping to accomplish in the future?

Jiseok: Simple, I hope people call us “Sexy hands, Big Ocean” [all members laugh]. Because we are all grown up.

PJ: Let's be adults, yeah. I want to [get an] apartment. I'm kidding! We are touring now, so after this, I want to visit the other countries we have never visited. As much as possible, I want to share our music with the world, this is my personal goal. Very recently, I've been studying [how to] make songs. My hobby is playing the piano, so I will study more and I will make my [own] piano song for our fans.

Chanyeon: So many! I want to write lyrics for many topics. For example, our other stories, more historic like “One Man Army.” Next, I want to compose my solo song. If I can, I [want to] compose and write the lyrics myself… and sing!

Lastly, who are your OnesToWatch?

Jiseok: Tyla. I watched the “IS IT LOVE” music video, and I’m interested in that because we move our hands, but she moves her body. I’d love to collaborate. 

PJ: Leon Thomas. I’m really inspired by his songs, and I want to make this type of music, I love it. 

Chanyeon: Sophie Powers. I saw her on an American audition program, and I saw she sang her self-composed song, but the lyrics were very shocking to me. She started off with the general lyrics, then it turned out to include bad words. It was not overall negative, but the messages were quite positive, so I was shocked how people can express [their feelings] in a different way using bad words, but giving good messages. Her song is very unique and very impressive because the melody and lyrics are very impactful to me.

Listen to “Love Sign” below: