Photo Courtesy of TheyNeverChange
TheyNeverChange is a South Korean rock band rooted in sincerity and emotional honesty.
True to their name, the band creates music that reflects unchanging values in a constantly shifting world, blending modern rock sounds with introspective storytelling. Their songs explore growth, resilience, and real human emotions.
In this interview, we speak with theyneverchange about their journey, creative process, and how staying authentic continues to shape their music.
Can you introduce They Never Change to readers who are discovering your music for the first time?
Hi, we’re TheyNeverChange. We make music about the things that stay the same, even as the world around us keeps changing.
How did the three of you first come together, and what made you decide to form a band?
The three of us were in the same department in college. We met and became close over time, and naturally ended up starting a band together.
We officially debuted in 2021, but we’ve been preparing and making music together since 2019, so it’s already been about 6 or 7 years.
Your band name is very striking. What does “They Never Change” mean to you personally?
Thank you for saying that. We spent a long time thinking about our band name. We were especially inspired by “We Never Change”, a song from the first album of Coldplay, a band we all love and have been deeply influenced by. That song eventually led us to choose the name TheyNeverChange.
How would you describe your musical identity and sound?
As a trio, each instrument has a clear presence in our music. At the same time, we use different production approaches to shape our own music sound.
As our band name suggests, we try to focus on things that stay the same, like people’s emotions, feelings, and relationships, even as trends change quickly.
Rather than following trends, we spend more time thinking about what kind of sound best fits the message of each song.
Where do you usually draw inspiration from when writing songs—personal experiences, stories, or emotions?
We draw inspiration from many different places, but the songs that feel most right to us usually come from situations and experiences that are closest to us.
We try to write from our own personal experience and the emotions we felt in those moments.
What does your songwriting process look like as a band?
Usually, our leader Yoongoo brings in a simple sketch of a song, sometimes just the chorus. From there, we shape the song together through the arrangement process and gradually turn it into a finished track.
How do you balance emotional depth with powerful rock arrangements?
When we write or arrange music, we always try to stay true to the feeling of the lyrics. We do not set out to make something sound like ROCK on purpose, but since all three of us love rock music, it naturally comes through.
We spend a lot of time thinking about how the emotions and nuances in the lyrics can blend naturally with the sound.
Your EP Further We Go, Bigger The Wall carries a strong title. What message were you hoping to convey through this release?
‘Further We Go, Bigger The Wall’ comes from a line in the lyrics of the first track “Vital Sign.” It also sums up how we felt while preparing and promoting music after completing our military service, which is mandatory for men in Korea.
As we dreamed bigger and tried to move further forward, it often felt like the walls in front of us were getting higher as well.
We grew through that process, and with this EP, we wanted to share that feeling with anyone who might be going through similar growing pains, hoping the music could offer some comfort and strength.
Tracks like “양자역학 (Quantum Mechanics)” explore interesting ideas—how do concepts influence your music?
“Quantum Physics” has a slightly unusual background for me personally. I was inspired by the movie Avengers: Endgame, where quantum mechanics is used as a way to travel through time and fix past mistakes.
That idea stayed with me and eventually became the starting point for the song. Since people are always changing, the song is written in the first person, expressing the feeling that the person I loved no longer exists in the present, so I decided to travel back in time to find the version of you I once loved.
It might sound a bit reckless or unrealistic, but that was part of the feeling I wanted to express. To be honest, I do not really understand how quantum mechanics works in real life either. (laughs)
Is there a song in your discography that feels most personal to you, and why?
All of our songs carry their own stories, so it is hard to choose just one. But recently, “Maybe Love” has felt the most personal to me. I wrote it while thinking back on the time when I was trying again to get into college, and I wanted to say something to people who might be going through a difficult period filled with worries and uncertainty. In the end, the song became something I found comfort in as well.
How do live performances differ from studio recordings for you?
There are many differences. Most of all, performing live and interacting directly with the audience makes the emotions feel much more vivid and immediate.
Sometimes, if we get too nervous or overly excited, playing can actually become difficult. But that is also part of what makes live performances special.
What kind of atmosphere do you want audiences to feel when watching you perform live?
One of the strengths of our live shows is that we give everything we have on every stage.
We hope the audience can feel how fully immersed we are in the performance, the energy we put into delivering the message of each song, and feel drawn into our music.
We perform every show with the mindset that it could be our last!
Are there any memorable performances or festivals that shaped you as a band?
For us, the 2025 Busan International Rock Festival really stands out. It is one of the largest festivals in Korea, and it felt like an important moment for us.
Earlier that year, we had also played the Pentaport Rock Festival, which made us quite nervous. By the time we got to Busan, it was our second major festival of the year, so we felt a bit more relaxed and were able to enjoy each moment on stage more fully.
How do you see the current Korean indie or rock scene today?
Right now, there feels like a real band boom in Korea, with so many interesting and talented bands emerging. At the same time, it also feels like a transitional period. If the structure of the market becomes a bit clearer and more organized, and if there are more professional production systems at different scales, the scene could grow into something even more solid and mature.
What challenges and advantages do you face as a rock band in Korea?
One challenge is that as independent artists, we have to handle almost everything ourselves, not just the music. It can be demanding at times. At the same time, being able to connect closely with fans and perform within Korea’s own cultural context feels very meaningful and genuinely enjoyable for us.
Are there artists or bands—Korean or international—you admire or feel influenced by?
Each of us comes from slightly different influences. I have been strongly influenced by MUSE, our bassist Taeyu by OASIS, and our drummer Jinu by COLDPLAY.
Those different influences mix with our own personalities and ideas, and that combination naturally shapes the sound of TheyNeverChange.
Staying true to yourselves seems important to your music. How do you maintain that identity as artists?
We talk about staying true to ourselves in a song called “Dancing in The Light”. For us, that sense of identity comes from continuing to write songs that honestly reflect our own experiences and stories.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a band so far?
Until just last year, all three of us were balancing college life alongside the band. We had taken long breaks from school for music and completed our military service as well, so managing everything at the same time was demanding and took a lot of energy.
But this year we have all graduated, and it feels like we can finally focus fully on the music and moving forward as a band.
How do you think They Never Change has evolved since your early days?
We have started to think deeply about music itself, and each of us approaches the band with a more thoughtful and serious mindset than before.
What can fans expect next from They Never Change—new music, tours, or collaborations?
We are getting ready to release a new song! It is titled “자유(Freedom)”, and it captures the feeling of longing for freedom within a suffocating environment and a confined state of mind.
We first performed it with fans at our last solo concert, and the reaction from the audience that night was strong.
Because of that, we are really looking forward to officially releasing it.
What message would you like to give to listeners who find comfort in your music?
As our name suggests, we plan to keep singing about these messages without changing.
Whether life feels exhausting or overwhelming, or even in moments of happiness and joy, we hope our music can be something people return to and think, “They are still telling the same stories.” We want to continue making music that feels consistent and reassuring, something listeners can lean on in different moments of their lives.
If we never change, then you will never change!
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