Music
Get to know Big Ocean: Music that is more than sound
Debuting in 2024, Big Ocean broke the Kpop mold – if there ever was one! The three group members, Lee Chanyeon, Park HyunJin (PJ) and Kim Jiseok were the first K-pop group with hearing impairment. But Big Ocean aren’t just trailblazers, and they are certainly more than inspirational. They are changing the way we understand (dis)ability and how we think about Kpop, all while making music that is worthy of attention unto itself.
Their most recent release is the mini album The Greatest Battle, with its lead song ‘One Man Army’, where Big Ocean show their unbreakable spirit and their evolution as artists.
The journey to their greatest battle
Big Ocean debuted with a little-known label called Parastar who represents talent with disabilities. Big Ocean were Parastar’s first foray into Kpop. All three members of Big Ocean have hearing disabilities and use assistive technology to aid their hearing. PJ started losing his hearing at age four after high fever and uses both a cochlear implant in his left ear and a hearing aid in his right. Chanyeon also had hearing loss due to fever, at 11 years old, and now has cochlear implants in both ears. Jiseok was born deaf and uses hearing aids.
Creating a Kpop group with deaf members was no mean feat. The company and the members had public misconceptions to overcome. Jiseok has also spoken about being on the receiving end of hurtful stereotypes and people trying to limit who he could be. Would the public think ‘Can deaf people even make music’?
Big Ocean have also spoken about the practical challenges they faced in training. For example, they all hear music, and themselves, differently. Feeling the beat, reaction times to sounds and matching pitch and rhythms were all aspects that they had to address. Hearing aids create problems too because of how they work when singing. Even the noise of a live audience can interfere with the group’s ability to hear the music and perform as a unit.
Parastar and Big Ocean use technology, practice and teamwork to overcome these challenges. For example, by using lights as visual cues and vibrating metronomes in their smart watches the members could learn to synchronise dance during training. The also practiced singing with pitch and tuning apps. In order to be unified on stage the members lock the physical sensations of singing, including starts and stops, and dancing in-sync into their muscle memory. Teamwork strategies like visual cues, facial expressions, eye contact and hand signals play a big role in performance too. When recording vocals, Big Ocean collaborates with AI specialists to help them refine their vocals.
Their debut song ‘Glow’ was a remake of the first gen Kpop song ‘Hope’ by SM group H.O.T. and released on April 20th to coincide with the Day of People with Disabilities in Korea. ‘Glow’ had a modest start, it didn’t even have a MV, but the group quickly gained interest from fans and the media alike. Entering the scene Big Ocean’s music was happy, bright, and celebratory. Songs ‘Glow’, ‘Blow’, ‘Flow (with Young K of Day 6)’ and ‘Slow’ became their first mini album, Follow.
Their next release was a pivot. Big Ocean slid into a sensual and sultry song called ‘Attention’. Big Ocean defied stereotypes and expectations with a sexy MV and gave us a more concept based and introspective mini album called ‘Underwater’. Now, just short of two years since debut, the group has come out fighting with ‘One Man Army’ and mini album The Greatest Battle. Their new song is more powerful and harder hitting than anything we’ve seen from them before. It is epic in sound, theme and production, and it is personal to the members who participated in the song writing. The Greatest Battle gives us harder hitting and funkier sounds than previous albums and explores self-knowledge and affirmation.
In Dazed Magazine PJ said that “[fans are] searching for a safe place and consolation from our music to regain strength and fight back. I’m very happy that our music serves all the restless fighters.”
The power of the ocean
It is important to the members that being deaf isn’t the only thing people know about Big Ocean. They don’t want their story to eclipse the music they make or their hard work. But their deafness is like a ‘secret sauce’ that allows them to bring something new and unique as artists
For example, PJ told Dazed magazine that “…music-wise, we used stronger beats and higher pitches to be more enjoyable for the hard-of-hearing people. In the process, the music got more energetic and dynamic. My deafness gives us better ideas to express music in a new way.”
Big Ocean also perform in American Sign Language (ASL), Korean Sign Language (KSL), and International Sign Language (ISL). Sign languages use gesture, body language, and facial expression as part of their vocabulary. When the members perform, they weave sign and choreography together, expressing not only the lyrics but the musicality of their songs.
On their Official Instagram page it states, ‘See Music, Feel Music’. This sums up their approach to making music and performing.
“Through Big Ocean, we want to show that music isn’t limited to what you hear – it lives in movement, emotion and connection. We hope people see that art becomes more powerful when it includes everyone. Being deaf doesn’t mean we’re missing something; it means we experience and express music differently. And that difference can be beautiful. It invites everyone to discover new ways of feeling and understanding music – ways that are just as moving, just as real.” PJ in Dazed.
It is also an invitation to hearing fans to enjoy music more deeply. That is, to tune in to all the sensations of music and performance, like the visuals, lights, vibrations, and how it physically feels singing, dancing and even cheering.
Kpop is surprisingly a great space forBig Ocean’s artistry. Kpop fans already anticipate a multifaceted experience. They know that the Idols’ visuals, costuming, dance and MVs – even learning a new language – are as much part of the experience as the sound of the songs released. When Big Ocean post videos teaching fans the signs and choreography for their songs, it’s a fit for deaf fans and Kpop fan alike. Big Ocean have also collaborated with Seventeen, Stray Kids, TXT on dance challenges. Big Ocean received a warm welcome from the Kpop industry and now the members are working with the industry to make stages and concerts more accessible and inclusive too. Big Ocean are killing it as Kpop Idols and making Kpop richer than it was before.
Fun Fact: ASL and KSL are completely distinct languages. They use different signs and gestures, and have different vocabulary, grammar and syntax to each other and to English or Korean. ISL is not an official language and draws on many commonly used signs from sign languages around the world.
New to Big Ocean? What You need to Know
Group Name: Big Ocean (Korean: 빅오션)
In an interview with Ability Magazine Chanyeon said “The name “Big Ocean” embodies our desire to spread hope and inspire everyone worldwide, much like the vastness of the ocean. We want to surprise the world with our potential and bring light and positivity through our music. The ocean also symbolizes a place where we can communicate comfortably and freely, much like how we use sign language.”
Fandom: Pado
“Pado” a Korean word which means “wave” in English. The name Pado reflects the connection between the fans and the group that create waves of positivity and inspiration.
Debut Date: 20th April , 2024
Big Ocean will celebrate their second anniversary while on tour in the US.
Label: Parastar Entertainment
Genre: “Free Soul Pop”
“Free Soul Pop” isn’t a sound per se but a space to find comfort and self-acceptance and enjoy to music in your own way.
Fun Fact: In 2024 Big Ocean won the ‘Special Hallyu Award’ at the NEWSIS K-Expo and Billboard’s K-Pop Rookie of the Month (September). In 2025 they joined the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ List for Asia Sports and Entertainment.
Meet the members
Chanyeon
Role: Main Rapper
Birthday: 27th March, 1998
Nationality: Korean
Languages: Chanyeon grew up speaking Korean. He only learned sign language after joining Parastar as a trainee, where he quickly learned KSL as well as ASL, ISL and English to debut.
Nickname: Chanyeon loves when Pado calls him ‘Chan’ or ‘Channie’.
Fun Facts: Chanyeon’s love of music grew out of the audio therapy he did after he got his cochlear implants. Before Big Ocean he worked as an audiologist at a hospital.
PJ
Role: Main vocalist
Birthday: 24th October, 1999
Nationality: Korean
Languages: PJ acquired hearing loss at four years old, so Korean was his first language. He learned KSL after his hearing loss. He now also speaks in English, ASL and ISL.
Nicknames: ‘Park Shaman’, because he has a lot of prophetic dreams. Pado also call him ‘Plankton’.
Fun Facts: Before Big Ocean PJ was a YouTuber and TV personality changing perceptions of deafness and disability. He loves the music of Billie Eilish and says it feels dreamy.
Jiseok
Role: Main Dancer, Maknae
Birthday: 5th March, 2003
Nationality: Korean
Languages: Jiseok’s first language is KSL. He speaks Korean as a second language, and now English, ASL and ISL.
Nickname: Jiseok is called “AI” due to his flat resting facial expression.
Fun Facts: Before Jiseok was in Big Ocean he was a competitive alpine skier. He was introduced to Kpop by RM of BTS who donated money to his school, the Seoul Samsung School, when he was a student there. He also looks up to Hyunjin of Stray Kids as a dancer.
Big Ocean’s current tour: Will Melbourne or Sydney …
Big Ocean are about to embark on their Greatest Battle World Tour. It will commence with a US Tour leg, which includes dates in 9 major cities through April. This is followed by a European Tour, stopping in Warsaw, Berlin, Munich, London, Paris and Cologne.
Big Ocean are also planning an Asia Tour this year, but there’s a twist. Big Ocean created a shortlist of a Top 12 candidate cities that could get a concert. Both Sydney and Melbourne are on that list. Pado were invited to ‘vote’ by buying presale tickets to the shows. Only the first seven cities to reach 300+ tickets sold will get a concert on their Asian Tour, (and all others will offer refunds). Australia is competing against Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand to be one of the official stops. The presale started in February and we are still awaiting the results.
Final thoughts…
Big Ocean are meeting the expectations of Kpop – they are sonically and visually stunning – and they are expanding past them with their artistry. Big Ocean is forged from the members experiences and creativity, and they are inviting fans to experience the music with them.
????? If we are lucky Australian Pado may be seeing Big Ocean in Sydney and/or Melbounrne later this year! Lets keep our fingers crossed.
Big Ocean Offical website and Youtube, X, Instagram and TikTok
Written by Jasmin
Edited by Narelle
Sources:
Big Ocean Official Instagram and YouTube
Korea Biomedical Review
Korea JoongAng Daily
The Guardian
The New York Times
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