Big Ocean: Making waves as first hard of hearing K-Pop group

SEATTLE - Big Ocean is more than just a new K-pop group.

Three members, Hyunjin, Jiseok, and Chanyeon make up the group that is opening up doors for people across the world to follow their dreams.

Hyunjin, a former YouTuber, Jiseok, a former alpine skier, and Chanyeon, a former audiologist, have one thing in common that makes their debut a first in the industry.

They are the first hard of hearing idol group.

Parastar Entertainment is the company they call home, and that company is the first entertainment company in Korea that specifically nurtures talent with disabilities, from actors, to musicians and athletes.

While Hyunjin was already working in the entertainment industry after majoring in computer engineering, Chanyeon and Jiseok were on two very different paths.

Chanyeon joined the company after attending a ceremony at his previous job, where he met an actor who told him about Parastar.

"In the beginning, I didn’t really have any interest in K-Pop at all. But after being signed to Parastar Entertainment, I began to learn dance and I watched myself improve day by day," says Chanyeon.

Jiseok was an athlete competing in alpine skiing.

"I trained really hard for a year and a half, and at the time I felt a lot of difficulties competing with non-disabled people. I also had problems communicating with judges when I entered competitions, and I felt like I couldn't express myself or show my talent to people. However, now that I really jumped into the arts industry for people with disabilities, I feel like I have achieved this new goal and new dream," says Jiseok.

The members made their official debut to the world in April with the song, "Glow", which is a remake of the song "Hope" by first generation K-pop group, H.O.T.

The group has been gaining a lot of attention on social media since last year, including on TikTok, where they go live daily during practice, showing their progress to nearly 300,000 followers.

One obstacle they had to overcome was making sure their hearing didn’t stand in the way of them doing their best on stage.

That is where the dedication of their company came in.

"Because of our hearing loss, we tried to hear the music in different ways," says Hyunjin.

"First we used smart watch vibrations to feel the beat, and used beat monitors that had flashing lights. Our company even went to MWC in Barcelona to partner up with companies to solve our hearing problems," he explained.

Parastar’s dedication to Big Ocean has even gained the attention of the World Health Organization’s Director General, who posted his admiration for the group.

But even with the obstacles they may face, they share one common goal.

"We really hope that we can become like a beacon of hope for people regardless of whether they have disabilities or not, so that people can really tackle their challenges and challenge themselves. We want to contribute to creating a world where people are not restricted or held down by their disabilities and a world where they can even become more confident by exposing their disabilities and their uniqueness," explains Chanyeon.

For their future music releases, Jiseok explains they want to take their personal stories, and turn them into something good.

"Since each of us have different stories of overcoming obstacles and pain we want to show all of our different stories in the narratives of our music," he says

"Our group name is Big Ocean because we want to spread home and positive energy to everyone like a big ocean," says Hyunjin.

And while the group is hard at work with daily practices and rehearsals, they say we won’t have to wait long for new music.

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