Xdinary Heroes aren’t the kind of band to hand you a message stamped in bold font. Even when they write something as explosively stirring as their single “Beautiful Life,” they won’t tell you how to feel about it. Drummer and leader GUNIL describes the song not as an anthem with a mission, but as an invitation: “We don’t want to force people to interpret it one way. The beauty of music is that anything can be the right answer.” And that sentiment — defiant yet open-ended — is at the core of who they are.

The anger in “Beautiful Life” is unmistakable, but it isn’t hopeless or self-directed. It’s aimed outward, toward an unnamed force — the kind of system or presence you can’t quite see but feel the weight of pressing down. Even the line “No one’s here to find you / No one’s here to love you,” which could easily scan as isolation, is instead delivered like a warning. That duality shows up everywhere in their work: vicious lyrics sung like hymns, spiritual bridges embedded in rock riffs, disaster delivered with glamour.

When listeners compare “Beautiful Life” to Queen or My Chemical Romance, the band doesn’t deny it — in fact, they intentionally asked themselves during the creative process, “What would an Xdinary Heroes rock opera sound like?” The answer wasn’t subtle. It was decisive, theatrical, and unafraid to clash beauty with brutality. That creative contradiction continues into their recent English single “FiRE (My Sweet Misery),” a song they describe as sounding visually like “burning red,” yet sung as tenderly as a love letter.

Even as they step further onto the global stage — a second world tour, a prime-time Lollapalooza slot — they still approach their music like architects of impact rather than image. Their setlist isn’t just a lineup of songs; it’s a carefully wired system designed to keep adrenaline spiking. “We wanted people’s dopamine to just burst nonstop,” they say without irony. And yet, for all the noise and fire, their understanding of beauty remains sensitive, even philosophical. Each member defines it differently: some in love, some in discomfort, some in resisting the pressure to define it at all.

On their journey leading the new wave of Korean rock, we caught up with the band earlier this year via video call to discuss the intricate layers of their music, and how they’re staying true to their artistic identity.

It feels like there’s a lot of anger in “Beautiful Life,” but also unity. When you write songs like this, are you trying to push people to feel something or take action to do something?

GUNIL I want to talk about the music itself first. JUNGSU has said before that the beauty of music is that anybody can interpret it in any way. It's very open and there are no certain answers that are correct. Anything can be a correct answer. It just depends. It's very subjective. So connecting that to our song “Beautiful Life,” we don't want to force people to feel a certain way. We want to leave the freedom to interpret the songs, because I think that's the fun part when you listen to a song and you’re like, “oh, did they mean it this way? Or did they really mean it this way?” I think that's a really fun part when you're listening to a song – how you interpret it. So I think I'd like to leave this open.

I agree with you, actually. And I think art is subjective, and it's up to the audience to figure out how it makes them feel and what they take from it. There’s a repeated sense of isolation in the lyrics performed by JOOYEON: “No one’s here to find you / No one’s here to love you”. How do you interpret that line?

GUNIL It's a message toward the subject that we are rebelling against in this song, because we're saying that, ‘hey, you, no one's here to find you’ and ‘hey, you, no one's gonna love you.’ The first one – ‘no one's here to find you’ – it's like we're saying that no one's here to find you because you're already lost and you're going to be stuck in there somewhere. And ‘no one's here to love you’ is you're stuck in there somewhere, and now no one's here to find you and love you. And to say it again, it's just a message toward the imaginary subject that we are rebelling against in the song.

Since it’s both the opening lyric and repeated throughout the song, what made that line essential to the song’s emotional impact?

JOOYEON Music is an art of pattern, and as you say, it begins with the same melody, and ends with the same melody – but it has a little bit of different lyrics. And the way I sing it, there's different emotion in it. The first one is more subtle. But the last one, as you can hear in the arrangement of the song, gets more dramatic, so I add more emotion into it. I think if I sang a different melody in the end, rather than singing the same melody, I think it would have made the power of the song less so. I think that's why singing the same melody with different emotions puts more power into it.

The bridge suddenly turns poetic and almost spiritual with JUNGSU and GAON’s lyrics: ‘My song of love will carry me away, and haunt you forever.’ What does that line mean to you? Is it about the power of music to outlast us?

JUNGSU The song “Beautiful Life” is about seeking the answer in this chaotic world, and I think the journey is bound to be very dramatic. So that's why it’s reflected in the arrangements, and in the dramatic change in the bridge part. We wanted that vibe to be completely immersed in the song, and I think that the lyric that you just quoted kind of encompasses those emotions and the vibe that we were trying to convey.

GUNIL To add on to what JUNGSU said about the lyrics “My song of love will carry me away and haunt you forever” – we believe that love is one of the most important things in the world and in the life that we live. It's one of the most valuable parts of life. That's why we chose “My song of love will carry me away.” Throughout the whole song, it goes all over, and then in this part, as you said, it gets a little spiritual and poetic, and it's like talking to myself: ‘no matter what happens, Love will carry me away.’ So I think we put the emphasis on the word ‘love.’

In ‘haunt you forever,’ the ‘you’ in 'haunt you forever’ is a message toward the subject that we are rebelling against: you're gonna be haunted forever, and I'm gonna win because I have this song of love inside of me.

Listeners have compared “Beautiful Life” to Queen and My Chemical Romance — both theatrical and emotionally intense artists. Was that influence conscious, or something you discovered after the fact?

GAON Ever since we were very young, we grew up listening to many great bands, and this particular genre of rock opera was something that we all loved together. We thought, what if we tried this genre with Xdinary Heroes' music? Thankfully, the result really exceeded our expectations, and we were very happy with what came out.

GUNIL And also to add on to what GAON said – we just wanted to try, like, ‘let’s make a rock opera’ and ‘what would a rock opera made by Xdinary Heroes sound like?’ So, the song started out of that simple curiosity and, as GAON said, thankfully it came out very satisfying. What's even more satisfying and thankful is that people are comparing our songs to very famous songs like, as you said, like My Chemical Romance and Queen, which is a legendary band. So, we're just very honored that our song gets even compared to those legendary bands.

You use the word rock opera – I was curious to know if it’s true that the song was originally meant to be a lot longer. If so, what was your process with cutting the song down?

GUNIL You're correct that it was longer. I believe it was about two minutes longer than what is out right now. We actually wanted to put out the long version, but we had to cut it. We consulted with our company and our label, and we had some discussions about whether it's too long, or if maybe some parts are repetitive. We were questioning ourselves: is this part really necessary? Or, some people might go to the next song at this part because this part is repetitive. We had to question ourselves with lots of discussions, and we came to the conclusion that what is out right now is the best version. But maybe one day, if we have time and if everything is in the right place, maybe we will be able to work on the longer version again.

Your English single, “FiRE (My Sweet Misery),” deals with the idea that some pain is addictive. What made you want to explore that kind of emotional complexity, especially in a full English release?

GUNIL During the song making process, the sound of the track – like the band sound – is very hard and very heavy. It kind of reminds me of a very hot, burning red color. But when we wrote the melody, it came out really melodic, with harmonies, and I think it's very beautiful and sweet compared to the track. So even in the arrangement itself, the melody and the track were already contradicting each other. It was like a paradox.

We discussed what we should write the lyrics about, and we came to the result that this song should be a love song – but a unique love song, not just a typical love song. The reason why we wanted to use English was because of the pronunciation of the demo lyrics that we made. We thought that doing it all in English would fit it best, and 100% in English would be the best because it would be very expressive with the vocabularies that we put it in the lyrics, so English would fit it the best. That's why we chose to do it in English.

You know the song “LOVE and FEAR” from LIVE and FALL? I think “FiRE (My Sweet Misery)” is kind of like that. We heard a lot of people loved “LOVE and FEAR,” so when we thought about writing a love song again, we wanted to write another one with that kind of contradicting feeling.

Do you feel these tracks mark a shift in your identity as a band or how you see your role in the K-band landscape?

GUNIL What do you guys think? This is a very good question.

JUNGSU I think our band, Xdinary Heroes, has become known for our experimental style in our music. Our past was all about trying new things and challenging ourselves, and our future will always be the same as well. It's all about our musical growth and also personal growth. We always look forward to leaping forward and challenging ourselves, and I think that's going to be our style in the future as well.

GAON I think “Beautiful Life” was one of the most complete songs that we've released, and I think it was one of the songs that were close to perfection in our mind, in my personal opinion. As JUNGSU said, we continue to grow as a band, and I think “Beautiful Life” kind of marked a point where our identity became quite clear to our fans.

GUNIL I'd say that – as you asked if there was a shift in our identity in the K-band landscape – I believe that, as the members said earlier, the root of our identity hasn't changed. Our debut song is “Happy Death Day” – as you can see, how can a death day be happy? I believe that we are still the same as we started, but I think we're just marking ourselves even more powerfully.

You’re also in the beginning stages of the Beautiful Mind 2025 World Tour, which is your second world tour. From your first tour to now, what’s changed most in how you perform — not just technically, but emotionally?

O.de When we first began as a band, I think we were confined to thinking that we have to do a good job. We felt very pressured to do a good job, and that kind of led to us not being able to enjoy performing. Throughout many performances, we have grown now. I think what became most prominent to our fans over the years is that we began to really enjoy ourselves on stage. That carries over to the fans and the audiences, and that also led us to completely immerse ourselves in our performances 100% because we are enjoying it. So I came to learn that enjoying ourselves on stage is the most important part of being on stage.

GAON The emotional stages that we are in when we are writing the song and when we are performing the song are not the same. The message kind of develops itself when we perform the same song over and over again and to the different audiences, and the message kind of evolves as we perform and with different performances. So I think it kind of makes the message, in a sense, clearer and more diverse because with each performance, sometimes it adds on and sometimes it subtracts and it changes.

JUN HAN I think when we began, I focused on the overall satisfaction that I felt after we performed. But now I focus on a specific part about our performances. I tried to find one component that we want to highlight, and for me, it's like I try to find which member should be highlighted the most with certain songs, and I try to think about how I can contribute to that and how we could convey our message in a clearer way.

How did you build the setlist for this tour? Were you trying to tell a specific story or reflect a shift in your identity as a band?

GUNIL When we were building the setlist for this tour, one of the most important factors we had to consider was how to make the new songs from this album stand out. So we discussed a lot — like, when should we play them? Where should we put them? Should we put “FIGHT ME” as the third song? Or the fourth? Should “more than i like” go later? We kept thinking about which section would make them stand out the most.

There isn’t really a specific story we were trying to tell with the setlist. The main goal was what I just said — making the new songs stand out, and keeping as much driving energy as possible through the whole show without stopping. We wanted people’s dopamine to just burst nonstop. That was the idea.

Oh — and we also added some new arrangements between the songs. The reason is, you know, listening to the same song over and over can be boring for fans who have already been to our concerts. So we like to change the arrangements and maybe add a little solo in between songs, just to give them an unexpected surprise of live performance.

The album, the tour, and the single all revolve around the word ‘beautiful.’ After touring and sharing this story live, has your idea of what makes life beautiful changed or stayed the same?

JUNGSU My original definition of beauty has stayed the same. However, I think the perspective through which I view beauty has widened.

GAON I realize these days that there is abundant beauty around me. However, I was too busy to acknowledge, to notice it, and to appreciate it. So nowadays I try to relax a little bit and take a breath and appreciate what's already there near me.

O.de My definition of beauty is constantly changing. However, recently, what I'm really seeking is the opposite of beauty, and my definition of what opposes beauty. I tried to dig deeper into that, into something that is the opposite of beauty. I try to discover that within myself, and I try to turn that into a positive part of who I am.

JUN HAN I think sometimes our obsession to find beauty and surround ourselves with beautiful things is what makes something not beautiful. It kind of prevents us from finding and discovering something beautiful, that obsession. So I think finding a balance between that desire and not having that desire is the beautiful part of life. Sometimes I actually feel sadness that people constantly feel the need to find beautiful things.

GUNIL For me, there's lots of things that make life beautiful. But for me, I always thought that love is what makes life the most beautiful. It hasn't changed, and it's not going to change.

JOOYEON I cannot say confidently that I know what beauty is. I don't know yet. But I'm on the journey to find out through my music and through living my life.