Balming Tiger Discuss Style, Trust & Connection at Primavera Sound Barcelona 2024

Composite: Balming Tiger for Teen Vogue

It’s a balmy day in Barcelona. The sun has been heating up the concrete for a few hours and in just a few more, five out of the 11 current members of Balming Tiger — namely Omega Sapien, Seoulthesoloist, bj wnjn, Mudd the Student, and Sogumm — will take to the Pull&Bear stage at Primavera Sound 2024, getting a crowd of thousands to literally shake their asses to their immediately infectious 2023 track “Buriburi.” For now, however, Barcelona’s Parc del Fòrum is still mostly empty, except for staff and a few journalists hiding from the afternoon heat and praying for some evening breeze as we get ready to usher in the three-day music festivities to come.

“The crowd in Europe is usually very good. They're not as reserved,” Omega Sapien, the moss-haired, de facto spokesperson for the group, tells Teen Vogue shuffling a variety of refreshments covering the small table in front of their artist trailer, placed literally behind the stage they are set to perform later in the day. “They're all there to have a good time. The Primavera Crowd… well, they are not in here yet, so I'm not really feeling it,” he continues with a laugh. “But when they're here, I think we’re gonna feel the energy.”

Over the past few years, Balming Tiger have been slowly but surely rising in the ranks of popularity, mainly aided by the boom of “Sexy Nukim,” their collaboration with RM of BTS, which ended up being part of their first full-length studio album January Never Dies, which came out in 2023. But there’s more to Balming Tiger than one simple hit track.

Founded in 2018 in Seoul by San Yawn and borrowing its name from the uber-popular pain-relieving ointment, the musical collective was born out of the desire to, much like the heat rub, be everywhere and everything. Describing themselves as a “multi-national alternative K-pop group,” Balming Tiger currently houses a myriad of creatives — from DJs, rappers, singers, and songwriters to music video directors, A&Rs, and even stylists — collaborating together to bring their raucous, irreverent, and chaotically yet carefully curated vision to life.

Just a quick glance at Balming Tiger’s YouTube catalog is enough to gather that visuals are of the utmost importance for the group, even when they are tinged with a DIY veil — just look at the music video for “Buirburi,” which was shot entirely on an iPhone. No matter the medium, the collective has managed to craft a defined aesthetic that, of course, needs to be preserved when performing live.

If you take a minute to look up each of the members of Balming Tiger online, it won’t take you long to discern they all have very different styles and tastes personally. When they perform together, however, uniformity takes the lead. “When we perform, we prefer [to wear] all the same clothes like a uniform,” Seoulthesoloist, who serves as the in-house stylist for the group, tells Teen Vogue backstage. “I think it’s [representative of] some of the Asian style.”

This sense of uniformity, Seoulthesoloist adds, can be achieved through either silhouette or colorways, though the latter is usually favored by the group as it allows them to add some individual flairs without standing out. (For example, at Primavera, Sogumm added a skirt to her techwear ‘fit.)

No matter what the common element might be that ties all of their outfits together, there’s one big no for the group: “No fancy styles.”

“We know that fancy is not bad but [if we are] going around together [and] someone wears [something] fancy, we will not look like a team. So we try to [stick to pieces with no] fancy logos or without a fancy pattern,” Seoulthesoloist explains. “Hashtag no logo,” Omega Sapien adds, though, of course, that’s all dependent on sponsorships. (For a good half of this tour, including at Primavera, the group is proudly repping South Korean brand San San Gear.)

Brands aside, there’s also a practical aspect to the uniform approach. “We're kinda different from other bands in [the sense] that we all like different music,” Omega Sapien explains. “We listen to different genres and aesthetically, I guess, we just dress [however] we want personally, so in order for us to have unity and cohesion, I think wearing the same outfit has been beneficial. Plus, it saves a lot of time.”

Not only does it save time, but it also saves a lot of packing space, a precious commodity that Balming Tiger will never take for granted, especially after losing all of their bags containing all of their tour outfits right before starting their previous European tour.

“I won't name the airline but it was after they opened up the borders again [after the COVID-19 pandemic],” Omega Sapien recounts, adding a dramatic pause in between sore giggles from his fellow members. “We were out here for like 12 days and we only had what we had on the plane. All the luggage was gone. We tried to put claims. They didn't respond, they didn't pick up the phone.”

Ultimately, the group’s bags all showed up… when they had returned to South Korea at the end of the tour. However, the show needed to go on, so the members made a quick stop by H&M in Slovakia as soon as they landed to buy what would later become their new stage ‘fits for the tour. “I was wearing this T-shirt for like seven days and I don't miss the smell of that shirt,” Omega Sapien adds.

Looking back on the experience, Omega Sapien and Seoulthesoloist call it “a good memory,” though some muffled laughs from the rest of the Balming Tiger crew suggest otherwise. What’s undeniable is that it was a testament to their resourcefulness and a situation that marked a shift in the way they approach stage outfits. For example, for this tour, Seoulthesoloist only brought a carry-on for all of his ‘fits, stage and otherwise.

“Each person is different,” he explains, adding that he’s learned his lesson from overpacking during previous tours so a less-is-more approach is now their motto. “A lot of it is useless,” Omega Saping adds, referring to the things you pack “just in case” when you go abroad. “If it's, like, sub ten days, I think only a backpack is way superior than having luggage,” he adds, before bursting out laughing. “If you go through trauma like us, you'd get on that, I think.”

Though “trauma” has forced them to streamline their packing, there are some things that are still essential when you are spending a significant time on the road. For Sogumm, it’s 용각산 [‘yong gak san’], a white powder from Asian traditional medicine that helps alleviate sore throats.

For Mudd the Student, it’s a hair comb. For bj wnjn, it’s a good Korean sunscreen — “Because my skin is precious,” he adds in perfect English. Seoulthesoloist’s essentials are vitamin D, an eye mask, and ear plugs, while Omega Sapien’s is a sling bag from Le Coq Sportif. “I think it was my mom’s,” he adds. “Passport in there, cash in there. All that. Been carrying that for like five years now.”

Much like what they need to pack, over their years together, Balming Tiger have also learned what they like, and most importantly what they don’t like when it comes to styling, especially for touring. The team works in-house with Seoulthesoloist, whose real name is Hong Chanhee, and their go-stylist Yeyoung Kim almost exclusively now as their outfitters.

“We [have] tried [working with other] stylists before, like doing magazine shoots and stuff, but a lot of times it's just, like, you really don't know that person very well, and that person doesn't know us very well so, a lot of times, the style doesn't really align to what we're liking,” Omega Sapien says. “It's very important to have someone that you know and believe personally for styling so it's perfect to have [Chanhee,] who's performing together [with us], we're hanging out all the time, and then he styles us. Personal chemistry is important in my opinion. I like to work with my friends.”

This sense of friendship is perhaps what makes Balming Tiger so thrilling to watch on stage. From the second they stepped onstage at Primavera to the sound of “Kamehameha” to the second they left after performing their unreleased track “Big Butt,” it was clear to see they are just a bunch of friends making music together and traveling the world, all while making the audience an integral part of the experience.

As they continue their tour throughout Europe, the group knows what their selling power is. “The reason why you guys should watch our show is that this is the only K-pop from the dark side. Okay?” Omega Sapien explains in his best customer service voice before getting candid. “This is something different; this is the other side of the coin. We're a live band. We really enjoy performing, sharing a good vibe with the audience, and looking at them vibing to what we create. It's, like, so big for us, it means a lot for us. So, please come to our show.”

“Right now, we're not the biggest band in the world but I have no doubt that it's gonna be something else in the future,” he adds. “[With] every show, I think we're improving. Not just our mental state, but, like, we're becoming more knowledgeable. We're having better people around us, so hopefully you guys enjoy the journey together with us.”

“Never forget Balming Tiger,” bj wnjn, who’s been quiet for most of the past 20 mins, says. “Please love us,” Sogumm adds. “Yeah, because I really love these people, and I really love this work, and it can only be done through fan support,” Omega Sapien piggybacks. “Please take care of us,” Seoulthesoloist finally proclaims, “and buy the T-shirts.”

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue

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