Lucente: ‘We Work Hard to Communicate With Our Fans’

There’s nothing quite like watching a professional K-pop group rehearse. It’s the end of October 2018 and we’re sitting in on Lucente’s rehearsal time right before their debut showcase in Mumbai. The seven-member boy group display impeccable precision in every movement and make no errors (well, none that we can see.) The sound and light check takes all of 20 minutes and U-Seong, Hero, Bao, Z.Hoo, Kogun, Taejun, and Parkha head backstage to change into their costumes for the show. Fans rush in shortly after to grab a seat and their roars of anticipation quite literally have the ground shaking.

Lucente are no strangers to the country””2017 saw them come down to Assam, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi to judge the India leg of the World K-pop Contest 2017. Their 2018 trip was a little less stressful with just two performances””the first stop was Mumbai, and later Pune (their first appearance in the city.) The band’s shows in both cities were preluded by a mini K-pop contest they didn’t have to judge, all-round making for a more relaxed trip this time, but also one that was more focused on them. When our team arrived for the Mumbai concert at Breach Candy’s Sophia Bhabha Auditorium, there was already a massive line of fans outside who’d been waiting for close to four hours to catch a glimpse of the band. When Lucente’s bus arrived (a full two hours after that) the screams were deafening and the group was visibly shocked.

As the contest progressed and we got closer to Lucente taking the stage, the auditorium began filling to the brim. Fans were left standing in the aisles and craning their necks to get a good view the South Korean band, many frantically holding up encouraging signs in Korean. After a point, the organizers of the event had to restrict entry, leaving several dozen more disappointed fans waiting at the gates outside. (There was no official number of attendees disclosed to us, but an estimate of over 2000 footfalls is a safe one to make.) There probably was no one more surprised by this information than Lucente themselves. When they finally got onstage it was to a roar of approval and there were awestruck smiles on the members’ faces as they heard Indian fans chant their names.

When we crammed in to the seven members’ brightly lit green room backstage later on for a quick conversation, they told us just how much India surprised them. “We didn’t expect [this many people,]” says main vocalist Hero. “It was crazy.” In this exclusive interview with Rolling Stone India, the band discuss K-pop culture in India, producing their own music and being inspired by K-pop greats like G-Dragon and BTS. Watch below.