K-pop band xikers have been making waves in their native South Korea and are now looking to join the likes of BTS and ATEEZ by taking over the United States with their first world tour.
Housed by South Korean label KQ Entertainment, known for K-pop titans such as ATEEZ and Maddox, the 10-member group made their debut in March 2023 and, just eight months later, have already made record-breaking sales with two mini-albums. Their music video “TRICKY HOUSE” also has over 29 million views and the group is gearing up for a six-city world tour.
amNewYork Metro sat down with xikers at Sony Music Office in the Flatiron District with the help of a translator before they took on their greatest challenge yet: the Big Apple. Sharing their excitement to meet their fans, affectionately known as “roady,” the group described the hard work that led up to becoming rising stars.
Each member — Minjae, Junmin, Sumin, Jinsik, Hyunwoo, Junghoon, Seeun, Yujun, Hunter and Yechan — professed their gratitude to their fans, stressing that the roady are their inspiration and strive to create a positive atmosphere with their music.
“We’re really excited since it’s our first time on a world tour, and we’ve always seen ATEEZ performing world tours. So, it’s like a dream come true,” Hunter said. “We’re getting to go on stage and have our own world tour even though we’ve only debuted for like five to seven months. And we’re just really excited to see roady and perform in front of them.”
The road to becoming xikers was no easy feat. The members trained in Los Angeles as they prepared to become KQ Entertainment’s first boy band to debut in five years, following in the very large footsteps of ATEEZ. But xikers have risen to the challenge and proven they are a force to reckon with by breaking through language barriers to cultivate a following that has earned them over 100K album sales in the first week of their debut EP.
“It’s because we’ve worked hard and we’ve got the talent to [back it] as well,” Yechan said.
“Alongside being so grateful for this opportunity, we are working very hard for this so that we can show [our] roady whether that be in Japan, the US, or wherever roady may be a better side of us and to show our live performances to them and to keep going and kind of continue to show even more roady or gain roady along the way,” Sumin added.
According to Minjae, the band’s name is indicative of this hard-fought journey, explaining that the “x” in xikers stands for the mathematical term for unknown variables, and hikers represents each of the members traversing time and space. While this may sound like a riddle to some, for Minjae it perfectly sums up their work.
“I think the concept is so specific and exclusive, so I think that’s the most attractive point for xikers,” Minjae said. “In mathematics there is a symbol of infinite possibilities, we usually call ‘X’ but it can be ‘Y’ or ‘Z.’ So because we are young, we thought we had infinite possibilities for our future as xikers and as artists. So ‘X’ fits well with our infinite possibilities. Hiker is like finding [our] own future or dream. xikers fits with the 10 guys having an infinite possibility for now.”
Fans of xikers have often described the group’s music as a sort of comfort, and Hunter shared that their relatability coincides with audiences experiencing young adulthood along with them. As both the members and their roady navigate the threshold between teenage struggles and maturity, the band’s music provides positive vibes.
“I believe that the oldest member here was born in 2003 and the youngest in 2005, so I think the roady are also quite similar to us in age. I think they’re also in their 20s. They can relate to going through our teenage years and going through life as a 20-year-old,” Hunter said.
xikers’ music has transcended language barriers, creating a bridge between Korean culture and the world.
“There is a sort of unspoken connection between the two: There is roadie and there are the xikers. When xikers perform on stage there all about that live performance. For that live performance, when the roady are watching they are very proud and they cheer for the members a lot so there is a sort of synergy that happens when they are on stage, so there’s a connection that happens between the two,” Junmin added.
For the six-city tour—which includes Chicago, Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco—fans can expect to see live performances of sidetracks that xikers were unable to perform before until now. The band also promises a special portion of the show featuring a whole new side of Hunter and Junmin.
In South Korea, when an artist releases a new song or album it is called a comeback season. Junmin said that for xikers last comeback it was during the summer, and he promises that this new season will be something fans will not forget.
“We’ll be an unforgettable artist of that season for you, and we’ll work hard in order to become an artist that will make that season your season [just] for you,” Junmin said.
xikers’ trip to NYC began on Oct. 18, when they got to see the sites while preparing for their concert — and even hosting their own New York City-style showtime dance in the middle of Times Square.
For Seeun and Sumin, Times Square was definitely a highlight of their trip, where they hoped to return and take in the beauty of the Great White Way while eating a bagel and pizza, respectively.
“Walk around Times Square, [see] the Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, and [eat] Shake Shack and Five Guys. Also [eat] cheesecake,” Sumin said smiling.
After NYC, xikers performed at Chicago’s Patio Theater. Their senior band, ATEEZ will perform at New Jersey’s Prudential Center at the KBS Immortals Concert on Thursday night, Oct. 26.
