Following the release of their first full-length album 'Troubleshooting,' Xdinary Heroes — a six-piece boy band under JYP Entertainment's sub-label STUDIO J — continue they prove their prowess in songwriting, composing, and performing.

The 5th mini-album, 'LIVE and FALL,' boasts a total of 8 tracks: "XH_WORLD_75," "Night before the end," "Save me," "Boy Comics," "iNSTEAD!," "FEELING NICE," "XYMPHONY," and "LOVE and FEAR." After "coming out of the virtual world," showcased in their previous albums, Gun-il, Jungsu, Gaon, O.de, Jun Han, and Jooyeon are here to continue to provide consolation to the listeners, offering a diverse range of genres and emotions instilled in the album's tracks.

Ahead of the album's official release, allkpop once again chatted with Xdinary Heroes to talk about 'LIVE and FALL,' approaching the band's 3rd anniversary, and more. Check out the full interview below!

[You might also want to read our previous interviews (1) (2) (3) with Xdinary Heroes]

allkpop: First of all, congratulations on your new album! Tell us about the concept and the message you want to convey with ‘LIVE and FALL.’ What’s something you want the listeners to pick up from it?

Gun-il: Thank you so much for congratulating us first! If you look at our title, the names of our albums so far, from ‘Hello, World’ to ‘Troubleshooting,’ it was all based on computer programming work. The reason was that — the Xdinary Heroes universe — our world was based on virtual reality called ‘♭form.’ And ‘♭form’ is an online ensemble program where we met each other, where we basically grew up. From there and our previous albums, we had stories of our emotions and lots of different things that happened in that virtual reality. That's why it's based on control programming work. But the reason why we didn't choose computer programming work this time was because when you look at our latest album ‘Troubleshooting,’ we basically came out of the virtual reality and finally got to meet each other in the real world. This album, ‘LIVE and FALL,’ is a story of that happening; it could be relationships with each other, it could be feelings inside of ourselves that happening in the real world. In the real world, you feel lots of emotions like happiness, anger, sadness, anxiety, or whatever it is. We wanted to convey those emotions and feelings into this album. And if there's one thing that we want our listeners to pick up from this album, it would be those emotions — the emotions that we put into this album.

Jooyeon: Personally, in the process of making this album, we wanted to make this album a consolation to our listeners and fans when they're going through hard times. Maybe not consolation itself but if our listeners and fans can feel that we are there with them, we're accompanying them, or we're feeling the pain instead of them, that would be enough. That was the kind of state that I was in when making this album.

allkpop: Earlier this year, you released your first full album ‘Troubleshooting.’ Did you start working on this mini-album right after the release of ‘Troubleshooting,’ or had you been working on this in between releases? And how long did it take you to finalize everything compared to your previous four mini-albums?

Gaon: We wrote some of the songs while working on ‘Troubleshooting’ and the process for some of the songs began way before ‘Troubleshooting.’ The time spent really encompasses a long range of time from a really long time ago to now. The songwriting time it took for each song was relatively short compared to the last albums.

allkpop: I’ve seen the ‘It’s REAL me’ clips where you were asked, “If I had one last moment in this lifetime?” And your answers centered around your loved ones and just doing what you love even in the last moments. But I’d like to turn the question over and ask you, “If someone you love or someone close to your heart had their one last moment in this lifetime, what would you do to them and for them?”

Jungsu: I’m a little bit emotional answering this question… I love taking photos and taking video clips because it’s the best tool when you’re reminiscing about your past. I think it really brings back the memories of that time when the photo or video was taken. If my loved one is facing the last moment of their life, I think I’ll try to take as many photos or video clips as possible.

O.de: This question makes me sad. I just want to make him or her smile. Make him or her smile. This is the most important thing for me. Smile!

Jun Han: I think I’ll ask the person what he or she wants to do in the last moment of their lifetime — whether it be doing something together, doing something alone, or me doing something for that person. I think it’s really important for me to be able to help that person achieve what he or she wants to do at that last moment. That’s what I’ll do.

Gaon: If my loved one faces the last moment in his or her lifetime… I think whatever I do, there is something I can feel wholly. I’ll do my best and I’ll try to remind him or her how much I love them and how much I care for them. I’ll also try to give that person some time on their own to think back.

Gun-il: For me, when I look at this question, I think of my parents. If my parents have a limited time before they leave this world, I would basically do what everyone just said. I would take as many photos and videos of them as possible. I would take as many photos and videos with them as well. I’d also want to ask what they want to do for the last time. Maybe we can go on a trip, maybe we can go eat something we like together. Also, because… our family… We don't really express our love for each other, and because we haven’t done that for a long time, I always have this unspoken feeling of love towards my parents. Because, I don’t want things to be cheesy, you know. But if this is the last chance, then I would tell my honest feelings, how much I love them. I also like to listen to how much they have loved me as well. Those are the things that I would like to do.

Jooyeon: First of all, I’ll just say my greeting to that person and I would like to distance myself from that person because seeing the last moment of someone I have loved so much, that moment would be so painful for me... I think I’d probably distance myself.

allkpop: We can already sense that this album is thought-provoking in a way. Which lyrics from any of the songs is your favorite or that hit you the hardest?

Gaon: My favorite lyric is from the song “LOVE and FEAR.” The line goes, “You keep making me give up on giving up.” I think that really is the essence of the title “LOVE and FEAR.” That’s why it’s my favorite.

Gun-il: For me, my favorite lyrics are from the song called “Save me.” It’s in the bridge part, and it goes, “If you finally get to know how much I’ve been shouting inside for this long time / I hope you’ll get to know that I’ve been holding on this much this far / When that time arrives.” Those are my favorite lines because it speaks to me a lot and I believe that it’s going to touch lots of people’s hearts who are going through hard times in their lives. That’s the reason.

allkpop: You’ve been participating in the creative process of your music. In what ways do you think you’ve improved in that aspect, in expressing your thoughts and putting it into music? As Gun-il mentioned in our interview in 2022, you wanted to widen your musical knowledge. Tell us how it’s going so far.

Jungsu: I think we really improved how we express ourselves through our lyrics and how we carry our message on stage to our listeners and audience. Our ability to convey emotional messages through our lyrics and how we perform on stage has improved tremendously. And through the experiment project, thanks to that, we were able to widen our musical knowledge. Releasing a wide range of music served as an opportunity for us to learn more about this, about our music. It really gave us a chance to widen our spectrum of music.

allkpop: This year, you’ll be celebrating your 3rd anniversary. How did the past years feel for you doing activities as a member of Xdinary Heroes?

O.de: Looking back, those years served as a platform for a lot of diverse wide range of experiences. If I hadn’t chosen this path, those experiences wouldn’t have come to me. Right now, I’m very satisfied with how we spent the last few years.

Gaon: Compared to the time when we first debuted, we are getting old every year, of course. We have built a lot of great memories. I think Villains (fans) showed how that the path we walked so far has been right. They are the testament that what we have chosen was right. I’m just so happy to be a member of Xdinary Heroes, and I just hope that we can stay together and grow old together.

allkpop: Lastly, could you leave a message for allkpop readers and your fans who will be reading this interview?

O.de: I hope that our new album, ‘LIVE and FALL,’ can be a gift to all the listeners and for those who are going through hard times. I hope we can give some sort of consolation through our music. And I hope that those who are happy… I hope we can amplify that happiness by listening to this album. That’s what I hope.

Jun Han: This album contains a lot of different styles of songs. At first listen, it might feel like it’s all over the place, but it was our attempt to try many different new things. All the songs were written with the future outlook in mind, so I hope this album can give you an opportunity or platform to be curious about what we’ll do next and enhance your expectations of our next albums. As O.de said, I hope this album can be thought-provoking and be a consolation to those who need it.

Gaon: Lastly, I just wish everybody good health and I just want to remind all of you that Xdinary Heroes will always be with you!