Photo Cr. Megan K. // KpopWise
On October 2, 2024, BDU visited San Jose in their second to last tour stop for their first World Tour; Wishpool; Flash and Light! The group visited Bay Area fans at the Hammer Theater in San Jose, California! Entering their first world tour visiting places such as Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America, the band has been having a busy year.
Formed through Mnet’s reality competition program Build Up: Vocal Boy Group Survival and managed by Orca Music, B.D.U (short for “Boys Define Universe”) consists of the show’s winning contestants: Jay Chang, Seunghun, Bitsaeon, and Kim Minseo. After winning the program in March 2024, beating thirty-six other contestants, the winners formed the project group and officially debuted on June 26, 2024, with the title track, “My One” from their debut EP, "Wishpool."
Before forming B.D.U, the members were no stranger to the entertainment industry. Here’s a bit about the four members of BDU!
Bitsaeon is a member of the K-Pop group, M.O.N.T, formed in 2017, whose members participated as contestants in another competition show, Mix Nine.
Seunghun is also a member of CIX, formed in 2019, and was a former YG Entertainment trainee.
Kim Minseo also competed on another reality show, “The Origin – A, B, Or What?” in 2022.
Jay Chang is also part of the group, One Pact, formed under Armada Entertainment, and also released his solo single “Is you” in 2020 and in 2023, a solo EP: Late Night with title song, ROCKSTAR.
The band performed at Hammer Theater just near San Jose State University. Fans were treated to an opening performance of “Flower’ from the survival show “Build Up” that the members performed together and competed in. They had some choreography movement to the song with a mysterious atmosphere created by the dramatic lighting. The members also sang a cover of a popular Korean artist, Woodz song “Drowning” that showcased their emotional and harmonic dynamic used with mic stands.
If you aren’t familiar with Build Up, it is a survival show program in Korea that gathers contestants who were solo singers or debuted in groups. The purpose of Build Up was to showcase mainly singers in a band as a new group (aside from your traditional kpop roles such as dancers and rappers). The members of BDU for the entirety of the concert did just that—showcasing their unique vocal skills and talents as they sang popular performances from this show such as unit songs, and solo stages. Members Bitsaeon and Jay Chang covered their popular performance of “Dangerously” by Charlie Puth that has quite the vocal range. Still, their harmonies blended well together as did Minseo and Seunghun’s cover of “River” by Bishop Briggs which showed natural chemistry during their powerful duet on stage.
Between songs, the members got to play a word guessing game with the audience that had fans entertained and amused at the same time. An interesting icebreaker that had fans able to see a playful or humorous side to the members.
For the solos, fans were able to witness each member’s different taste in music as well as style as they sang alone on stage. Bitsaeon (also the leader of the band) covered Adele’s “Someone like you”, which had more of an emotional side but was sung delicately and beautifully to the listeners. Jay Chang sang his original song “Liar” that had a heavy rock alternative vibe, but he definitely woke up the crowd with his stage presence! Minseo sang Shawn Mendes “Mercy” and showed vocal control building up to the dynamic parts of the song, and Seunghun sang 3D by Jungkook feat. Jack Harlow to many fan’s enthusiasm as he showed his stage presence engaging with the audience walking across the stage or doing a bit of dancing as he sang.
As the night began to end, member Jay said, “You know, the next song we’re about to sing was brought back to popular demand. We had taken it off the setlist to mix things up but people kept requesting this be put back on, so we’re going to sing it tonight.” Their cover of 5 seconds of summer’s “Teeth” began to play loudly to many fan’s requests, as the band sang it together with the mic stands.
Finally, the night ended with the band singing their own songs “My One” and “Ah-Ooh” to which fans enjoyed greatly. You can stream their mini album “Wishpool” on music streaming platforms now or watch their music video!
Special thanks to Studio Pav and Hammer Theater for having us. Be on the lookout for what BDU has next in store!
Review + All Photos by Megan K. @melodybymegan
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