tripleS

A studio full of 24 members sounds as chaotic as it is. tripleS – the MODHAUS group that has never been a small proposition, in ambition nor physical scale – have always operated differently to most. ASSEMBLE26 is their third full-group comeback, and by now the logistics of putting two dozen people in the same room, let alone the same music video, have become second nature. When tmrw sits down with five of the members – Yoon SeoYeon, Lee JiWoo, Kim NaKyoung, Park SoHyun, and Kim ChaeWon – in South Korea, the photoshoot has just wrapped.

tripleS operates on several tracks simultaneously: the unit releases – smaller combinations of members that rotate in and out, each with their own sound and concept – and the ASSEMBLE albums, which bring all 24 members together under one project. It's a structure unlike anything else in K-pop.

MODHAUS CEO Jaden Jeong has described the ASSEMBLE releases as something closer to a festival than a standard comeback – a once-a-year event that carries its own weight. "When it's ASSEMBLE, members understand: wow, this is a big thing," he exclusively told tmrw earlier this year. "It's something that really, truly showcases the identity that is tripleS."

While ASSEMBLE26 follows that structure, it shifts the emotional register. Where previous instalments leaned into darker territory, this time tripleS arrives with something different: hope. The filming spanned Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei and Bangkok, and the title track is "Baby Flower" – a project that, in the members' own words, is less about the experience of pain and more about what you do with it.

The through-line across tripleS' catalogue has always been pain – not so much as something to wallow in, but as something to just be honest about. "깨어 (Are You Alive)", the title track of ASSEMBLE25, ended in an unexpectedly ambivalent place. The wish, in its final lines, was simply to wake up and find it had all been a dream.

ASSEMBLE26 doesn't abandon that territory, but it approaches it differently. "One of the themes explored in "깨어 (Are You Alive)" is the experience of being hurt," says NaKyoung. "I feel like ASSEMBLE26 is about acknowledging pain. Instead of ignoring or turning away from it, it's about telling yourself that you can go through with it." JiWoo puts it more simply: "Before, we explored the dark side that you don't really often see in people. Now, I believe it's brighter, and the feeling itself is brighter. It’s about us going through this."

For SoHyun, it’s more about perspective. "When people talk about overcoming feelings like being hurt or isolated, it's often you who are, in fact, isolated," she says. "But when working on this release, it really felt like we're sharing this music – we really feel like we're in this together. I'm not the type to share it with anyone when I'm going through something, but we're hoping that the fans can also feel like they are part of this. Like their feelings are reflected in the song as they listen."

It's audible, too. "Compared to before, when the sound might have been a bit darker – this song [“Baby Flower”] has band elements which gives it a more upbeat attitude," says NaKyoung. "Just by listening, you can really feel that strength coming through."

Ask the members what becomes possible at full scale and the answers are practical before they're poetic. NaKyoung talks about three-dimensional choreography, the way 24 bodies moving together creates something structurally different from a unit performance. SoHyun is direct about the implications: "Naturally, working with twenty-four members comes with challenges – it's not just about the members themselves, there's also the staff, the cost, and the amount of time involved. There's also pressure that we need to really achieve a result."

The filming itself spread across four cities – Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei and Bangkok – and the experience of moving through them shifted something for the members. SeoYeon filmed in Taipei. "I went there for work, but people around me were just going about their everyday life – for them that was as unique as our experience of filming there," she says. "It's a feeling of connection and the importance of noticing how special our daily lives are." The mundane detail stayed with her. "When we were shooting in Taipei, we saw locals walking by, eating breakfast, and I was like, wow, that is so interesting. What for some people can feel like a mere everyday activity, can be perceived as something very special by someone else."

For ChaeWon, who filmed in Tokyo, the geography reframed something. tripleS carries the meaning of "Seoul Sonyo" – Seoul girls – and that identity had always shaped how she thought about the music's reach. The music, she explains, is about being there for those who feel alienated or are going through a similar experience. "As someone who lives in Seoul, I often think about people from Seoul in particular – but I feel like my perspective became broader while I was filming in Japan. I saw that this is a universal, global concept – that a lot of people go through this."

During filming, a drone captured all 24 members forming a shape from above – a blooming flower, each member a petal. SoHyun brought it up. "Petals alone cannot make a flower," she said. "But when they come together, they become one."

ChaeWon saw the formation later, when watching the footage back. "I really thought: oh wow, we really look like flowers. It is a flower blossoming." Then: "It also made me wonder if this is the way our fans see the twenty-four-member lineup."

The flower imagery wasn't incidental. The title track is called "Baby Flower", and the symbol runs through the whole release, including the album artwork. "Blossoming isn't just about flowers – it's also about emotions," SoHyun explains. "Feelings like sadness, exhaustion, and pain all come together and eventually help you grow and blossom. Emotions expand, and I see that as a kind of blooming – like flowers and emotion both growing. I feel that emotions can grow in different directions, and through that process, you mature as a person."

ASSEMBLE26 introduced something new to the tripleS model. Gravity – the voting system through which fans, known as WAV, have historically shaped the group's direction, from unit lineups to title track selection – presented a different kind of choice this time. WAV were asked not to pick the title track themselves, but to decide who should pick it: them, or MODHAUS. They chose MODHAUS.

The reactions within the group were not uniform. JiWoo read it as trust. "They're trusting us, and our company, and we are reflected in that. So I felt even more responsible to do my best – to show that this decision was worth it." SeoYeon saw it differently: "When MODHAUS has to make the decision, WAV's expectations get higher, and the pressure on MODHAUS goes higher too. I was really curious – will WAV be happy with what we come up with? Can we, as MODHAUS, collectively deliver this?"

ChaeWon's response cut closer to the bone. "One of the things about tripleS is that we are on this journey with the fans, and it's very exciting and fun to participate," she said. "So I was concerned that, with MODHAUS choosing the title track this time, we might lose some of what makes tripleS unique and special."

tripleS is, by design, a group experienced differently by everyone in it – some members have been here since the beginning, others arrived years later, each passing through different units and different chapters of the same story. Of course they'd feel something like this differently, too.

MODHAUS CEO Jaden Jeong has thought carefully about where that line sits. "I don't necessarily think that fan participation interferes with artistic integrity," he told tmrw in a separate interview. "The MODHAUS vision is about fans participating." He recognises that WAV don't all want the same thing – some enjoy voting on every detail, others prefer MODHAUS to lead. ASSEMBLE26 brought that into focus in a new way.

Fan participation is only one side of how tripleS’ music gets made – increasingly, it's also being shaped from within the group itself.

SoHyun's writing credits have grown across their eras, and her ambitions for what that writing could become are considerable. The members feel it. "The way she writes, the songs really fit tripleS perfectly," says JiWoo. "She often says that when she writes, she thinks of the members. So when I work on the music, I think of SoHyun too. And that makes me want to focus harder, try harder, do better." SeoYeon echoes it, then goes further: "Even when I work on the performance, I think: I hope SoHyun can appreciate this. She puts her love into it. In a way, I envy that, and I want to eventually try writing lyrics, composing music – for me, for tripleS, maybe for WAV. SoHyun motivates me."

When asked what she wants to ensure tripleS' music says when she's involved, SoHyun doesn't talk about themes or messages. She talks about people. "I want to write songs in a kind of crossover universe – one for each of the different members, plus one – one that tells the story of the group," she says. "I want to distill each member's perspective. A song that really encompasses their life. Our personalities are very different, and I think that's a strength of tripleS. I want to distill their stories, their lives – so that by listening, you can understand that person. People might even think: wow, I'm really similar to this member." A beat, then: "It's a very difficult challenge, I know." From across the room, SeoYeon encourages her that she can do it. With a laugh, ChaeWon suggests she'll finish when she's fifty.

It's the kind of ambition that requires a certain discipline outside the studio too. SoHyun is someone who once read Sartre's Nausea aloud to fans – and her relationship with literature feeds directly into her creative process, though not in the way you might expect. "I wouldn't necessarily say I read for musical inspiration. I don't even think it's inspiration, per se. It's a habit. It's part of my life. You just work on it every day, little by little." When she reads, she takes notes – on feelings, on vibe, on overarching themes, on words or emotions that stand out. Later, when working on music, she returns to them. "This music gives this kind of aesthetic. This emotion matches this kind of vibe." The influence isn't always traceable, but sometimes it is: ODD EYE CIRCLE's 'Je Ne Sais Quoi', she says, came directly from her notes. ODD EYE CIRCLE are a sub-unit of ARTMS – also on the MODHAUS roster – making it a moment where SoHyun's influence can be traced not just within tripleS, but across wider output.

The group’s musical catalogue spans more ground than most cover in a decade – "Invincible"'s industrial drum'n'bass, the garage-pop darkness of "Diablo", Jersey Club energy on "Moto Princess", the bright pop of "Girls Capitalism", the softer pull of "Chiyu" and "Love Child". SoHyun, who has writing credits across several of those tracks, doesn't see the range as a contradiction.

"I don't think we have a specific genre," SoHyun says of tripleS' musical identity more broadly. "We experiment a lot – I've always loved doing that. But what really makes us tripleS is that everything has a meaning behind it. We don't do anything just to look cool, just for appearances. Whatever we do, there's always a core to it – a philosophy. And sometimes infusing music with meaning is quite difficult. We often try to balance it out: how do you express this musically, and how do you even approach that for the audience? Even something as simple as the classic 'la la la's – we try to balance that heavy philosophy with a good sound."

The group was built gradually – members revealed one by one over two years, units forming and rotating before the full picture came together. For some, like SeoYeon – the very first member, revealed in May 2022 – or JiWoo, the third member, that journey spans the entire history of the project. For others, like SoHyun, who joined after the group had already debuted, or ChaeWon, one of the last members to be revealed, the picture came together differently. "The idol of all possibilities" – the phrase that has followed tripleS since debut – means something different now than it did at the start.

"When I first heard the term the 'idol of all possibilities,' I didn't really know the formation or the system – I didn't fully understand it," SeoYeon admits. "Then all the other members came, and we went through processes you don't really see in K-pop. A lot of it was new. Sometimes I wondered if this was even possible. These things are so new. But now I really do feel like tripleS is, truly, the idol of all possibilities.”

For NaKyoung, the through-line is specific. "One of the main themes – the core of tripleS – is pain. We often try to express it as honestly as possible. I don't think our music is overly decorated. We aim to express raw emotion. Even when there are imperfections in the process, it still feels raw. The pain is the essence of tripleS that doesn't change even with time passing by."

For SoHyun, the hope is simpler. "When people listen to our music, even if it simply brings back a memory, what more could I ask for? Music is the best tool to turn back time. When you listen, it can bring up specific moments – things that happened, or things that you've been through. I hope it brings back those memories, and with them, a sense of hope. Like: you're going through this, but you still have strength."

SoHyun ends the conversation with a story. There is an old Korean tale about a king with donkey ears – a secret known only to one man, who carried it alone until he could bear it no longer. He went to a bamboo forest and shouted it out into the trees. The forest held it for him.

Now, in Korea, the “bamboo forest” is a place where you release your secrets or worries. "tripleS will be your bamboo forest," she says earnestly. "Somewhere you can let go and express everything you're carrying."

It's a vivid image for what the group has spent four years building – a safe space for anyone who needs one. “Maybe you'll forget this album eventually,” SoHyun adds. “But for now, we'll be here – a safe space.”

Editor’s note: For this interview, tmrw spoke only with the members Yoon SeoYeon, Lee JiWoo, Kim NaKyoung, Park SoHyun, and Kim ChaeWon.