Nam Woo-hyun cried making INFINITE collab track — and a full group comeback is coming

He cried before he even got to the concert

Nam Woo-hyun broke down in tears while writing 소년소녀 (Boys and Girls) — a track on his album 투바이에잇 featuring all of INFINITE — and hadn't even stepped into a concert hall yet.

"When fans sing this song at the concert, INFINITE's voices, mine, and the fans' voices will be heard in three layers," he said. "I made this song imagining that moment. I even cried while making the song, and I wasn't even at the concert yet."

The song grew from watching fans in the crowd. Nam Woo-hyun said the eyes of people who come to see him or INFINITE look "so girlish" — unchanged from their school days — and that image became the seed of the track. He wanted everyone listening to feel like 소년소녀, boys and girls, together.

16 years with INFINITE, now a solo 10th anniversary

Nam Woo-hyun has spent 16 years with INFINITE (the group is in their 17th year since debut), and he was deliberate about marking his solo 10th anniversary with them beside him. "My boyhood is INFINITE itself," he said. "I wanted to celebrate my solo 10th anniversary together with INFINITE members."

Getting the members on the track was straightforward. They came so prepared that directing the session felt effortless, and when they told him "it sounds like an INFINITE song," he confirmed that was exactly the style he'd written it in. "We had fun working on it," he added. He's grateful they said yes without hesitation: "What I value most while making music is INFINITE members and fans, so the members participated as featuring artists. I'm grateful the members readily accepted the request."

Full group comeback: "around next year"

Fans waiting on a full INFINITE comeback got the closest thing to a timeline yet. Nam Woo-hyun confirmed the group is preparing something and said, "Nothing is confirmed yet, but I think we'll greet you around next year." INFINITE is continuously filming YouTube variety content in the meantime.

On longevity, Nam Woo-hyun pointed to seniors celebrating 20th and 30th anniversaries as motivation, and said junior artists are now following INFINITE the same way. "Through this, K-pop seems to last longer and the market expands," he said. (The man is basically describing a generational relay race, and INFINITE is somewhere in the middle leg.) The members are "like family" now. "When we meet, we're happy."

A full INFINITE comeback, whenever it lands, will be the group's first since their 17th debut year began.