Inside XLOV's 'I,God': Voguing, Han So-hee and a New Sound Era

K-POP's first genderless idol group XLOV is back, and this time the group says the concept fits more naturally than ever. The four-member act — Wumuti, Rui, Hyun and Haru — held a media showcase for its second EP "I,God" on May 27 at Gabin Art Hall in Seoul's Gangnam district. The album was released the same day across major streaming platforms.

"I,God" runs across jazz, house, hyperpop, hip-hop and EDM, a wider stretch than XLOV's previous work. Wumuti once again produced the project, and used the showcase to explain the shift in approach.

"I'll explain this from a producer's point of view," Wumuti said. "K-POP songs have been getting shorter lately, and even bridges are disappearing. Our earlier songs leaned hard into hooks, but I started to feel we don't need to push that on every track of every album. I wanted to make an album that feels like watching a fantasy film."

The title track "SERVE" is built on a groovy bassline layered with shifting sound textures. It also marks the group's first attempt at voguing, the ballroom-rooted dance style.

"With the title track, we tried voguing for the first time, and it lets us show a more elegant and dramatic side," Wumuti said. "XLOV has always tried to show different sides, but there's so much more we want to do. I feel like we're not even halfway there. This album probably reveals about 50 percent. We've been able to try the hair and makeup looks we'd been wanting to do, so people should see a real change."

Actress Han So-hee appears in the "SERVE" music video, a cameo that started, fittingly, with music and art. "My connection with Han So-hee began through music and art," Wumuti said. "She once posted on Instagram and attached one of our songs. When I heard about it, I left a comment and thanked her. She said our music inspired her and felt like a door opening to a new world. She told us she was rooting for us."

The two later bonded over a shared hobby. "We both love drawing, so we kept in touch saying we wanted to exchange paintings someday," Wumuti said. "Eventually we met in person and traded gifts. I wanted to ask her to be in the music video, but she actually offered first. She said she'd be happy to appear even as 'passerby No. 1,' and to call her if we needed someone. She told us just stepping into XLOV's world for a moment would mean a lot. That's how it happened."

For the members, the shoot turned into an unexpected lesson. "I learned a lot, not just about acting but as a person," Haru said. "I picked up a lot about how to carry yourself on set. The director and all of us were having a tough time, but Han So-hee really lifted the mood."

XLOV remains the only K-POP group built openly around a genderless concept, but Wumuti pushed back on the idea that the label is a marketing line. "We became known under the genderless or genderfree banner, and a lot of people have loved us for it," he said. "But I don't want to use that one word just to come across as edgy or provocative for attention."

He framed the concept instead as something closer to a worldview. "Genderless is closer to a lifestyle," Wumuti said. "We've sorted personality by blood type, star sign, MBTI and all kinds of things. I started asking how you could possibly narrow personality and appearance down to just two options."

"It didn't start from wanting to break a mold," he added. "It started from looking in the mirror and thinking, today I want to look like this, I want to wear this, why can't I wear a pretty piece of clothing. We want to set the word 'gender' aside, pick clothes and silhouettes that are beautiful, and show the version of ourselves we want to show more boldly."

The members also laid out where they want to go next. "My goal is to sell out a bigger venue," Rui said. Haru added, "I want to win on a music show. I want our music and our message to reach people who don't know XLOV yet."

"I,God" features seven tracks, including "SERVE," "法則:THE RULES," "BACK 2 BACK," "Masterpiece," an instrumental version of "SERVE," the Wumuti and Rui unit song "Extancy (Wumuti&Rui)," and the Hyun and Haru unit song "HIPS (Hyun&Haru)."

For a group still in its early run, "I,God" reads less like a concept refresh than a statement of intent. XLOV is moving past the genderless label that introduced it, and trying to build a sound and a visual world wide enough to stand on its own.