SVGV (pronounced as SAGA) is an Asian Electronic dance music group based in Los Angeles. They’ve started their activities in 2014 and currently exist out of three members: RAMY (lead vocals, born in South Korea), TRIRION (DJ, born in Japan) and PEACH (lead vocals, born in China).
The group is about to return to Europe for their new tour “Further Than Ever” by the end of August, and they’re also about to release a new album. Quite some stuff to talk about, don’t you think? I’ve managed to steal a little of TRIRION’s time for these questions, so…Let’s not stall any longer and-
Let’s start!
You’re about to start a new tour here in Europe, and this time it’s under the new name SVGV. The last time was in 2015 under the name “SAGA”. Will you focus on the new songs more now you have a new name, or not?
TRIRION: We’ll definitely play many of our new songs, but I don’t think we’ll play any of our old songs in the way they were composed originally. We’ve done many remixes of them to ensure our old songs are better and on par with our new songs. We’re very excited to share our music -new or old- with our audience again!
This will be your fourth visit to Europe, and I’m sure you’ve seen something new every time you were here. Are there any new places on the schedule this time, or are you mostly looking forward to the places you’ve seen already?
TRIRION: We’re always excited to visit new cities and meet the people there, but we’re mostly looking forward to meeting our fans who have been waiting for us to return after the last tour ended.
Is there a specific song you’re looking forward to playing for the audience here, or are you more focused on the shows as a whole?
TRIRION: We’ve been producing EDM-based music for the last few years, but recently we’ve been trying a completely different style of music. We really hope you’ll enjoy it!
You’ve given this new tour the name “Further Than Ever”, but does the name hold a special meaning to you? Does it have to do with pushing yourselves “further than ever” for the new album for example?
TRIRION: We’ve been trying new things, but we’ve also been trying to push ourselves to try new things. So to us the name means that we’re trying to push our own boundaries and limits.
Like I betrayed a little already with my last question, there’s also a new album for fans to enjoy. Scheduled for release in the not-so-distant future. Can you tell me something about the album already?
TRIRION: We’re thinking about naming this album “Closer Than Ever”, because we’ve been challenging our limits on the outside, but on the inside we’re trying to create something that’s very close to our hearts and emotions. This album will be a very emotional one.
Your group is quite international, with members from different countries in Asia. And yet you’re based in Los Angeles (United States). PEACH (who is from China) joined your lineup last year, but how did you guys meet?
TRIRION: We’ve been trying a lot of things this year, since we’re always thinking about how we can develop our career further and bring our music to the next level. PEACH has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard in a singer. She’s like the Asian version of Adele.
We met in China during our last tour there, and after hearing her sing I asked her if she wanted to make music together with us. She usually works in China as a singer, so it’s very hard to match our schedules and work together in real time, but despite that she’s an amazing person. I will definitely record more songs with her in the future!
You know my media focuses on Japanese music and artists primarily, and a lot of fans say that the “magic” for this music lies in the use of the Japanese language. Your music contains Chinese, Korean and English, but please tell me a little more about this. Do you use these languages to accommodate the singer, or to appeal to the listener? Or is it a mix of both reasons?
TRIRION: Every singer will have their best performance if they can sing in their own language. And for me as a composer a language other than my own will always sound fresh and give new life to the music I’m making. This is why I offer the singer to write their own lyrics in their native language, but it’s also to appeal to the listeners in those countries. For global fans it’s something they’ll use to remember the song, but also to feel it and be able to sing it together. To achieve this feeling of “global unity” the English language works the best, of course.
The European tour “Further Than Ever” is the last leg of your world tour, but what will you do afterwards? Are you going back to the studio immediately, or do you have other plans?
TRIRION: This year we’ve been facing a very sensitive problem. Korean artists are not allowed to perform in China due to political reasons. Since RAMY is Korean this affects us directly and caused us to have to cancel a lot of dates from the tour schedule. It did however make us stronger and it has pushed us further to challenge new markets in new ways. We are our own company and manage ourselves for that same reason. So everything is a big learning process for us. This is the reason we’ve moved to the United States, we wanted to open up a new market for our music here.
We’re nearly at the end of my list of questions, so let me squeeze this one in real fast: do you have any dreams for the future of SVGV right now? Since you just said you’re dealing with a few difficult situations here?
TRIRION: We’ve been following our dreams since the very first day we started making music. We even wrote a song about this: “Dreaming”. We would really like it if everyone who has been chasing their dreams would listen to this song as well.
And with that, we’re really at the last question. Is there something you’d like to share with everyone reading the interview today to close it off?
TRIRION: I want to say thank you to all the fans in Europe who have been waiting for us to come visit them again. And I also want to say “hello!” to all the new listeners! We hope for all of you to enjoy our music and find something that’s close to you in it. We’re confident in bringing our brand new music and our best show to Europe this time. So we’ll be seeing all of you very soon!
Extra information
Arlequin Magazine has officially launched in 2021, but while SVGV is still listed as an active artist there are no social media links available. That’s why this article doesn’t have a “follow” section like the other articles on the website.
雪 (Yuki) is the owner and driving force behind Arlequin.
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years she is still the main person who does interviews the interviews and live photos that you see on Arlequin, but also a large chunk of the reviews and behind-the-scenes work and communication goes through her.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.