NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) — Big Ocean brought “The Greatest Battle” to New York City this spring, calling on their fans to join them in the fight against stereotypes and stigma.
“It’s like what we say in [the song] ‘One Man Army,’ when we’re about to fall they help us and fight with us,” said lead vocalist PJ in an interview with PIX11 ahead of the trio’s performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in April.
Interview: ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ star May Hong on playing tough girl Mira
The Brooklyn venue marked the second stop on the group’s third concert tour across the United States after the release of their third mini album “The Greatest Battle” on March 3.
(Credit: PARASTAR Entertainment)
In line with its title, the four tracks on the album chronicles the group’s fight to cement themselves as K-pop idols who are hard of hearing.
For more on what’s happening in your area, head to our homepage
“First is ‘Alive,’ it is about manifesting that we are alive from hardship. The next ‘One Man Army’ [which] is about fighting against all the odds,” explains PJ.
“After that, ‘Back’ is ‘we are back with success’ which is a great revenge to those who hurt us…and finally ‘Cold Moon’ is about learning how to [take] control. So it’s all one connected story and One Man Army is especially our real story.”
Kevin Woo on reinventing himself and bringing his idol roots to the U.S.
The title song draws inspiration from the 1597 Battle of Myeongnyang, in which then-Admiral Yi Sun-sin used the ocean current to defeat 133 invading Japanese warships with a fleet of only 12 from Korea, according to the Korea Heritage Service.
“It was a very, very tough fight but he won. So likewise, our idol journey can be a tough fight but we are going to win too so [we] just keep going,” said PJ.
Stay connected with community stories that matter: Visit our homepage
(Credit: PIX11 News)
One of those hard fought battles in the industry included bringing wheelchair dancers on stage for their live performance “Cold Moon” on the Korean music broadcast “Show Champion.”
“They didn’t have wheelchair accessibility but they somehow made it happen so we are very grateful for [them] making the precious moment,” described PJ.
Experience the golden moments of BTS’ Jung Kook at new NYC exhibition
The two wheelchair dancers performed alongside Big Ocean who also incorporated sign language while they sang. The group regularly uses Korean, American and international sign language in their choreography so that a diverse range of fans can both “see and feel the music,” as PJ says.
While breaking barriers in the industry served as one challenge, learning to work together served as another. The members of Big Ocean have different levels of hearing and come from different backgrounds. PJ, who lost his hearing at 3-years-old, started his career as a YouTuber making informative content about hearing disabilities. Chanyeon, who lost his hearing at 11-years-old, was an audiologist, while Jiseok was an Alpine skier who was born deaf.
“Here’s a funny story,” PJ recalled during the interview. “[Jiseok] came to see me at my concert thinking he could do better than me. So he watched my performance…and on that day our CEO scouted him.”
(Credit: PIX11 News)
Since coming together, the members have had to recognize each other’s strengths and learn to fill the blanks for each other.
“Chanyeon, he can recognize the rhythm better than us, than Jiseok and me, so he can catch more detailed rhythms in the music so he can feed it back for us,” PJ explained. “Jiseok, he can catch the other beats in the music. He can feed it back together [with Chanyeon]. I also sing, in this way the more we are together, we can make great team work together.”
The group has showcased their honed skills on the world stage, performing for the United Nations Development Programme, earning shoutouts from the World Health Organization and making Forbes’ 30 under 30 Asia in 2025.
Despite the accolades, the group says they’re most excited to perform for their fans called Pado.
(Credit: PIX11 News)
“If there’s a God, I’d like to believe that God is Pado. Without Pado, Big Ocean wouldn’t exist. Pado is everything to me,” said Jiseok.
Chanyeon echoed his sentiment.
“To us Pado is a big sparkling light in Big Ocean that helps us not lose our way in the deep sea. So no matter what happens we hope Big Ocean and Pado can always rely on each other to keep moving and pull us together.”
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.