For those encountering XLOV for the first time, the group can be disorienting – in the best possible way. WUMUTI from China (Uyghur), RUI from Taiwan, HYUN from South-Korea and HARU from Japan do not immediately fit into the familiar categories of K-pop: their aesthetic is genderless but never provocative for provocation’s sake; their performances are athletic yet restrained; their music feels intimate, almost fragile, while the stage presence is strikingly controlled. XLOV does not aim to seduce with perfection. Instead, they invite the audience into an experience that feels closer to ritual than to entertainment.
At the heart of XLOV’s artistic universe lies UXLXVE, an album whose title already signals its core idea: incompleteness. XLOV defines itself through “unfinished love,” not as a lack, but as a space, an opening left for imagination, projection, and transformation. Where many pop narratives rush toward resolution, XLOV deliberately stays within tension. Desire does not fully resolve into possession; goodbye does not entirely erase longing. This refusal of closure is not accidental. It structures everything: the music, the choreography, the visual language, and even the way concerts unfold from city to city.
Musically, XLOV’s work is built on atmosphere as much as melody. Silences, breaths, and suspended moments are as meaningful as choruses. Their songs do not simply progress; they hesitate, stretch, and sometimes loop back on themselves. This musical approach finds its perfect counterpart in the body. On stage, choreography functions as a grammar of gesture. Acrobatics are never there to impress technically; they punctuate the narrative. A somersault marks a point of no return. A split embodies the tension between two poles: dirty and pure, desire and farewell. Circular movements evoke cycles, suggesting that emotional journeys do not end but transform and restart.
This is where XLOV’s specificity becomes clear: they do not dance on the music. They are its physical extension. Their movements resemble those of mimes more than conventional idol dancers, not because they imitate emotions, but because they sculpt them. An emotion is not acted; it is shaped into a symbolic form. Through this process, personal vulnerability is elevated to something closer to myth. What begins as an individual feeling becomes a shared, almost archetypal experience.
For our latest single RIZZ (Ed. note: “rizz” is slang for charisma; the song explores charisma and desire as tension and risk.), I took part in creating the choreography. Our leader, Wumuti, always places great importance on performance and really wanted a strong “point move.” He asked me, “Rui, could we include a technical move that all four members could perform together?” I thought about it very seriously and created a choreography around that idea. Since our debut, I’ve often been the one performing the technical moves myself, but this time we decided that all four members would do a split simultaneously. It’s a bold, impactful choice that feels very fresh in our performance.
To sustain such an approach, the body must be disciplined. The members are not only singers and dancers; they are athletes. Their performances require extreme physical control, endurance, and precision. This is crucial to understanding their philosophy: vulnerability, for XLOV, is not weakness. It is an ordeal. To expose fragility on stage, night after night, demands strength, not softness. The elegance perceived by the audience is the result of absolute mastery, not ease.
This physical rigor also shapes the group dynamic. On stage, XLOV functions as a unit, a modern echo of the ancient chorus. Individual feats are always embedded within collective movement. A jump, a fall, or a split never exists for personal spotlight alone; it serves the group narrative. There is something almost Spartan in this cohesion. The members endure the ritual together, supporting and responding to one another, forming a living structure rather than a collection of individuals.
ABOUT GENDERLESS
One of the most discussed aspects of XLOV is their genderless concept, often misunderstood from the outside. XLOV does not aim to appear feminine, masculine, or androgynous as an aesthetic statement. Genderless, for them, is a language, a spectrum of expression free from obligation. It is not linked to sexual orientation, nor does it require anyone to reject their biological gender. Each member chooses how they inhabit this space, creating a diversity of expressions within a shared framework. For fans, this explains why the group feels liberating rather than confrontational. The concept opens possibilities instead of imposing identities.
« As a producer: genderless offers us an immense spectrum. It allows us to imagine and create without any limits, while searching for every possible form of beauty.
As an artist: it gives me a great sense of freedom and makes me more confident on stage. »
The ritual dimension of XLOV becomes fully tangible in concert. A show is not simply a replay of the album; it is its activation. What was previously a narrative to be listened to becomes a total sensory experience. Songs unfold like stages of initiation. One track might explore space slowly through collective movement; another tightens into sharp, charismatic poses and intense eye contact. Elsewhere, bodies collide, fall, and recover through controlled contact, before reaching a suspended moment of stillnes, a breath held by both performers and audience alike.
XLOV’s live performances are defined by their relationship to place: each city becomes a unique symbolic space rather than a repeat of a standardized tour. Costumes evolve from city to city as ritual anchors, re-incarnating the same narrative in a specific here-and-now. The audience does not attend UXLXVE in the abstract, but UXLXVE here, a singular moment that will never be repeated, their costumes – that are sewn directly onto them – are explaining why XLOV’s concerts feel so immediate, memorable, and transformative.
For those just discovering them, XLOV offers an entry point into a world where pop meets ritual, and where the body becomes language. For fans, they offer something even rarer: a shared journey that evolves, city by city, moment by moment, unfinished, alive, and deeply human.
« I was genuinely astonished by how well Wumuti knew Switzerland, by his curiosity to learn even more, and by how thoughtful and relevant his questions were. I was literally impressed and charmed. »
Ultimately, XLOV occupies a rare position in contemporary K-pop. They do not sell an ideal of flawless beauty or effortless confidence. They propose an experience, an initiation into fragility, doubt, and desire, carried by bodies trained to endure and express it fully. By framing vulnerability as an elite performance, requiring hours of preparation, athletic discipline, and a precise grammar of gesture, XLOV achieves a quiet but radical artistic statement.
This article is largely inspired by the analysis by Marie-Pierre Medouga, Press Officer, with the assistance of 5 OCEANS STUDIO
Thank you also very much to ENVOL PROD, AKIBA
And of course…. XLOV
