It's a rainy Sunday at Riverside Revival Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Inside, a devoted congregation having just braved the wet elements, pack inside ready to clap, dance, and sing in unison. But these people are not parishioners. And this is not Sunday service.
This is a K-Pop concert.
Viviz, a three-member Korean girl group made up of Eunha, SinB, and Umji, are on their Love and Tears Tour and, today, they find themselves in an American mega-church. Their fans, known as Na.V, create a sea of neon signs, over-sized light sticks, and smartphones held aloft, beckoning their idols to come out onto the pulpit.
Soon, the members appear donning Victorian dresses. The dramatic church lights emphasize their ethereal looks. They start their set with “Untie,” a pulsating electronic track peppered with seductive soft vocals. The dancing is intense, and the choreography is complex. They follow up with “Blue Clue,” a jazz-inspired song that has a lighter, but equally difficult, cabaret-style choreography.
It has been three years since the members re-debuted as Viviz (their previous group, Gfriend, disbanded in 2021), and it seems like they have finally forged their own unique identity separate from their former group. In between songs, they engage in banter with their fans, show off their newfound twerking skills, and express their love for Nashville Hot Chicken, which garners a proud roar from the local fans.
With such a recent debut comes a limited discography and this seems to work in the group's favor. The crowd showers their hit singles like “Pull Up,” and b-sides like “Red Sun!,” with equal passion and fervor. Midway through their set, the exhausted members take a break as their staff rolls out a capsule machine onto the stage. Each capsule contains a challenge and each member draws a capsule. The highlight is when Sin B, a former child actress, draws the challenge of singing the children's song, “Tongdari,” from her television show, “The Fairies in My Arms”. She is visibly embarrassed, but reluctantly performs, and expresses shock when many of the fans sing along with her to this obscure Korean relic. That is the power of Youtube.
Afterwards, they perform their most recent single, “Maniac,” which draws a massive response from the crowd. The fan-chant for “Maniac” is deafening, and the group shows delight hearing the enthusiastic audience participation. They segue immediately into “Bop Bop,” their debut song and the deafening crowd somehow grows louder. The members point their microphones to the audience during the chorus, unable to match the crowd's volume. They exit the stage and the crowd shouts for an encore. The group immediately returns to perform the two final songs, “Fiesta,” an aptly-titled party song and “Overdrive”. The show nears its end and the group thanks their fans repeatedly, sends out finger hearts, and takes a group selfie with the audience. They give one final bow and then leave the stage.
With a flick of the switch, the church's house lights turn on, marking the end of the service. Shell-shocked fans file out of the church and step back into the real world where Nashville is still Nashville, and country music is still king. But for the past couple of hours, at least, they had just experienced something that didn't quite fit into the usual narrative of this town. It's a reminder that music, like religion, can find its way into the most unexpected places. And that sometimes, the most memorable experiences can come from the least likely of unions.
Setlist: Untie / Blue Clue / PULL UP / #FLASHBACK / Red Sun! / Wildflower / Love Love Love / Overflow / Love or Die / MANIAC / BOP BOP! / Fiesta / Overdrive
VIVIZ: EUNHA SINB and UMJI @reallyrallyjames
