There’s a New Boy Group in the Horizon: Make Way for HORI7ON

Team Manila Concert Junkies
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It started with a dream: 7 young handsome men brought together in a reality show called DREAM MAKER in the hopes of superstardom. After weeks of intense competition, these 7 young men, Jeromy, Marcus, Kyler, Vinci, Reyster, Kim, and Winston emerged victorious to go to South Korea to train to become global PPOP stars, raising the Philippine flag with them.




Before the training as planned, the thunderous ensemble held their SOLD OUT first pre-debut fan meet in the New Frontier Theater on April 22, 2023, presented by DNM Entertainment. The boys prepared so much for the fans, who were also named that day as ANCHORs, with performances, games and tearful intimate moments they will all surely remember as HORI7ON and ANCHOR await for the official debut of the group.










With all these exciting activities, here’s what we unveiled with HORI7ON’s fan meet, a reflection of their hard work with their 100 Days Miracle.


100

Clad in white suit and looking dashing as ever, the boys of HORI7ON came out and performed “Take My Hand” which is the survival show theme song, bringing nostalgia to the crowd. Each of the members thanked their crowd after their performance.

Leader Vinci thanked the crowd who made the show possible. He feels honored to perform in front of the crowd and emphasized that it means so much to them. Winston expressed how happy he is to see the fans in the crowd, while Jeromy hopes the fans enjoy what they prepared for the night. Kim became emotional as he said that they will make sure that everyone’s night will be perfect and to not worry. Marcus, who can’t express the amount of joy he felt during that moment, mentioned that even though it’s kind of sad that this will be the last show they will do before leaving to South Korea, they made it special for the Filipino fans.


                              




The boys performed DASH, their pre-debut single, which was extremely well received, considering that the boy group hasn’t officially debuted yet. What was even more powerful was the fans are already well-versed with the fan chant of the song. We all know that the Filipino fans are a different, energetic crowd, noted by the international artists that came to our shores, but it looks like we’re even more powerful in hyping our own!

HORI7ON seems so unstoppable with performing "Dream Maker" songs like "Tiger," "Odd Eye," and "Lovey Dovey,” showing so much power and youth which each track, no doubt to show that they are the new boy group to look out for and proving why the seven boys won the first place. They never felt short, the energy leveled and with each scream from the crowd, they seemed to become more enthusiastic about showing off what they got. They sure go 100% in performances!


Days

A fan meet would not be complete without the games! And as they merge in the South Korean culture, they played the chaotic Whisper Game which may be the most played game by KPOP groups ever. The beauty of this game shows the competitiveness and the chaotic side of whoever plays it. And it did as the boys played the game with the fans watching. As haywire as this game is, you realize that these 7 boys are still boys and there’s that genuine “game on'' mode that comes with the youth they still possess.












As punishment, the losing members, Jeromy, Kyler and Kim, had to do aegyo, forming hearts with their bodies and picture perfect faces that sent a wave of frenzy in the crowd. It was hard to keep yourself together during these parts as the boys became extremely irresistible! The crowd going wild is understandable!

Apart from the Whisper Game, they also played the Drawing Game where each team had to guess what their representative was trying to make them guess by drawing the images on a piece of paper. This was most probably the most chaotic moment of the night when the boys themselves could not contain the laughter. Marcus’ guitar drawing had the boys lose their heads on stage.

They also played the Random Play Dance, a popular game that we all know and love that is taking the globe by storm. The group has their own rendition of KAI’s ROVER, ENHYPEN’s FEVER, BSS’ Fighting, EXO’s Growl and SEVENTEEN’S Very Nice, which shows how diverse and cultured the boys are in the KPOP industry. It also shows respect to their seniors, as they are about to be a part of that industry. On top of these, they also covered XG-Shooting Star and Jeromy showed off his dance skills with TXT’s Sugar Rush Ride.
                                                 
During one of the latter parts of the evening, the boys encored some of their songs while wearing cute animal onesies! To the delight of the fans, they danced to DASH and Lovey Dovey again. Along with the onesies they wore, they also unleashed the cute animals they channeled, becoming more playful and more youthful than they already are. At this, it was just all about having fun and savoring the moment of success and happiness with the fans who made it possible.


MIRACLE


One of the biggest surprises of the night was when the boys did the DASH challenge with lucky fans selected from the crowd and the DASH dance challenge will be posted on the official TikTok account of HORI7ON! How cool is that? Seven lucky fans went on stage and danced with one of each member to do the challenge together. As promised, they have posted all seven videos in the TikTok account! How many fans can say that it featured them in their idol’s TikTok account?

The same night, HORI7ON also announced their fandom name: ANCHOR, gives meaning that the fans will become the compass as the anchors of the boat that is HORI7ON is now officially dubbed for their ever supporting fans cheered on the sweet meaning and gesture. It sounds like a forever bond, if you’re a part of the fandom, as YOU will be the reason and driving force of the group to push forward in more endeavors throughout their career.

Officially now called ANCHOR, the fans also dedicated a video edit for the boys to watch, which left them teary eyed towards the end of the video.

An overwhelming and never ending thanks came from the boys, with Leader Vinci saying that their fans have become their inspiration and hopes that their fans also reach their dreams the same way that the seven of them have reached theirs. All this, as Vinci emphasized, would not be possible without the ANCHORs. With this, the boys enveloped each other with a group hug and sang SALAMAT, another pre-debut single to put all the unspoken words and all the thanks they want to say to the fans.


                           


As the night ended, the members of HORI7ON successfully completed their first fan meeting with the ANCHORs, sealing the night with the promise of return, even more prepared, more talented and even stronger artistry.

Dreams, may it be big or small, will find its way if you act on it and that is what the seven members of HORI7ON did. Showing their passion to the crowd made them win the ANCHORs’ support, and it only goes to show that when you do everything with a little bit of heart and belief in yourself, everyone else will see it like you. Jeromy, Marcus, Kyler, Vinci, Reyster, Kim, and Winston showed it doesn’t need 100 days of miracle to reach your dreams; it takes 100 days of consistent hard work and passion to do it and reach sky high.



Words by Arielle Elep
Photos by Christine Lorraine dela Cruz

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