[CELEB] Boy band ASTRO leads fans down a 'starry road'

K-pop

Published: 18 May. 2022, 14:31 Updated: 18 May. 2022, 18:17

[CELEB] Boy band ASTRO leads fans down a 'starry road'

Boy band ASTRO, excluding MJ who enlisted for his mandatory military service earlier this month, pose for cameras during Monday's press event for its third full-length album ″Drive to the Starry Road″ (2022). [FANTAGIO]

Boy band ASTRO has some fresh new tracks for fans to enjoy this summer with its third full-length album "Drive to the Starry Road," which dropped Monday.

Some of the concept photos for the album show all six members wearing blue and posing in a blue convertible.

“'Starry road’ is the path ASTRO has come down with our fans, and we will continue to go down this road,” member Cha Eun-woo said during an online press conference for the new album on Monday. “It means how a road twinkling with stars is awaiting us.”

Rocky explained how the band members took part in producing the songs for the album, which has 11 tracks: the lead track “Candy Sugar Pop,” “Something Something,” “More,” “Light the sky,” “Story,” “All Day,” “First Love,” “Let’s go ride,” “S#1.,” “24 Hours” and “Like stars.”

A scene from the music video for ASTRO's ″Candy Sugar Pop″ (2022) [FANTAGIO YOUTUBE]

JinJin, Moon Bin and Rocky took part in writing the lyrics for “Candy Sugar Pop.” Songs like “Something Something,” “More,” “Light the sky” and “Like stars” were written or composed by JinJin and Rocky.

Cha wrote “First Love” and MJ produced “Light the sky” and “Story.”

“The members have always been active in songwriting and composing,” Rocky said. “We decided that now we can be entirely responsible [producing] for each song, which is why they made it into the album.”

The lead track is an upbeat pop song about a significant other with the nickname “candy sugar pop.” The music video features neon lights, palm trees and members dancing on top of cars under a night sky full of stars, cotton candy clouds and giant desserts.

This album is different from previous ones, as MJ was unable to partake in promotional activities after enlisting for his mandatory military service earlier this month.

“We tried to fill in the empty space left by our eldest member [MJ], who would spread happiness,” Moon said. “We’re trying to be more energetic to make this album fun and exciting. We’ll do our best to make sure it shows during our performances on stage.”

ASTRO promotes its debut EP ″Spring Up″ in February 2016. [ILGAN SPORTS]

ASTRO debuted in February 2016 with the EP “Spring Up,” of which “Hide & Seek” was the lead track. The band consists of MJ, JinJin, Cha, Moon, Rocky and Yoon San-ha. Before its official debut, agency Fantagio promoted the members through a web drama series “To Be Continued” (2015) alongside actors Kim Sae-ron and Seo Kang-joon.

ASTRO has two sub-units: Moonbin & Sanha and JinJin & Rocky. The former debuted in 2020 and has two EPs: “In-Out” (2020) and “Refuge” (2022). The latter released one EP, “Restore,” in January this year.

As a whole, ASTRO is known for songs “Crazy Sexy Cool” (2017), “Blue Flame” (2019), “Knock” (2020) and “One” (2021).

Moon Bin of ASTRO [FANTAGIO]

MOON BIN

Date of birth: Jan. 26, 1998
Zodiac sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Cheongju, North Chungcheong
Debut: February 2016 as a member of boy band ASTRO
Agency: Fantagio

Singer and actor Moon Bin, officially stylized as MOON BIN, made his singing debut as a member of boy band ASTRO in February 2016. Before that, he has played a small role in KBS’s popular romance series “Boys Over Flowers” in 2009. He played the younger version of So Yi-jung (played by actor Kim Beom). Although he is best known as a singer, Moon has continued acting in drama series like MBC’s “To Be Continued” (2015), in which all six members of ASTRO played themselves before their official debut. Moon also appeared in JTBC’s “At Eighteen” (2019) and starred in both seasons of cable channel Lifetime’s “The Mermaid Prince” (2020) series.

This information was confirmed by Fantagio on May 17, 2022.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]