Kep1er's 'Magic Hour' EP delves into the meaning of love

K-pop

Published: 25 Sep. 2023, 19:51 Updated: 25 Sep. 2023, 19:54

Kep1er's 'Magic Hour' EP delves into the meaning of love

Kep1er performs ″Galileo,″ the lead track for the girl group's fifth EP, ″Magic Hour,″ during a press showcase held Monday at the Yes24 Live Hall in Gwnagjin District, eastern Seoul, ahead of the album's release. [WAKEONE, SWING ENTERTAINMENT]

The universe doesn’t revolve around the Earth nor the sun: It revolves around love, according to Kep1er.

“While we talk about the Copernican theory and Geocentrism, we are saying that the universe actually revolves around love,” Chaehyun said during a press showcase for the group’s fifth EP “Magic Hour” on Monday, at the Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin District, western Seoul, ahead of the album’s release later that day.

“During tough times, we continue our life by looking at love, and through our story, I hope everyone who listens to our album falls in love as well,” she added.

Kep1er has nine members: Yujin, Chaehyun, Dayeon, Youngeun, Yeseo, Xiaoting, Mashiro, Hikaru and Huening Bahiyyih.

Kep1er’s “Magic Hour” comes five months after the release of its fourth EP, “Lovestruck!” The lead track “Galileo” is a disco-punk track that features refreshing, groovy guitar riffs.

While “Galileo,” the title of the lead track, may sound odd for such a lovely and upbeat lead track, it’s actually not that much of a stretch for Kep1er, whose own name was inspired by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler.

“We tried to blend the story of the astronomer that we share our name with together with Galileo Galilei so that we can have a witty and fun storyline to our song,” Youngeun said.

“In ‘Lovestruck!’ we talked about the story of a girl falling in love for the first time. But this time, we’ve grown up a little bit, and we are now investigating what love is and trying to find the definition of love together,” Yujin, the leader of the group, explained.

“I think this has to be my favorite lead track,” Huening Bahiyyih said. “We’ve had a lot of fast-paced lead tracks over the years, and I think we didn’t have enough time to really show our individual charms. There’s a lot of parts in ‘Galileo’ where you can really see our individual gestures, so I hope you look forward to it.”

Kep1er poses for the camera during a press showcase held Monday at the Yes24 Live Hall in Gwnagjin District, eastern Seoul, ahead of the album's release. [WAKEONE, SWING ENTERTAINMENT]

The album also has two unit tracks: “Tropical Light” and “TAPE.” These are Kep1er’s first attempts at unit tracks.

Yujin, Xiaoting, Youngeun and Yeseo sing the bright, upbeat tropical track “Tropical Light,” while Mashiro, Chaehyun, Dayeon, Hikaru and Huening Bahiyyih sing the groovy track “TAPE.”

“All nine members got to listen to the two tracks, and the producers told us to raise our hands to see who wanted to do which song, and it was perfectly split, as four members [voted for ‘Tropical Light’] and five members [for ‘TAPE’],” Dayeon said.

“The great thing about Kep1er is that we have lovely members and we also have hip members,” Yujin said. “We all chose the songs that best suited us, so I think you’ll really be able to see our individual personalities.”

Following the release of “Magic Hour,” Kep1er will hold its second Korean fan meeting “Kep1er’s Strange Market” on Oct. 21 and 22, followed by its first fan meeting in Japan “Fairy Fantasia” on Oct. 27 and 28. The group is planning to showcase the two unit tracks during the fan meeting, Hikaru revealed.

Kep1er poses for the camera during a press showcase held Monday at the Yes24 Live Hall in Gwnagjin District, eastern Seoul, ahead of the album's release. [WAKEONE, SWING ENTERTAINMENT]

Kep1er is a project girl group formed in October 2021 through Mnet’s girl group audition program “Girls Planet 999.”

“The thought that we’ve had since we were in ‘Girls Planet 999’ is that we prioritize our fans that support us, above anything else,” Yujin said.

“So just like how we have been before, we plan on focusing on our group activities and showcasing what we can do best. We really worked hard on our album, so I hope you guys really enjoy it."

“I hope the album works as a gift to our fans, and I really hope our fans can meet their own “Magic Hour,” Xiaoting said. “We also hope to rank No. 1 on weekly music shows, and see our tracks on the real-time streaming charts!”

To find out more about Kep1er, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]