Christmas in summer seems odd, but The Boyz hopes to make the miracle happen with its new album Phantasy Part 1 - Christmas in August which dropped on Monday.
The EP, a six-song album, marks the start of their three-part LP Phantasy, from which the band will drop three sub-albums over the rest of the year.
It also celebrates the group's return with a new album for the first time in six months since the release of its eighth EP Be Awake in February.
The 11 members on Monday held a press conference in Seoul to share their stories on embarking on a new journey with Phantasy. They had just flown in from Bangkok, where they held their world tour concert "Zeneration" over the weekend.
According to the members, the band's second full-length album, Phantasy, tells three different stories centering around the topic of fantasy.
"We're attempting our first album trilogy, Sunwoo said, adding, In Phantasy, there is a romantic fantasy, a thrilling fantasy and a nostalgic fantasy, and we've prepared a trilogy series to spotlight three different fantasies."
According to Sunwoo, all three sub-albums are named after a famous film and will unravel a fantasy inspired from the movies' stories.
Member New expounded on the cinematic concept: "There are different genres and colors in cinema, and a film embodies fantasies that cannot happen in the real life. We wanted to make an album like that."
Opening the series is Christmas In August, which was named after the 1998 South Korean romance flick of the same title.
The main song off the new album is Lip Gloss, a summer anthem mixing house and synth-pop and overflowing with The Boyz's signature freshness. The lyrics, contributed partly by members Sunwoo and Eric, tell of the romantic wish to win a kiss from his lover.
About the music video, which was shot in Siargao Island of Philippines, Hyunjae said, "The music video took the longest to shoot among any of our music videos. The running time is also the longest, six minutes. It's like a short film."
Five other summer carols, as coined by the members, add more pleasures to the album: a subunit track by Younghoon, Hyunjae, Juyeon, Q and Sunwoo titled Passion Fruit, the only minor-key song Lighthouse, the uptempo pop number Fantasize, the electronic pop dance score Fire Eyes and the final track Fairy Tale, in which Eric played a major part in penning the lyrics.
The Boyz debuted under IST Entertainment in December 2017 with its first EP The First. Boasting of a youthful boy-next-door energy, the group has rolled out several hits including Giddy Up, Bloom Bloom, The Stealer, Thriller Ride, Maverick and Roar – garnering a large global fandom in the process.
Now in their seventh year, the group hoped to give a twist to their fresh sounds, inviting more listeners to enjoy it.
"We've attempted different sorts of freshness until now, but this time we wanted to make an album that people would find more often. That's why we incorporated elements like more addictive and repetitive hooks and easy-listening melodies," Sunwoo explained.
"Increased popularity is another goal with the new album. Hopefully, the listenable sounds reach not only our fans, but the general public so that Lip Gloss can be heard wherever we go," Sangyeon said.
Different styles deviating from the group's usual sounds are also in store with the rest of the trilogy, noted Eric, adding: "Please look forward to the next albums which are to come out soon." – By Choi Ji-won/The Korea Herald/Asia News Network
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