South Korean six-piece P1Harmony have established themselves as K-pop’s latest sensation with their smooth blend of infectious productions and electrifying choreography
Going from strength to strength, the bilingual multi-talents who have had their biggest comeback yet with new album HARMONY: ALL IN, wrapping up the Harmony trilogy as they create a more harmonious and better world.
Having showcased their ongoing sonic evolution and honing signature harmonization and captivating raps, the group consisting of KEEHO, THEO, JIUNG, INTAK, SOUL,and JONGSEOB have announced their P1ustage H: P1ONEER, taking their music wider on a global scale.
Chatting to Earmilk, the sextet delve into lead single “JUMP,” the challenges of being bilingual, what genre they’d love to experiment with, the most surreal moments of their career and more.
- What is the inspiration/message of your new single “JUMP” and tell me a bit more about the music video?
JIUNG: I definitely thought that a more approachable and upbeat song would be a good fit for us. Like the message of ‘JUMP,’ we want people to let go of their worries and anxieties and just have fun. The story of the music video is about us, P1Harmony, finding the perfect harmony, jumping and having fun with the people around us.
JONGSEOB:Following the general vibe of the song and the album, I used a lot of expressions that are more intuitive and can be understood as soon as you hear them. I also was inspired by the image of the “Astro Boy” when I was writing the lyrics. The overall story of the music video is that P1Harmony enters a terrarium, a completed world, as we jump with the audience while performing on a concert stage.
- If you had to describe your album “HARMONY : ALL IN” in three words, what would they be and why?
THEO:Excited, Jump, Diverse. Listen to our album to find out why!
SOUL: JUMP, the End, SOUL
I chose “JUMP” because the title track of this album is ‘JUMP’ and I chose “the End” because this album is the end of the HARMONY trilogy. Finally, I chose “SOUL” because I am the protagonist of this album.
- You’re a bilingual group – using both English and Korean – what’s the most challenging part of this? What other parts of the music making process do you find to be challenging?
KEEHO: Speaking two different languages and constantly having to go back and forth between languages in itself is the hardest thing. Having to translate questions and answers takes a lot of concentration and focus, and we do it for hours and hours at a time. For the music making progress I think the hardest thing is that music is subjective. There's no right or wrong answer. Music has to come naturally and "trying harder" necessarily doesn't make a better song. So being constantly creative with little to no room TO BE creative is one of the few challenges I face when creating music.
JIUNG: There are some expressions that only exist in Korean, and conversely, there are some expressions that only exist in English. So, I think the most difficult thing is to speak and convey those expressions. In the music making process, I don't think it's too difficult, but my strong desire to keep showing new ideas gets me constantly thinking about them.
- If you could experiment with any genre you haven’t tried before what would it be and why?
KEEHO:I really want to try Bossa Nova. I genuinely believe it's one of the best genres to exist, and I think it would be fun to try!
JONGSEOB: I chose the house genre, because I'm always trying to try new genres, and I think it would be nice to have something exciting in the show. I personally think it would be nice to have something in the hip-hop genre where rappers can try something a little bit more such as longer takes because there hasn't been an opportunity to try something like that yet.
- A lot of your music is rooted in positive and empowering messages about pursuing your dreams, all of you are pretty young yourselves but if you had to give a piece of advice to your younger selves what would it be?
INTAK:My advice to my younger self would be “do not hesitate to try anything you want to do, because every challenge will be a great experience.”
JONGSEOB : I want to tell my younger self “You are doing a good job and let go of the pressure a little.”
6-1. What would you say has been the most surreal moment of your career so far?
JIUNG: I think right now is the most surreal moment of my career. It always has been, but I’m just grateful that we’ve gotten so much love and attention from so many people around the world.
INTAK:I think this moment is the most amazing and unbelievable moment of my career, because I can feel that a lot of people are watching our music videos and listening to our music. I hope that as an artist I can spread courage and love to more people with more music!
6-2. What’s next for you?
KEEHO: Hopefully more performances that we can do live in front of our fans! We really want to focus on performance right now because of our on-going tour! After that I would love to release a full-length album.
- Finally, what’s one question no one asks you in an interview you wish you were asked?
THEO: What is your ultimate goal?
SOUL: What is your most precious possession?
