P1Harmony bring the heat with their eighth mini album ‘DUH!”

Just like their music, it’s always a fun ride sitting down to talk with K-Pop group P1Harmony. The group’s leader KEEHO has always been refreshingly unfiltered (as much as a K-Pop idol can be.) He’s often found being playfully cheeky and chaotic with his fans, known as P1ECES, both online and in interviews. He’s set the path for his members THEO, JIUNG, INTAK, SOUL AND JONGSEOB to be equally as candid. 

P1Harmony’s eighth mini album ‘DUH!’ has a particularly interesting social commentary on one of the stand-out tracks ‘Pretty Boy.’ The song tackles the topic of the feminisation of East-Asian men through a Western lens, looking at both the positive and negatives of being labelled a “pretty boy.” It’s a complicated and nuanced topic that the group are exploring in the song. The self-aware lyrics, set to a sultry Afrobeat sound, has the boys actively asking the listener to “call me pretty, I’m pretty pretty boy.” There is a tussle between softness and toughness, with a demand of “say my name” before JONGSEOB raps “Call me pretty, yeah, push me please.” There is both an element of reclaiming the word ‘pretty’ whilst also embracing and having fun with the aesthetic pedestal they have been put on. No doubt this song will catch fire on TikTok and become the soundtrack to many K-Pop fan-cams with their favourite male idols as the subject matter. This will essentially create a self-fulling prophecy in term of the songs’ message. 

The group are well equipped and articulate to discuss such topics, with JIUNG, INTAK and JONGSEOB being part of the writing team, and KEEHO joining JIUNG and JONGSEOB for the composing arm of the creative process. 

The six track mini-album ‘DUH!’s whole body of work continues P1Harmony’s successful, tried-and-tested maximalist approach to music. The title track has a brassy, 90s hip-hop sound and is bookended by a trap-pop ‘WORK’ that almost has that golden noughties dance anthem sound that would snake its way around an underground club space or blare out at a bank holiday warehouse party blowout. As you make your way though the record, 90s inspired R&B and hip-hop is present in tracks such as ‘Murmur’ and ‘Over and Over’ whilst ‘Flashy’ jumps two decades with early 2010s dance pop. It’s an eclectic sonic mix, but P1Harmony manage to pluck out what they need from their retro influences and craft it into cohesive sound with their signature style, helped with the rich syrupy vocals of KEEHO and THEO and raps from INTAK, SOUL and JONGSEOB. JIUNG flits between the two disciplines skilfully, both rapping and providing a softer lilt to the group’s vocals. As a whole, the record time travels right through the halcyon days of Britney Spears to a Richard X poppy-dance set with ease. There is an alluringly cocky confidence to the album, which the member’s fully embrace sonically and lyrically. 

We last spoke when you released ‘SAD SONG.’ There was a lot of emotional exploration in that album- also the sound also felt softer. “DUH!”’s seems tougher and playful, both in sound and lyrics. How has the direction of your music changed for ‘DUH!’? 

KEEHO: I think definitely with ‘Sad Song’ we tried something very different with the Latin genre which is something that we had never touched based on, and then coming out with ‘Duh!’ which has a very specific genre which is old school hip hop, that we were really inspired by. It was a challenge for us, because whenever your tackling a new specific  genre that’s already so popular, people know what the genre is, it’s very hard to make that genre your own and sometimes it can also feel a little gimmicky because it feels like you’re trying to copy of steal someone else’s vibe, but I feel like we have tried to put P1Harmony’s own twist to it, and we have tried to show it especially in the music and the lyrics, we show a bit of confidence and cockiness as well, in a sense, where it’s like “oh P1Harmony’s cool” Duh! it’s obvious.

The album’s sound is up-tempo and feels like you’re getting people ready for the summer, and to party. Do any of the tracks on the mini album feel like a summer anthem in particular? 

JONGSEOB: We have one song on our album that’s called ‘Pretty Boy’ In Korean there is an expression that Korean people say, called ‘ijeol chijeol’ which means  ‘When it’s hot you eat hotter things, or when it’s cold you eat colder things.’ In our song ‘Pretty Boy’- instead of bringing something that’s refreshing and cool, we want to bring that heat and do something extra-hot for the hotter weather. ’Pretty Boy’ expresses that well- we’re bringing heat and sexiness and hotness with the song. 

There’s a lot of fan content out there that celebrating male beauty, aesthetic and the softer side of masculinity. Is ‘Pretty Boy’ exploring that side of the K-Pop world? Do you enjoy being able to be empowered that way and be creative with your aesthetic?

KEEHO: ’Pretty Boy’ had a deeper meaning for me when I created that song, because I really wanted to reclaim the word ‘pretty.’ I feel like sometimes when it’s used on males it seems more like a backhanded compliment, where people say it’s kind of feminine. Especially as East Asian and Korean boys, (we’re) being so publicised through the Western perspective. I think a lot of people say ‘“Oh, they’re just so pretty and so delicate looking and so like soft.”  Sometimes they can use that as not really a compliment, but sometimes it is a double edged sword and I feel like the song is embracing that and reclaiming that and saying “Yeah. We are pretty, we’re proud to be pretty and this prettiness- we’ll show you in a way we feel confident and we don’t really care what other people try to title it as.” Whatever it is, we try to take it as a compliment, it’s a fun and empowering way to express the word ‘pretty.’

Which song have you enjoyed rehearsing the most? Which has the most fun choreography?

JIUNG: Because we’re still working on the album, we don’t have chores for all of the songs and we don’t really know how we’re going to map that out when we do concerts later on in the future, but if I were to predict the future- the track ‘Work’ will be a really fun song to perform live and to experiment with and have fun with our fans when we perform. 

Do you enjoy the changing of visuals every comeback? Who loves that process the most? How do you pick who changes their hair colour etc? 

KEEHO: K-Pop is so fun and great because it’s not just solely about the music, it’s about the full package. Like you said about the choreography and the rehearsing aspect of it and the visuals aspect of it- the hair, the fashion, the concept pictures- all of it makes K-Pop, and more importantly P1Harmony so fun. Especially in creating and coming up with these visual aspects and worlds for these albums, it’s really fun because we’re able to experiment and see what suits us and what doesn’t and (just) have fun.  It’s almost like playing dress up every single time and then we’re able to put on a different character and (show) a different side to us for each and every comeback. This comeback-because it is held in the summer and we have this on-going theme about us being super heroes, it’s always fun to come up with something new and different. We’re always looking at what our fans like. We’re always trying to make sure we’re doing what we like, but also doing what the fans would enjoy too. In terms of hair…none of us can really choose what hair colour is picked for us. We do make suggestions, we’ll be like ‘hey, this time, I think we want to do this? (For example) at the moment, Theo wanted to cut his hair short. 

THEO: The last time I cut my hair this short was or three years ago. This is the first time I doing this after a really long time. We’ll make subtle suggestions. Sometimes they’ll be heard and sometimes they won’t be.

KEEHO: We are very deeply involved with a lot of aspects of our album creation process but we try to not be too deep into the hair part of it, as we like to be surprised to and there is a thing where people tend to settle for something that is comfortable and not exciting, because we’re also human beings and we like to take care of our hair, but it’s more when it’s say pink or yellow or blue or all these fun colours. 

Do any of you have a hair colour or style you would like to go back to? 

INTAK: I want to do blonde hair but short! 

THEO: Blue! 

SOUL: I want an undercut.

Do you feel a lot of pressure as idols? As a group, you seem to be able to be more candid and less closed with your fans that most groups.  Why do you think that is? 

JIUNG: There is a lot of pressure obviously when you’re put on a pedestal, and there are a lot of people looking at your every single move and hearing every single thing you say and everything that you do. I definitely do feel a lot of pressure, but I also feel like it’s very important, as there are so many people that love us, it’s really important that we keep a good attitude and make sure that we’re saying and doing the right things that will also encourage our fans to be good people. It’s a very healthy balance. Sometimes, although it’s very pressuring spending a lot of energy thinking twice or three times about what I am going to say (or do) before saying it or doing it, it’s a system that we have with our fans that makes me a better person, and I feel like showing this besides of me towards the fans, the fans can learn to be a good and positive person in their every day lives too. 

Do you have a group chat where you share all the fun content you find? Do you have any things that have gone viral that you find really funny or embarrassing or feel like you will never live down from P1ECES? 

THEO: Definitely, if there’s funny things I find on the internet I send it to the group chat. There are a lot of funny things that our fans make. One of the most recent things I have sent to the group chat is- do you know those books, that are like anamorphic? They’re humans that change into an animals. Someone made an edit of KEEHO slowly transferring into a horse. I saved the photo and sent it to the group chat. It was 3mam or 4am, and I just sent it out of nowhere. It’s fun little edits that our fans come up with. We’ll either send it to the group chat or we’ll show each other face to face as we’re with each other all the time. Our fans are super fun and we love when they come up with little edits and be creative. That’s what makes fandom culture so fun. 

Which song from ‘DUH!’ Are you most looking forward to performing live? 

JIUNG: I’d say ‘Work,’ As I mentioned earlier- it’s going to be fun to dance with our fans!

KEEHO: I’m tied between ‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Work.’ ‘Pretty Boy’ is not like an energetic song but it’s a song and performance that our fans will really like. But what JIUNG said before ‘Work’ will be a really fun song to perform live with our fans on tour. 

JONGSEOB  ’I pick Pretty boy! 

INTAK: I think a lot of our fans will enjoy the songs, bit also the performance aspect as well too. 

SOUL: ‘Pretty Boy’ because it’s very sexy and not stuff that we really do, so I think the fans will really like that.

THEO: I like ‘Work’ I would say “Work’ and our title song. ‘Duh!’ It’s our first old-school song, and I look forward to performing it in front of our P1ECES. ‘Work’ is great too to perform in a concert. 

Do you have a favourite non-title track or song that you didn’t make a music video for that you love/wish you had made a music video for? Why do you have a special connection with it? 

INTAK: For me, it’s ‘Pretty Boy.’ Personally, I really like the Afrobeat genre, so I’m excited just thinking about how this track would look and feel if we filmed a music video for it. The colours and the vibe could be amazing!

SOUL: For me, it’s ‘Work.’ We actually used ‘Work’ in the trailer (of the comeback), and after seeing how well it fit, I thought it would be great to have a full music video for it too.

Is travelling around so much and having such a busy schedule hard? What do you most like to do when you’re home? 

INTAK: It’s definitely tough sometimes, but honestly, I’m really enjoying it.Though at home, if I’m being real… I just want to sleep a lot and take a good rest!

SOUL:  I actually enjoy traveling abroad, so it doesn’t feel too hard for me. But if I were home, I’d probably want to play games or just crash in bed and sleep!

What are you looking forward to in the second part of the year? 

KEEHO: ‘Duh!’ is going to catapult us into the second half of the year with new music.. We really want to be able to promote this new album on the road hopefully, see new bands, hopefully go to the UK! If they ever call us over there, to see our fans there!