The Korea Times

GFriend goes back to ‘innocent and energetic’

- By Kim Jae-heun jhkim@ktimes.com

K-pop idol group GFriend released their fifth mini-album “Parallel” Tuesday, returning with their original innocent pretty girl concept with powerful choreograp­hy.

GFriend’s previous album “The Awakening,” released five month ago, attempted a new sexy girl-crush concept with the track “Fingertip,” which came as a surprise to their fans who liked the girl group’s wholesome image.

“The Awakening” achieved certain success, debuting at No. 5 on Billboard’s World Album chart, but it was not entirely satisfacto­ry as its title track did not go viral like previous hit songs “Rough” and “Navillera.” GFriend won their first music show award with “Rough” in February 2016 and stayed on top for 15 straight weeks. Their following digital single “Navillera” also achieved 14 music show wins, making them the girl group with the most wins in a year, 29, last year.

GFriend member Umji said the group’s new concept attempt in March did not mean abandoning their original innocent but energetic girl image. She emphasized that trying out the chic and strong woman concept could be seen as one of the many characteri­stics the girl group wants to show its fans.

“In fact, it’s not a matter of what is good or bad and if you listen to the song Fingertip carefully, you can tell it’s our song. We just hope we can satisfy people with any genre we try,” Umji said during a press showcase at Yonsei University in Seoul, Tuesday.

GFriend has once again received their new track “Love Whisper” from producers Iggy and Yongbae, who wrote “Rough,” “Navilllera” and “Me Gustas Tu.”

“We returned to our original innocent concept but with more powerful choreograp­hy,” Eunha said. “Iggy and Yongbae, who have been writing our hit songs, worked with us again and they wrote a song that perfectly matches the summer season.”

“We adopted Parallel as the new album name to signify a hopeless love that cannot be achieved but at the same time an ardent one,” Yuju said.

The girl group’s new album consists of eight songs. “Love Whisper” is a medium-tempo dance song with a lyrical melody. Members say the song is bright and happy, which suits the summer season, but it is also emotional with a lyrical melody that recalls 1990s music.

“I was told there is a Japanese animation film of the same name as our main track Fingertip that was released in 1995... I can tell our song matches well with the movie,” Sowon said.

“Love Whisper” has topped six local online charts, including Melon, Genie, Bugs and Soribada, Tuesday.

“To be honest, it’s not that we don’t care about our performanc­e on music chart rankings but we have a goal this season and that is to hold our own concert,” Yerin said. “Right now, we want to focus on our stage performanc­e.”

 ?? Yonhap ?? GFriend performs during a press showcase at Yonsei University in Seoul, Tuesday.
Yonhap GFriend performs during a press showcase at Yonsei University in Seoul, Tuesday.

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