FLARE U Aim for a Top 10 Chart Entry and a Music Show Win After First Comeback Week

Kang Woo-jin of the group FLARE U named a top 10 chart entry and a music show win as goals for the group's latest promotions. The duo, made up of Kang Woo-jin and Choi Rip-woo, has just wrapped up its first comeback week of music show appearances for the second mini album, LOVEHOOD.

A second mini album about love, five months after the debut

FLARE U released LOVEHOOD on the 14th, about five months after its debut album, YOUTH ERROR, came out in May. Where the debut album sang of youth, the new one takes love as its theme. It tells of boys who meet the feeling for the first time, arriving at an unexpected moment like a sun shower that falls without warning on a clear day. In interviews, Kang Woo-jin said the album captures the time when two boys first face the emotion of love. Choi Rip-woo said the group wanted to portray many forms of love, including family, friends and friendship, not only romance.

The album has six tracks: the title song Bloom, Hundred Nights, False Alarm, Madly in Love, Window View and Never Ever. The title track is a synth-pop song about fluttering feelings that blossom like a flower, together with the emotions of shared memories. It opens with a soft synth bass and builds in layers of instruments, adding a lyrical vocal and a warm sound.

Choosing the title track and recording the songs

Before the release, the members said they had weighed three candidates for the title track: Bloom, Hundred Nights and Window View. Kang Woo-jin cited the fact that Bloom can be listened to for a long time, while Choi Rip-woo pointed to how its sound builds as the song progresses.

The members also talked about the recording. Kang Woo-jin said he was satisfied with how Hundred Nights turned out and that he likes the vocal expression in Never Ever. Choi Rip-woo named the title track as the song he recorded most satisfactorily. Choi Rip-woo, however, said recording the raps on False Alarm and Window View was hard. In Korean rap, he had to pay attention to final consonants, and he refined the expression one piece at a time under direction. In the title track's music video, the two members acted themselves, in a story about two people who exist in different time frames and then meet.

In interviews ahead of the release, the members said they tried to show a new side of themselves while preparing their first comeback since the debut album. They refined details of expression during recording, and for the title track stage they put together both members' movements and emotional expression.

Three music shows, Everland and a weather report

The duo began on the 15th with Mnet's M COUNTDOWN, then appeared on KBS2's Music Bank on the 16th and MBC's Show! Music Core on the 17th, performing Bloom each time. The stages featured choreography built around falling petals and the flow of the seasons, along with pair performances in which the two matched each other's rhythm.

The group also introduced the new songs outside the music shows. On the day of release, FLARE U held a busking performance at Everland and showed the title track plus four other songs from the mini album on stage for the first time. The next day, the duo appeared on YTN News as a guest weather caster for a day. Using the weather, a central motif of the album, the group presented the new record differently from its music show stages. In this way, the album was introduced through both performances and broadcast content during the first week.

Petals, messages and a duo's chemistry

The performance carries the many emotions that youth feels. Its movements suggest petals falling, the flow of the four seasons and the image of pulling petals off one by one while agonizing over a decision. The lyrics' story is expressed through choreography, conveying fluttering and hesitation within a refreshing mood. The stage was described as linking the song's story and the dance to form something like a youth film.

The pair choreography was another part of the stage. Kang Woo-jin and Choi Rip-woo continue their movements while looking at each other, putting emotion into their eyes and dance. In the second half of every stage, Kang Woo-jin writes a message on Choi Rip-woo's hand and sends it, with a different message prepared for each stage. The two performed scenes with dancers as well as choreography that shows the chemistry of a duo.

In earlier interviews, the members cited the two-person format as a characteristic of the team. Choi Rip-woo said the two do everything together and can lean on each other, and that each one's own character comes through on stage. Kang Woo-jin said he had worried about being a duo before debut but, through promotions, came to see it as a distinctive strength.

AKMU as a model, and goals for the promotions

Kang Woo-jin said he wants to make music with a clear color and story even if it starts from small things, naming AKMU as the group he aims to follow. Choi Rip-woo also said he saw it as a good thing that AKMU makes popular music while continuing to do the music it wants. The two members said they hope people will notice their serious attitude toward music as well as their refreshing image.

On goals for these promotions, a chart entry and a music show win came up in interviews. Choi Rip-woo said such an achievement is possible only if many people listen to the music, and placed meaning in the chart entry itself. Kang Woo-jin set the goals of reaching the top 10 and winning a music show.

FLARE U will continue promoting the mini album's title track through music shows and a range of content. After the Bloom stages, the Everland busking and the one-day weather caster appearance, the group plans to introduce the new song through online and offline content.

Read the original (Korean)