Photo: Courtesy of FNC Entertainment
P1Harmony release BLOW UP today, the 10th mini album that ends the hero story they began telling with their debut film six years ago.
The six tracks arrive at 2pm Korean time, 5am in London, eight months after UNIQUE debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 58,000 units, the group's highest-charting album and sixth entry on the chart. Their first English-language project, EX, reached No. 9 with 40,000 units last year.
The FNC group's 10th mini album lands today with a hyperpop-leaning title track, members credited on every lyric and a US chart record to beat.
The run has won over critics too. Billboard named "DUH!" among 2025's best K-pop tracks, TIDAL picked "EX", and The Hollywood Reporter singled out the B-side "Pretty Boy". This year "DUH!" won Best Recording at the D Awards, alongside the Global Award.
FNC frames BLOW UP as both an ending and a beginning. In the trailer, "FINAL MISSION COMPLETE", the six return as heroes who stay cheerful, quirky and human while saving the world. The agency says they are now heading for a greater world beyond, the start of a new chapter for a group that has never set itself limits.
The album was first teased on 17 October, at the end of a set of more than 70 minutes headlining 82WORLD: LA. A montage of past eras gave way to a message on the screens: "It's time to go higher." Days later on the Los Angeles morning show Good Day LA, Keeho said he hoped the group would literally blow up with this album.
The title track suggests they intend to. Keeho said BLOW UP mixes hyperpop and electronic sounds, and that the group chose that direction as the style was gaining ground in the US and suited the members' own tastes, MHN reported. The track draws on the original sound of the PC Music scene, with glitchy synthesisers and hyped percussion, and that Intak and Jongseob’s lyric is about making the most of the moment.
The rest of the record ranges widely. “element” is flute-laced, chant-heavy pop, “How To” an early-2010s R&B-pop throwback, “MOMENTUM” Afro-house, “t.o.t.y.” an R&B-tinged ballad and “Talk That” a second, kitschier turn at hyperpop. Outside collaborators include THE HUB, Calle Lehmann, SHAKKA, Gingerbread and JBACH.
Intak and Jongseob co-wrote the lyrics for all six songs, while Keeho co-wrote “element” and both co-wrote and co-composed “MOMENTUM”, Tenasia reported.
The tracklist FNC posted on 2 November carried the members' handwritten notes on each song. Intak has since named "MOMENTUM" as his favourite on the record, to Keeho's visible delight.
Fans heard the new songs first on 4 November, at a showcase in the main auditorium of Yonsei University in Seoul. Titled HERO SOCIETY INFO SESSION, it was staged as a recruitment briefing for new heroes, with the members mentoring the audience before performing "MOMENTUM" and "BLOW UP" live for the first time.
Photo: Courtesy of FNC Entertainment
Afterwards the members said they had made happy memories with P1ece, and promised that, having worked hard on the album, they would show fans plenty of great moments, Aju News reported.
Keeho said this month that, with the group heading into its seventh year, the goal was to keep showing youthful drive and freshness, MHN reported. Intak said he wanted to become someone's dream.
The US is where that drive will be measured. P1Harmony built their American following through years of touring and a partnership with the Los Angeles label hello82, as Zutter reported last week, and almost all of UNIQUE's chart week came from fans buying the album.
Billboard tracks sales from release day to the following Thursday, so BLOW UP's debut position is expected on 15 November.
Translations from Korean are Zutter's own.
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P1Harmony release BLOW UP, their hero finale with a hyperpop title track, eight months after UNIQUE hit No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Here is what is on it.