Welcome to Fan Chant, a weekly column for K-pop fans, stans, and newbies alike. Each week, I’ll be rolling out interviews, lists, and all kinds of content to keep you in the loop on the latest and greatest from our friends in Seoul and beyond. Also, make sure to subscribe to my companion newsletter!
When I log onto Zoom for an interview with P1Harmony (Keeho, Theo, Jiung, Intak, Soul, and Jongseob), I’m greeted like a familiar face despite the fact that I’ve only chatted with the group once before, during the first leg of their ongoing world tour. Keeho recounts the recommendations of mine they took while in Nashville (shopping at Star Struck Vintage, eating at Five Points Pizza), and we all debrief on the moment the music cut out during the group’s performance at the legendary Grand Ole Opry.
In the months since then, even with a break in the tour schedule, they’ve been incredibly busy: Their new EP, HARMONY : ALL IN, arrived on June 8th, leading with the music video for ‘JUMP,’ which accrued 12 million views in its first 24 hours.
“It’s our sixth mini-album, and we’ve been practicing a lot,” says Jiung. According to Keeho, the road to this release, particularly its focus track, ‘JUMP,’ was a bit longer than others: “We’ve had this song for the longest time — it has been recorded since [2022’s] ‘Doom Du Doom,’ and we were debating between that and ‘JUMP’ for the title track then,” he explains. “‘Doom Du Doom’ won, but we really liked this song.”
The members of P1Harmony are all very good dancers, but ‘JUMP’ offers a particularly good showcase for Soul, whose background in b-boying is on full display here. “In the choreography, there’s also a part where we use jump ropes,” says Jongseob. “It was very, very difficult, but now that we got the hang of it, it’s a lot more fun.”
This new mini-album adds six new tracks to the P1Harmony canon, settled comfortably in their refreshing, slightly Y2K-leaning sound. “I’m excited for people to hear ‘Love Me for Me,’ but when we’re onstage, I can’t wait to share the performance for ‘Heartbeat Drum,’ says Jiung. Theo is excited about the especially catchy “Love Me for Me” as well, saying he was surprised by how much he found himself enjoying the “fun and cute choreography” that accompanies the track. “I love the ad-libs on that song,” adds Keeho.
P1Harmony are preparing to head out on the second leg of their world tour (find tickets here), with this stretch giving the group the chance to perform for fans in Canada and Latin America. It will be their first time hitting countries like Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil. While we chat, Jiung offers a glimpse of the Spanish he’s been practicing while Intak hypes him up.
Keeho, who was born in Toronto, is particularly excited to return to Canada with his bandmates in July. “I have a huge itinerary of things to do,” he confirms.
Summer, overall, is a bit of a nostalgic time for the members. Intak recalls the low tide season in his hometown near the ocean in South Korea, catching crabs and octopus in a tradition called mudflat. “It’s very fun,” he promises, describing the tidal phenomenon that would leave him literally covered in mud by the end of the day. Jongseob, meanwhile, happily recounts a time the full group visited the mountains together near Jiung’s hometown of Anyang, escaping the summer heat in the water that flows throughout the region. “You need to come to Korea in the summer,” Keeho assures me.
Between preparing for tour, new music, and performances around the new album, the members are also working on finding time to relax: Jiung mentions that he’s been making bead bracelets in their downtime, but when asked if he’s made any for the members, he laughs like it’s the funniest joke he’s heard all day. (The answer is no.) Overall, though, the group is excited to hit Latin America and continue to see how audiences react to their most recently released music.
This new EP notably includes a self-produced and self-written track from the group titled “More Than Words.” “I had so much fun writing it,” Keeho says. “So if it sucks, my bad.”