Early Monday morning, the rising fourth-generation K-pop boy band P1Harmony released its first full length album called “때깔 (Killin’ It),” fresh with 10 new songs including its title track, along with a YouTube music video. 

The overall concept of P1Harmony’s music since its debut has been aggressively encouraging positivity in life, and this album is a confident and dazzling continuation of those themes. From ballads to pop to hip-hop, there is something for everyone to love and a genre for any song to inhabit. 

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First, a little introduction to P1Harmony: Its name is a culmination of “plus,” “one” and “Harmony,” meaning the six members join together to form one band to create harmony. In the past, its mini-albums and singles have been hip-hop-based with a couple R&B B-sides and singles. 

There’s an almost algorithmic diversity of song genres, beginning first with hip-hop. The title track, “때깔 (Killin’ It),” is this loud and talk-heavy song with an infectious melody and intense percussion. Anyone familiar with the conventional “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands” chant will spiritually identify with “Everybody Clap.” 

Then there’s the fast-paced and confident “Street Star” near the end of the album, bursting with energy like an engine thrumming to life. These verses are more spoken-word than others and ooze the dancing background of the band. Each member’s unique voice and attitude is easily distinguished, and P1Harmony has mastered the ability to show each and every one off.

“Late Night Calls” is an homage to their previous R&B single, “Fall in Love Again.” The members, even the rappers, got to show off their harmonies and the main singers — Theo, Keeho and Jiung — their lulls and high notes. The last song of the album but definitely not the least, “I See U,” is another R&B track relaxing the listeners into a gentle and sweet rhythm. 

The members’ smooth vocals and almost lazy instrumentation throughout guide the listeners to a calm and laid-back warmth. If the song could be personified in some way, imagine the members waving goodbye to you after the perfect date. 

The line distribution, however, clearly favored vocalists; Soul, one of P1Harmony’s designated rappers, didn’t receive many chances in this song to shine.

That being said, there’s a beautifully soft and emotional ballad where you do hear his voice a bit more:  “꿍꿍이 (Love Story).” Their voices mesh so well together, you can practically hear the members smiling at you and feel them hugging you. Don’t cry just yet, though, because if there’s one music genre P1Harmony truly flaunted in this album, it was pop. 

Their songs “Countdown to Love,” “Emergency,” “2Nite” and “Let Me Love You” — while each having its own message and vibe — are this pop and synth mixture that sounds almost grungy. As the song builds up, the percussion speeds up, the notes rise and the chorus crashes into a comfortable, dancing, almost celebratory beat. Plus, in “Countdown to Love,” there’s this killer rap section Jongseob drops. 

Though, their pop songs don’t just have good rap. In “Emergency,” Keeho sings a bridge that is arguably one of the most lyrical and vocally beautiful moments in the entire album. In “2Nite,” Intak’s deep-voiced ad-libs slice right through the chorus and make the song so alluring, it practically makes the replay button glow. 

For this album to be the band’s first full-length one, “Killin’ It” definitely showed the range of music they are capable of: The members’ swaggy musical stage presence, skilled spoken-word rap, and light and lyrical vocals were promoted through this album. The title track music video is wildly addictive. You can hear the hard work and passion poured into the project by the members, and with its release, the newly debuted group can hopefully rise even higher.

However, members like Soul weren’t given many lines. Popular theory suggests he is still learning Korean, so he withholds singing as a way to save it for when he’s perfect, which is completely valid. If the brief times his voice has appeared in this album’s songs are any indication, the time when he does begin singing more P1Harmony’s songs will be wonderful. 

The release of “Killin’ It” shows P1Harmony’s clear potential for K-pop musical greatness. Keeho, the group’s leader, said in an interview with LiveOne that the band hopes to stay at its home base in 2024 and work on its craft. 

P1Harmony is a criminally underrated K-pop group and its new album is amazing, with enough potential and hits to grow its fanbase exponentially greater. The album leaves fans wanting more. What next?