The group Close Your Eyes shed their literary boy image and made a shocking transformation.
Close Your Eyes held a showcase on the afternoon of the 11th at the SBS public hall in Deungchon-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul to commemorate the release of their third mini album 'Blackout (blackout)' and talked about the new album.
After announcing their comeback four months after releasing their second mini album 'Snowy Summer' in July, Close Your Eyes said, "We debuted in April and met fans nonstop, and those experiences were happy, so I wanted to comeback as soon as possible and worked hard to prepare, so we made a superfast comeback. I am happy to greet you with a new look."
He added, "From the debut album through the second mini album, fans have loved us so much that I had a strong desire to comeback quickly. The fans' love motivated us to work hard, and we came out with a new major transformation. Please give us lots of expectations and interest."
Close Your Eyes's new release 'Blackout' is an album that contains Close Your Eyes's strong ambition to break fears and limits and run endlessly, and it is expected to show a more grown appearance through a genre distinctly different from their previous work.
Jeon Min-wook explained, "We returned with visuals and performances that are more intense than in previous albums," and Jang Yeo-jun expressed confidence, "Following the second album, we will also promote the third album with double titles, and you will be able to see the mature and sexy sides of the literary boys who have grown."
The first title track 'X' is a song that contains a firm will to face fear and limits, break them and move forward; member Jeon Min-wook participated in writing the lyrics and Kenshin directly took part in choreography production, showing their capabilities.
Jeon Min-wook, who participated in the lyrics, said, "Because there is an image of sprinting rapidly without limits, I wanted to put a sports car name into the lyrics to capture that image, so I included the name 458. I watched videos about this car, studied it and then wrote the lyrics," adding, "The latter part of the song is the listening point. As it goes toward the climax the high notes increase, and I think the contrasting part where Majing-siang murmurs in low tones is good."
Kenshin said, "I arranged the chorus choreography, and overall I wanted to make it a sexy dance and create a killing part that will be memorable for fans."
The second title track and Close Your Eyes's first collaboration 'SOB' is a song made with Kazakh DJ Imanbek, who has a Grammy Awards track record. It is a song that powerfully expresses provocative confidence with the word 'SOB,' meaning 'to cry,' using the line 'You'll cry because you want to be like me,' and it is drawing attention as Imanbek's first K-pop collaboration.
Jeon Min-wook expressed gratitude, saying, "I am learning DJing and often listened to Imanbek's music. Imanbek also said he is very interested in K-pop, so I wanted to work together someday if there was a chance, and I am grateful we could collaborate through such a good connection."
When asked why they broke away from the literary boy image shown through the previous two albums and made a shocking concept change, Seo Kyung-bae answered, "The reason we transformed so radically for this album is that, as the title phrase of our title track says, 'until we break limits,' we wanted to show that we can do anything, so we attempted the transformation."
Regarding growth while promoting, Jeon Min-wook said, "Compared with before, I think we have grown in all areas, but if I had to pick one, it seems our teamwork has improved. We debuted without a trainee period so we didn't have time to get closer, but living together every day, now we are close like a family, and I felt we had grown when the younger members who were initially afraid of me approached me more familiarly," and Jang Yeo-jun said, "I think we have lost baby fat and become more handsome. We seem to have grown visually."
Close Your Eyes will hold a solo concert in Korea in January and embark on a Japan tour, and Kenshin said, "I am happy to have a concert in Korea in January and then tour in Japan. I want to show my cool side to the family members soon. We are also taking English lessons now, so I would like to visit the U.S. side as well."
Finally, about the goal of this promotion, Jang Yeo-jun said, "Our constant goal is to show growth with each album, and while preparing the third album we were grateful to have received a lot of love for the first and second albums, so this time we talked a lot about imprinting ourselves on more K-pop fans and showing that we are the kind of group that makes this kind of music. Numerically, we would be grateful if the opportunity comes to be No. 1 on music shows or to stand on award ceremony stages."
Meanwhile, Close Your Eyes's third mini album 'Blackout' will be released through various music sites at 6 p.m. on the 11th.
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