The uplifting sentiments that girl group H1-KEY aims to instill within themselves and spread to listeners, including confidence and healthy beauty, are present in many facets of their music. The four-member group debuted in January 2022 with their single, “ATHLETIC GIRL,” and has been evolving since. They have since released many projects, including two mini albums, Rose Blossom and Seoul Dreaming, and a maxi single album, RUN.
Over their time together, the members of H1-KEY, SEOI, RIINA, HWISEO, and YEL, continually want to share different stories with their fans, M1-KEY, and unveil new sides of themselves as artists. Through their previous albums, they conveyed positive messages, focusing on the pursuit of dreams and prosperity on Rose Blossom and holding onto hope with Seoul Dreaming.
In this new era of H1-KEY, SEOI, RIINA, HWISEO, and YEL exude warm, endearing sentiments through their latest endeavor entitled H1-KEYnote. The H1-KEYnote project kicked off January 19 with its first single, “Thinkin’ About You,” followed by “Deeper” in February. In celebration of their latest work, the group gave insight into creating their new singles, their connections to this project, and more during a recent roundtable.
While making the H1-KEYnote project, the members wanted to continue bringing comfort to fans and highlighting their vocal abilities in a new way. SEOI shared that showcasing their vocals and musicality were the main goals that influenced the decisions made with this project. Also, since this was a major aim for the group, RIINA felt the strongest aspect of this new project was its ability to feature different vocal tones while incorporating genres they had not included in previous projects.
Their project’s first single, the heartfelt pop song “Thinkin’ About You,” incorporates their visions while providing something new for fans as their first all-English song and love song. Well-renowned singer-songwriters and producers Ryan S. Jhun (IVE, NCT 127), Martin Stilling (Zedd, Charli XCX, LÉON), Moa “Moa Lisa” Pettersson Hammar (Ava Max, Afrojack), and KIDDO (Alan Walker, Icona Pop) worked on the songwriting and production of “Thinkin’ About You.” With this song, H1-KEY processes post-breakup emotions, remaining strong and independent while still missing their past lovers.
HWISEO explained why the group commenced this era with “Thinkin’ About You.”
“Given its significance as a first in multiple aspects, we felt [‘Thinkin’ About You’] was the perfect choice to kick off the project. This experience was new for us, especially considering it was our first English song,” HWISEO stated.
YEL expressed why the group created “Thinkin’ About You” and added it to their recent project.
“As ‘Thinkin’ About You’ was the song to initiate the H1-KEYnote project, we chose this song because we wanted to try something that we had never done before,” YEL said.
The impactful message from H1-KEYnote’s second single, “Deeper,” strongly influenced the members, making it one they felt essential to share with fans. For “Deeper,” H1-KEY reunited with Young K from DAY6 and Hong Ji Sang, producers who worked with them previously on “SEOUL (Such a Beautiful City)” and “Rose Blossom.” The track combines pop with modern rock to create an encouraging song about holding onto hope when life becomes challenging. Through “Deeper,” H1-KEY hopes to comfort listeners, especially those combating hardships.
“As for ‘Deeper,’ it delves into themes of comfort and solace, aiming to showcase a more emotional and lyrical facet of H1-KEY while offering solace to listeners and the general public alike,” YEL shared.
While discussing their personal connections to the lyrics of “Deeper,” YEL revealed how the song’s lyrics impacted her emotionally. “When I listened to [‘Deeper’] for the first time, it brought tears to my eyes,” YEL stated. “It beautifully captures the idea of bidding farewell to memories of sorrow and pain.”
Out of the two title tracks, SEOI resonated with “Deeper” heavily because of its uplifting message. The song inspires her to “work harder while offering a comforting sense of reassurance.”
In sharing her thoughts on “Deeper,” RIINA spoke about themes that come to her mind while listening to the song. “The first thing that comes to my head is the past, regret, and yet there’s also a sense of optimism, resilience, and the determination to move forward,” RIINA shared.
Overall, the group hopes that listeners can grow and take away a feeling of comfort from their messages, similarly to how they have been able to. HWISEO elaborated on this, giving sincere advice for fans to heed after listening to the H1-KEYnote project.
“Maintain an optimistic approach during tough times rather than being negative about it. By focusing on small moments of joy in your daily life, you can gradually enhance your overall happiness, even if it’s just a little bit each day,” HWISEO advised in her personal message for listeners.
Although there are no tentative dates yet, H1-KEY looks forward to showcasing new genres and vocal styles with their upcoming releases and dreams of touching massive cities, including Paris and New York City, on a world tour in the future.
Thank you GLG and Helix Publicity for this opportunity.
Love H1-KEY.. Wonderul ladies… I am proud of being a M1-KEY