With the everlasting momentum of a boyband that’s been riding the waves for several years now, P1Harmony are as fresh as the day they popped out of the oven. They always had their thing; whether that be the rap verses interlocking with addictive beats like in their 2021 track “Scared”, or Keeho’s standout mellifluousness in any and all instances they’ve dabbled in R’n’B (just pick one out of a hat and you’ll be blown away by his rich timbre). The boys have known what they were doing from the start.
Perhaps leaning just that bit more into their retro-inspired side is 6-track DUH!, promoted with a song of the same name: where the bass is thick and hip-hop is loved. There’s no surprises when youngest member Jongseob shines as brightly as usual as a rapper, penning his own verse with charisma and accompanied by video game references in the music video. While the baseline feels more ‘90s, we definitely spotted a Nintendo DSi in there somewhere.
The grating sirens in “DUH!” are just so two decades ago, but that’s the intention, duh. While chanted choruses are nothing new in boy group K-Pop, Keeho’s earlier noted richness is taken full advantage of when he pops up, and Theo gets his spotlight on the prechoruses.
“Pretty Boy” is a nice egotistical turn from the trend of yearning men in music; P1Harmony are pretty, and they’ll admit they know it. Intak’s lines are fabulous: ‘Pretty girls like pretty boys like me / Curly hair like broccoli’. The entire tune is a refreshing invitation to a love interest to shine as equals: not just have one pine over the other.
The following track “Murmur” pokes at pointless gossip uttered about the boys by haters, and these confident first three songs could probably be strung together into one narrative: the pretty boys aren’t concerned with the murmurs of haters, duh. It’s always a joy to see artists stitch their works together with meaning, and this is perhaps the most obvious hint that all their songs have been worked on by the boys in some form.
Honing about 30% of the aura of past fan-favourite “Doom Du Doom”, “Flashy” is one of the few sequels to come out this decade that the people actually want. Both are great, but the newer has juicier guitar blarings and an even catchier synergy between voices of the talents. It’s worthy of being title track, but was perhaps rightfully replaced with DUH!, to stir a bit more boldness and variety in their titles.
The grating trumpet of “Over And Over” reminisces that weird small era of 2010’s pop when it was absolutely everywhere, but has been ironed out here with the endless smoothness of Theo, Jiung and Soul in the synthed-up prechoruses. If you thought the formula was getting a bit tired, “Work” might convince you otherwise, with a fresh feel the least familiar off the EP for a P1Harmony tune.
Jongseob took the wheel for this one, composing and penning most of the track, with his best line bestowed to Keeho: “Icy but I’m still on fire”. The boys are, of course, iced up with diamonds, but not stopping to sit on their success either. The cocky sprechgesang on this fast little beat brings the EP full circle with a prevalent and respectable theme of confidence and truth to oneself. As usual, P1Harmony leave no notes.
P1Harmony can be found on Instagram. You can listen to DUH! here.
