Q&A: P1Harmony On Their New Album, Songwriting And More

P1Harmony just released their sixth EP, Harmony: All In, last week. For the Kpop six-member band, the new collection is a testament to their continued growth as a group and writers.

Starting with the song “Jump,” the sextet tells me they were very happy with the writing on Harmony: All In. It’s an EP that finds the six members exploring a range of styles and themes throughout.

I spoke with the members about the writing and making of the EP, their favorite songs on the record, playing live and much more.

Steve Baltin: You guys did a lot of writing on this record. Was there one song that really jump-started the process for you and got you guys excited about writing for this record?

Keeho: So the first song that actually got complete off the album was “Jump,” which is the, lead single. And we actually had this song created last year. So it’s been a song that we’ve been kind of hiding for a very long time. It kind of jump-started this album as a whole because we really liked the song and we were just kind of waiting on a timing, on when we should release it. So we were just figuring out the timing and how we are gonna make this the lead single and how we would focus the album around that and how we’re gonna grab the theme and the concept of the album. So, yeah, “Jump” was the start of the album and then came “Love Me For Me.” And then the rest was history. So, yeah, we really like “Jump” because we feel like it’s the most direct song out of all the songs that we’ve had. And when I say direct, I think it’s just so easy to understand because this song is really just about what the title says. It just means to jump, it just means to have fun. It means to let go and just have fun. Like that’s pretty much all there is to this song. And that’s why we felt like the song is just so fun and we think that it would just be so much more fun to perform as well.

Baltin: Did you find then that the other songs started to follow that theme and that sound? Or was it something that you felt like you had addressed that with that song and then everything else went in a different direction?

Jongsebob (Translated by Keeho): Jongseob says definitely the latter. Because we touched on that type of topic on “Jump,” I feel like not only this album, but for all of our albums, we really try to touch base in as many different genres and as many different styles and as many different, things we could talk about in our album. And so Jongseob says that for every single song that’s in the album, we try to say a different thing, sonically, really something different as well. And so, yeah, definitely the latter of what you said.

Baltin: A lot of good writing is subconscious. And what’ll happen is then the writing will sort of dictate to you what the songs are about. So were there things on this album that surprised you?

Intak (Translated by Keeho): Okay, so Intak said for him, especially on a track called “IMU,” in his rap, he really wanted to talk about just very simple stuff like how I care for you and you care for me, and it just started off as something very basic. And as he continuously wrote, like you said, subconsciously it changed to a narrative where, the lyrics changed to just something simple as that, to something where him and — God, it’s so hard to translate [laughter] — and the other person have become so much of the same person that when you start seeing the other person, you start seeing yourself and you guys start seeing each other as the same person because you’ve gotten so close to each other. He didn’t really want the lyrics to necessarily end up that way, but as he continued writing, subconsciously a different topic that he didn’t even think of surprised him. And so it was very fun to write that song for him.

Baltin: As you say, now you’re on your sixth EP. Are you more comfortable with writing?

Jongesbob (Translated by Keeho): So Jongseob says for him not necessarily more comfortable. He does feel like there’s always this burden and this pressure to always be better and do better than the last. And so he is always constantly just trying to work hard and, sometimes, just because you do work hard doesn’t mean the song ends up great as well. And sometimes you just have to trust the process, like you said, and just trust the fluidity of how the process goes. But, definitely he thinks that this album compared to the last, there’s definitely a lot more songs he’s proud of and he’s definitely a lot more happy with a lot of the songs than how they turned out.

Baltin: So what’s his favorite on the record?

Jongsebob (Translated by Keeho): Jongseob says “More Than Words” or “IMU.”

Baltin: You were saying earlier about “Jump” and how it’s fun to perform. You guys had such a successful tour this last time and after playing to so many people, do you start to think of when you’re writing or when you’re making songs, how it’s going to translate to an audience?

Keeho: Theo is a member who’s very into concerts and tours and how shows happen in the set list and all of the direction in our tour. He really loves to be a part of it, and so whenever we get demos or songs or tracks, he always wants to think, “How is this going to translate? And how are the audience, when we perform this, going to receive it?” And so when he’s always listening to tracks and demos, he’s always thinking of that first, “Is this going to be fun to perform? Will this be useful to be put on a set list? Will this be fun to remix, to, do a little differently on tour?” And I feel like we always need to have that perspective because we are a performance group and we do dance and that we’re always on stage a lot. So yeah, definitely when it comes to what songs go on our albums, that does go into a lot of consideration.

Baltin: What songs off this album do you think are going to be most fun to perform live?

Theo: For me, I’ll say “Heartbeat Drum.”

Keeho: Definitely one of the reasons why we kept “Heartbeat Drum” on the album was because we thought it might be fun to perform live. So “Heartbeat Drum” is definitely one of them. Jump, like we said. I think “More Than Words” would also be fun. Just a chill sing-along kind of song to perform live.

Baltin: You guys did a comedy skit on The Daily Show. Will there be a P1Harmony movie?

Keeho: Everyone asks us this, but I feel like the opinions are split amongst us as well because there’s some people that really want to do it and there’s some people that are like, “Oh hell no” [laughter]. But I think it’d be cool to touch base on anything. And I guess it depends on the time and the opportunity and if the timing’s right and if we have the skills and talent to do it. None of us wants to look stupid. But definitely if the opportunity comes and we have enough time to do it and the timing’s right, then why not? No, I think if it will happen, it should be the right time, the right timing.

Baltin: Would you guys want fo do a comedy movie? An action movie? Like what would be like the main thing to do for a P1Harmony movie?

Soul (Translated by Keeho): Soul says he needs to have action.

Theo (Translated by Keeho): So Theo says that, definitely it needs to be fiction, like very fantastical. We already have a movie out, by the way. We do have a conceptual movie where we all have superpowers and we fight this crazy dude that makes this man-made virus that wants to kill the whole world. We have a movie. And so Theo says just continuing that storyline will be fun. But I think he thinks that it needs to be very high budget, we’re talking Marvel budget here [laughter]. Soul says it has to be gorier.

Baltin: If you guys could do a movie with any other band, who would it be?

Jongseob (Translated by Keeho): Jongseob says, with The Gorillaz, that’d be cool.

Baltin: So it’d have to be a cartoon then?

Keeho: Yeah, I think that’d be very fun actually.

Baltin: What do you want other people to take from this record when they hear it?

Jiung (Translated by Keeho): So Jiung says that definitely whenever we release a record, we have our own ideas of concepts and what we want to talk about, what we want to say. But when people hear this record, he really wants people to just understand it in a way that they want to. I think it’s all up to the audience. And so Jiung says that, definitely, don’t really think about how we want to portray it, but how you want to portray it. And I feel like “Jump” is a fun song. This album just in general is very fun. So I think everyone will kind of understand it differently. So yeah, we’re just very excited to see how people get it.