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Kingdom to wrap up 'History Of Kingdom' album series on Oct. 18

Boy band Kingdom [GF ENTERTAINMENT]

Kingdom plans to wrap up its "History Of Kingdom" series of albums with its seventh EP "Part. VII. Jahan."

"This is our last album that will act as a finale to our 'History Of Kingdom' series of albums, and we put even more effort into the album production," the boy band's member Dann said in a press release Wednesday.

"History Of Kingdom: Part VII. Jahan" will be released on Oct. 18 with member Jahan at the center of the album.

Kingdom has been incorporating a fictional universe into its albums since its debut in 2021, each under the series "History Of Kingdom." Albums featured each of the band's seven members as kings of different kingdoms in different timelines, helping each other to be the true king.

"I'll be honest, I think I'm most excited for this album," Jahan said. "I'm the main character in the upcoming album, and instead of being anxious about it, I'm excited, and I'm ready to show you even more."

"It will be an album where I will be able to show who I truly am," he added.

Kingdom and its agency GF Entertainment faced criticism when the agency released the cover for the upcoming album on Sept. 21, which showed a close resemblance to the Quran, the religious text of Islam.

After facing backlash from fans, the agency apologized and announced it would recall 70,000 already-printed initial copies of the album and redesign the cover.

Jahan from boy band Kingdom and the revised cover design of the boy band's seventh EP "History of Kingdom: Part VII. Jahan." [GF ENTERTAINMENT]

"People pointed out that Kingdom's album cover for its seventh EP was similar to those of the Islamic religious text," the agency said in a statement on Sept. 25.

"Kingdom is a band that aims to reinterpret different cultures into the world to K-pop, and we prioritize cultural diversity and coexistence as our top value," it added.

"This controversy was caused by the company's ignorance and carelessness […] we would like to apologize sincerely to Muslims and to everyone who experienced inconveniences by it."

Preorders for the upcoming album resumed on Sept. 26.

To find out more about Kingdom, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]