Boy band SF9 will release its new album "Love Race," which the members say is symbolic of the band's "perseverance and solidarity."

"Love Race" comes as SF9's 15th EP and the first album in three years to include member Jaeyoon, who finished his military duty last September.


The album features six tracks: title track "Love Race," followed by "Suited," "Side by Side," "Waruru," "No No No" and "Love Puzzle." "Love Race" is a hip-hop track that shows SF9's passion for love, according to the band's agency FNC Entertainment.

"We felt unfamiliar with the hip-hop genre, but that actually made us pay extra attention to details here and there," Inseong said in a press release. "We planned everything to the last detail and really tried to fill the album with the SF9 color."

"We think this will be the opportunity to show that there's only so much that SF9 can show to people," Jaeyoon said. "We hope you look forward to the wide variety of things that SF9 will show in the future."

SF9 debuted in October 2016 under FNC Entertainment with the single, "Feeling Sensation." The band originally started out as a nine-member group, but Rowoon left in September 2023.

For the last EP, "Fantasy" (2024), only five of the eight members of SF9 — Yoo Tae-yang, Youngbin, Hwiyoung, Inseong and Chani — participated because members Dawon and Zuho were absent due to scheduling conflicts and Jaeyoon was serving in the military.

The band has gone through a somewhat confusing member roster but the members still remain zealous.

"This album made us feel our own perseverance and solidarity," Youngbin said. "We feel nothing but an endless sense of gratitude for Fantasy [fan club]. Now, it's time for us to show that to the fans through our music and performance."

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]