Mixed-gender K-pop quartet KARD is back, asking a big question with its seventh EP: “Where To Now?”

“Where To Now? (Part.1: Yellow Light)” comes as the band’s first new album in a year and three months, since its sixth EP “Icky” was released in May last year. The first part will be released Tuesday and will later be joined by the second part before the end of the year, according to the members of KARD.

“When you’re at a yellow light, you go slow, waiting for the next light to turn on,” member BM told the Korea JoongAng Daily during an interview held on Friday in eastern Seoul, prior to the release of the new album.

“We thought that we came to a crossroads where we needed to change the course of our career and think about where we’re going,” BM said.

“The title ‘Where To Now?’ is really fitting for us,” Jiwoo said. “We all renewed our contracts [with agency DSP Media] this year, so it was a really good opportunity for us to think about our next steps.”

True to the singers’ words, the first part of “Where To Now?” is a far cry from the powerful Latin pop vibe that KARD was pursuing ever since its debut in 2017.

Lead track “Tell My Momma” is a synth pop dance track with a light and catchy chorus, while B-side tracks “Waste My Time,” “Boombox” and "Shimmy Shimmy” also follow a lighter, tropical melody line on top of electro-pop beats. “Spin” is the only powerful Latin pop, “typical KARD” track.

“We were a little worried that this change could seem like we’ve lost our color, but we realized that we could make this our own while we were recording the songs,” Somin said.

“Tell My Momma” is a cute serenade with an easygoing melody ready to soothe listeners during the sizzling hot summer. It’s refreshing but not in the extreme sense, like ice-cold soda drinks, but the subtle coolness that comes “when you stand in the shade in the middle of a summer day,” according to Somin.

“Imagine yourself getting out of the sun and standing in the shade where the breeze is blowing just right,” Somin said. “That’s the sensation of relaxation and healing that we want people to feel with this song.”

“The choice was between ‘Spin’ and ‘Tell My Momma,’ and the latter was the kind of song that people would think, ‘Is this really by KARD?’” Jiwoo said. “We were a little scared to try it but the agency chief really insisted, and I’m glad he did.”

The change also took place with the members' visuals, as all four bandmates dyed their hair blonde. One comment on YouTube dubbed it “the golden era of KARD,” to which the members expressed their gratitude.

“I really hope that this year becomes our golden era,” said Jiwoo. “I feel so grateful just by hearing it. But this year, being our seventh anniversary and seventh album, I really hope that this year turns out to be our lucky seven.”

KARD has truly proven itself as a rare example of a K-pop group with both men and women as members that has succeeded. Mixed groups have come and gone, but none have survived and thrived like KARD. The members say that they weren’t even sure that KARD would make it this far.

“Honestly, we weren’t sure of ourselves or whether people would like us or our music,” Jiwoo said. “We really didn’t think that we would be loved this much.”

“The agency first told us that it wanted to make a group that could break the stereotype in K-pop, and what I honestly thought to myself was, ‘Why do I have to be the one to break that prejudice?’” J.Seph said with laughter. “I was so scared and worried, when I could have just joined a boy band.”

It was in 2020 with “Dumb Litty,” one of KARD’s biggest hits written by member BM, that the members finally thought that the group could make it in the industry.

“We still didn’t think that we had made it or anything, but I think ‘Dumb Litty’ really showed our capability as artists,” Somin said. “From then on, I think KARD found its color and started to see people complimenting us on our performance.”

“I personally think we still have a long way to go, but the moment when I felt comfortable with being in a mixed-gender group really was ‘Dumb Litty,’” J.Seph said. “Before that, I think I was always a little bit confused with everything, but at some point, everything felt really comfortable for me.”

But the decision for all four members to stay as KARD rather than pursue their own careers at different agencies wasn’t because KARD was a success.

“I recently realized that what matters more is not the goal but who you’re pursuing that goal with,” BM said.

“At the early stage of my career, I thought about Billboard, the money in my bank account and making No. 1 on TV shows. But I’ve come to appreciate how we have been one of the few lucky groups in K-pop, when there are so many groups that don’t even get to make their names known to people. To be able to receive the love that we are getting now is just enough.”

“Plus, this mindset ironically gets you higher,” BM added with a smile.

The answer to the big question “Where To Now?” is a work in progress, “But it won’t matter that much,” according to BM.

“I don’t think deeply on what kind of ordeals we went through or how we overcame them — we just did,” BM said. “But still, I think the only reason I could do that was because I could always hope with the members. I hoped about the things that we could achieve together and the places we could go together. Being on the stage with them was never boring and that’s what kept me going.”

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