The Dazzling Summer Memento Box | fromis_9’s 5th Mini Album

On June 27th, 2022, Pledis Entertainment’s 9-member Girl Group fromis_9 had their most recent comeback with their 5th Mini Album titled ‘from our Memento Box’. This dance-pop album includes 5 tracks, with the second track ‘Stay This Way’ serving as the album’s title track.

Before the album’s release, on May 23rd, 2022, Pledis Entertainment had released a statement that the group’s youngest member Baek Jiheon will be resuming group activities with fromis_9 after returning from her hiatus taken back in February of this year due to health concerns. With Jiheon back, Pledis has also announced that their 5th Mini Album will be a full group comeback.

In the new tropical-themed visual, the members of fromis_9 return as ‘Summer Queens’ and enter a summer paradise, where they frolic on a scenic beach and hold a picnic. The group takes pictures of one another, documenting their vacation together, and later watch a sunset by the ocean side by side.

We begin with the preliminary track ‘Up And’. This track exudes the feeling of summer. Such an incredible and happy-sounding track to start off the album, with synths strung out in the instrumental. The group’s youngest member Baek Jiheon helped write the lyrics to ‘Up And’.

Onto the title track, ‘Stay This Way’. The girls of fromis_9 are going on a spontaneous trip on this one. We get a lovely pop synth track with a groovy beat and beautiful vocals. It’s a super nice track for the summertime.

“Stay this way / We’re hot and bright / Let loose and dance / The moon tonight’s so beautiful,” they sing in the upbeat chorus of ‘Stay This Way’.

‘Stay This Way’ continues the pleasant nature that the fromis_9 girls visited in the last comeback ‘DM’. While listening to the song for the first time, it gave off similar tones to that of ‘DM’, thriving on a familiarity front, it is fitting that the title track is called ‘Stay This Way’.

‘Blind Letter’ has some insane writers in the credits. I’m talking Slow Rabbit; an inhouse producer and songwriter of Big Hit Music and the main producer of TXT, ADORA; a soloist in the K-Pop industry, a songwriter under AURA Entertainment, and a former inhouse producer of Big Hit Music, Daniel Caesar; a Canadian singer-songwriter who’s known to help produce Red Velvet’s ‘Red Flavour’ and ITZY’s ‘ICY’, and Lindgren; a German singer-songwriter known for his works on various K-Pop tracks, such as CLC’s ‘Helicopter’, EVERGLOW’s ‘Bon Bon Chocolat’, and TWICE’s ‘Scientist’.

It's a smooth pop track that has some amazing harmonies throughout. Ultimately, ‘Blind Letter’ is my favourite B-Side track out of the 4 others included in the album. The vocals really take care in this one. Another point, I really enjoyed the guitars in the instrumentals, it gives a song a bit more body.

Next up is ‘Cheese’. This track takes a bit of a swerve in genres as the members go groovy in this one. It is such a fun listen and I absolutely love the dynamics between the poppy parts and the more funk-based segments sprinkled throughout. ‘Cheese’ is a definite summer song, one for the playlist! And the chorus is perfect.

The closing track of ‘from our Memento Box’ is titled ‘Rewind’. This is an incredibly satisfying House Pop track. The vocal layering is splendid and feels luxurious. After ‘Blind Letter’, ‘Rewind’ must be my second favourite B-Side track.

Overall, I enjoyed fromis_9’s comeback with ‘from our Memento Box’. It uplifted my spirits from a first listen and will be known as an iconic summer bop from our ‘Summer Queens’. This Mini Album is up there on my list of K-Pop summer comebacks, next to rookie group Kep1er’s 2nd Mini Album ‘DOUBLAST’, LOONA’s 1st Summer Special Album ‘Fl!p That’, and SEVENTEEN’s 4th Album ‘Face The Sun’.

Although ‘from our Memento Box’ had made its scheduled release, promotions for the album were put to a sudden halt. Two days prior to the album’s digital and physical release to the public, 5 of the members were involved in a minor car accident. Members Song Hayoung, Park Jiwon, Lee Seoyeon, Lee Chaeyoung, and Baek Jiheon were brought in to be inspected by doctors, with some of the members having minor bruising. Doctors advise the girls to keep receiving medical treatment for their own safety.

With this accident occurring, the media and fan showcase that was set to happen on the same day as fromis_9’s comeback was cancelled for the safety of the members involved. The company also noted that the five members’ upcoming schedules “will be arranged with plenty of flexibility” and that they may not be able to perform choreography with the rest of the group.

27.06.2022