Rocket Punch packs a 'Boom' in long-awaited new album

Rocket Punch is back with a “Boom” — the girl group’s first Korean music release in over a year. And for the long-awaited new music, the members are going to combat hateful comments with their special superhero capes: school uniforms.

Girl group Rocket Punch performs “Boom,” the title track from its third single album at a press showcase held Wednesday at the Sky Art Hall in Gangseo District, western Seoul. While this is the girl group’s first Korean album in more than a year, the group “didn’t just take a break,” but instead “practiced every single day” to further improve themselves. [WOOLLIM ENTERTAINMENT]

Rocket Punch is back with a “Boom” — the girl group’s first Korean music release in over a year. And for the long-awaited new music, the members are going to combat hateful comments with their special superhero capes: school uniforms. "The music video for 'Boom' features a unique and bizarre story: We became high-teen stars, competing with each other on social media and then fighting haters […] the different colors of Rocket Punch are combined into one perfect song," Yeonhee, the leader of the group, said during a press showcase held Wednesday at the Sky Art Hall in Gangseo District, western Seoul, ahead of the album’s release at 6 p.m.

The single’s title track, “Boom,” is a pop-dance number that features catchy synthesizer sounds. Members turn into high school students in the music video, and there's a mix of both fiction and reality in their work, according to the members. In the music video, the members go back and forth to and from another dimension, trying to fight people leaving hate comments — a common and very direct issue that K-pop artists are faced with.

“I actually wouldn’t call ourselves a full-on high-teen concept group though,” Suyun said. “It’s high-teen mixed with isegye [a different world].”

But the year away from the stage didn't mean a year away from music.

“Rocket Punch didn’t just spend the year taking a break — we went to our practice room and practiced every day; our members spent their downtime with the urge to do better, and ‘Boom’ is the result of that strong urge,” Yeonhee said.

Three members from Rocket Punch — Juri, Yeonhee and Suyun — were particularly busy during the group’s downtime as they participated in cable network Mnet’s idol competition program “Queendom Puzzle,” with Yeonhee also preparing for her debut as a member of the project girl group EL7Z UP, slated for Sept. 14.

“I’ve been preparing for [Rocket Punch’s] promotion and EL7Z UP’s album production at the same time, and it was obviously physically challenging,” Yeonhee said. “But both Rocket Punch and EL7Z UP members have been supporting each other, and I too, supported others by sending H1-KEY’s Riina and Hwiseo messages of support and a message of congratulations to them when they achieved their first win on a weekly music show.”

H1-KEY, which also had two of its members participating in “Queendom Puzzle,” also released its new album on Aug. 30.

“We’ve been telling each other to try harder so we can get even more love from fans and the general public and continue getting No. 1 trophies,” Yeonhee said.

“We’ve had many album releases so far, and it’s been four years since our debut. Instead of having people tell us that we’ve ‘improved,’ we want people to say that we are complete and that we don’t have anything more to improve upon.”

To find out more about Rocket Punch, visit Celeb Confirmed!

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