Kep1er is a 9-member girl group that was formed from a reality survival show called Girl’s Planet 999. The group is temporary and they are set to disband in July of 2024. They were very popular pre-debut and were even suspected to be one of the top fourth-gen girl groups. But as they debuted and time went on, their popularity lessened. Kep1er is under WakeOne and Swing entertainment, and have a brother group, ZB1, who was formed by Boys Planet this past year. Magic Hour is the girl’s 5th mini album and contains five songs. Two of them are unit songs, Tropical Light featuring members Yujin, Xiaoting, Youngeun, and Yeseo, then TAPE featuring Mashiro, Chaehyun, Dayeon, Hikaru, and Huening Bahiyyih.
Magic Hour starts off with Galileo, an upbeat pop song about knowing you both are in love with each other and wanting to give it a try. ‘Answer me, dear Galileo. What’s love? You know what? Shall we try define it together, huh? Being deeply in love is beautiful’ is sung during the first verse. As for the melody, a lively bass guitar is heard in the background along with a constant drum pattern. My favorite part of the song is the pre-chorus where they sing ‘look at, look at my heart, look at, look at my heart, my heart’. Although it’s not my favorite track the girls have released, it still has managed to get stuck in my head along with the instrumentals backing it. I’d give the song a solid 8/10.
The Door the second song off the album is a chill pop song with lively instrumentals mixed with a hip hop style of drums in the background. It’s catchy but I’m not sure if I’d ever listen to it again. The lyrics talk about ‘enter the door to my heart’ and how you’ve been waiting for them to come again. To me, the door is being used as a metaphor of telling the other person you love them and on the other side of the door is what your relationship would be like. I’d give it a 6/10.
Love on Lock and Tropical Light, the third and fourth songs off of the album, share a similar theme, as the whole album is about falling in love. Lock on Lock is a more upbeat pop song with hints of hip hop. The song offers a rap after the main chorus that breaks down the instrumentals into a dance break instrumental. This is a different style of song compared to what the girls have done before and because of that, it’s managed to become one of my favorites off of the album. I’d give this song a 9/10!
Tropical Light is a beachy, slower song, kind of changing the vibe of the album with its guitar as the main instrumental, it’s a really cute song and I enjoy the backing track very much! It reminds me of a song they’d play in Animal Crossing or even a song I think Twice would sing. I once again like the variety of songs they gave us in this album and would give this song a 10/10.
The last song on the album, TAPE, is a more funky style of song. Although I really enjoy the repetition style they use in the main chorus, the instrumental offers a piano and synth drums but really has a melody that gets stuck in your head. It’s not my favorite off of the album but I still like it and enjoy listening to it! I’d give this song a 7/10.
In multiple Asian countries, Galileo has hit number one on multiple charts. Bahiyyh’s (a member of Kep1er’s) verse after the chorus even went viral on TikTok as a trend! Although the girls might not be as popular as when they debuted, this comeback was still pretty successful. As Kep1er nears the end together as a group I think this album was overall a 8/10 and will bring more success to the group before they disband in the upcoming year.
