AKMU Releases Stellar New Album ‘NEXT EPISODE’

AKMU, a sister-and-brother duo under YG Entertainment, has decided to completely change their image with their most recent comeback, “NAKKA” featuring IU. This song is one of seven in their new extended play NEXT EPISODE, featuring many famous Korean solo-artists such as IU, Sam Kim, Crush, and Zion.T. AKMU’s association with K-R&B artists implies that they want to swing their music in that direction as well. What started as a fun-loving youthful duo that created innovative love songs, they have now turned their focus in another direction after Lee Chan-hyuk came back from his mandatory military service. This mini-album is riddled with dark and light tones and songs with incredible messages bound to move just about anybody. 

Lee Su-Hyun and Lee Chan-hyuk first appeared on television as contestants on a Korean reality show Kpop Star 2, while also competing against TREASURE’s Bang Ye-dam, who was ten. They immediately swept audiences off their feet in their first aired performance, a cover of Miss A’s “Breathe.” Lee Su-hyun is known for her smooth and high-pitched vocals. She can sing along to any tune, no matter how difficult. Lee Chan-hyuk has a deep, resonating voice that harmonizes with his sister’s perfectly.

The two are known to have great chemistry on stage, which judges Park Jin-young (JYP), BoA, and Yang Hyun-suk (YG) praised during their audition. LOEN Entertainment released a few original songs from the duo while they were at the time unsigned. Their song “You are Attractive” hit number one on the Gaon Music Chart. The duo then won first place on the competition show and consequently became artists under YG Entertainment. 

NEXT EPISODE finally shows AKMU’s more mature side. The duo’s early music was always bright and bubbly, like in “200%” or “Give Love.” These songs were a part of AKMU’s debut album Play, which reached number one on the weekly chart for Gaon. The group is known for crushing the Korean music charts and having many music show wins. Lee Su-hyun was still only fifteen when she debuted and grew up with the group’s music launching them into the Puberty series.

Their first EP, Spring, featured two songs, “Re-Bye” and “How People Move”. “Re-Bye” was also a slight rebranding for the duo as it displayed something other than their previous summer-themed concepts. The song itself is also more complex and implements Lee Su-hyun’s vocals to create a chilling masterpiece that is almost nearly impossible to replicate.  

we already got AKMU and IU singing NAKKA live together on iu’s palette just the day after its release!! this is HEAVEN 😭❤️pic.twitter.com/nfMtxa0lOO

— 🌙 (@jieunbbyy) July 27, 2021

Before their album was released, AKMU dropped the music video for one of NEXT EPISODE’s b-sidetracks, “Hey kid, Close your eyes,” featuring Lee Sun Hee, a veteran. The music video was cinematically stunning, showing young kids at war with one another. Fans applauded the duo for coming out with a song covering loss of innocence through war and violence. The chorus sings, “​​Hey kid, close your eyes. Hang in there just a bit, although it’s suffocating. Because here on the battlefield. Once your ears stop ringing. There’s gonna bе screaming.” 

Audiences have interpreted the meaning differently by commenting, “I feel like this song can also be interpreted about our society. Sometimes, we’re trapped in a working environment when people fight for winning without realizing they are bleeding, when everyone’s too focused on money when each day is all about surviving. Like the song said a battleground. The actress’s clothes were covered in dust from all the dirt. Then, in the end, she got a new uniform, a clean one —which might represent that she finally had the opportunity to change to a healthier environment.”

Every aspect of this pre-release shows how AKMU’s music holds more depth than what it did previously. The masterful filming of the music adds meaning to the music with its black and white tones and hints of color, to the strangely eerie settings and camera angles. When everyone struggles to deal with hardships in life, they want to make audiences aware of what is truly happening. This song was a perfect example of music that transcends the South Korean agenda and all communities across the globe.

iu and akmu knows that “nakka” is something very new and technically experimental/out of their comfort zone, while “ah puh” is a song that the audience would expect from both artists. they basically gave us the best of both worlds! pic.twitter.com/HCJ12T9CV0

— ⿻ (@qyiyu) July 27, 2021

The album, title track “NAKKA,” and music video were released on July 26. Again, the duo gravitated towards dark and neutral looks. However, instead of the natural-sounding smooth melody that was in “Hey kid, Close your eyes,” “NAKKA” presents an electric-inspired dance song that is meant to feel as though you are falling into an alternative universe. Immediately after the song’s release, it hit the number one spot on the real-time charts for Naver, Genie, and Bugs. At the moment, it is also rising in the ranks on other major Korean charts, such as Melon. 

Once again, the cinematography for the “NAKKA” music video is beautiful beyond belief,  enveloped in a hazy feel. It matches both the situation of the film as well as the meaning of the song’s lyrics. Su-hyun sings, “Just close your eyes and fall. Trust me, close your eyes and fall.” Instead of being the typical cliche love song, this song talks about trust between two people, no matter the relationship. It covers the feeling of diving headfirst into something with someone you believe in. The video is lovely regarding stylistic clothing choices and set design, proving the duo’s transition to another completely original music and artistic expression genre. 

I was afraid we wouldn’t see a live version because of no music shows but this is all I need 🤧#AKMUxIU#AKMUNextEpisodeOUTNOW #NAKKA @official_akmu pic.twitter.com/8sFIajCoy5

— 🍀King Teddy🍀 Yedam Unique (@mazztate) July 27, 2021

The other songs on the album include “BENCH” with Zion.T, “Tictoc Tictoc Tictoc” with Beenzino, “Next episode” with Choi Jung-hoon of Jannabi, “Stupid love song” with Crush, and lastly “EVEREST” with Sam Kim. All of these songs have also been praised and have achieved popularity thus far.  

AKMU kickstarted their promotional period with a performance of “NAKKA” on Naver Out Now and IU’s YouTube series IU Palette. As both Su-hyun and Chan-hyuk are still young, they have only just begun the path towards creating more award-winning albums in the future.