From.9

The record

From.9 is a special single album by fromis_9, released on 10 October 2018. It carries five tracks, and the title track is ‘LOVE BOMB’.

The album introduction says the record marks a year since the debut and that its name stands for the nine members being together again. Jang Gyu-ri, who had been on Mnet’s Produce 48 and did not take part in the previous record, returned on this one. The same page describes ‘DANCING QUEEN’ and ‘물들어’ as the group’s first unit songs, and the last two tracks as CD-only re-recordings of songs from the previous mini album with all nine voices.

Sports Kyunghyang reported that a teaser went up on the group’s official accounts at midnight on 1 October carrying the release date and time, and that Jang Gyu-ri had sat out the promotions for the second mini album.

Reviews

Idology (아이돌로지), a Korean webzine on idol pop whose writers sign their own notes, ran the record on 2 November 2018 in the column it gives to the releases of the first third of each month.

Third wrote that ‘Love Bomb’ “leans neither towards its retro sound nor towards its offbeat concept, and makes the most of a fast, brisk song’s appeal instead”. He read the record as “a single on which the group’s own colour, deepening a little at a time since ‘DKDK’, is plainly visible”.

Cho Seong-min, writing on the same page, took up the continuity of the concept. The beat that sprints off somewhere, or anywhere, “seems to be settling into a colour that is fromis_9’s own, and it throws every member’s individuality into relief without stinting”, Cho Seong-min wrote, closing the note with a sentence about the word for it: “‘Potential’ is the word you use at a moment like this.”

The Singles Jukebox, where a panel of British and American music writers each file a note of their own on one single, covered the title track on 3 December 2018. Joshua Minsoo Kim wrote: “‘Love Bomb’ confirms that fromis_9 are well-equipped for handling several different musical styles.” The core of the song’s success, he added, is how it lets on that it is relentlessly chipper while many of its musical elements are far warmer than most attempts at breakneck-speed K-pop.

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa began with a verdict on its poise: “This song is a triumph of balance.” The group can exert some control amid all that chaos, he wrote, “offering a tune that is frenetic and bright, but without coming off as overcooked, overpowering, or simply annoying”. Edward Okulicz heard the same push: “it’s hard to imagine a song that better fits the title’s promise of a musical weapon of mass destruction.” Alfred Soto put it in terms of what the song refuses to do: “Once they get past the electro-stutter, fromis_9 get down to the business of showing how the average zero-to-ninety K-pop track has no interest in using the mid range to prepare listeners for the rush.”

Among the tracks

‘물들어’ is one of the two unit songs on the record, alongside ‘DANCING QUEEN’. Third wrote that the two have their own separate charms, and singled one out: “I recommend a listen to ‘물들어’, which is also good for telling each member’s tone apart.”

Numbers

Circle Chart placed the record at number 10 on its monthly album chart for October 2018. The KiT album edition appears separately on the same table, at number 75.