fromis_9's debut mini album, released on 24 January 2018 with six tracks and the title track 'To Heart'. Two Idology critics wrote about it.
To. Heart is the debut mini album fromis_9 released, on 24 January 2018, with six tracks. The title track is ‘To Heart’. The music went up at 6 p.m. KST that day, and a debut showcase was held the same afternoon in Myeongdong, Seoul. Hankook Ilbo reported that all nine members were on that stage.
The album introduction carried by Bugs says the group was formed from the nine members chosen by public vote on Mnet’s audition programme Idol School (Korean title 아이돌학교), and that the record “stands on the line extended from” the pre-debut song ‘유리구두’ (Yurigudu, glass shoe) of November 2017. The same text puts the record’s feeling as “the fluttering heart of fromis_9, who left behind something precious and asked to be found, now going one step forward first towards whoever will come to find them”.
Idology (아이돌로지), the idol-pop webzine, carried notes on this record from two of its writers in ‘1st Listen : 2018년 1월 하순’, dated 12 February 2018. The column gives each writer one short piece on a new release.
Mimyo wrote that “these are somewhat old-fashioned songs, and yet they land on good timing, well enough that even the old-fashionedness feels fresh”, and, setting the record beside the pre-debut song, that “heard against ‘유리구두’ again, what stands out is how sure the direction and the finish are”. He found the point where the record turns in its fifth track: “‘피노키오’ is a little vague among them, but ‘Be With You’, the moment most liable to be cloying, drives through groovily in a colour more one-piece-dress than a one-piece dress, and turns the mood around.”
Third, on the same page, wrote that the record is “full of the liveliness of members picked out of an audition contest”, and that “for a debut album, it is a finish with little to fault”. The track he named is the third: “among the songs, ‘환상 속의 그대’ catches the ear especially.”
The album introduction calls the title track, ‘To Heart’, “a pop dance track where a rocking guitar riff meets an unusual pairing with strings, and a danceable, bouncing drum sound”, built on the idea of a love letter written in advance. Lee Ki and Yongbae wrote, composed and arranged it.
‘환상속의 그대’ (Hwansang Sogui Geudae, you in a fantasy), the song Third named, was performed on the 아이돌학교 final stage by Lee Sae-rom, Lee Seo-yeon, Roh Ji-sun, Song Ha-young and Jang Gyu-ri. The introduction describes it as a song whose point is “an addictive chorus over a beat full of character”. ‘Be With You’, the song Mimyo named, is about the dream the nine of them share.
The opening track, ‘나에게로 오는 길 (Intro.)’ (Naegero Oneun Gil, the road that comes to me), has lyrics written by all nine members, who also narrate it. The closing track, ‘유리구두 (MAMA Ver.)’, is another version of the pre-debut song ‘유리구두’; the introduction says the group appeared on the 2017 MAMA stage before its formal debut.
This is the group’s first formal release, and, as the album introduction sets out, everything before it was the pre-debut song ‘유리구두’ and that 2017 awards stage. The debut showcase was held in Myeongdong, Seoul, on the day of release, as Hankook Ilbo reported.
The group kept releasing over the eight years that followed, and put out its second full-length album, Glow ME, in July 2026.
Claims in this story link to official or primary sources.
fromis_9 played three nights at Korea University's Hwajung Gymnasium in Seoul from 4 to 6 September 2026, opening their Asia tour TOMORROW GLOW. Sports Khan reported that the show ran from 'Rewind' to 'Vitamin ME', with two unit stages, fan songs and an encore. More cities are to be announced.
'Cold Blood', the seventh track on Glow ME, the second full-length album fromis_9 released on 21 July 2026, is the first song Lee Chae-young wrote lyrics for. Here is what she said about it, the day before release and a month later.
