HORI7ON, the first all-Filipino boy band in K-pop, kicked off its promotions for their debut album in South Korea, officially starting their “journey” as an international pop group.
The seven-member group composed of Vinci, Kim, Kyler, Reyster, Winston, Jeromy, and Marcus debuted under the K-pop agency MLD Entertainment, the same label as the viral K-pop girl band Momoland, and multi-national girl group Lapillus which also includes a Filipina member and Kapuso actress Chanty Videla.
The members were brought together after being hailed as winners of the Filipino boy group survival reality show Dream Maker, which was jointly produced by MLD and local TV network ABS-CBN.
The group held their media showcase on Monday, July 24, at the Olympic Hall in Songpa-gu, Seoul to celebrate the release of their first full-length album titled Friend-SHIP.
During the event, the band performed their debut title track, SIX7EEN, along with other members’ performances of two other tracks: Vinci, Kyler, Kim, Reyster, and Winston formed a unit to perform Death Or Paradise, while Jeromy and Marcus paired up for How You Feel, where they were joined by the song’s official feature artist, labelmate Haeun of Lapillus.
A report by the Korean news outlet Korean Herald quoted HORI7ON’s 23-year-old leader, Vinci, who expressed the group’s excitement for their long-awaited debut to the media on behalf of the members, “It’s definitely an unreal feeling that we’re finally debuting. We’ve prepared so much and we want to show that we have much to offer.”
Vinci introduced their album which contains 21 tracks that symbolize the group’s “first sail towards the horizon”. The package also contained pre-released tracks “Dash,” “Salamat” and “Lovey Dovey.”
“It contains many charms, group songs and solo songs. It also features a strong lineup of collaborations with our ‘seonbaenim,’ and we’re proud to show that we’ve also collaborated for (the making of) our song, ‘Mama,'”, the leader explained.
According to Korean Herald, HORI7ON’s debut carries a special significance in both the local and Korean music industry as the group expands its efforts to widen its reach internationally.
“Moving forward as a global pop group, it’s a very unique case for us as the first all-Filipino group to promote in South Korea and that’s such a rare opportunity for us Filipinos,” Vinci expressed.
The music video for their song SIX7EEN has garnered 1.8 million views in less than 24 hours on YouTube.
As of writing, the hashtags #HORI7ON_FRIENDSHIP and #호라이즌 (horizon) are among the country’s trending topics on Twitter, as fans expressed their excitement over the debut.
HORI7ON is set to promote their album in both South Korea and the Philippines.
