After seven years of “almost making it,” boy band A.C.E never let go of hope — with members owing their resilience to the fact that “we believed in ourselves.”

“It felt like we could really make it. Then we were beaten down, hopeful, then beaten down again with things like the pandemic and then our military duties,” band leader Park Jun-hee told reporters during a showcase held Wednesday in southern Seoul for the release of its new single “Pinata.”


“Everything seemed to slip through our fingers, just when it seemed like we could grab it. We hope that today becomes the day that we really start a new chapter and show you everything that we’ve been wanting to.”

A.C.E released its new single, “Pinata,” on Wednesday. It's the band’s first major project with all five members in three years — ever since the members started their military duties.

For its big comeback, A.C.E went against the laid-back dance pop that has remained dominant in K-pop this year and instead opted for a deep bass, hip-hop dance track that best shows A.C.E’s iconicly powerful performance and vocal skills.

“We really wanted to mark a new beginning for A.C.E, even thought it is our seventh year in K-pop,” Lee Dong-hun said. “So with ‘Pinata,’ we wanted to deliver a really powerful impact that makes people feel like they’re watching a large-scale blockbuster film. It’s about the message that we want to break the negative emotions that people inevitably live with like pain and sadness, like a pinata, and start anew.”

“It contains our strongest color yet,” Kim Byeong-kwan added. “But we also wanted to show the performance and vocal skills that we’re so proud of as A.C.E.”

A.C.E debuted in May 2017, but it took the band two years to rise to the spotlight amid the flood of newly debuting boy bands in the late 2010s. The members had taken part in so-called idol revival shows, where lesser-known, already-debuted bands got a chance to prove themselves on TV. Members Lee, Wow and Kim went on JTBC’s “Mixnine” (2017) and Park and Kang Yu-chan went on “The Unit” (2017).

The bandmates were shown performing various tasks during the TV programs, such as cleaning up their dark and small underground studios because they couldn’t afford help. Their tear-jerking efforts caught attention from overseas K-pop fans, who are also known to prefer stronger, tougher groups in K-pop.

“There were things that we wished more for ourselves, especially because there were moments when we really thought we had made it but we couldn’t,” Kang said. “But just as children fall down when they’re learning how to walk but get up, the members and fans brought me back up."

After seven years in the making, A.C.E has in fact been riding a steady but rising wave since earlier this year.

The band released three singles this year prior to “Pinata,” two of which — “Supernatural” and “Anymore” — made A.C.E the first-ever K-pop band to land their songs on the U.S. DRT chart twice in a row. A.C.E also toured three cities in Japan, 14 cities in the Northern American region and 14 cities in Latin America and Europe this year.

“We believed in each other, but we also believed in ourselves,” Kim said. “We truly believed in our skills and that if we keep on trying, then someday, the light will shine through. That’s what we held on to.”

“We’re in our seventh year, but we’re just as passionate and dedicated as a group in its third or fourth year,” added Park. “We have plans for ourselves and we’re in positive talks with the agency. We can’t reveal everything here but we’re focusing on what we can right now and reminding ourselves to be grateful for everything that we’ve achieved.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]