Girl group Kep1er is back with a new seven-member lineup after members Kang Ye-seo and Mashiro left the group in July. What does the future hold for the revamped Kep1er? The members got out their paper fortune teller for their new album to hopefully reveal some answers.

“Our new album ‘Tipi-Tap’ plays on the name of the paper fortune teller and the sound of the footsteps people make, and it’s all about our journey to find our own path in life,” leader Yujin told reporters during an interview held Tuesday, prior to the release of the album on Friday.


“It contains our resolution in starting fresh,” Dayeon said. “The title track ‘Tipi-Tap’ is a hyper-pop song that we’ve never tried before, and I think the new challenge really embodied our newfound positive energy as Kep1er.”

“Tipi-Tap” is Kep1er’s sixth EP and also the group’s first new album with seven members.

Kep1er members renewed their contracts this year with WakeOne Entertainment in a rare move in K-pop. The group formed through an audition program with members from different agencies and came together with a single agency to continue their journey together — instead of returning to their own agencies and redebuting with another group or starting their solo careers.

Kep1er debuted in 2022 with its first EP, "First Impact,” after being formed through cable network Mnet's multinational idol audition show "Girls Planet 999" with the nine winning members of the show: Yujin, Chaehyun, Dayeon, Youngeun, Kang Ye-seo, Xiaoting, Huening Bahiyyih, Mashiro and Hikaru.

Former members Kang and Mashiro joined another newly debuted girl group named Madein in September.

Members leaving a K-pop group means more work than meets the eye. Not only does the group have to figure out a whole new strategy for the new constituency, it also has to rework its past hits so that the smaller number of people can fill the void left by the former colleagues during live performances — and that was the No. 1 priority for Kep1er.

“We were aware that we could seem smaller because we have seven members now, instead of nine,” Youngeun said. “So, we really paid attention to the details that would help us overcome that change in the size of the group, especially through our dance moves with bigger gestures and usage of the stage. We wanted to paint a new and bigger picture for ourselves, and I really hope it shows through to the audience.”

The seven members renewed their contracts because “there were so many things that weren’t done by Kep1er,” such as a concert in Korea, according to the members.

“Our priority in renewing the contract was to perform in as many countries as possible,” Chaehyun said. “We have so many Kep1ians [the group's fandom] around the world asking us to perform in their countries, and we would really love to be able to hold our concerts in such places. We haven’t held a concert in Korea either, so we’re working hard to change the songs so that seven of us can perform the ones that we made in the past for seven people.”

“We were worried at first, but we tried so hard to crush all the concerns that we had ourselves, as well as those that other people may have had. We hope that we can bring comfort to our fans and repay their love with our energy on the stage,” Chaehyun added.

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