Despite a turbulent start to the year, boy band LUN8 says it is now more eager than ever to take on as many performances as possible.

“When there were eight of us, there were more things we could do performance-wise with formations,” said leader Jinsu during a press showcase for the group’s new single “Lost” on Wednesday in eastern Seoul, addressing one of the challenges the act faced after one member left and two halted their activities in January.

“But instead, we had to step up our game to fill in the gap, and that made us grow faster,” he added, “I could see us getting better and better.”

LUN8, pronounced “loon-ate,” debuted as an eight-member act in 2023 under Fantagio, but had undergone quite a reshuffle earlier this year, with Eunseop leaving the group and Dohyun and Ji Eun-ho indefinitely halting group activities due to health issues in January.

A month later, Fantagio announced that Yuma, who participated in MBC’s audition program “Fantasy Boys” (2023), would join the team starting April.

The group now consists of Jinsu, Chael, Takuma, Junwoo, Ian, Yuma and two currently inactive members, Dohyun and Ji.

LUN8’s latest single, “Lost,” marks the group’s first release in seven months and the first new song after Yuma came on board.

“I was finally able to perform on stage after a long period of preparation,” Yuma said. “Starting from here, I’ll try my best to keep improving every time.”

He added that his bandmates have been helping him not only with choreography and singing, but also with other aspects of adjusting to the team and work.

The new single features three songs: the title track “Lost,” and two B-sides, “Bad Girl” and “Nauty.”

“Lost” is a dreamy and rhythmic pop track featuring distinctive whistle sounds, cowritten with singer-songwriter Stephen Puth, brother of singer Charlie Puth.

“It’s our first new music in seven months, and such a precious opportunity,” said Takuma. “So, we want to show everything we have — pour everything we have to show the best of ourselves.”

LUN8 recently wrapped up its first tour in Europe in April, with stops in Poland, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

“We’ve truly grown a lot through our European tour,” said Chael. “We put a lot of thought into how we should communicate with audiences in different languages and inspire our fans, which made us grow both mentally and technically.”

Looking ahead, the group hopes to appear on as many stages as possible.

“There will be many shows toward the year's end, so we want to be wherever we can to show off our performance,” Chael said.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]