Kingdom introduces last of its 7 kingdoms in 7th EP

K-pop boy group Kingdom on Wednesday made a comeback with its 7th EP, “History Of Kingdom: Part. VII. Jahan.”

The album faced difficulties before its official release as all 70,000 pre-made copies of the album had to be discarded and redesigned due to its resemblance to the Quran.

The album cover drew backlash from fans as soon as the group’s agency, GF Entertainment, shared the design of the album for pre-orders, which had been scheduled to start on Sep. 21.

“We want to emphasize that we respect people of the Muslim faith. We were uneducated about the religion and we want to apologize. We promise that we will be more careful about what we present to the public,” said Dann, the leader of Kingdom, during a press conference in Seoul.

Kingdom’s seventh EP revolves around its member Jahan, who represents the kingdom of the Sun in the group of seven. All members represent a certain kind of kingdom.

“Our new album comprises songs that have an addictive hook. Different from our previous releases, we tried to accentuate our masculinity in this album as the tracks have powerful and fast tempo beats,” said Dann as he introduced the group’s new album.

The group performed the album's title track, “Coup d’Etat,” for the first time on stage in front of local reporters during the press conference.

Kingdom began in a pyramid-like formation and continued into powerful choreography.

The title track had an addictive hook and was accompanied by repetitive yet catchy choreography.

“The title track is about a dark force taking over the kingdom of the sun against which Jahan and the other six kings gather to fight against and regain control of the kingdom,” said Hwon.

“The highlight dance move in this track looks as if we are summoning a genie from a magic lamp,” Arthur of Kingdom said, showing the highlight dance move.

The group filmed the music video for the title track in different locations across India, including a desert.

“It was our first time in India. A lot of local people surrounded us to watch us film. When we were filming in the desert, the sand made it hard for us to shoot but it made for a perfect scene for the music video,” said Ivan.

Kingdom debuted in February 2021 and successfully made a name for itself overseas with its fourth EP, “History Of Kingdom: Part IV. Dann.”

The album led the group to top five music charts on Amazon Music, and it landed on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart for the third time in a row.