[TF Focus] KickFlip, A Turning Point Made More Vivid by Being 'Unfinished'

Released mini 5th album 'KICK OFF THE WALL Pt. 1' on the 6thAttitude towards life reached after much thought.. Solidifying identityKickFlip released their mini 5th album 'KICK OFF THE WALL Pt. 1' on the 6th. It's an album where the group, which playfully rebelled outwards, began to look inward for the first time. /JYP Entertainment[THE FACT | Reporter Jeong Byung-geun] Boy group KickFlip has been kicking down walls since their debut. They've turned a deaf ear to adult nagging, broken free from established molds, and run towards where their hearts led them. They confessed awkwardly to their first love, and upon turning twenty, they fearlessly threw themselves into new experiences.After going through 4 mini-albums, KickFlip (Kyehoon Amaru Donghwa Juwang Minje Keiju Donghyeon) is now questioning if they are doing the right thing. The answer they reached after much deliberation is not to wait until they are perfect, but to run again as they are, unfinished. It is a promise to themselves and a message to all youths.The fifth mini-album 'KICK OFF THE WALL Pt. 1', released on the 6th, is therefore a significant turning point for KickFlip. It's an album where the group, which playfully rebelled outwards, began to look inward for the first time, and moved beyond asking "What can we do well?" to asking "What kind of group do we want to be?"Debuting in January 2025, KickFlip showcased a free-spirited boyishness. While their mini 1st album 'Flip it, Kick it!'s 'Mama Said' playfully kicked away adult nagging and standards, their mini 2nd album 'Kick Out, Flip Now!' pushed the boundaries of freedom further, solidifying KickFlip's unique boyishness, faithful to present emotions and impulses.From their mini 3rd album 'My First Flip', their gaze began to shift from the outside to the inside. They brought personal emotions like the excitement of first love, awkward confessions, and hurts into the album, adding a layer of growth to their playful freshness. In their mini 4th album 'My First Kick', they sang about first challenges, first failures, and the emotions and trial-and-error of facing things for the first time.KickFlip actively brought out the struggles that twenty-year-olds might experience beneath the surface of bright and playful freshness. This is the biggest change and growth point for KickFlip in the new album. /JYP EntertainmentIf mini-albums 1 and 2 were about kicking away the world's standards, albums 3 and 4 were a time to look into their own emotions and growing pains that followed. In the process of transitioning from their teens to their twenties, the members participated in all the songs, moving from a group that expressed youth to a group that directly wrote about their own youth.And 'KICK OFF THE WALL Pt. 1', met at the end of that flow, naturally fits into the narrative as an album that looks back for the first time, asks questions, and even finds answers. KickFlip actively brought out the struggles that twenty-year-olds might experience beneath the surface of bright and playful freshness. This is the biggest change and growth point for KickFlip in this album.A device that effectively shows this point is the double title track, attempted for the first time since their debut. If the first title track 'Unfinished' is a question, 'Kick Off The Wall' (Feat. iann dior) is the answer.'Unfinished' likens the confusion of being twenty to a puzzle that doesn't quite fit. While keeping their original pop-punk roots, it utilizes glitchy hyper-pop textures, fragmented beats, dreamy synths, and expanded spaces compared to before. This creates room to look at their own imperfections rather than blindly rushing forward.The message that "our clumsy and messy Puzzle Pieces" eventually become a 'Masterpiece' differs from the common growth narrative of filling in what's lacking to become perfect. KickFlip's attitude of rejecting predetermined answers since their debut has now evolved from rebellion against external standards to accepting their own shortcomings.On the other hand, 'Kick Off The Wall' (Feat. iann dior) is the sprint that starts again despite it all. This song, which creates a much more aggressive hybrid sound by layering distorted synths and 808 bass onto pop-punk centered around guitar and drums, encapsulates KickFlip's answer: "If it's a Question with no answer anyway," they will go without waiting for an answer to emerge.While the anxiety of 'Unfinished' delves inward, 'Kick Off The Wall' explodes that energy outward. With the addition of iann dior's melodic emo rap and laid-back vocals, the scope of pop-punk that KickFlip had previously established has also naturally expanded.If previous albums proved their potential, the new release is the cornerstone solidifying that potential into an identity, and a big step forward towards KickFlip's goal of "completing our own unique color that makes people immediately think, 'This is the music KickFlip makes.'" /JYP EntertainmentThe contrast in the double title track music videos is also clear. While 'Unfinished' is a work that delves into the inner selves and pasts by drawing characters from the members' actual experiences, 'Kick Off The Wall' turns the entire city into a giant playground. Walls become not obstacles but springboards for new movements.The change is even more evident when looking at the B-side tracks. In particular, 'hate blueberry', which stems from Donghwa's real-life experiences, and Minje's 'Drop In', inspired by the drop-in technique in skateboarding, are meaningful in that the members have gone beyond simply being credited on the songs to translating their own memories and tastes into KickFlip's musical language.In fact, KickFlip members had participated in songwriting since their debut album. What's different from then to this album is that they agonized over how to turn their own stories into music and brought them to fruition, which is why the members say, "We constantly thought about how to incorporate our stories now, beyond just making good songs."The boys who kicked away their mothers' nagging sneaked out of classrooms, fell in front of their first loves, and after experiencing their first moments of being twenty, they now face the walls in front of them. They no longer avoid those walls. They don't seek perfect answers either. They simply put down their boards and kick the walls again. KickFlip's identity comes from that very attitude.The addition of Part 1 to the album title suggests the starting point of a new phase, where they confront the world with the selves they have confirmed. If previous albums proved their potential, this album is the cornerstone solidifying that potential into an identity, and a big step forward towards KickFlip's goal of "completing our own unique color that makes people immediately think, 'This is the music KickFlip makes.'"kafka@tf.co.kr[Entertainment Department | ssent@tf.co.kr]