Youth Chapter 3: ROMANTIC YOUTH marks EPEX's third full-length studio album that is the end of their Youth series trilogy. The first two installments of the three albums being, Youth Chapter 2: YOUTH DEFICIENCY and Youth Chapter 1: YOUTH DAYS, both released in 2024.
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Youth Chapter 3: ROMANTIC YOUTH preserves EPEX's signature flair that shone in the first two albums in the trilogy while delving into new themes such as embracing one’s moments of deficiencies and welcoming the new ones that follow.
The album aims to invoke a spark within fans and inspire them to embark on their personal journeys in their youth while they are discovering romance and coming into their own.
When asked about the writing process and their mindset when writing the album, MU, a member of EPEX, muses, “Since this album is the last chapter of the Youth trilogy, I worked on it with even more affection. In the first two chapters of the trilogy, we discussed the reality, various concerns, and the deficiency of youth."
He added, "In the final album of the series, we’re fully accepting all those elements and stepping forward to the next chapter. We hope you look forward to what EPEX will present after Youth Chapter 3: ROMANTIC YOUTH, and please listen to it a lot, as it is filled with great songs.”
The amazing eight-track album includes their pre-release single 'Picasso' that was released on 21 July. The track showcases EPEX's signature versatility with its edgy and hardcore synth hip-hop direction. EPEX's genre-defying sound is apparent throughout the entire album.
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The opening track 'Waffle' is a ratchet genre track that describes being calm in the face of adversities and facing them with resilience without being influenced by pretentious words of comfort from others and excessive interference and backing down. Steering toward a different musical direction is 'Bang', a hybrid rock song brimming with EPEX’s intense confidence. It describes the intense zest that youths have tackling and overcoming hurdles that they face at that early stage of their life.
Leaning into a slower pop vibe is 'Grateful to Tears' with an acoustic sound infused with subtle rock notes, and it captures the development of a sense of maturity in a youth's ability to accept goodbyes. With an upbeat peppy vibe with layered harmonies and an overall pop sound, 'Dances with Wolves' portrays an innocent and lighthearted confession of love at first sight, displaying EPEX's charming nature.
Riding the pop train, the next track 'Morning to Midnight' has a warm mid-tempo pop tone that draws comparison between love and admiring stars in the night sky. Switching styles once more, 'Whale Fall' presents as a beautiful and heartfelt ballad that uses its poetic lyricism to draw a parallel between the descent of a whale’s body after death into the depths of the ocean and the beauty it brings as the source of new life in the deep sea, much like how every choice in a youth's life contributes to their evolution to become their complete self.
'Pluto' closes the album off perfectly as it depicts the fiery adventure of youth in search of all things thought to be extinct with an intense zeal. It conveys a hopeful message: when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
AYDEN, a member of EPEX, expressed, “First and foremost, I’m very excited to make a comeback with the third full-length album! It feels surreal to release an album that closes the Youth series. For this album, we poured a lot of care into it as it is filled with songs that carry EPEX’s vibe and charms. It also contains our true sincerity, so I hope you give much love to our new album as well!”
Since their debut in 2021, with the 1st EP, BIPOLAR Pt.1: Prelude of Anxiety, EPEX has been making waves in the K-pop scene, clinching multiple awards such as the 2024 Seoul Success Awards and the 2023 Heart Dream Awards—establishing them as one of the most promising breakout bands in the scene.
Youth Chapter 3: ROMANTIC YOUTH cements that title by displaying their growth as artists.
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