GHOST9 was formed in 2020 by their company, Maroo Entertainment, combining previous participants of survival shows MIXNINE and Produce X 101 with members of project group TEENTOP. As the name would suggest, they originally had nine members: Shin, Junhyung, Junseong, Woojin, Prince, Jinwoo, Kangsung, Dongjun, and Taeseung, but the last two left the group in 2021.

Here are my credentials: This is an interesting one for me, because I know basically nothing about most of the group or their music, but I know a lot about one member in particular, Prince, from his various social media accounts. (If you don’t follow him, you should, he’s genuinely so funny). So, I thought this would be a good group to cover, because while I do enjoy looking into groups I already know a little bit about, it’s always so fun to really start from zero and “discover” something new. So let’s get into it!

EP #1: Pre-episode 1 // Door

I wasn’t sure, from its bombastic, trap-heavy opening, if GHOST9’s debut Think Of Dawn would go with your typical boy group song sound or not but you know, I was pleasantly surprised. There’s a couple things that set it apart—the fairly full-throated hook for one—but also how vocal-heavy it is, which isn’t that usual for boy group songs of this era, but I was happy to hear it. I’m not the biggest fan of that instrumental bridge, but the second bridge (second half of the bridge?) was better. The MV is clearly fairly low-budget (in comparison to your typical SM or JYP video complete with unnecessary pyrotechnics and the like), but credit where it’s due, they make the most of it. Overall, it was a mixed bag, but a fairly promising one.

Something that unnerved me though is just how unreal all of the members looked. I know that’s often said as a compliment in kpop, but here there was something about their appearances that set my teeth on edge. I noticed it most with Prince, since he’s the face I know best, but I would never have even guessed the person in this video was him if I wasn’t told beforehand.

From the EP, I enjoyed the laid-back acoustic rock sound of It’s Gonna Be Hot and the tropical pop of Flying At Night. I also liked the intro far more than I expected to.

EP #2: Pre-episode 2 // Wall

After Think Of Dawn, I had medium-high expectations for W.all., and it opens with this interesting percussion running under the track that had me interested to see where it’d go next. But unfortunately my expectations were misplaced, because this song doesn’t seem to have any interest in going outside the confines of 4th Gen boy group stereotypes…and that’s almost all I have to say about it, to be honest. It’s just…loud. And I know it could’ve been better, because it has good parts. That outro would’ve been great as the main hook. But nope. Not quite.

From the EP, I enjoyed the great build-up and synthy chorus of Focus.

EP #3: NOW // Where We Are, Here

Seoul is in many ways the opposite of W.all; where I liked W.all’s intro and found the chorus a bit of a disappointment, I full-on winced at the cringiness of Seoul’s opening lines (Ey, welcome to Seoul, THIS IS MY CITY). And you know what, I was completely prepared to declare the song unsalvageable before that chorus came in and I went: wait. Hold on. Usually when I review songs this side of trap-heavy, it’s the chorus that pains me and the rest of the song that keeps me coming back for more, but it’s the complete opposite here. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that that chorus is excellent, and I wish that it had a better song to be a part of.

From the EP, I enjoyed the fritzy, go-for-broke instrumental of Uno and the synthy sound of Hide & Seek.

EP #4: NOW // When We Are In Love

If you’d asked me to describe what kind of song I expected for GHOST9’s next comeback, the words “cute”, “summery” and “bright” are probably the last that would’ve crossed my mind. But here we are with Up All Night, a song so bright that looking at the music video actually hurt my eyes. (Seriously, how do you even turn your saturation up that high? What’s going on guys?). But, seriously, this song is delightful. Though it’s absolutely nothing like their other singles, it’s so full of joy that it’s hard not to be utterly endeared. It got more than a few genuine smiles out of me, and it was the first song I replayed more than once.

From the EP, I enjoyed the minimalistic tropical-pop of Trampoline and the more contemplative pop sound of Runaway (my hidden gem).

EP #5: NOW // Who We Are Facing

While Up All Night was a surprising (if nice) detour into a brighter sound, Control sees GHOST9 back with the sound they began with. This song in particular made me think of WayV, which, may I say, is a high compliment; in a few years, I could see GHOST9 reaching the same level that they have. This is your classic boy group “the world is so DARK I have to do HIP THRUSTS oh my GOD it’s so DRAMATIC” song. And let’s be clear: if it’s this sound you’re looking for, there’s few better ways to do it than this one. It knows exactly what it is and just goes for it; it doesn’t sell out with an anti-drop, it doesn’t downplay the drama, and it doesn’t skimp on the payoffs either. Hats off, really.

From the EP, I enjoyed the light synth sound of Love Language and the ethereal instrumental paired with a chugging beat in Cosmos (whose name is very fitting by the way).

EP #6: Arcade // V

I confess I had a bad feeling about X-ray from its opening trap beat, which isn’t entirely fair. It’s constantly walking on the line between the kind of bombastic song I really like and the kind I really dislike, and…ends up being neither? It’s funny, because there are parts I really like, like that excellent bridge. And then there are parts I really don’t, like the heavily over-autotune verses or the chorus that doesn’t go anyway. Add it all together and it’s very much fine, but there are so many points where it comes close to being more…and then doesn’t. Here’s where I confess that songs like this drive me absolutely crazy, because that “more” comes so close you can taste it and then never arrives.

From the EP, I enjoyed the build up of Champion and the confident yet laid-back Always All Ways, which both just had that extra something that I felt like X-Ray was missing, my hidden gem was T.Y.T. (Take You There) with its go-for-broke synthiness and its feeling of heart behind it. I also liked the intro, Dot. This is definitely my favorite mini-album of theirs so far, so let’s hope they keep going with their strengths.

EP #7: Arcade // O

If you don’t know, I listen to every single in context with its album or EP first, so I hear them before I see them, and in the case of GHOST9, I’ve listened to all of them right after their intros. So my first thought on starting Ruckus was wondering how closely it would hew to the intro that I liked. And the answer is that it doesn’t. (Which I don’t quite understand, because I feel like it defeats the point of an intro, but I digress). It doesn’t exactly have an anti-drop in the traditional sense, but I don’t know what else you could call the chorus. Whatever it is, it’s disappointing after such a good build-up, and leaves the song unsatisfying in a similar way to X-Ray. Close but again not quite.

From the EP, I enjoyed the sweet, laid-back Love Parachute and the intro, Let’s Get Lost, which was way too short and honestly is my favorite of all of their intros.

Single #1: Awesome Day

I sincerely felt, the moment that Awesome Day began, that I’d absolutely heard this song before, but for the life of me, I just couldn’t place it. I genuinely had to restart the song because I was so distracted. As for the track itself, it’s your typical behind-the-scenes music video with a song that sounds like it could be the soundtrack of a sllice-of-life kdrama about a big city CEO finding love on a tiny island with a village boy. It’s another entry in the “just fine” category, to be honest, feeling like a restrained version of Up All Night. That being said, it’s still good. And the MV may be typical, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t charming. Look, I may pretend to be an objective reviewer, but I watch some boys play-wrestle each other into the ocean and I immediately decide it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen; I’m a sucker.

Single #2: Down For You

Down For You fits into a similar category to Awesome Day; it’s also toned down and nostalgic sounding but not quite the same. It feels much more intentional here, soothing and warm feeling in that way that fan songs usually are. And I knew it was a fan song before I even looked up the lyrics or watched the video; it just has that cadence to the vocals and that specific sense of nostalgia. It’s not a song for me, I can acknowledge that, but that’s okay; it doesn’t have to be. It brought a smile to my face and I know it means the world to someone who loves them as much as I love SHINee or Dreamcatcher, so, I’m glad it exists.

Verdict: TL;DR

I’m glad I did this. Like I said, I knew nothing about GHOST9 before this deep dive, and I got the chance to see who they are beyond just Prince. Of course in my usual behind the scenes shallow dive, or whatever you want to call it, I checked up on his instagram account and his “Cooking In The Practice Room Behind My Manager’s Back” series (how he snuck in an air fryer I have no idea), but I also watched the whole group’s appearances on the Awesome World YouTube channel and their guest appearance on Hello Kpop. All I can say is that I see who’s been encouraging his weirdness all this time and that I had a great time laughing.

My Top 5 songs were Up All Night, Control, Runaway, T.Y.T., and Think Of Dawn, with Champion as an honorable mention. GHOST9 gets a 7.75 out of 10 from me. I know I mentioned WayV earlier, but GHOST9 reminds me a lot of them, and not just because their musical styles are somewhat similar, but because the points where they falter are similar too. When they succeed at their fairly classic “boy group” sound, it’s bombastic in all the right ways, getting you pumped and nodding along. But when they go for your basic anti-drop or stick too close to a well-trodden formula without innovating on it, you’ve left with something that’s…fine but not very unique. I’ve given them a lower score because I think that overall WayV does a better job of innovation (especially as the years have gone on), but the rest of my thoughts still stand.

Next time, we’re onto a girl group for a re-do I’m really looking forward to. Tschüss!