GFriend released its new full-length album, “Walpurgis Night,” Monday.

“Right after releasing our previous ‘Song of the Sirens’ album, we’ve been constantly working on the new album right until the comeback. We really did our best to make it happen as soon as possible,” said band leader Sowon during an online press showcase for the new album in Seoul on Monday.

The fully packed collection is fronted by upbeat disco track “Mago,” which abounds with retro synths, danceable drumbeats and rhythmic bass. After many moments of choice and temptation in past installments in the series, the six bandmates come out as independent modern witches who do not shy away from expressing their own desires or making their own life decisions. 

With the album’s title referring to a European holiday that has come to be associated with a “party of witches,” the song’s dynamic choreography embodies the witches’ captivating gestures. In GFriend’s previous “Song of the Sirens” album, witches were a symbol of confidence.

“If we used to showcase our emotional and chic sides, we got to smile in a very long time with our ‘Mago’ performance. We’d like to smile brightly as much as our fans have waited for us,” said Yerin.

Eunha also expressed her excitement about pulling off a new genre, saying, “While there are a lot of disco songs, we’d like to become a front-runner of it.”

Asked to encapsulate the song in one word, Umji said, “I’d like to liken it to a parfait, a good combination of various ingredients. Just like a dessert, which comes after an appetizer and main dish, completes the whole course, we’d like to wrap up the “Hoe” series with ‘Walpurgis Night.’”

Yerin likened it to “year-end party,” saying the music video for “Mago” features a lot of festive mirror balls. Yuju said “fireworks,” referring to the song’s explosive energy.

The musicians have also teamed up in pairs for the first time to craft three unit songs: Sowon and Umji on “Better Me,” Yuju and Eunha on “Night Drive,” and Yerin and SinB on “Secret Diary.”

On participating in the creative process, the bandmates said they’d managed to strengthen their bonds with each other over the course of writing down their stories.

“About our duet song ‘Secret Diary,’ we decided to write about our friendship rather than love. At first, it was difficult to decide what to convey in the lyrics. But as we reminisced about our old trainee days in the process, we felt our friendship got deeper,” said Yerin.

In their sixth year, the bandmates said they’d built a solid career thanks to their consistent efforts to expand their musical horizons.

“In the past, it felt like just yesterday when watching our previous videos. But these days, it feels like it happened a long time ago. Maybe we’ve come far enough to look back on our career,” said Umji.

Sowon said, “Up until now, we’ve been running without rest. But now, we finally got around to relax. I sincerely feel grateful for having met my bandmates. I feel like I can go through anything as long as the six of us are together.”

Wrapping up the event, Umji expressed gratitude to Big Hit chief producer Bang Si-hyuk for sharing his musical insight. “Bang always pushes us to try new things by breaking our barriers,” she said.

The 11-track album also features “Love Spell,” “Three of Cups” and “GRWM,” as well as unit tracks “Secret Diary,” “Better Me” and “Night Drive.”

GFriend debuted under Source Music with EP “Season of Glass” in 2015. The band has released hit songs such as “Me Gustas Tu,” “Rough,” “Fingertip,” “Love Whisper” and “Fever.” In July last year, Source Music merged with BTS’ label Big Hit.

By Hong Dam-young (lotus@heraldcorp.com)