It has been nearly eight years since girl group 4minute burst onto the K-pop music scene with the catchy, colorful pop song “Hot Issue.” Since then, they have gone on to establish themselves as a “girl crush” group in K-pop, building up a large female fan base with their tough, party-hard style.

With their new album “Act. 7” featuring the electronic dance music lead track “Hate,” 4minute stays the course, keeping up their party music while trying to add a more seasoned touch.

“We became a little more mature,” member Gayoon told reporters at a media showcase at Club Octagon in Seoul on Monday. “(Our last album) ‘Crazy’ was about everyone going crazy together ... but this is a song about love.”

“Hate” is a song in a different vein from previous lead tracks, such as “What‘s Your Name?” and “Crazy,” not only in the story told in the lyrics -- the song focuses on a girl who becomes filled with anger when she senses that a breakup is imminent -- but also in its musical style.

Cocomposed and produced by American EDM DJ and dubstep pioneer Skrillex, “Hate” has a dynamic song structure that brings together a beat-heavy dance hook and chorus with a more relaxed, quiet vocal style in the verses.

The members of 4minute said they understood the song might receive a mixed response from the public because of its unusual style.

“Our parents were the first to hear it, and they found it a bit difficult,” said Jiyoon.

“They said it was better after watching the music video and the choreography. We hope our fans will see it together with the performance as well.”

“We’re a performance group, so we focused the most on our stage performance,” said Hyuna. “We were ambitious with this track. At the beginning of the song, people might think it doesn‘t sound like a 4minute song, but towards the middle they’ll feel it‘s familiar.”

Overall, the group seemed confident in their latest presentation.

“We worked on a few songs with Skrillex, but this is the one that stuck with us, and that’s why it‘s our lead track,” said Gayoon.

“I think now we’ve found what we‘re good at, so we can focus on showing that to the public,” said Sohyun. “That’s the growth we‘ve seen over the years.”

4minute’s seventh EP “Act. 7” was released on Monday, with the group slated to begin promoting with the lead track “Hate” on Wednesday.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)