After enjoying immense love through its first-ever world tour, girl group (G)I-dle has made a return with its new album, “I love,” which dropped Monday evening.

This marks a return for the band seven months after it last released “I never die,” the group’s first full-length album, in March.

“Being on the world tour was a whole new experience, especially seeing how our foreign fans sang along to our songs. Actually, we finished producing the whole album before hopping on tour, from making the songs and recording them, since we knew what we wanted to say with the album. So, we worked on it as soon as we ended our promotions for our previous album,” leader So-yeon said during Monday’s online press conference.

If the quintet’s previous music showcased a strong spirit and will against the prejudice of the world, this time, the band added a pinch of a mellow mood by bringing out an album that spells out love.

As the producer and songwriter behind the album, So-yeon went on to say that (G)I-dle is on a journey to find the true definition of love and its essence.

“We’ve melded in the different emotions of love and the feelings that it can bring. In the end, we find out that we have to love ourselves, the real us, and that way, others will be able to love us,” she added.

Miyeon chimed in, saying, “As corny as it sounds, it’s an album about love, but if you look at the term from a broad perspective, love could be applied to your family and friends, for example. We wanted to say that we respect all kinds of love, which is why we left the subject blank for the title.”

Once again, all the members are listed as lyricists and composers on the album, with Soyeon, Minnie and Yuqi at the helm.

“Apart from our debut album, we’ve been engaging ourselves more often since our second digital single. If you ask us why, it’s because we want to do and make music of different genres to our taste, and most importantly, we want to blend in our creeds and thoughts on our albums,” Yuqi said.

Fronting the six-song package is “Nxde,” which is a song about one's unseen side.

“Some could say the word itself is raw, unfiltered, and even a bit vulgar, but the word ‘nude’ didn’t approach me that way. Instead of the state of being naked and not wearing anything, I thought it would be a term that would be compatible with the unadorned side of me. It’s not the real me when I have full makeup on my face, but having my face uncovered is the real me.”

Other tracks that round out the album are “Love,” “Change,” “Reset,” “Sculpture” and “Dark (X-file).”

American actress Marilyn Monroe was the biggest inspiration in the K-pop act’s new musical project. The band said in unison that maybe because of her “dumb blonde” comedies, she was portrayed as a dumb character, but that was because people judged a book by its cover.

“I heard that she was actually quite intelligent in person and liked reading philosophical books. I think we wanted to connect Marilyn Monroe’s perception to us. People tend to judge us based on our outside since we’re celebrities and all five members dyed their hair blonde to show off their confidence, just like Marilyn Monroe,” Soyeon said.

Shuhua said that people perceive her as a childish person, but she’s not in real life. Minnie added to what Shuhua noted, saying that each member acts like a character that people see them as in the music video.

Going back to the album’s theme, Miyeon said the group learned the process of love: To actually love somebody else, one must first learn to love themselves because that’s the love many won’t experience in their lifetime.

“I hope those who listen to our album would be able to relate themselves, just like how we did, because we also learned a lot about love. If listeners can identify themselves with our new songs, it will pave a way for doing well on music charts,” she added, expressing hopes for earning rave reviews with the new album.

(G)I-dle’s six-track release hit global music platforms on Monday at 6 p.m.