ARrC Unveils New Album ‘HOPE’ Alongside Energetic Title Track ‘awesome’

On July 16, MYSTIC STORY’s multinational K-pop boy group ARrC made a comeback with their third mini album, ‘HOPE’. Coming about five months after their second mini album, ‘nu kidz: out the box’, ‘HOPE’ reflects the group’s message of finding connection, overcoming uncertainty, and discovering optimism in a chaotic world.

We’re very thrilled and excited to be back with a new album after about 5 months since our last release. Our third mini album, ‘HOPE’, conveys the youth’s complicated emotions with honesty and depth, and it means a lot to me personally because I got to participate in our album as a lyricist for the first time. All members poured much thought and effort into expressing ARrC’s unique color more vividly through this album, and we’re confident that we have created an album with a great level of completeness. We hope to send positive energy and solace to many people through our music and new album.

— HYUNMIN, member of ARrC

‘HOPE’ is led by the title track ‘awesome‘, a song that puts a modern spin on early 2000s hip-hop and describes a rough day when everything goes wrong, encouraging listeners to shout “awesome” to turn the day around more positively.

The music video for ‘awesome‘ draws inspiration from several cultures, including Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Portugal. It features settings reminiscent of 1980s Japanese school films, like empty apartments, old playgrounds, and kendo halls. Blending real-life scenes with symbolic ones, the video includes Dokkaebi, goblin-like figures from Korean folklore, representing ARrC’s inner world. These playful creatures deliver the message that even bad days can change, depending on perspective. Their designs are influenced by traditional masks from Indonesia’s Barong, Portugal’s Careto, and Korea’s Hahoetal. Rather than evoking fear, these masks reflect the youth’s ability to turn disasters into humor, mistakes into opportunities, and chaos into creativity.

The B-sides on the album include ‘dawns’, ‘kick back’, ‘vitamin I’, and ‘night life‘.

‘dawns’ blends nu jazz, soul, and funk to capture the feeling of finding connection in a digital world. It describes the relief of breaking the habit of doom-scrolling on social media into the early hours. Members HYUNMIN and CHOI HAN contributed to the lyrics, marking their first official credits as lyricists.

‘kick back’ delivers a message about unity and resilience, with bold lines like “We’re flowers blooming on asphalt.”

‘vitamin I’ is a high-energy mix of hip-hop, hyperpop, and electro-punk, encouraging self-belief over external validation. The song emphasizes that the most essential “vitamin” is ‘I’, representing oneself, imagination, identity, and infinity.

‘night life‘ closes the album with a neo-soul, G-funk-inspired slow jam with lo-fi elements. It paints a picture of a young person chasing their dreams in a quiet city at dawn while everyone else is asleep.

Altogether, the album embodies ARrC’s core message: building genuine connections and working sincerely toward a better tomorrow.

I’m very excited to present new music to everyone after a while. This album expresses what ARrC thinks and feels these days with much sincerity, so I personally resonate with this album a lot. We shared many conversations and ideas while working on this album, especially about how we can convey certain emotions through music, and I hope all the listeners can relate to our message and sincerity. As always, we’ll give our best in the album promotion activities, and we ask for your love and support.

— DOHA, member of ARrC

Along with the release of ‘HOPE’, ARrC also teased their next project with the preview track ‘SKIID’. Sharing a glimpse of what’s coming next during current promotions is a signature ARrC tradition, designed to connect with their fans, ARrCers, and invite them to join their creative journey from the very beginning.

For this comeback, ARrC also collaborated with Karafuru, a global character brand. Reflecting the album’s theme of ‘HOPE’, the partnership focuses on spreading positivity through various projects like fan meetings, exhibitions, pop-up stores, merchandise, digital content, collaborative artwork, and music projects with Karafuru characters. The collaboration is receiving attention for its bold attempt at a unique global initiative that extends beyond music.

About ARrC

ARrC is a seven-member K-Pop group and is the first boy group from MYSTIC STORY. The members include ANDY, CHOI HAN, DOHA, HYUNMIN, JIBEEN, KIEN, and RIOTO. Their group name is an acronym for ‘Always Remember the real Connection,’ signifying the importance of sincere connection beyond space, time, and differences. They debuted on August 19, 2024, with the first mini album, ‘AR^C’. Two weeks after their debut, ARrC surpassed 100 million cumulative social media content views and achieved more than nine million search term views on China’s biggest social media platform, Weibo.

In January 2025, ARrC received a Rising Male Idol Award voted by the Vietnamese audience at the Korea First Brand Awards 2025. In May, the group was also selected as a Rising Idol of the Year at the Brand Customer Loyalty Awards 2025. In the same month, ARrC attended KCON JAPAN 2025 and shared their first official stage with local fans, taking one more step as a global artist.

As a multinational group with members from South Korea, Japan, the United States, Vietnam, and Brazil, ARrC is ready to expand their reach and share the group’s color with global music fans, backed by their connections and energy that transcend the boundaries.

Watch the MV of ‘awesome’ here: