Light Up (EP)

After the release of "Moment of Illusion in August of 2019. UP10TION continued promoting and interacting with fans in 2019. Starting in 2020, the group was on a hiatus, greeting fans on V Live time to time. On April 7, 2020, TOP Media announced that band-member Jinhoo would go on a hiatus due to health concerns, leaving the group to continue with remaining members Kuhn, Kogyeol, Bitto, Sunyol, Gyujin, Hwanhee and Xiao. TOP Media also announced that UP10TION would attempt a comeback in the summer of 2020, but then it was delay until September 2020.[1] Member Sunyoul appeared on "MBN Voice Trot" during their hiatus . Jinhyuk and Wooseok also were not involved in the creation of this album and have been on hiatus since 2019.

On September 4, 2020, TOP Media released the schedule for UP10TION’s ninth mini-album "Light Up".[2] On September 23, 2020, UP10TION released the music video for the eponymous single, "Light". The music video took 30 hours to be filmed. The group promoted the record for four weeks from September 23 to October 17 [3] on M Countdown, Music Bank, Show! Music Core and Inkigayo.

On November 10, TOP Media announced UP10TION was to release a second single, "Destiny" after it was picked by fans via online vote.[4] The music video was released on November 27.[5] The group began promotion of the single by appearing on Show! Music Core and Inkigayo, but this promotional cycle was halted after Bitto tested positive for COVID-19 on November 30.[6] Kogyeol additionally tested positive on December 1[7] and Xiao tested positive on December 15.[8]

As of December 30, all of three members have recovered from COVID-19. [9][10]

The members revealed they have been working on the album for a very long time. In an interview with Pops in Seoul, Gyujin said the concept of the album is there are seven light hunters trying to chase for light. Once they chased the light, they realized they're one another's light, illuminating each other. The album had two versions, "Light Spectrum" and "Light Hunter".[11][12] In "Light Hunter" version, the members lost their light. In "Light Spectrum" version, the members show off their colors.[13] Each version of the album had a 80 page booklet with 1 photocard, 1 tarot card, 1 bookmark and a CD.

Kuhn was co-credited with writing all six songs, while Bitto was co-credited on five albums.[14]

The first track, "Light" is the title track of the album and was written and produced by Choi Hyun-Joon and Kim Seung Soo. It's described with a "catchy house" with "electric guitars" and "synth sounds". "Destiny" is a bright up light song with whistling and finger snapping. The song has a groovy feeling to it. "Stop The Clock" has been a song the group has been wanting to release for a long time. The song shifts from a slow pace before a fast pace at the chorus with an attractive feeling to it. "Dawn" has a tropical sound at first before shifting into a somewhat EDM with Spanish guitar sounds. "Waiting For You" is a sentimental song. The lyrics described by Kuhn as "How I see you whenever I go. It describes a person in love". The last track of the album, "Empty House" first has a mellow tempo and a jazzing piano playing before the mood of the song slightly increases. The song also shows the harmonization of the member's vocals and the whisper raps.[15]

The EP sold 52,048+ copies in South Korea in 2020.[16] It peaked at number four on Gaon Weekly Charts and 20 on Gaon Monthly Charts of September and October 2020.[17][18][19] It dropped 62 places in November with an additional 3,353+ copies sold before it dropped out of the charts.[20]

• Kuhn - rap
• Kogyeol - vocals
• Bitto - rap
• Sunyoul - vocals, background vocals
• Gyujin - vocals
• Hwanhee - vocals, background vocals
• Xiao - vocals