The legends are finally back! On November 17, CNBLUE released their eighth mini-album, ‘RE-CODE,’ which features lead single “Then, Now and Forever.” The group celebrated with an online press conference, to which they invited the media, including allkpop.

The conference kicked off with CNBLUE recapping their experiences serving in the military in the years they were on hiatus. According to the members, their time in the military served as valuable inspiration for their album.

In fact, according to Yong Hwa, the title track “Then, Now and Forever” was one that he started in the military. Even as he was completing his mandatory service, he consistently thought about CNBLUE’s music and the different genres he wanted to experiment with, and with that, “Then, Now and Forever” was born. As soon as Min Hyuk heard the demo version of the song, he felt the song captured all of his emotions despite the fact that it did not have lyrics at the time — that’s when he realized, “Yong Hwa did something big again.”

And certainly, Yong Hwa and CNBLUE did something big.

The members shared a live performance of the song, where Yong Hwa’s vocals and guitar, Jung Shin’s bass, and Min Hyuk’s drums blended together perfectly. As Min Hyuk mentioned, even the melody stirred up emotions and conveyed the story of the past, present, and future.

Asides from how good the title track was, it was great to see the three members together once again, performing and pouring out their hearts into their music.

The album is full of special surprises for fans — it features amazing tracks, from a chill song perfect for listening to with a blanket and a lit candle to a song thanking CNBLUE fans featuring Jung Shin singing!

Given this is their first album in three years and their first album with all members in their 30s, the album preparation process was a bit different. According to Yong Hwa, this album serves as a new start for CNBLUE now that even their maknae Min Hyuk is now 30 (Korean age). In addition to maturing both personally and musically, the members took a lot more time preparing for the album. In the past, Yong Hwa explains that he had to produce music under a tight deadline because CNBLUE had a lot of tours and other schedules they had to balance, but for ‘RE-CODE,’ he did more contemplation and deeply thought about all aspects of the album. As such, this album is one that the group is more attached to and holds closely to their hearts.

CNBLUE’s goal for this comeback is simple: to hit it big. Before, Yong Hwa admits that he never publicly announced aspirations to be incredibly successful in case he was unable to meet his goal. But now, Yong Hwa can confidently put his goal out there because he knows how hard CNBLUE worked on the album.

Jung Shin shared the same sentiment, explaining that he wants CNBLUE’s songs to be ones that remain in people’s memories, just as he associates certain songs with memories from his childhood.

To conclude, Min Hyuk added that everyone has a different definition of “cool.” He hopes that CNBLUE will remain a band that is respected and admired by many to everyone — even with all of their different standards and definitions of “cool.”

Check out CNBLUE’s new title track below!