PLAVE has kicked off the music-show leg of their latest comeback. Mnet’s official K-POP YouTube channel posted the group’s comeback stage for “Star Trace,” performed on the October 15 broadcast of M Countdown, marking the start of PLAVE’s broadcast promotions for the new era.
The clip, billed as an exclusive reveal from the October 15 episode, shows the virtual five-member group delivering the sleek choreography of “Star Trace,” their first-ever EDM-based dance pop title track. The stage follows the digital release of PLAVE’s fifth mini album ‘HYPERDRIVE’ on October 12 at 6 PM KST, with the physical edition arriving October 13, according to allkpop.
‘Star Trace’ leans on layered synth sounds and a heavy beat, with the members singing about a cosmic connection between Asterum, the group’s fictional universe, and Terra, the real world. The album carries five songs in total, spanning EDM dance pop, bossa nova, rock, pop, and R&B pop. Among the b-sides, the upbeat pop track “The Answer Is Yes” and the R&B pop song “Rewind” stand out, with “Rewind” marking PLAVE’s first collaboration with an outside composer, producer KENZIE and the composing team KZLAB, per allkpop.
The comeback opened to strong chart numbers. KStarTrend reported that by midnight on October 13, all five tracks from ‘HYPERDRIVE’ simultaneously occupied the top five positions of Melon’s Top 100, led by “Star Trace,” with the same sweep repeated on Genie and Bugs. ‘HYPERDRIVE’ arrives about six months after PLAVE’s fourth mini album ‘Caligo Pt.2,’ which was led by “Born Savage.”
‘HYPERDRIVE’ leans into a racing-inspired concept across its rollout, with the members divided into rival teams YATAZ and MADBAEZ in promotional visuals featuring racing suits and checkered-flag styling, per Bandwagon. The songwriting also brought in outside firepower: Rob Grimaldi, a co-writer of BTS’s ‘Butter,’ contributed lyrics to ‘Star Trace.’ Fans got an early taste when PLAVE previewed part of the title track during the encore of their world tour at Incheon Munhak Stadium.
PLAVE debuted in March 2023 under VLAST as a five-member virtual boy group, performing through digital avatars in real time. The M Countdown stage comes as the group continues its first world tour, ‘KEEP IT MANIC,’ which has already passed through Korea, Japan, and Thailand. Upcoming stops include Singapore on October 17, Taipei on October 23 and 24, Macau on October 31 and November 1, and Los Angeles on November 14. No further broadcast schedules have been announced.
