SEVENTEEN's V8 Is Here: Vernon and The8 Drop Their Debut EP and 'singasong' on June 29, 2026

SEVENTEEN's sixth official sub-unit V8 — pairing rapper-vocalist Vernon and multi-hyphenate The8 (Xu Minghao) — released their self-titled debut EP on June 29, 2026 at 6 PM KST. Eight tracks, an eight-cylinder-engine name to match, and a producer lineup that reads like a wishlist for forward-thinking pop: Pharrell Williams, Mechatok, Dylan Brady of 100 gecs, KIRARA, DPR ARTIC, and DPR CREAM. The SEVENTEEN V8 debut EP 'singasong' arrives as one of the most-anticipated CARAT events of the year — and its sound, rooted in hyperpop and raw introspection, delivers on the promise of that lineup.

'singasong' is the album's lead single: an electronic track rooted in hyperpop, co-composed by Vernon, The8, and German producer Mechatok, whose fingerprints on experimental club music made him a natural collaborator for this project. The song's production wraps Vernon's English-language flow and The8's melodic contributions in layered synthesis and compressed percussion — a sound that sits at the intersection of the duo's individual aesthetics without forcing them into a single register. Where SEVENTEEN's other sub-units (Hip-Hop Unit, Performance Unit, Vocal Unit) are defined by format, V8 is defined by sensibility.

The album's conceptual anchor is 'wasted youth': the EP explores 'raw moments of wandering and confusion experienced through time, along with the resilience and growth found within those struggles.' That framing runs through all eight tracks — 'singasong,' 'Friend,' 'Beat,' 'Mia,' 'Coloring,' 'girlsnboys,' '8DM,' and the digital-only closer 'rat race' — each occupying a different emotional register within the same coming-of-age arc.

Pharrell Williams's contribution, the track 'Orbit,' was revealed ahead of release as the album's most headline-generating production credit. The collaboration with SEVENTEEN's label Pledis — itself under HYBE, which has longstanding ties to American pop infrastructure — makes V8 the second instance this month of a major SEVENTEEN unit project drawing from the highest tier of global pop production. Dylan Brady, one half of 100 gecs and the architect of some of hyperpop's most structurally adventurous moments, co-produces alongside Mechatok on tracks that push the EP's experimental edge furthest. DPR ARTIC and DPR CREAM, the Seoul-based creative collective responsible for a consistent thread of aesthetically distinctive K-pop releases, add a grounded Korean sensibility that anchors the EP's more left-field collaborations.

The result is an album that sounds neither generically K-pop nor generically experimental. Vernon and The8 have been SEVENTEEN's most outward-looking members in terms of external creative relationships — Vernon through his solo material and English-language releases, The8 through his art and fashion work with brands including Louis Vuitton — and V8 reads as a consolidation of those individual trajectories into a shared project with its own distinct voice.

Following the album drop, V8 launches the 2026 VERNON THE 8 [V8] LIVE concert tour beginning July 11 and 12 in Goyang, South Korea. The group then heads to Hong Kong for three nights, July 17-19. The intimate, unit-format scale of the shows — relative to SEVENTEEN's full-group stadium and arena circuit — allows V8 to frame the debut EP as an event in its own right rather than a promotional vehicle for a larger comeback. For CARATs who have followed Vernon and The8's individual trajectories, the prospect of seeing their dynamic rendered live is the tour's primary draw.