As a member of the iconic K-pop group SHINee, KEY (real name Kim Ki-bum) has been one of the most famous singers and dancers in Korea since his debut in 2008. He made his first step onto the solo stage with 2018’s digital single “Forever Yours.” The synth-pop duet featuring former SISTAR member SoYou would be part of FACE, KEY’s album debut, later that year. 2025’s HUNTER—KEY’s third full-length album, following FACE and 2022’s Gasoline—represents a return to the musician’s maximalist synth-pop roots following a relatively subdued dance-floor focus on 2023 EP Good & Great and 2024 EP Pleasure Shop. An ’80s-horror-pop nerd, KEY channels Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” on the album’s retro-funk title track, a theatrical, synth-driven song about the internal battle that can wage between two contrasting sides of the same person. The 10-track album errs on the side of bombast throughout, even in relatively low-key tracks such as “Strange,” an eerie English-language song about the performative stoicism of the modern age, or “Picture Frame,” a choppy synth song about the liminal space between dreams and reality. KEY brings on Red Velvet member SEULGI for the R&B-pop duet “Perfect Error.” HUNTER also includes a feature from PLAVE member EUNHO, who raps about a short-lived summer romance on “Infatuation.” Across HUNTER, KEY doubles down on his exploration of the sometimes necessary horror of knowing oneself in tracks like “Trap,” “Want Another,” and “No Way!,” but also delves into moments of revelatory pop relief in songs like “GLAM” and “Lavender Love.” Across the tracks, KEY commits to his signature brand of emotional honesty and synth-pop pastiche that has made him an undisputed Prince of K-Pop.