SF9 Drop First Full Album in 6 Years and Say They're Still Hungry for More

SF9 kicked off their ten-year anniversary era with a proper statement: their second full studio album TENACITY dropped on August 26, six years after their debut full-length FIRST COLLECTION in 2020. The group held a showcase that evening at Cube Convention Center in Mapo, Seoul, and for a group with a decade of experience behind them, the energy in the room was less nostalgic than it was forward-leaning.

Member Jaeyoon set the tone when he described how the group approached the record. "There had been a thirst for a full album," he said, "and this time we burned 120 percent of what we could do across every part of it: choreography practice, music video filming, all of it. We put our lives on the line for this one." The decision to hold a full showcase rather than a quieter press conference only underlined the point.

What TENACITY means

The album title works on two levels. In its dictionary sense, tenacity means persistence and drive. But it also folds in TEN, a nod to the group's ten-year milestone. Members were clear that this wasn't a victory lap. Inseong described the record as a look back at the years they've lived through and a declaration of where they intend to go. "The album reflects our tenacity and our determination," he said. "We're like Ditto from Pokémon: we're not limited to one shape."

HwiYoung, who handles songwriting duties for the group, said he worried about repeating himself after fifteen mini-albums and two full studio albums over ten years. "I asked myself whether I was just replicating what I'd already done," he said, "so I made a real effort to use words and expressions I hadn't reached for before."

The ten-track album is led by the title track Without Wings, an Afrobeats-influenced pop song built on rhythmic groove and clean vocal production. The message threaded through it is about rising on your own terms, without needing anything handed to you. Youngbin translated that simply: "They say artists follow the meaning of their song titles. We're going to run hard enough to soar even without wings."

Honest about the gap

One of the more striking moments at the showcase came when Dawon addressed what the group hasn't achieved yet. "We haven't reached the targets and results we wanted," he said plainly. "The scale of our performances, our chart numbers, those things weigh on us. But I think that hunger is exactly what keeps us moving forward."

It's the kind of honesty that's rare in the middle of a promotional cycle, and it gave the celebration a grounded quality. The group isn't pretending the last decade went exactly to plan. They're using what's missing as fuel.

Inseong extended that into something more ambitious. Beyond music show rankings and a chart-topping single, he named a specific dream: "I want to perform on a stage as big as Wembley Stadium in the UK one day." For a group that formed inside the FNC Entertainment system and has spent a decade building its audience, the goal is audacious. But after ten years of persistence, nobody in that room looked like they were joking.

What comes next

Fans won't have to wait long for SF9 on stage. The group will hold a ten-year anniversary concert titled Chugmong (十年逐夢, roughly "chasing dreams for ten years") on October 10 and 11 at KBS Arena in Gangseo, Seoul. Member Chanhee promised the setlist will span everything they've built: "We want to show everything we've accumulated over ten years. You'll see the burning passion of a more mature SF9."

SF9 debuted in 2016 and spent part of this anniversary year releasing the special album About Love in March before following it with TENACITY and the upcoming concert. Hwiyang closed the showcase with a moment of gratitude that captured the group's spirit as well as anything else said that day: "I'm thankful to the members who've been with me through all of it, and to Fantasy, our fandom, who are the biggest reason this team is still standing."