It was set to come out on June 5th, but needed a few days to sort itself out.  June 12th and it's finally here.  South Korea's premiere idol rock band, FTISLAND, is out with their 3rd major Japan album, titled, 'Rated FT'.  Featuring 11 songs, with 4 of them never-before released, and penned by FTISLAND members themselves, Rated FT climbed to No. 3 of Japan's Oricon Chart Daily Album Ranking on its release date.  It was the only non-Japanese album on the daily chart Top 10.

The main offering, the audio CD, includes 4 new never-before released songs which were composed in part or full by FTISLAND members themselves, demonstrating their active involvement in their own music.   FTISLAND leader Choi Jonghoon composed "Hold My Hand", while bassist Lee Jaejin penned "Time To..." Lead vocalist Lee Hong Ki offers a few of his own compositions as well with "Black Chocolate" and "Orange Sky".  The latter song being the theme from his recently released movie, "Phoenix". 

The DVD, that comes with the Limited Edition, features another side of FTISLAND that is rarely seen, offering a peek into their acoustic performance from the release event of their spring LP, "You Are My Life". 

It is the first time Lee Hong Ki dabbles in full for his own composition, with previous work only being involvement with lyrics, showing his promise and potential as a full-fledged composer.  When speaking about his composition, Hong Ki talks about the process he went through writing 'Black Chocolate'.  He said, "Initially, I had wanted to title it 'Dark Chocolate', but as I was writing it I realized it was a song of love, cannot be eaten, and can be bitter so it hit me to title it 'Black Chocolate' instead."

"Rated FT" is said to be FTISLAND members' own choice, as in being rated by the members themselves, hence more than half of the album features their own condition, with "Beautiful World" by Jonghoon and "Beloved" by Jaejin rounding out the self-composed songs.  These two songs were previously released with their "Polar Star" LP in Winter 2012. The members reveal what they like best about the album, Jaejin offers "This is the first time we try electronic sound. With this album, various (musical) colors come up." During his turn, Song Seunghyun quickly suggests a song, "'Freedom', because of its speed."

When asked how he would rate this album, Jonghoon said, "I rate it an 80%", when asked why, he got flustered, eventually revealing that he gave the album that score because of the absence of drummer Choi Minhwan and Song Seunghyun's compositions.  These two members have contributed tracks in previously released material, with "Compass", "Yuki" and "Wanna Go" to name a few.  They are noticeably absent in this release.

In a Q&A session during their pre-release event, each member revealed what the challenges they want to try from now on, drummer and maknae Minhwan said "I want to do my best in acting." He will soon be starring in a lead role in a musical.  Hong Ki revealed, "I want to have a solo album."  Jaejin ribs the vocalist saying, "Well, good luck with the songs! I want to do my own program". Seunghyun echoes, "I want to do a lot of acting!"  and leader Jonghoon said "I want to try and have a lot of creative license." Their answers reveal their desire to challenge themselves, not only in their music. 

For promotions of this album, a giant truck dubbed as the FT Car is roaming around Tokyo beginning June 10th through 16th.  FTISLAND members even posed with the truck on its first day.  It features the members' autograph and their various photos.  Let us know if you spot it (if you are in Tokyo!)

The album and promotions comes ahead of FTISLAND's Freedom Arena Tour which will open June 16th.