C.N.BLUE - starting difficulties, chart toppers and solo careers!

K-Pop Blog > Artists > C.N.BLUE

C.N.BLUE is a three-piece rock band that has been in business for over ten years and still regularly releases new albums for their fans! This makes them one of the few idol bands that play their own instruments and shows that rock is also very popular among K-Pop fans.

The band's career began in 2009 with four members:

Lead singer Jung Yonghwa, drummer Kang Minhyuk, guitarist Lee Jonghyun and bassist Kwon Kwangjin. They first performed on the road before making their official Japan debut on August 19 with the English album "Now or Never." Now or Never failed to chart and just a month after its release, bassist Kwon Kwangjin left the band for personal reasons. However, the other three were not discouraged by this. A short time later Lee Jungshin joined the band as a new bassist and already in November the second album "Voice" was released. It contains both English and Japanese songs and reached number 227 in the Oricon album charts.

From October to November, the Korean series "You're Beautiful" was also aired, with Yonghwa playing the second male lead! The series was so popular that the cast, who portrayed the fictional band A.N.JELL, including Yonghwa, even gave several live concerts afterwards!

Yonghwa even won the "New Star Award" at the SBS Drama Awards and "Most Popular Actor" at the Korea Drama Awards. With this, he had already made a name for himself in Japan just a few weeks after the debut and was no longer unknown to many Korean fans when C.N.BLUE released their first Korean album shortly after.

On January 14, 2010, C.N.BLUE debuted in Korea with the album "Bluetory."

This time, the band was immediately rewarded with success: Bluetory topped the Gaon Album Charts for two weeks, and the title track "I'm a Loner" not only reached #2 on the Gaon Digital Charts, but also earned C.N.BLUE two wins in music shows! The first win came just 15 days after their debut, setting a record for the band at the time.

These achievements were followed by their first reality show "CNBLUETORY" in March. In the same month, C.N.BLUE released their third Japanese album "Thank U", which did not have the same success as the Korean albums, but still reached number 90 in the Oricon charts, surpassing the first two Japanese albums by far!

On the other hand, the second Korean album "Bluelove" could keep up with Bluetory. It reached #3 in the album charts and the title song "Love Light" reached #2 in the single charts, just like "I'm a Loner".

As you can imagine, a lot happened in the next 11 years as well. Too much to fit into one blog article. So that you still have an overview at the end, we will go into the most interesting and important milestones of the band in the following.

C.N.BLUE

The name "C.N.BLUE" is the abbreviation for "Code Name BLUE". In "BLUE" each letter stands for a characteristic that the members embody: Burning, Lovely, Untouchable and Emotional. As you know, the band was originally a four-piece.

In fact, the members sneaked into the K-Pop scene and our hearts like spies before they clearly drew attention to themselves with Bluetory!

Discography

At the end of March 2011 , C.N.BLUE released the studio album "First Step" with the title track "Intuition" and not only topped the Gaon Album and Gaon Single Charts, but also racked up a whopping seven wins in music shows! With this, the band set a personal record that they themselves have never broken before.

Almost a year later, the four guys set a new record: With the Japanese single "Where You Are," they reached No. 1 on the Oricon Singles Chart for the first time in February 2012 ! This was more than just a personal milestone, as it made C.N.BLUE the first non-Japanese band to top the charts since January 1971, and only the fourth male Korean artist after TVXQ, JYJ and Jang Geunseuk.

On August 29, a Japanese album titled "Code Name Blue" was released, which also topped the Oricon album chart! After that, however, it would take over three years before C.N.BLUE could repeat this success.

2013 began with the album "Re:Blue," which was released a, January 14, the band's third anniversary. Jung Yonghwa has been composing songs on and off since 2010, which have been featured on various albums.
However, the new track "I'm Sorry" is his first title song in Korea! The single reached the top of the real-time charts as well as the daily and weekly charts. A real all-kill!

On April 24, the Japanese single "Blind Love" was released, selling more copies in the first day than any previous Japanese release in the first 24 hours: 35,773 copies.

In late February 2014 , C.N.BLUE released the Korean album "Can't Stop," topping the Gaon album charts. The title song of the same name reached #3 on the digital charts. That's a good achievement but only over the year did it reveal how well the song was really received! At the end of 2014, "Can't Stop" was one of the 50 most tweeted songs of 2014, with only two other Korean songs on the list: Girls Generation's "Mr. Mr" (#18), Infinite's "Last Romeo" (#48). "Can't Stop" took the highest position of the three at #17. With this, they mingled with world stars like Ariana Grande, Beyonce and Coldplay!

On September 30 2015 , C.N.BLUE finally topped the Oricon album charts again with their new Japanese album "Colors" three years after "Code Name Blue." The band always reaches high positions in the Oricon charts, but the top not too often, so every time is something special again!

Military service

In October 2017 , the Japanese album "Stay Gold" was released. After that, it was quiet for a while for the four guys as they all started their military service in 2018. Yonghwa began his service in March 2018, Minhyuk and Jungshin in July, and Jonghyun in August.

Burning Sun scandal: Jonghyun leaves C.N.BLUE.

Before the members of the band ended their service in 2020, Jonghyun was involved in the "Burning Sun" scandal. This shook the K-pop scene, as it was revealed that a number of famous idols were part of a group chat that illegally uploaded intimate videos with women that were filmed unknowingly or against their will. In early 2019, Seungri (Big Bang), Yong Junhyung (Highlight), Choi Jonghoon (F.T. Island), Jung Joonyoung, and C.N.BLUE's Jonghyun left the entertainment industry and their respective bands because of this.

Today

So from then on, C.N.BLUE was left with just a three members. Yonghwa, Minhyuk, and Jungshin finished their military service in late 2019/early 2020. In October 2020, it was announced that they had renewed their contract and would continue as a three-piece! So the band will still be with us!

Shortly after, on November 17, 2020, the new album "Re-Code" was released with the title track "Then, Now and Forever". This was followed by the reality show "Secret Tour: Don't Call My Name", the single "Zoom" in June 2021 and the current album "Wanted" in October this year.

Solo

Over the years, of course, the members have also built solo careers. All of them are active individually, not only as singers, but especially as actors. If you'd like more detailed information on this, you've come to the right place!

Jung Yonghwa

C.N.BLUE's lead singer released his first solo digital single "For First Time Lovers" on January 14, 2011 as part of the Variety show "We Got Married." The show, which features idols simulating married life with each other, featured Yonghwa together with Girls Generation's Seohyun. In 2014, "You, My Star," a self-penned single for his fans, was released.
In January 2015, Yonghwa finally made his official solo debut with the album "One Fine Day," which even reached the number one spot on the Billboard World Album Chart. This was followed by a Japanese version of the album back in March, "Are Suteki na Hi: Japan Special Edition."

In 2016, two collaboration singles with a singer named Sunwoo Jung-a were released. Two and a half years after "One Fine Day," Yonghwa presented his second album, "Do Disturb." Just a month later, he released his second Japanese album, "Summer Calling." This contains Japanese versions of some songs from "Do Disturb" as well as all-new tracks!

While Yonghwa was in the military, his fans had to practice patience. For that, they were rewarded with the third Japanese album "Feel The Y's City" at the end of February 2020, just three months after his discharge!

As we've mentioned time and time again, Yonghwa regularly writes and composes songs for C.N.BLUE and his solo activities. However, he has also composed for other artists. For example, "Fool" for fellow agency member Juniel or "Love Is Only You" for AOA!

In addition, he has participated in soundtracks for the series in which he played. He not only sang them, but also composed or even produced them!

He started with his second acting role as "Lee Shin" in "Heartstrings" in 2011. For the series, he composed the song "Because I Miss You" which, among other things, reached number one in the Japanese ringtone charts. XD In "Heartstrings," he again starred alongside Park Shin Hye.

As mentioned in the beginning, Yonghwa already made his acting debut in 2009 with the massively popular drama "You're Beautiful." Shin Hye played the female lead at that time. Therefore, he turned down an offer for "Heirs" even though he was very interested in the character because Shin Hye was already confirmed for the series. He feared that fans would get bored if he was seen with her again.

Instead, he accepted a role in the romantic comedy "Marry Him If You Dare." In the following years, he starred in other dramas such as "The Three Musketeers," "The Package," and more recently, "Sell Your Haunted House," and also appeared in the Chinese film "Cook Up a Storm!

Along the way, he has also been active as a host. Among others for the music show "Inkigayo", the talk show "Night after Night" or the reality show "K-Trot in Town".

Kang Minhyuk

Minhyuk released his first and so far only solo singles in 2019; the two Japanese songs "Moontalk" and "On The Cheek". In the years before, he had sung three soundtracks for series in which he himself starred.

He made his acting debut in 2010 in the short film "Acoustic," co-starring with Lee Jonghyun. This was followed by supporting roles in several dramas. These included the series "Heartstrings" (2011), in which Yonghwa starred, or the very popular series "Heirs" (2013), in which he starred alongside Krystal from f(x) and received much recognition for his role.

Three years later, in 2016, he got his first leading role in the musical series "Entertainer". For this, he was even awarded the "Excellence Award" at the SBS Drama Awards!

Once he proved that he had what it takes for the big roles, of course the offers didn't stop! In 2017, he starred in "Hospital Ship" and after his military service, he has already shined with his talent in two other series - "How to Be Thirty" and "Oh My Ladylord". So we can definitely expect many more appearances in K-dramas in the future!

Two months ago, Minhyuk also opened his Youtube channel "만취민혁 Hobby Binger," where he follows his many hobbies and tries out new ones!

Lee Jungshin

Like Minhyuk, Jungshin hasn't released much music of his own. So far, only a soundtrack for the K-drama Cinderella with Four Knights was released in 2016 and a Japanese single called "Blue Orion" in July 2019.

He made his acting debut a little later than his bandmates, in 2012 in the series "Seoyoung, My Daughter." Even for this first role, he received a lot of recognition and was nominated for "Best New Actor" several times.

After that, Jungshin continued to play supporting roles, but for his performance in "Temptation" (2014), he was awarded the "Best New Rising Star" Award!

In 2015, he finally got his first leading role in the fantasy drama "Longing Heart" in which he plays a math teacher who travels back in time and meets his younger self. In March 2021, he was seen in the web drama "Summer Guys" and fans can already look forward to a new series because in September 2021, it was announced that Jungshin will have a role in the upcoming drama "Shooting Star"!

So. Now that we have introduced you to C.N.BLUE and the members in detail, all that remains is to provide you with a little overview:

Former members